Results for "online learning"

Our first meeting is tomorrow morning at 10am: Friday, September 30, 2022, and we hope you'll join us! IN the meantime, here is another recent book title that might be interesting to peruse more closely since it seems to be about designing inclusive online learning experiences for students.

1) Designing Accessible Learning Content: A Practical Guide to Applying best-practice Accessibility Standards to L&D Resources 1st Edition (2021) -- Susi Miller

2) Dive Into UDL, Second Edition:...

Our first meeting is tomorrow morning at 10am: Friday, September 30, 2022, and we hope you'll join us! IN the meantime, here is another recent book title that might be interesting to peruse more closely since it seems to be about designing inclusive online learning experiences for students.

1) Designing Accessible Learning Content: A Practical Guide to Applying best-practice Accessibility Standards to L&D Resources 1st Edition (2021) -- Susi Miller

2) Dive Into UDL, Second Edition: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners 2nd Edition (2022) -- Kendra Grant and Luis Perez

3) What Inclusive Instructors Do (2021) -- Tracie Marcella Addy et al


Amazon has a number of buying options. As with the previously shared titles, these are not required, but they might make for interesting reading and exploration given our learning community's focus.

Not required, but interested parties might fight these titles helpful:

1) Advancing Online Teaching (2021) -- Kevin Kelly and Todd Zakrajsek

2) Collaborative Learning Techniques (2014) -- Elizabeth F. Barkely, Claire Howell Major, and K. Patricia Cross

3) Multimodal Learning for the 21st Century Adolescent (2010) -- Tom Bean


All available through Amazon.

Not required, but interested parties might fight these titles helpful:

1) Advancing Online Teaching (2021) -- Kevin Kelly and Todd Zakrajsek

2) Collaborative Learning Techniques (2014) -- Elizabeth F. Barkely, Claire Howell Major, and K. Patricia Cross

3) Multimodal Learning for the 21st Century Adolescent (2010) -- Tom Bean


All available through Amazon.

Have just finished putting the final touches on the first episode in a new podcast series -- created using Audacity and AnchorFM -- that is intended to support the learning of students in my face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses from Fall 2022. . . WSTKS-FM Worldwide: Podcasts for Digital Collaborative Learning in the 21st Century. Here is a link for anyone who might find this of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UohhFXXCI

Additional interesting apps for creating podcasts th...

Have just finished putting the final touches on the first episode in a new podcast series -- created using Audacity and AnchorFM -- that is intended to support the learning of students in my face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses from Fall 2022. . . WSTKS-FM Worldwide: Podcasts for Digital Collaborative Learning in the 21st Century. Here is a link for anyone who might find this of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UohhFXXCI

Additional interesting apps for creating podcasts that are worth exploring further include:

RiversideFM -- https://riverside.fm/

Soundtrap -- https://www.soundtrap.com/

Headliner -- https://make.headliner.app/create

How to Start a Podcsat -- https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/how-to-start-a-podcast/

New Ed Tech Classroom YouTube Channel (Lots of cools stuff, including information on creating podcasts for and by students -- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6vizTYlSgpR6zJ8j5KiyA

If ever you have utilized a collaborative approach in your courses, you might be familiar with the following. Sometime just after the middle of the semester, a student contacts you complaining about various problems and/or people within their team during the first nine or ten weeks of the term. Typically, it is clear from the language of such emails that these young adults want someone else to step in and address the litany of issues described. Yet a large part of student-centered learning...

If ever you have utilized a collaborative approach in your courses, you might be familiar with the following. Sometime just after the middle of the semester, a student contacts you complaining about various problems and/or people within their team during the first nine or ten weeks of the term. Typically, it is clear from the language of such emails that these young adults want someone else to step in and address the litany of issues described. Yet a large part of student-centered learning is providing young minds with the tools necessary to help them navigate our courses with a reasonable amount of success as well as the skills necessary for our students to address any related interpersonal challenges. For many undergraduates in 2022, learning to manage the latter, in particular, is one area where guidance is often necessary. Here is the language I now use to provide helpful suggestions that keep students in the driver's seat without helicoptering in to the rescue myself:


Thank you for your email X. Your frustration is certainly understandable. The issue(s) you describe are something that the entire team should address together in order to determine a concrete and efficient way forward. Communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, and revision of team work habits or processes are all part of effective collaboration.

