We found 37 results that contain "iah-udl"
Posted on: #iteachmsu
ASSESSING LEARNING
Introduction
Academic integrity is critical in any teaching and learning environment, but with the move to more frequent online learning, this conversation becomes more important because of increased concern with student dishonesty on assessments, particularly exams. In this lesson, we will discuss how to promote a climate of academic integrity within your classroom. We will first examine factors that motivate students to cheat in courses. After that, we will examine strategies for minimizing academic dishonesty.
Why Students Cheat
Research shows that both students and faculty believe that cheating is more prevalent in online learning compared to face-to-face. However, many studies indicate this is not true and that cheating is no more common online than in person. Let’s examine some of the common reasons students turn to academic dishonest behaviors.
Many students enter courses with extrinsic motivation to succeed, meaning they are focused only on the end grade result and not the actual process of learning. When students tie their classroom goals to only a grade, they often view exams as not being valuable outside of a way to achieve a 4.0. Combine this view of assessments with the fact that grade competition is common, and the scenario for cheating becomes more attractive. For example, over half of medical school applicants will be denied admission, and admission prioritizes GPA, so grades are frequently a driving motivator for pre-med students.
Exam structure can also affect the likelihood of academic misconduct. When exams are high stakes, meaning they account for a significant percentage of the final grade, or cover a considerable amount of material, students are more likely to use dishonest behavior.
Student characteristics also play a role. Students may have test anxiety, preventing them from succeeding, so they rely on cheating. Students may also hold beliefs that the exams or the instructor are unfair, and so they see the effort they would put into studying as worthless. Finally, students may simply be unprepared for the exams.
There are also reasons related to academic integrity itself. An important issue discovered in integrity research is that there is a disconnect between faculty and student perceptions of what actions constitute cheating. Students will admit to dishonest behaviors, for example, asking a friend for their opinion on a question, but also claim they did not cheat, and that is because they do not view these actions as cheating. Research has also shown that students are more likely to cheat if they believe the consequences of being caught are minor.
Context Matters!
As we discuss these common reasons why students cheat, it is important to recognize that Spring 2020 was not a good example of online learning, student anxiety, or integrity. There was a significant increase in the number of faculty and student complaints regarding academic misconduct in the classroom, but the switch to emergency remote learning was challenging for everyone, and student actions in spring are not indicative of typical online learning experiences.
Strategies
Integrity Considerations
Managing discussions surrounding academic integrity can occur right at the beginning of the semester. When you inform students of the grading scale and exam dates, also mention the importance of academic integrity. Practicing integrity as a student is important for ethical practices in other courses and after graduation. Remind students about integrity expectations, particularly at the time of each exam or assessment.
Be transparent with your expectations. Define the behaviors you consider to be examples of academic dishonesty. If collaboration is allowed on some but not all assignments, make sure students understand those instructions. Likewise, explain to students the consequences of academic misconduct in your class, such as penalty grades and submission of an Academic Dishonesty Report.
Finally, have student sign an honor code or the Spartan Academic Pledge at the beginning of every assessment. Honor codes have been shown to decrease cheating particularly when they are used in a classroom or institution that promotes and values academic integrity.
Extrinsic Motivators
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an instructional framework that attempts to minimize barriers to allow for a diverse group of learners to all be successful in the classroom. One of the three main components of UDL is increasing student engagement in the course, which can result in an increase in intrinsic motivation and a decrease in extrinsic motivation.
Students are more likely to be engaged with content when they feel that the learning is valuable to their goals. By writing clear learning objectives for the course and having those objectives be relevant to student interests, it increases student participation and buy-in. This does not mean course content must only be limited to content students choose; it means by presenting the content chosen by the instructor as being valuable, students will become more motivated to participate. Explicitly explaining how the content of your course increases future success in another course or in a career path can motivate students that might not have seen those connections on their own. When students understand the broader purpose of a course or assessment, they are also less likely to complain about the work being unfair.
Integrating reflective or metacognitive assignments during the semester can also mitigate the effects of external motivators. These assignments allow students to think about their individual process of learning and can move focus away from getting a specific grade. Reflective work can help students self-assess their effort, determination, and persistence, and help them gain a growth mindset, which views errors and failures as learning opportunities.
Exam Structure & Student Considerations
There are multiple approaches that an instructor can take when managing exam structure, and some of these amendments can alleviate concerns related to the student characteristics as well.
Decreasing the amount of content that is covered on an exam and increasing the frequency of assessments can turn high stakes, high anxiety testing into something viewed as more manageable by the student. Additionally, deciding to make exams open book or collaborative will level the playing field for students since this removes some of the more traditional forms of academic dishonesty.
Allowing materials or collaboration, though, is more successful when exam questions are written to assess critical thinking or other higher-level skills. It is possible to write multiple choice questions that test problem solving. When this is accomplished, explaining how the assessment aligns with course learning goals and is relevant to student learning can help obtain student buy-in, which decreases the prevalence of cheating.
There are also ways to use D2L exam tools to reduce academic dishonesty during exams. Options such as selecting questions from a larger pool, randomizing questions and showing only one per page, and determining the appropriate amount of time for a student to complete the exam but not have extended time remain can take away opportunities for cheating.
Finally, scaffolding learning in the classroom with appropriate formative assessments provides students with opportunities for practicing skills and learning content. These activities will help students feel prepared when it is time for the assessment.
Conclusion
It should be noted that none of these strategies are guaranteed to stop cheating in the classroom. However, integrating these practices into your curriculum can decrease the likelihood of academic dishonesty. All decisions regarding assessment and integrity must weigh the risk of cheating with the overall effect on the course. The actions suggested here have been shown to decrease academic misconduct while also being equitable and creating a valuable educational environment.
Creating a Climate of Integrity in Your Classroom
Introduction
Academic integrity is critical in any teaching and learning environment, but with the move to more frequent online learning, this conversation becomes more important because of increased concern with student dishonesty on assessments, particularly exams. In this lesson, we will discuss how to promote a climate of academic integrity within your classroom. We will first examine factors that motivate students to cheat in courses. After that, we will examine strategies for minimizing academic dishonesty.
Why Students Cheat
Research shows that both students and faculty believe that cheating is more prevalent in online learning compared to face-to-face. However, many studies indicate this is not true and that cheating is no more common online than in person. Let’s examine some of the common reasons students turn to academic dishonest behaviors.
Many students enter courses with extrinsic motivation to succeed, meaning they are focused only on the end grade result and not the actual process of learning. When students tie their classroom goals to only a grade, they often view exams as not being valuable outside of a way to achieve a 4.0. Combine this view of assessments with the fact that grade competition is common, and the scenario for cheating becomes more attractive. For example, over half of medical school applicants will be denied admission, and admission prioritizes GPA, so grades are frequently a driving motivator for pre-med students.
Exam structure can also affect the likelihood of academic misconduct. When exams are high stakes, meaning they account for a significant percentage of the final grade, or cover a considerable amount of material, students are more likely to use dishonest behavior.
Student characteristics also play a role. Students may have test anxiety, preventing them from succeeding, so they rely on cheating. Students may also hold beliefs that the exams or the instructor are unfair, and so they see the effort they would put into studying as worthless. Finally, students may simply be unprepared for the exams.
There are also reasons related to academic integrity itself. An important issue discovered in integrity research is that there is a disconnect between faculty and student perceptions of what actions constitute cheating. Students will admit to dishonest behaviors, for example, asking a friend for their opinion on a question, but also claim they did not cheat, and that is because they do not view these actions as cheating. Research has also shown that students are more likely to cheat if they believe the consequences of being caught are minor.
Context Matters!
As we discuss these common reasons why students cheat, it is important to recognize that Spring 2020 was not a good example of online learning, student anxiety, or integrity. There was a significant increase in the number of faculty and student complaints regarding academic misconduct in the classroom, but the switch to emergency remote learning was challenging for everyone, and student actions in spring are not indicative of typical online learning experiences.
Strategies
Integrity Considerations
Managing discussions surrounding academic integrity can occur right at the beginning of the semester. When you inform students of the grading scale and exam dates, also mention the importance of academic integrity. Practicing integrity as a student is important for ethical practices in other courses and after graduation. Remind students about integrity expectations, particularly at the time of each exam or assessment.
Be transparent with your expectations. Define the behaviors you consider to be examples of academic dishonesty. If collaboration is allowed on some but not all assignments, make sure students understand those instructions. Likewise, explain to students the consequences of academic misconduct in your class, such as penalty grades and submission of an Academic Dishonesty Report.
Finally, have student sign an honor code or the Spartan Academic Pledge at the beginning of every assessment. Honor codes have been shown to decrease cheating particularly when they are used in a classroom or institution that promotes and values academic integrity.
Extrinsic Motivators
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an instructional framework that attempts to minimize barriers to allow for a diverse group of learners to all be successful in the classroom. One of the three main components of UDL is increasing student engagement in the course, which can result in an increase in intrinsic motivation and a decrease in extrinsic motivation.
Students are more likely to be engaged with content when they feel that the learning is valuable to their goals. By writing clear learning objectives for the course and having those objectives be relevant to student interests, it increases student participation and buy-in. This does not mean course content must only be limited to content students choose; it means by presenting the content chosen by the instructor as being valuable, students will become more motivated to participate. Explicitly explaining how the content of your course increases future success in another course or in a career path can motivate students that might not have seen those connections on their own. When students understand the broader purpose of a course or assessment, they are also less likely to complain about the work being unfair.
Integrating reflective or metacognitive assignments during the semester can also mitigate the effects of external motivators. These assignments allow students to think about their individual process of learning and can move focus away from getting a specific grade. Reflective work can help students self-assess their effort, determination, and persistence, and help them gain a growth mindset, which views errors and failures as learning opportunities.
Exam Structure & Student Considerations
There are multiple approaches that an instructor can take when managing exam structure, and some of these amendments can alleviate concerns related to the student characteristics as well.
Decreasing the amount of content that is covered on an exam and increasing the frequency of assessments can turn high stakes, high anxiety testing into something viewed as more manageable by the student. Additionally, deciding to make exams open book or collaborative will level the playing field for students since this removes some of the more traditional forms of academic dishonesty.
Allowing materials or collaboration, though, is more successful when exam questions are written to assess critical thinking or other higher-level skills. It is possible to write multiple choice questions that test problem solving. When this is accomplished, explaining how the assessment aligns with course learning goals and is relevant to student learning can help obtain student buy-in, which decreases the prevalence of cheating.
There are also ways to use D2L exam tools to reduce academic dishonesty during exams. Options such as selecting questions from a larger pool, randomizing questions and showing only one per page, and determining the appropriate amount of time for a student to complete the exam but not have extended time remain can take away opportunities for cheating.
Finally, scaffolding learning in the classroom with appropriate formative assessments provides students with opportunities for practicing skills and learning content. These activities will help students feel prepared when it is time for the assessment.
Conclusion
It should be noted that none of these strategies are guaranteed to stop cheating in the classroom. However, integrating these practices into your curriculum can decrease the likelihood of academic dishonesty. All decisions regarding assessment and integrity must weigh the risk of cheating with the overall effect on the course. The actions suggested here have been shown to decrease academic misconduct while also being equitable and creating a valuable educational environment.
Authored by:
Casey Henley
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Introduction
Academi...
Creating a Climate of Integrity in Your Classroom
Introduction
Academi...
Authored by:
ASSESSING LEARNING
Thursday, Nov 5, 2020
Posted on: #iteachmsu
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Universal Design for Learning
What is Universal Design for Learning?
According to the CAST website, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is “a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.” Although UDL is not exclusive to digital accessibility, this framework prioritizes inclusivity and thus inherently lends itself to the creation of courses that are accessible to all students.
UDL is built on an understanding of the term learning as the interaction and layering of:
Recognition, or the “what”
Skills and Strategies, or the “how”
Caring and Prioritizing, or the “why”
The ultimate goal of UDL is to design a course that is accessible to everyone from its very inception and is open to flexibility. UDL can help instructors create accessible goals, methods, materials, and assessments.
UDL proposes the following three principles to upend barriers to learning:
Representation - present material in a variety of ways
Action and Expression - allow students to share what they know in their own
Engagement - provide students with choices
Explore this topic further in CAST’s “UDL at a Glance”:
UDL GuidelinesLearn more about the Guildlines for UDL via the accessible and interactive table on the CAST website.
Instructional Technology and Development’s Incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into Your Course Design
Further Reading
Michigan Tech’s guide for UDL
Weaver Library’s Research Guide Universal Design for Learning (UDL) & Accessibility for Faculty
Introduction to Universal Learning Design (UDL) by Shannon Kelly
Sources
About universal design for learning. CAST. (2024, March 28). https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl
This article is part of the Digital Accessibility Toolkit.
According to the CAST website, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is “a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.” Although UDL is not exclusive to digital accessibility, this framework prioritizes inclusivity and thus inherently lends itself to the creation of courses that are accessible to all students.
UDL is built on an understanding of the term learning as the interaction and layering of:
Recognition, or the “what”
Skills and Strategies, or the “how”
Caring and Prioritizing, or the “why”
The ultimate goal of UDL is to design a course that is accessible to everyone from its very inception and is open to flexibility. UDL can help instructors create accessible goals, methods, materials, and assessments.
UDL proposes the following three principles to upend barriers to learning:
Representation - present material in a variety of ways
Action and Expression - allow students to share what they know in their own
Engagement - provide students with choices
Explore this topic further in CAST’s “UDL at a Glance”:
UDL GuidelinesLearn more about the Guildlines for UDL via the accessible and interactive table on the CAST website.
Instructional Technology and Development’s Incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into Your Course Design
Further Reading
Michigan Tech’s guide for UDL
Weaver Library’s Research Guide Universal Design for Learning (UDL) & Accessibility for Faculty
Introduction to Universal Learning Design (UDL) by Shannon Kelly
Sources
About universal design for learning. CAST. (2024, March 28). https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl
This article is part of the Digital Accessibility Toolkit.
Posted by:
Katherine Knowles
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Universal Design for Learning
What is Universal Design for Learning?
According to the CAST websit...
According to the CAST websit...
Posted by:
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024
Posted on: Graduate Teaching Assistant & Postdoc Teaching & Learning Community (GTAP TLC)
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Inclusive Teaching: Understanding, Navigating, and Addressing Barriers to Student Learning
In this workshop we discuss some basic tenets of disability-inclusion, why it's important, what it should look like, and what tools and resources are available to help you. We briefly go over how to navigate accommodations documentation ("VISAs") with the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD). We also introduce the basic principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and show in various examples how it can be used to proactively address some barriers to student learning in multiple interfaces (face-to-face, online, and hybrid).
By the end of this session, GTAs will be able to:
Articulate the importance of disability inclusion in higher education.
Identify accessibility and inclusion resources on and off campus.
Recognize some barriers to student learning.
Respond to “VISA” accommodations requests generated by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities on behalf of students.
Navigate the implementation of accommodations.
Draw upon the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in their course design.
Implement various strategies in tandem to address barriers.
By the end of this session, GTAs will be able to:
Articulate the importance of disability inclusion in higher education.
Identify accessibility and inclusion resources on and off campus.
Recognize some barriers to student learning.
Respond to “VISA” accommodations requests generated by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities on behalf of students.
Navigate the implementation of accommodations.
Draw upon the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in their course design.
Implement various strategies in tandem to address barriers.
Authored by:
Caitlin Cornell
Posted on: Graduate Teaching Assistant & Postdoc Teaching & Learning Community (GTAP TLC)
Inclusive Teaching: Understanding, Navigating, and Addressing Barriers to Student Learning
In this workshop we discuss some basic tenets of disability-inclusi...
Authored by:
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Wednesday, Aug 24, 2022
Posted on: #iteachmsu
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Kicking Off Class with a Plan! An overview of teaching.tools
On September 5, 2023 the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation hosted guest facilitator, Dr. Michael McCreary, co-founder of Teaching Tools and Educational Developer at Goucher College.
Kicking off Class with a Plan!
A lesson plan can serve as an educator's road map... including what students need to learn and how that learning will be facilitated within the time span of the experience. Lesson plans can help you feel more confident while maximizing positive student outcomes. Class prep doesn't have to be a chore this semester! In addition to providing an easy-to-use framework for lesson design, this interactive workshop will introduce participants to an online tool for planning effective, inclusive class sessions... PLUS the new Brainstorming Tool for the first time! This tool uses expertly-prompted AI to generate effective lecture plans, discussion questions, case studies, and more. This is the perfect way to get hands-on practice with Teaching Tools' entire suite of applications that will revolutionize your class prep workflow. Participants will have the chance to explore the tool, ask questions, and leave the session with a new tool in their educator toolbox.
Setting the Stage...