With that in mind, take a proactive approach to the points outlined in your email. That means ALL of you should collaborate to identify the exact problems hindering the team. A passive ‘wait and see’ approach will not change the situation. Neither will a round of strident text messages or email back and forth between team members. What will help is for all team members to prioritize a meeting in real time plus their direct involvement in making concrete decisions to improve the dynamic and move ahead in the most efficient way possible.

Whether your team meets online or face to face, have an honest yet civil discussion to determine and implement the changes team members deem necessary. This is not easy, but it is vital for improving the situation. Positive change in a team setting comes through strategic, organized, and well-executed plans with specific goals identified and carried out in an orderly manner.

Beginning this sort of conversation might feel uncomfortable, but it is necessary. Contact your other team members right away. Arrange a meeting in real time to pinpoint and address the ongoing issues within the team. Brief explainer videos, part of each course module, provide tips for effective collaboration, but here are three for review that are most relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDX61xCHN74&t=58s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BghSivQlhVY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIuTi83L0vE


It is also beneficial for the entire team to revisit its list of values developed early in the semester plus the specific member roles determined at that point. These tasks were part of Week Three team activities when weekly collaboration began. Likewise, have a look again at your collective responses to questions on the team assessment worksheets, part of the collaborative work for Week Six and Week 11. On those, your team took stock of its processes and work habits followng completion of Project #1 and Project #2. Your team also identified collective steps it could take to improve collaboration as part of that work.

Keep in mind that active collaboration to address team issues is solid practice for life in the globalized digital economy of the 21st century where 'teams' are the norm. In most fields now, no single person is responsible for project research, development, and completion. Cohesive teamwork is the name of the game.

Careful attention to the guidance above will help your team have a productive discussion, pull together, and move forward more effectively in the time remaining this semester. Your student learning team is in the driver’s seat and has the power to do this.

Kind Regards,

Prof. Y



Keep in mind that the intent is to guide and empower young adults in navigating their own lives. The language offered above might be too forthright for some, but it gets to the heart of the matter and communicates to students that their interpersonal issues are something they must learn to handle now if they have not already done so. After all, the adult world following graduation is not that far off, and we do our students no favors by taking care of their problems for them.

The language presented works for individual queries but can also be sent to the entire student learning team as a reminder with appropriate changes made. If this idea sounds like something you might like to try yourself, feel free to tailor the reply above to your own needs.

Recently, I have been working on how we might provide instruction in DEI principles to the students in our courses. Here is what I have come up with:

"Timely Team Tips: Stealthy DEI Instruction through Brief Animated Explainer Videos

Fostering Inclusive Practices within the Student Learning Teams Organized for My IAH Courses"

Timely Team Tips #1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa18WLyz3tQ
Timely Team Tips #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLzV0yFgX6E
Timely Team Tips #3 - ht...

Recently, I have been working on how we might provide instruction in DEI principles to the students in our courses. Here is what I have come up with:

"Timely Team Tips: Stealthy DEI Instruction through Brief Animated Explainer Videos

Fostering Inclusive Practices within the Student Learning Teams Organized for My IAH Courses"

Timely Team Tips #1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa18WLyz3tQ
Timely Team Tips #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLzV0yFgX6E
Timely Team Tips #3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGTEdf54CI
Timely Team Tips #4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7wemM9h2zk
Timely Team Tips #5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITKHb5TtdV4
Timely Team Tips #6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GHwB3Dw8vc&t=7s
Timely Team Tips #7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjwCSyHhTKs&t=5s
Timely Team Tips #8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG53U-5QYe4
Timely Team Tips #9 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxngV78pgsU
Timely Team Tips #10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwuikDDsRSI

The recently created explainer videos above are now embedded into my online course modules for Week 3-Week 12 and are presented to students in the context of fostering student learning team “cohesion” (I have made to conscious decision to avoid the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion in most instances) during weekly collaborative assignments and three larger digital projects students are asked to complete as part of my currently asynchronous online courses.

Part of my thinking behind this project has been to help prepare students for professional life after graduation – think 21st century employability skills -- given the attention paid to DEI principles and practices within the business and corporate world. The information presented in these animated explainer videos is a synthesis of other information from many different academic and corporate sources online by the way. I take no credit for it other than in the way I present it to my students, using the Doodly app. The project is developing, so I anticipate adjustments as I continue the work.