When class prep is difficult and time consuming it…
Doesn’t happen at all
Doesn’t happen very often
Isn’t very effective
This results in…
Winging it
10-year old lesson plan (often inaccessible)
Decreased motivation
Teaching Tools (according to the site)
"We build technologies that promote effective, inclusive college teaching. By translating evidence-informed pedagogical research into easy-to-use online tools, we make good teaching practices more accessible to college instructors of all disciplines and experience levels. Our tools are designed to complement the services offered by Centers for Teaching and Learning, Instructional Technology units, and your LMS. We add value by providing innovative solutions tailored to the higher ed teaching and learning context. Launched in February 2022, Teaching Tools is a registered limited liability company in Maryland."
Anyone can access the three tools at https://teaching.tools by signing up for free [even with a google account].1. ACTIVE LEARNING LIBRARY – discover new learning activities that fit your teaching context
https://teaching.tools/activities
Main column displays series of learning activities – huge variety from “traditional” (lectures) to more engaging (case study)
Click each activity for more details” engagement level, formative feedback, time, modality
Best practices for facilitations
Filters on the left allow educators to filter by facilitation difficulty level, prep time required, class size, active learning, formative feedback level, bloom’s taxonomy, inclusive learning (UDL principles), whole-person learning, activity time, class modality
2. LESSON PLANNING TOOL – build a cohesive lesson plan for based on series of activities
Allows educators to build out timetable for learning experience
Saves in database and can be duplicated and edited over time.
3. BRAINSTOMING TOOL – generate new content ideas for lectures, discussions, cases, etc.https://teaching.tools/brainstorm
Works hand in hand with active learning library to build content for the activities you select from library
Click learning activity – enter course name and class topic
Based on information entered, AI will generate (blooms based) Los
Clicking will populate in Lesson’s Los
Can edit the text from the populated Los
AI will use all the information shared – Name, Class topic, selected Los, to generate:
discussion questions
lecture topics
case studies
“regenerate” is a tool to mmix-up the results and get fresh responses from the tool
In the end...
When class prep is simple and intuitive, it…
Happens fast
Happens often
Effectively promotes student learning
This results in…
Increased confidence
Creative, dynamic lessons
Teachers and students feeling fulfilled and engaged
While we did not record this session, you can...--> View Michael's presentation slide deck-->Listen to Michael on the podcast Lecture Breakers: Episode 140: Tech Spotlight: How Teaching Tools Helps Educators Plan Effective and Inclusive Learning Experiences with Dr. Michael McCreary
Kicking off Class with a Plan!
A lesson plan can serve as an educator's road map... including what students need to learn and how that learning will be facilitated within the time span of the experience. Lesson plans can help you feel more confident while maximizing positive student outcomes. Class prep doesn't have to be a chore this semester! In addition to providing an easy-to-use framework for lesson design, this interactive workshop will introduce participants to an online tool for planning effective, inclusive class sessions... PLUS the new Brainstorming Tool for the first time! This tool uses expertly-prompted AI to generate effective lecture plans, discussion questions, case studies, and more. This is the perfect way to get hands-on practice with Teaching Tools' entire suite of applications that will revolutionize your class prep workflow. Participants will have the chance to explore the tool, ask questions, and leave the session with a new tool in their educator toolbox.
Setting the Stage...
When class prep is difficult and time consuming it…
Doesn’t happen at all
Doesn’t happen very often
Isn’t very effective
This results in…
Winging it
10-year old lesson plan (often inaccessible)
Decreased motivation
Teaching Tools (according to the site)
"We build technologies that promote effective, inclusive college teaching. By translating evidence-informed pedagogical research into easy-to-use online tools, we make good teaching practices more accessible to college instructors of all disciplines and experience levels. Our tools are designed to complement the services offered by Centers for Teaching and Learning, Instructional Technology units, and your LMS. We add value by providing innovative solutions tailored to the higher ed teaching and learning context. Launched in February 2022, Teaching Tools is a registered limited liability company in Maryland."
Anyone can access the three tools at https://teaching.tools by signing up for free [even with a google account].1. ACTIVE LEARNING LIBRARY – discover new learning activities that fit your teaching context
https://teaching.tools/activities
Main column displays series of learning activities – huge variety from “traditional” (lectures) to more engaging (case study)
Click each activity for more details” engagement level, formative feedback, time, modality
Best practices for facilitations
Filters on the left allow educators to filter by facilitation difficulty level, prep time required, class size, active learning, formative feedback level, bloom’s taxonomy, inclusive learning (UDL principles), whole-person learning, activity time, class modality
2. LESSON PLANNING TOOL – build a cohesive lesson plan for based on series of activities
Allows educators to build out timetable for learning experience
Saves in database and can be duplicated and edited over time.
3. BRAINSTOMING TOOL – generate new content ideas for lectures, discussions, cases, etc.https://teaching.tools/brainstorm
Works hand in hand with active learning library to build content for the activities you select from library
Click learning activity – enter course name and class topic
Based on information entered, AI will generate (blooms based) Los
Clicking will populate in Lesson’s Los
Can edit the text from the populated Los
AI will use all the information shared – Name, Class topic, selected Los, to generate:
discussion questions
lecture topics
case studies
“regenerate” is a tool to mmix-up the results and get fresh responses from the tool
In the end...
When class prep is simple and intuitive, it…
Happens fast
Happens often
Effectively promotes student learning
This results in…
Increased confidence
Creative, dynamic lessons
Teachers and students feeling fulfilled and engaged
While we did not record this session, you can...--> View Michael's presentation slide deck-->Listen to Michael on the podcast Lecture Breakers: Episode 140: Tech Spotlight: How Teaching Tools Helps Educators Plan Effective and Inclusive Learning Experiences with Dr. Michael McCreary
Posted by:
Makena Neal
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Kicking Off Class with a Plan! An overview of teaching.tools
On September 5, 2023 the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovatio...
Posted by:
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Monday, Sep 18, 2023
Posted on: #iteachmsu
ASSESSING LEARNING
Writing Measurable Outcomes for Students from SOIREE
If you read the article on backward design, you might already have a list of inspiration to develop your learning outcomes for your course. To help you draft refined outcomes for your learners, let's dive into student learning outcomes!
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes help students (and us!) to know what students will be able to demonstrate in knowledge, skills, and values upon completing a module or course. Clear outcomes provide the foundation for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching and learning.
There are three essential components of a measurable learning outcome:
Student learning behaviors
Assessment methods
Student performance criteria
Student Learning Behaviors
Focus on student behavior by using specific action verbs that are observable. This should focus on what the student will be able to demonstrate. This is the student-facing side of the objectives so that students know what their goals are for the module or course to self-reflect and track their own progress towards goals. Examples include:
Students will be able to identify and apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines to their current teaching context.
Students will be able to evaluate and create accessible content.
Students will be able to organize a course's structure using backward design.
To help you identify measurable verbs, you can reference this Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs resource.
Assessment Methods
Select appropriate assessment methods. You will likely consider multiple assessment methods. You should select the method that allows you to best determine the extent to which the stated learning outcome is achieved. We recommend employing a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods.
Example assessment methods:
Exit slips
Multimedia projects
Quizzes
Lab reports
Presentations
Essay
Tests
Practicum/internship feedback from field instructor or employer
Discussions
Student-produced videos
State, national, and international standardized assessments for licensing, etc.
You will learn more about assessment opportunities and practices on Day 3. For now, you might consider browsing this list from Iowa State University.
Student Performance Criteria
Select and clearly communicate the criteria that students will be evaluated with. Performance criteria express specific and measurable terms that are acceptable in your course. Here are a few examples of criteria for success based on a few standard assessment methods:
Scoring rubric: All students will score an average of 8.5/10. None will score less than 7.0.
Survey: 85% of students surveyed will demonstrate an increase in their understanding of UDL.
Test:75% of all students will score at or above the average across sections of the course. No more than 25% will score lower than one standard deviation from the section average.
Putting it all Together
Once we've identified the three essential components for the learning outcome, we can piece it together for our records and to guide our assessment of teaching and learning taking place in our course. Here is one example of how this might look:
Module objective (what the student sees): Students will be able to organize a course's structure using backward design.
Add in the assessment method: By the end of the SOIREE program, students will produce an organized course map for at least one unit using backward design.
Add in the performance criteria: By the end of the SOIREE program, students will produce an organized course map for at least one unit using backward design and 100% of students will complete all categories for that unit in the template provided.
If you're writing measurable learning outcomes for the first time, it can be tricky to get into the swing of things. Arizona State University has developed an Objectives Builder Tool that can assist you in developing your skills.