When I move to a hybrid modality as we transition back to the physical classroom next fall (???), I plan to keep and retain all of the online materials developed during the last two years of the pandemic to better support, motivate, and engage the students in my (gen. ed.) courses, another ongoing project of long standing.

If ever you would like to talk in more detail about my ongoing work with this, just drop me a line. As difficult as the last couple of years have been for everyone, I have really enjoyed the turbo charged push forward it has provided when t comes to how I think about my courses, teaching, and related points here at MSU.

Hello everyone! Here is my contribution to next Friday's session, a recent article by Zhonggen Yu, The Effects of Gender, Educational Level, and Personality on Online Learning Outcomes During the Covid-19 Pandemic (2021). Looking forward to seeing you this Friday, February 11th.

Hello everyone! Here is my contribution to next Friday's session, a recent article by Zhonggen Yu, The Effects of Gender, Educational Level, and Personality on Online Learning Outcomes During the Covid-19 Pandemic (2021). Looking forward to seeing you this Friday, February 11th.

In my ongoing quest to find how we might better motivate and engage our students, particularly within a general education context, I've come across a couple of interesting sources online.

Universal Design for Learning at a Glance -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1B6yQXsr0c
Provides an engaging, concise explanation of what UDL is and how it works in the (college) 'classroom.'

The Nora Project -- https://thenoraproject.ngo/mission
A fairly comprehensive website that addresses the in...

In my ongoing quest to find how we might better motivate and engage our students, particularly within a general education context, I've come across a couple of interesting sources online.

Universal Design for Learning at a Glance -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1B6yQXsr0c
Provides an engaging, concise explanation of what UDL is and how it works in the (college) 'classroom.'

The Nora Project -- https://thenoraproject.ngo/mission
A fairly comprehensive website that addresses the intersection of disability and inclusivity. Geared more specifically toward teaching children, there are nevertheless various resources and approaches that might be tweaked a bit to fit the college 'classroom' in whatever form that takes right now.

Both are providing me with all sorts of ways that I can tailor (and expand the range of) student assessments moving toward and planning for AY2022-2023.

An interesting piece this morning on Faculty Focus about using short (instructor) videos in our courses to both connect with students and reinforce learning goals each week. A direct link is below for anyone who is interested. While I have developed an extensive network of two-minute whiteboard animations since last summer as part of my online course modules, I must admit that the itch to develop short videos (that are more interesting than my old Prezi videos in use during the 2020-2021 AY...

An interesting piece this morning on Faculty Focus about using short (instructor) videos in our courses to both connect with students and reinforce learning goals each week. A direct link is below for anyone who is interested. While I have developed an extensive network of two-minute whiteboard animations since last summer as part of my online course modules, I must admit that the itch to develop short videos (that are more interesting than my old Prezi videos in use during the 2020-2021 AY) is once again present.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-course-delivery-and-instruction/video-killed-the-radio-star-text-based-instructional-methods/?st=FFdaily%3Bsc%3DFF211201%3Butm_term%3DFF211201&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Video+Killed+the+R%CC%B7a%CC%B7d%CC%B7i%CC%B7o%CC%B7+S%CC%B7t%CC%B7a%CC%B7r%CC%B7+Text-based+Instructional+Methods&utm_campaign=FF211201

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education c...

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education course requirements.

Those of us who teach these courses know that, too often, many students view gen. ed. requirements as hoops to jump through. Something they must satisfy to graduate. Subjects that, they feel, have little to do with the real world, their intended majors, or envisioned careers. Scheduling and convenience more than genuine interest seem to be the determining factor for many students when they choose to enroll in such courses. Put the head down, muddle through, and get it done with as little effort as possible.

But there might be another way.

In my own ongoing quest to motivate and engage the students in my various IAH courses more effectively, I have come back to Bloom's Taxonomy again and again since first learning about it in the 2016-2017 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy cohort. More specifically, it is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, revised by various scholars for use with 21st century students who exist in an increasingly digital world, that has been especially useful when it comes to designing assessments for my students.

For those who are interested, there are all kinds of sources online -- journal article pdfs, infographics, Youtube explainer videos, etc. -- that will be informative and helpful for anyone who might be interested in learning more. Just search for 'Bloom's Digital Taxonomy' on Google. It's that easy.