SOIREE Team:
Design Lead: Sarah Wellman
Content Leads: Kate Sonka, Stephen Thomas, and Jeremy Van Hof
Content Authors: Jason Archer, Kevin Henley, David Howe, Summer Issawi, Leslie Johnson, Rashad Muhammad, Nick Noel, Candace Robertson, Scott Schopieray, Jessica Sender, Daniel Trego, Valeta Wensloff, and Sue Halick
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes help students (and us!) to know what students will be able to demonstrate in knowledge, skills, and values upon completing a module or course. Clear outcomes provide the foundation for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching and learning.
There are three essential components of a measurable learning outcome:
Student learning behaviors
Assessment methods
Student performance criteria
Student Learning Behaviors
Focus on student behavior by using specific action verbs that are observable. This should focus on what the student will be able to demonstrate. This is the student-facing side of the objectives so that students know what their goals are for the module or course to self-reflect and track their own progress towards goals. Examples include:
Students will be able to identify and apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines to their current teaching context.
Students will be able to evaluate and create accessible content.
Students will be able to organize a course's structure using backward design.
To help you identify measurable verbs, you can reference this Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs resource.
Assessment Methods
Select appropriate assessment methods. You will likely consider multiple assessment methods. You should select the method that allows you to best determine the extent to which the stated learning outcome is achieved. We recommend employing a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods.
Example assessment methods:
Exit slips
Multimedia projects
Quizzes
Lab reports
Presentations
Essay
Tests
Practicum/internship feedback from field instructor or employer
Discussions
Student-produced videos
State, national, and international standardized assessments for licensing, etc.
You will learn more about assessment opportunities and practices on Day 3. For now, you might consider browsing this list from Iowa State University.
Student Performance Criteria
Select and clearly communicate the criteria that students will be evaluated with. Performance criteria express specific and measurable terms that are acceptable in your course. Here are a few examples of criteria for success based on a few standard assessment methods:
Scoring rubric: All students will score an average of 8.5/10. None will score less than 7.0.
Survey: 85% of students surveyed will demonstrate an increase in their understanding of UDL.
Test:75% of all students will score at or above the average across sections of the course. No more than 25% will score lower than one standard deviation from the section average.
Putting it all Together
Once we've identified the three essential components for the learning outcome, we can piece it together for our records and to guide our assessment of teaching and learning taking place in our course. Here is one example of how this might look:
Module objective (what the student sees): Students will be able to organize a course's structure using backward design.
Add in the assessment method: By the end of the SOIREE program, students will produce an organized course map for at least one unit using backward design.
Add in the performance criteria: By the end of the SOIREE program, students will produce an organized course map for at least one unit using backward design and 100% of students will complete all categories for that unit in the template provided.
If you're writing measurable learning outcomes for the first time, it can be tricky to get into the swing of things. Arizona State University has developed an Objectives Builder Tool that can assist you in developing your skills.
SOIREE Team:
Design Lead: Sarah Wellman
Content Leads: Kate Sonka, Stephen Thomas, and Jeremy Van Hof
Content Authors: Jason Archer, Kevin Henley, David Howe, Summer Issawi, Leslie Johnson, Rashad Muhammad, Nick Noel, Candace Robertson, Scott Schopieray, Jessica Sender, Daniel Trego, Valeta Wensloff, and Sue Halick
Authored by:
SOIREE Team
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Writing Measurable Outcomes for Students from SOIREE
If you read the article on backward design, you might already have ...
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ASSESSING LEARNING
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2021
Posted on: PREP Matrix
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Universal Design
An introduction to universal design, which is a "set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunity to learn."
Posted by:
Admin
Posted on: PREP Matrix
Universal Design
An introduction to universal design, which is a "set of principles ...
Posted by:
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Wednesday, Jul 31, 2024
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Register today to attend the 2023 MSU Educational Technology Summit
Join us for the 2023 MSU Educational Technology Summit Monday, June 5 through Friday, June 9.
Click the link to enroll: https://apps.d2l.msu.edu/selfenroll/course/1898946
This week-long virtual event will highlight the technologies that enhance teaching and learning and promote student success. In addition to demos from partner vendors, MSU instructors, instructional designers, and support staff will present and discuss the use of educational technology available at MSU.
Presentations will cover a variety of topics including:
Leveraging AI
Classroom technology
Record and share lectures easily
Streamline content delivery
Develop better feedback strategies
Effectively use D2L
Utilize interactive classroom response systems
Scale online discussion among students
Boost engagement in any modality
Accessibility
Visit the D2L learning community to enroll and visit the course home page to find the complete schedule. Sessions will take place each day in the morning and afternoon. Attend and engage in as many sessions as you wish. Participating vendors scheduled to present include Zoom, D2L Brightspace, Qualtrics, Camtasia, PackBack, iClicker and many more.
Hosted by MSU IT’s Educational Technology department, the MSU Educational Technology Summit is open to the MSU community for the purposes of increasing awareness of supported educational technologies, promoting IT services available to our MSU communities, and sharing useful strategies for using these technologies._______________________________
Schedule:
Monday, June 5th
8:30 A.M. - Boosting Course Engagement: Easy Tactics and Tools to Connect in any Modality
Presented by: Ellie Louson, MSU CTLI and Lyman Briggs College & Makena Neal, MSU CTLI
Description: This interactive session will lead participants through several easy ways to boost engagement in courses of any modality (synchronous in-person, blended, hybrid; asynchronous). Using various tools, we will focus on low-barrier ways to build connections in hybrid or online classrooms. No prior experience with these technologies is required.
9:45 A.M. - How to Develop Engaging Feedback Cycles with Eli Review
Presented by: Casey McArdle, MSU WRAC
Description: This presentation will showcase how to use Eli Review to help faculty develop better feedback strategies in their courses. It will model effective feedback frameworks and showcase how Eli Review works to model inclusive and engaging feedback points.
11:00 A.M. - Let Your Goal Lead Your Tool
Presented by: Ha-Neul Kim, MSU School of Social Work
Description: The appropriateness of the tool used should start with solid learning goals. No matter how fancy the tool is, the importance of ‘learning’ is dependent on clear goals and having students facilitate the tool to achieve them.
1:00 P.M. - TextHelp: Creating Digital and Accessible STEM Content with Equatio
Presented by: Rachel Kruzel, TextHelp
Description: Creating digital STEM content is a challenge. Making sure it is accessible is just as important. This session will focus on Texthelp’s digital and accessible STEM creation tool, Equatio. Built on Universal Design for Learning principles and guidelines, Equatio is beneficial to users across campus. Student users can easily respond to assignments and assessments through a variety of functions. Educators can support the remediation of course content into accessible formats and create content accessibly from the start.
2:15 P.M. - D2L Brightspace: Core Technology and Engagement
Presented by: Randolph Streich, D2L Senior Solution Engineer
Description: Dive deep into the core tools and interfaces of Brightspace. This presentation will look at common workflows and the tools that make online learning instruction easier. There will be a focus on automation and alerts and the use of video for crafting strong messages and engagement.
3:30 P.M. - Insert More Stuff…With Kaltura Video!
Presented by: Suzanne Rees, Kaltura - North American EDU Customer Success & JaBari Scott, Kaltura - Senior Solutions Engineer
Description: Kaltura will showcase opportunities for faculty & instructional designers to develop engaging video content on any subject matter and enhance them for a more robust student experience.
Tuesday, June 6th
8:30 A.M. - Accessible Technologies for Educational Access: Demonstrations and Discussions
Presented by: Tyler Smeltekop, MSU RCPD
Description: This session will highlight some of the most-implemented assistive technologies among our students. Learn about software such as Read & Write, auto-captions and CART, screen readers, and speech-to-text transcription. Live demonstrations will accompany discussion about how students utilize these assistive technologies and how faculty can support students using them.
9:45 A.M. - Using ChatGPT and AI in Developing Course Materials
Presented by: Caitlin Kirby, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative & Min Zhang, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative
Description: An overview of how ChatGPT and other large language models work. Hear ideas for how ChatGPT can be used in developing curriculum plans, various types of assessments, and rubrics for instructors to work with in their courses. This includes discussion on how students might use ChatGPT and ethical considerations. Other AI tools that instructors might consider using will also be discussed.
11:00 A.M. - Qualtrics: Experience Management for Higher Education
Presented by: Lara Davis, Qualtrics, Josh Sine, Qualtrics - VP of Higher Education Strategy, Steve Sartori, Qualtrics - AVP Higher Education Enterprise Accounts & Lara Davis, Qualtrics - Enterprise Account Executive
Description: A discussion of strategies and best practices for accelerating student retention, reducing faculty workload through automation, designing education experiences that deliver, and capturing and improving the student experiences that drive retention.
1:00 P.M. - Making Space for Makerspaces in the Classroom
Presented by: Isaac Record, MSU Lyman Briggs College
Description: This discussion is for anyone interested in assignments in which students make something, from a sculpture or a podcast to a model or a board game. We will talk through some of the challenges around this kind of assignment, including how to welcome students into an unfamiliar space that may include intimidating equipment like 3D printers, how to scaffold assignments for students with little experience, and how to assess assignments that involve skills well outside the central learning objectives for a course.
2:15 P.M. - Crowdmark: How to Grade Faster with Richer Feedback using Crowdmark
Presented by: Virginia Woodall, Crowdmark
Description: Crowdmark is a grading and assessment solution that enables educators to grade paper-based and digital exams and assignments 3X faster than traditional workflows. Instructors can give richer, more formative feedback by leaving comments, annotations, links, and points directly on the student answer. This supports students' understanding of errors while reducing regrade requests. Join us for this informational session for an intro and demo of Crowdmark.
3:30 P.M. - iClicker: Classroom Engagement Enhanced Via Technology
Presented by: David Maltby, iClicker
Description: Become more familiar with iClicker, a tool for student engagement, formative assessment, attendance, quizzing, and polling. Recently launching new mobile-device usage options, question types, and D2L Brightspace integrations, this demo will cover the basics of the iClicker Cloud instructor software and the iClicker student mobile app. Participants will experience iClicker as a student and learn how it can improve performance in a spectrum of situations.
Wednesday, June 7th
8:30 A.M. - Use Brief Explainer Animations and Podcast Episodes to Cultivate Inclusive Practices in IAH Courses
Presented by: Stokes Schwartz, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (IAH)
Description: Learn how to facilitate digital and face-to-face collaborative activities while teaching inclusive principles. Collaborative learning builds on the idea that learning is a social activity, which takes place when learners interact with their social environment. The approach is a general expression for group learning in which students share the workload equitably as they progress towards intended learning outcomes.
9:45 A.M. - Creating a Connected Classroom with MSU Commons
Presented by: Larissa Babak, MSU Humanities Commons, College of Arts & Letters
Description: MSU Commons is a multipurpose platform where users can develop a digital profile, join collaborative groups, build WordPress websites, and add materials to an open access repository. MSU Commons is available to all current faculty, staff, and students, as well as retired faculty and staff. With many different functionalities built into the platform, MSU Commons is an ideal place for developing an online, scholarly presence. In this session, participants will learn how MSU Commons can be used within courses at MSU.
11:00 A.M. - Spartan 365 Overview
Presented by: Laura Nagy, MSU IT Training
Description: This class will introduce learners to the suite of software collaboration tools that will help users store data, collaborate, and work efficiently. Spartan 365 has powerful tools that allows users to get more done with Microsoft apps like OneDrive, Forms, OneNote, Teams, and Outlook.
1:00 P.M. - Piazza: Collaborative Learning with Piazza Q&A
Presented by: TJ Kidd, Piazza Technologies
Description: A demo and overview of Piazza to create learning environments that allows students to collaborate with their peers and instructors any time, especially in virtual classes. Wiki-style formatting enables collaboration, anonymous posting encourages participation, and detailed statistics help track student engagement.
2:15 P.M. - Turnitin: Advance Academic Integrity & Innovate Assessments
Presented by: Megan DeArmit, Turnitin
Description: Instructors are spending more time grading and less time providing actionable feedback and use assessment insights on student learning to improve teaching. Without this valuable time and flexibility, student outcomes are at risk. Learn how Turnitin can make informed decisions about originality in submitted student work through our new AI writing detection feature in Turnitin Feedback Studio. And how Gradescope can be used by both administrators and faculty to deliver assessments with pedagogical flexibility, better insights, and fairness.
3:30 P.M. - PackBack: Revitalizing Classroom Discussion: Leveraging AI Technology for Active Learning
Presented by: Amanda Wickham, PackBack & Kathryn Stegman, PackBack
Description: Facilitating discussion (online or in-person) doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming, or difficult to grade. Using Packback Questions within classroom can build community and facilitate deeper learning. Packback Questions is an online discussion forum that integrates directly into D2L. Students receive real-time feedback from instructional AI; which coaches students to ask high-quality, open-ended questions and encourages actual discussion. Attendees of this workshop will see live examples of Packback communities and how it is course agnostic and successfully supports all modalities and course sizes.
Thursday, June 8th
8:30 A.M. - ELI Review - Focusing on Review & Revision in the Era of AI Writing
Presented by: Bill Hart-Davidson, MSU College of Arts and Letters
Description: With more AI applications making drafting fast and easy, it is more important than ever that we prepare students to be good reviewers and revisers. Eli Review provides a service that makes practice in criterion-referenced review and revision planning easy to set up and integrate into a course. Facilitate in person, hybrid, hyflex, and online courses that are synchronous and asynchronous. Help students develop two of the most valuable leadership skills in any discipline or career: the ability to give great feedback and the ability to use feedback to make improvements.
9:45 A.M. - Let’s Talk About CATME Smarter Teamwork
Presented by: Andrea Bierema, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in General Science and Department of Integrative Biology
Description: CATME is a program used to create teams and evaluate team members. This session will consist of a presentation about how I have used CATME for several years in face-to-face and online sections comprised of 100 to 200 students. I will discuss how I create teams, have students practice rating team members, evaluate their peers, and most recently, metacognitively reflect on their own teamwork skills. Instructions for students and grading rubrics will be provided. An open discussion will include attendees describing how they use or would like to use CATME.
11:00 A.M. - Collaborative Tools to Support Language Classroom Development and Community Involvement
Presented by: Dustin De Felice, MSU English Language Center & Debra M. Hardison, MSU Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
Description: We run a teaching practicum each year that attracts students, scholars, and community members to participate in a six-week program focused on the development of oral communication skills for adult nonnative speakers. While this program was in-person for years, we were forced to turn this experience into an online, synchronous modality in 2020. Over the last few spring semesters, we have had to run an all-virtual experience where we tried to replicate the in-person experience from registration to classes through a variety of tools. We will highlight the current structure, provide the pros and cons for the various tools, and discuss the possible directions for future iterations.
1:00 P.M. - Zoom: Driving Student Engagement in Zoom Classes
Presented by: Elysha Gellerman, Zoom & Janice Adamonis, Customer Success Manager with Zoom's Higher Education team
Description: This session will review best practices for driving student engagement and increasing retention in a virtual class setting. Tools reviewed will include, but not be limited to polls, breakout sessions, virtual backgrounds, spotlighting, and transcription. This session will be didactic and participants will leave the session with the ability to confidently conduct these functions as needed.
2:15 P.M. - Assessment Using LON-CAPA
Presented by: Stuart Raeburn, MSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
Description: The LON-CAPA Course Management System (CMS) features a powerful and flexible assessment engine. It can be used to deliver individualized homework, quizzes, and exams, either online or offline, as PDFs for printing, or for use with bubblesheets (which can be scanned by the MSU Scoring Office, and then uploaded into LON-CAPA for grading). Creation of assessment items using some of the 46 available templates will be demonstrated. Set-up of a deep linked LON-CAPA assessment for access from within a D2L course will also be shown.
3:30 P.M. - DigitalDesk Learning Suite: A Comprehensive Approach to Class Management
Presented by: Robert Gomm, DigitalDesk, Inc
Description: Learn to manage all aspects of class management in a unified platform:
Grading instruments to include paper/pencil and online exams andassignments.
Monitor student success in real-time.
Integrated remote proctoring.
Collaboration integration with Zoom and instant messaging
Friday, June 9th
9:45 A.M. - MSU’s Immersive Visualization Ecosystem
Presented by: Denice Blair, MSU Museum, Shannon Schmoll, MSU Abrams Planetarium, Amanda Tickner, MSU Libraries & Carrie Wicker, MSU Museum
Description: This presentation showcases MSU's “ecosystem” of immersive visualization technologies for applications in teaching, learning, and research. This ecosystem includes the Abrams Planetarium Sky Theater, MSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab’s 360 Room, and the MSU Museum’s Science on a Sphere. These technologies are rich in possibility for multi-media engagement and custom content creation by members of the MSU community. Learn about using the displays, content creation processes, and how the displays are suited for different types of visual representation. Explore practical examples of how the technologies are used by people on campus for research, teaching, and artistic work. You will be inspired to think about how one or all of these technologies can support your work.
11:00 A.M. - TechSmith: Camtasia & Snagit for Education
Presented by: Casey Seiter, Techsmith
Description: Join for a walkthrough of both Snagit and Camtasia. Casey will conduct a live demo showcasing start to finish production of still image and video production using the TechSmith suite of tools.
1:00 P.M. - Respondus: Protect the Integrity of Brightspace Quizzes with LockDown Browser + Respondus Monitor
Presented by: Arie Sowers, Respondus, Rebecca Schkade, Trainer, Respondus & Stephanie Ploof, Senior Account Manager, Respondus
Description: LockDown Browser is a custom browser that prevents digital cheating during an online exam. Respondus Monitor is a companion product for LockDown Browser that deters cheating when students take online exams in non-proctored environments. Students use their own computers with a standard webcam to record assessment sessions. Learn how to use these tools to protect exam integrity and confirm student identity.
Click the link to enroll: https://apps.d2l.msu.edu/selfenroll/course/1898946
This week-long virtual event will highlight the technologies that enhance teaching and learning and promote student success. In addition to demos from partner vendors, MSU instructors, instructional designers, and support staff will present and discuss the use of educational technology available at MSU.
Presentations will cover a variety of topics including:
Leveraging AI
Classroom technology
Record and share lectures easily
Streamline content delivery
Develop better feedback strategies
Effectively use D2L
Utilize interactive classroom response systems
Scale online discussion among students
Boost engagement in any modality
Accessibility
Visit the D2L learning community to enroll and visit the course home page to find the complete schedule. Sessions will take place each day in the morning and afternoon. Attend and engage in as many sessions as you wish. Participating vendors scheduled to present include Zoom, D2L Brightspace, Qualtrics, Camtasia, PackBack, iClicker and many more.
Hosted by MSU IT’s Educational Technology department, the MSU Educational Technology Summit is open to the MSU community for the purposes of increasing awareness of supported educational technologies, promoting IT services available to our MSU communities, and sharing useful strategies for using these technologies._______________________________
Schedule:
Monday, June 5th
8:30 A.M. - Boosting Course Engagement: Easy Tactics and Tools to Connect in any Modality
Presented by: Ellie Louson, MSU CTLI and Lyman Briggs College & Makena Neal, MSU CTLI
Description: This interactive session will lead participants through several easy ways to boost engagement in courses of any modality (synchronous in-person, blended, hybrid; asynchronous). Using various tools, we will focus on low-barrier ways to build connections in hybrid or online classrooms. No prior experience with these technologies is required.
9:45 A.M. - How to Develop Engaging Feedback Cycles with Eli Review
Presented by: Casey McArdle, MSU WRAC
Description: This presentation will showcase how to use Eli Review to help faculty develop better feedback strategies in their courses. It will model effective feedback frameworks and showcase how Eli Review works to model inclusive and engaging feedback points.
11:00 A.M. - Let Your Goal Lead Your Tool
Presented by: Ha-Neul Kim, MSU School of Social Work
Description: The appropriateness of the tool used should start with solid learning goals. No matter how fancy the tool is, the importance of ‘learning’ is dependent on clear goals and having students facilitate the tool to achieve them.
1:00 P.M. - TextHelp: Creating Digital and Accessible STEM Content with Equatio
Presented by: Rachel Kruzel, TextHelp
Description: Creating digital STEM content is a challenge. Making sure it is accessible is just as important. This session will focus on Texthelp’s digital and accessible STEM creation tool, Equatio. Built on Universal Design for Learning principles and guidelines, Equatio is beneficial to users across campus. Student users can easily respond to assignments and assessments through a variety of functions. Educators can support the remediation of course content into accessible formats and create content accessibly from the start.
2:15 P.M. - D2L Brightspace: Core Technology and Engagement
Presented by: Randolph Streich, D2L Senior Solution Engineer
Description: Dive deep into the core tools and interfaces of Brightspace. This presentation will look at common workflows and the tools that make online learning instruction easier. There will be a focus on automation and alerts and the use of video for crafting strong messages and engagement.
3:30 P.M. - Insert More Stuff…With Kaltura Video!
Presented by: Suzanne Rees, Kaltura - North American EDU Customer Success & JaBari Scott, Kaltura - Senior Solutions Engineer
Description: Kaltura will showcase opportunities for faculty & instructional designers to develop engaging video content on any subject matter and enhance them for a more robust student experience.
Tuesday, June 6th
8:30 A.M. - Accessible Technologies for Educational Access: Demonstrations and Discussions
Presented by: Tyler Smeltekop, MSU RCPD
Description: This session will highlight some of the most-implemented assistive technologies among our students. Learn about software such as Read & Write, auto-captions and CART, screen readers, and speech-to-text transcription. Live demonstrations will accompany discussion about how students utilize these assistive technologies and how faculty can support students using them.
9:45 A.M. - Using ChatGPT and AI in Developing Course Materials
Presented by: Caitlin Kirby, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative & Min Zhang, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative
Description: An overview of how ChatGPT and other large language models work. Hear ideas for how ChatGPT can be used in developing curriculum plans, various types of assessments, and rubrics for instructors to work with in their courses. This includes discussion on how students might use ChatGPT and ethical considerations. Other AI tools that instructors might consider using will also be discussed.
11:00 A.M. - Qualtrics: Experience Management for Higher Education
Presented by: Lara Davis, Qualtrics, Josh Sine, Qualtrics - VP of Higher Education Strategy, Steve Sartori, Qualtrics - AVP Higher Education Enterprise Accounts & Lara Davis, Qualtrics - Enterprise Account Executive
Description: A discussion of strategies and best practices for accelerating student retention, reducing faculty workload through automation, designing education experiences that deliver, and capturing and improving the student experiences that drive retention.
1:00 P.M. - Making Space for Makerspaces in the Classroom
Presented by: Isaac Record, MSU Lyman Briggs College
Description: This discussion is for anyone interested in assignments in which students make something, from a sculpture or a podcast to a model or a board game. We will talk through some of the challenges around this kind of assignment, including how to welcome students into an unfamiliar space that may include intimidating equipment like 3D printers, how to scaffold assignments for students with little experience, and how to assess assignments that involve skills well outside the central learning objectives for a course.
2:15 P.M. - Crowdmark: How to Grade Faster with Richer Feedback using Crowdmark
Presented by: Virginia Woodall, Crowdmark
Description: Crowdmark is a grading and assessment solution that enables educators to grade paper-based and digital exams and assignments 3X faster than traditional workflows. Instructors can give richer, more formative feedback by leaving comments, annotations, links, and points directly on the student answer. This supports students' understanding of errors while reducing regrade requests. Join us for this informational session for an intro and demo of Crowdmark.
3:30 P.M. - iClicker: Classroom Engagement Enhanced Via Technology
Presented by: David Maltby, iClicker
Description: Become more familiar with iClicker, a tool for student engagement, formative assessment, attendance, quizzing, and polling. Recently launching new mobile-device usage options, question types, and D2L Brightspace integrations, this demo will cover the basics of the iClicker Cloud instructor software and the iClicker student mobile app. Participants will experience iClicker as a student and learn how it can improve performance in a spectrum of situations.
Wednesday, June 7th
8:30 A.M. - Use Brief Explainer Animations and Podcast Episodes to Cultivate Inclusive Practices in IAH Courses
Presented by: Stokes Schwartz, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (IAH)
Description: Learn how to facilitate digital and face-to-face collaborative activities while teaching inclusive principles. Collaborative learning builds on the idea that learning is a social activity, which takes place when learners interact with their social environment. The approach is a general expression for group learning in which students share the workload equitably as they progress towards intended learning outcomes.
9:45 A.M. - Creating a Connected Classroom with MSU Commons
Presented by: Larissa Babak, MSU Humanities Commons, College of Arts & Letters
Description: MSU Commons is a multipurpose platform where users can develop a digital profile, join collaborative groups, build WordPress websites, and add materials to an open access repository. MSU Commons is available to all current faculty, staff, and students, as well as retired faculty and staff. With many different functionalities built into the platform, MSU Commons is an ideal place for developing an online, scholarly presence. In this session, participants will learn how MSU Commons can be used within courses at MSU.
11:00 A.M. - Spartan 365 Overview
Presented by: Laura Nagy, MSU IT Training
Description: This class will introduce learners to the suite of software collaboration tools that will help users store data, collaborate, and work efficiently. Spartan 365 has powerful tools that allows users to get more done with Microsoft apps like OneDrive, Forms, OneNote, Teams, and Outlook.
1:00 P.M. - Piazza: Collaborative Learning with Piazza Q&A
Presented by: TJ Kidd, Piazza Technologies
Description: A demo and overview of Piazza to create learning environments that allows students to collaborate with their peers and instructors any time, especially in virtual classes. Wiki-style formatting enables collaboration, anonymous posting encourages participation, and detailed statistics help track student engagement.
2:15 P.M. - Turnitin: Advance Academic Integrity & Innovate Assessments
Presented by: Megan DeArmit, Turnitin
Description: Instructors are spending more time grading and less time providing actionable feedback and use assessment insights on student learning to improve teaching. Without this valuable time and flexibility, student outcomes are at risk. Learn how Turnitin can make informed decisions about originality in submitted student work through our new AI writing detection feature in Turnitin Feedback Studio. And how Gradescope can be used by both administrators and faculty to deliver assessments with pedagogical flexibility, better insights, and fairness.
3:30 P.M. - PackBack: Revitalizing Classroom Discussion: Leveraging AI Technology for Active Learning
Presented by: Amanda Wickham, PackBack & Kathryn Stegman, PackBack
Description: Facilitating discussion (online or in-person) doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming, or difficult to grade. Using Packback Questions within classroom can build community and facilitate deeper learning. Packback Questions is an online discussion forum that integrates directly into D2L. Students receive real-time feedback from instructional AI; which coaches students to ask high-quality, open-ended questions and encourages actual discussion. Attendees of this workshop will see live examples of Packback communities and how it is course agnostic and successfully supports all modalities and course sizes.
Thursday, June 8th
8:30 A.M. - ELI Review - Focusing on Review & Revision in the Era of AI Writing
Presented by: Bill Hart-Davidson, MSU College of Arts and Letters
Description: With more AI applications making drafting fast and easy, it is more important than ever that we prepare students to be good reviewers and revisers. Eli Review provides a service that makes practice in criterion-referenced review and revision planning easy to set up and integrate into a course. Facilitate in person, hybrid, hyflex, and online courses that are synchronous and asynchronous. Help students develop two of the most valuable leadership skills in any discipline or career: the ability to give great feedback and the ability to use feedback to make improvements.
9:45 A.M. - Let’s Talk About CATME Smarter Teamwork
Presented by: Andrea Bierema, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in General Science and Department of Integrative Biology
Description: CATME is a program used to create teams and evaluate team members. This session will consist of a presentation about how I have used CATME for several years in face-to-face and online sections comprised of 100 to 200 students. I will discuss how I create teams, have students practice rating team members, evaluate their peers, and most recently, metacognitively reflect on their own teamwork skills. Instructions for students and grading rubrics will be provided. An open discussion will include attendees describing how they use or would like to use CATME.
11:00 A.M. - Collaborative Tools to Support Language Classroom Development and Community Involvement
Presented by: Dustin De Felice, MSU English Language Center & Debra M. Hardison, MSU Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
Description: We run a teaching practicum each year that attracts students, scholars, and community members to participate in a six-week program focused on the development of oral communication skills for adult nonnative speakers. While this program was in-person for years, we were forced to turn this experience into an online, synchronous modality in 2020. Over the last few spring semesters, we have had to run an all-virtual experience where we tried to replicate the in-person experience from registration to classes through a variety of tools. We will highlight the current structure, provide the pros and cons for the various tools, and discuss the possible directions for future iterations.
1:00 P.M. - Zoom: Driving Student Engagement in Zoom Classes
Presented by: Elysha Gellerman, Zoom & Janice Adamonis, Customer Success Manager with Zoom's Higher Education team
Description: This session will review best practices for driving student engagement and increasing retention in a virtual class setting. Tools reviewed will include, but not be limited to polls, breakout sessions, virtual backgrounds, spotlighting, and transcription. This session will be didactic and participants will leave the session with the ability to confidently conduct these functions as needed.
2:15 P.M. - Assessment Using LON-CAPA
Presented by: Stuart Raeburn, MSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
Description: The LON-CAPA Course Management System (CMS) features a powerful and flexible assessment engine. It can be used to deliver individualized homework, quizzes, and exams, either online or offline, as PDFs for printing, or for use with bubblesheets (which can be scanned by the MSU Scoring Office, and then uploaded into LON-CAPA for grading). Creation of assessment items using some of the 46 available templates will be demonstrated. Set-up of a deep linked LON-CAPA assessment for access from within a D2L course will also be shown.
3:30 P.M. - DigitalDesk Learning Suite: A Comprehensive Approach to Class Management
Presented by: Robert Gomm, DigitalDesk, Inc
Description: Learn to manage all aspects of class management in a unified platform:
Grading instruments to include paper/pencil and online exams andassignments.
Monitor student success in real-time.
Integrated remote proctoring.
Collaboration integration with Zoom and instant messaging
Friday, June 9th
9:45 A.M. - MSU’s Immersive Visualization Ecosystem
Presented by: Denice Blair, MSU Museum, Shannon Schmoll, MSU Abrams Planetarium, Amanda Tickner, MSU Libraries & Carrie Wicker, MSU Museum
Description: This presentation showcases MSU's “ecosystem” of immersive visualization technologies for applications in teaching, learning, and research. This ecosystem includes the Abrams Planetarium Sky Theater, MSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab’s 360 Room, and the MSU Museum’s Science on a Sphere. These technologies are rich in possibility for multi-media engagement and custom content creation by members of the MSU community. Learn about using the displays, content creation processes, and how the displays are suited for different types of visual representation. Explore practical examples of how the technologies are used by people on campus for research, teaching, and artistic work. You will be inspired to think about how one or all of these technologies can support your work.
11:00 A.M. - TechSmith: Camtasia & Snagit for Education
Presented by: Casey Seiter, Techsmith
Description: Join for a walkthrough of both Snagit and Camtasia. Casey will conduct a live demo showcasing start to finish production of still image and video production using the TechSmith suite of tools.
1:00 P.M. - Respondus: Protect the Integrity of Brightspace Quizzes with LockDown Browser + Respondus Monitor
Presented by: Arie Sowers, Respondus, Rebecca Schkade, Trainer, Respondus & Stephanie Ploof, Senior Account Manager, Respondus
Description: LockDown Browser is a custom browser that prevents digital cheating during an online exam. Respondus Monitor is a companion product for LockDown Browser that deters cheating when students take online exams in non-proctored environments. Students use their own computers with a standard webcam to record assessment sessions. Learn how to use these tools to protect exam integrity and confirm student identity.
Posted by:
Aaron Michael Fedewa
Posted on: Creating Equitable Instruction through Universal Design for Learning
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Dilemmas with Alternative Text
Alternative Text
Alternative (alt) text describes visual images or objects within the context that they appear. It helps individuals that rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers to understand the provided content. A good description of an image or table can also help all students understand the purpose of the content and begin to practice viewing images and tables as experts.
It may sounds like a simple process of describing an image, but depending on your content (graphic, animation, or table) or the purpose of your content, generating alt text can be challenging.
In addition to providing alt-text resources below, we have compiled some alt text related experiences from faculty. We asked what challenges they have faced surrounding alt text in their academic content, what they have done to tackle these challenges, and what resources they would like to see to help with alt text concerns. Please share your own challenges or solutions in the comments!
Who are We?
We are the Accessible Course Design Learning Community. We are a group of faculty and staff that meets once a month and takes a practice-based approach to exploring accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.
Alt-text Resources
The DigitalX Team at MSU has created tutorial about adding alt text to images, charts, and graphs
Microsoft Word
Microsoft PowerPoint
Tips for creating meaningful alternative text from WebAIM
The Diagram Center is striving to ensure that accessible educational material is created, published and available for all types of disabilities and learning styles
Faculty Experiences with Alt Text
Questions
What dilemmas or difficulties with alt text have you experienced? Are there any important types of images in your field that are particularly tricky to describe? Why?
How have you solved your difficulties/dilemmas (for now)?
Do you feel more is needed? Are there any technologies (real or imagined) that could help?
Casey Henley, Neuroscience & Physiology
My undergraduate course content centers on students analyzing data from primary literature research articles. Alt text has proven to be quite challenging. The simple solution would be to describe the results of the graph, and tell the students the main takeaway message from the graph. However, the skill I am teaching in the course is for students to interpret the data and generate a conclusion on their own.
My current solution is to provide numerical data points. Sometimes this requires a rather detailed table if there are multiple time points and/or multiple experimental groups.
I do not feel my alt text solution gives an equivalent educational experience to students. As an individual without sight impairment, visualizing data in a graph is a completely different, more efficient experience for interpreting data compared to reading a clump of numbers in a table. I believe a technology that could create braille-like representations of the graphs would help the situation. A raised version of the graph could allow individuals to compare bars or lines. However, even this solution might not work for more complex graphs.
Emilia Marcyk, Libraries Teaching & Learning
When I create tutorials with screenshots that show important features of websites or interfaces that students will need to notice in order to complete an assignment, I find it difficult to decide how much alt text to provide. Should I just describe the important features (such as search boxes or menu buttons that the student needs to interact with) or describe everything in the screenshot?
Currently, I provide a link to the active page with the screenshot, and only describe the important features that I am calling out in the screenshot in the alternate text. If the student needs greater context, they can go to the live page.
I would be nice to have the ability to embed directions into the live version of pages, rather than rely on screenshots to emphasize important aspects. There are tools that do this, but I don't have access to them currently.
Heidi Chen, Online Master of Science in Food Safety program
For complicated data graphs, the instructors only talk about what the graph demonstrates or takeaways as Casey mentioned above. For posters we try to describe the content on them but it can get really long
No good solution for screenshots. We try to persuade our instructors to reduce using screenshots.
Scott Mulrooney, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
In my Introductory Microbiology MMG 301 (enrollment ~500), we use PowerPoint slides containing over 700 images. Almost all of these do not have alternative text, so I added the text to each image. It took several days of being "in the zone" but I got the job done.
As I said, a brute force approach was used to simple get the job done.
Textbook publishers are addressing this issue. I have spoken to several publisher reps and they all say that future editions of their textbooks will address accessibility. The problem I faced was that the edition we are currently using does not have alternative text for its images. In addition, I use images from other creative commons sources that does not have alternative text. I suppose that undergraduates who are very familiar with the subject could enter much of the alternative text. In recording material for online presentations, I do a lot of drawing and creation of diagrams. I am now careful to describe what I am creating as I speak in the recording.
Antoinette Tessmer, Department of Finance
My challenge is in using alt text (or more likely another tool) to describe the content of an Excel sheet. (My course is 100% Excel-based)
I have not found a solution...
I am curious to learn about existing technology that could help.
Anne Violin-Wigent, Romance and Classical Studies
I teach French and teaching methods for foreign language teaching. The main dilemma is that the current methods encourage us to use visuals to present the meaning of new vocab and to avoid the use of English and translations. In addition, when teaching grammar, we highlight endings or whatever grammar point we're teaching so that we can make it salient and help students figure out grammatical rules on their own. For example, we use pink for feminine endings and blue for masculine endings (I know, stereotypical but it's helpful for what we do). Therefore, using alt text may go against the method we use. And I'm not sure how to reconcile this.
For some elements, it's easy to use bold or underline or italics to replace color. But at the same time, sometimes, it feels like something underlined is not as salient as something in bold. I personally like to use bold and color.
We do not get a lot of students who request accessible material in French, and I'm not sure if it's because RCPD waives language requirements for them or because of other reasons. Regardless, I'm working (with a team) on developing new class material, especially the hybrid/online component and I'd love some guidelines.
Alternative (alt) text describes visual images or objects within the context that they appear. It helps individuals that rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers to understand the provided content. A good description of an image or table can also help all students understand the purpose of the content and begin to practice viewing images and tables as experts.
It may sounds like a simple process of describing an image, but depending on your content (graphic, animation, or table) or the purpose of your content, generating alt text can be challenging.
In addition to providing alt-text resources below, we have compiled some alt text related experiences from faculty. We asked what challenges they have faced surrounding alt text in their academic content, what they have done to tackle these challenges, and what resources they would like to see to help with alt text concerns. Please share your own challenges or solutions in the comments!
Who are We?
We are the Accessible Course Design Learning Community. We are a group of faculty and staff that meets once a month and takes a practice-based approach to exploring accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.
Alt-text Resources
The DigitalX Team at MSU has created tutorial about adding alt text to images, charts, and graphs
Microsoft Word
Microsoft PowerPoint
Tips for creating meaningful alternative text from WebAIM
The Diagram Center is striving to ensure that accessible educational material is created, published and available for all types of disabilities and learning styles
Faculty Experiences with Alt Text
Questions
What dilemmas or difficulties with alt text have you experienced? Are there any important types of images in your field that are particularly tricky to describe? Why?
How have you solved your difficulties/dilemmas (for now)?
Do you feel more is needed? Are there any technologies (real or imagined) that could help?
Casey Henley, Neuroscience & Physiology
My undergraduate course content centers on students analyzing data from primary literature research articles. Alt text has proven to be quite challenging. The simple solution would be to describe the results of the graph, and tell the students the main takeaway message from the graph. However, the skill I am teaching in the course is for students to interpret the data and generate a conclusion on their own.
My current solution is to provide numerical data points. Sometimes this requires a rather detailed table if there are multiple time points and/or multiple experimental groups.
I do not feel my alt text solution gives an equivalent educational experience to students. As an individual without sight impairment, visualizing data in a graph is a completely different, more efficient experience for interpreting data compared to reading a clump of numbers in a table. I believe a technology that could create braille-like representations of the graphs would help the situation. A raised version of the graph could allow individuals to compare bars or lines. However, even this solution might not work for more complex graphs.
Emilia Marcyk, Libraries Teaching & Learning
When I create tutorials with screenshots that show important features of websites or interfaces that students will need to notice in order to complete an assignment, I find it difficult to decide how much alt text to provide. Should I just describe the important features (such as search boxes or menu buttons that the student needs to interact with) or describe everything in the screenshot?
Currently, I provide a link to the active page with the screenshot, and only describe the important features that I am calling out in the screenshot in the alternate text. If the student needs greater context, they can go to the live page.
I would be nice to have the ability to embed directions into the live version of pages, rather than rely on screenshots to emphasize important aspects. There are tools that do this, but I don't have access to them currently.
Heidi Chen, Online Master of Science in Food Safety program
For complicated data graphs, the instructors only talk about what the graph demonstrates or takeaways as Casey mentioned above. For posters we try to describe the content on them but it can get really long
No good solution for screenshots. We try to persuade our instructors to reduce using screenshots.
Scott Mulrooney, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
In my Introductory Microbiology MMG 301 (enrollment ~500), we use PowerPoint slides containing over 700 images. Almost all of these do not have alternative text, so I added the text to each image. It took several days of being "in the zone" but I got the job done.
As I said, a brute force approach was used to simple get the job done.
Textbook publishers are addressing this issue. I have spoken to several publisher reps and they all say that future editions of their textbooks will address accessibility. The problem I faced was that the edition we are currently using does not have alternative text for its images. In addition, I use images from other creative commons sources that does not have alternative text. I suppose that undergraduates who are very familiar with the subject could enter much of the alternative text. In recording material for online presentations, I do a lot of drawing and creation of diagrams. I am now careful to describe what I am creating as I speak in the recording.
Antoinette Tessmer, Department of Finance
My challenge is in using alt text (or more likely another tool) to describe the content of an Excel sheet. (My course is 100% Excel-based)
I have not found a solution...
I am curious to learn about existing technology that could help.
Anne Violin-Wigent, Romance and Classical Studies
I teach French and teaching methods for foreign language teaching. The main dilemma is that the current methods encourage us to use visuals to present the meaning of new vocab and to avoid the use of English and translations. In addition, when teaching grammar, we highlight endings or whatever grammar point we're teaching so that we can make it salient and help students figure out grammatical rules on their own. For example, we use pink for feminine endings and blue for masculine endings (I know, stereotypical but it's helpful for what we do). Therefore, using alt text may go against the method we use. And I'm not sure how to reconcile this.
For some elements, it's easy to use bold or underline or italics to replace color. But at the same time, sometimes, it feels like something underlined is not as salient as something in bold. I personally like to use bold and color.
We do not get a lot of students who request accessible material in French, and I'm not sure if it's because RCPD waives language requirements for them or because of other reasons. Regardless, I'm working (with a team) on developing new class material, especially the hybrid/online component and I'd love some guidelines.
Authored by:
A11y / UDL Learning Community
Posted on: Creating Equitable Instruction through Universal Design for Learning
Dilemmas with Alternative Text
Alternative Text
Alternative (alt) text describes visual image...
Alternative (alt) text describes visual image...
Authored by:
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Monday, Nov 25, 2019