For my specific IAH courses, I organize my students into permanent student learning teams early each semester and ask them to create three collaborative projects (including a team reflection). These are due at the end of Week Five, Week 10, and Week 14. Right now, the projects include:

1) A TV Newscast/Talkshow Article Review Video in which teams are ask to locate, report on, review, and evaluate two recent journal articles pertinent to material read or viewed during the first few weeks of the course.

2) A Readers' Guide Digital Flipbook (using Flipsnack) that reviews and evaluates the usefulness of two books, two more recent journal articles, and two blogs or websites on gender and sexuality OR race and ethnicity within the context of specific course materials read or viewed during roughly the middle third of the course.

3) An Academic Poster (due at the end of Week 14) in which student teams revisit course materials and themes related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and identity. In addition, students are asked to examine issues of power, marginalization, disparity, equity, etc. in those same sources and look at how these same issues affect our own societies/cultures of origin in the real world. Finally, student teams (in course as diverse as Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, Horror Cinema, and the upcoming Contemporary Scandinavian and Nordic Authors) are asked to propose realistic, concrete solutions to the social problems facing us.


Anecdotally, student feedback has been largely very favorable so far. Based on remarks in their team reflections this semester (Fall 2021), students report that they enjoy these collaborative, creative projects and feel like they have considerable leeway to shape what their teams develop. Moreover, they also feel that they are learning quite a bit about the material presented as well as valuable 21st century employability skills in the process. Where their all important assignment grades are concerned, student learning teams in my courses are meeting or exceeding expectations with the work they have produced for the first two of three team projects this semester according to the grading rubrics currently in use.

Beginning in Spring 2022, I plan to give my student teams even more agency in choosing how they are assessed and will provide two possible options for each of the three collaborative projects. Right not, these will probably include:

Project #1 (Recent Journal Article Review and Evaluation)-- Powtoon Animated TV Newscast OR Infographic

Project #2 -- (Review and Evaluation of Digital Sources on Gender and Sexuality OR Race and Ethnicty in our specific course materials) a Digital Flipbook OR Podcast

Project #3 -- (Power, Marginality, Disparity, Equity in Course Materials and Real World of 21st Century Problem-Solving) an Interactive E-Poster OR Digital Scrapbook.

Through collaborative projects like these, I am attempting to motivate and engage the students in my IAH courses more effectively, help them to think more actively and critically about the material presented as well as the various social issues that continue to plague our world, and provide them with ample opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will enable their full participation in the globalized world and economy of the 21st century. Bloom's (Revised) Digital Taxonomy, among other resources, continues to facilitate my evolving thought about how best to reach late Gen Y and Gen Z students within a general education context.

If anyone would like to talk more about all of this, offer constructive feedback, or anything else, just drop me a line. I am always looking for those magic beans that will increase student motivation and engagement, and eager to learn more along the way. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy has certainly been one of my three magical helpers in the quest to to do that.

Takk skal dere ha!

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education c...

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education course requirements.

Those of us who teach these courses know that, too often, many students view gen. ed. requirements as hoops to jump through. Something they must satisfy to graduate. Subjects that, they feel, have little to do with the real world, their intended majors, or envisioned careers. Scheduling and convenience more than genuine interest seem to be the determining factor for many students when they choose to enroll in such courses. Put the head down, muddle through, and get it done with as little effort as possible.

But there might be another way.

In my own ongoing quest to motivate and engage the students in my various IAH courses more effectively, I have come back to Bloom's Taxonomy again and again since first learning about it in the 2016-2017 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy cohort. More specifically, it is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, revised by various scholars for use with 21st century students who exist in an increasingly digital world, that has been especially useful when it comes to designing assessments for my students.

For those who are interested, there are all kinds of sources online -- journal article pdfs, infographics, Youtube explainer videos, etc. -- that will be informative and helpful for anyone who might be interested in learning more. Just search for 'Bloom's Digital Taxonomy' on Google. It's that easy.

For my specific IAH courses, I organize my students into permanent student learning teams early each semester and ask them to create three collaborative projects (including a team reflection). These are due at the end of Week Five, Week 10, and Week 14. Right now, the projects include:

1) A TV Newscast/Talkshow Article Review Video in which teams are ask to locate, report on, review, and evaluate two recent journal articles pertinent to material read or viewed during the first few weeks of the course.

2) A Readers' Guide Digital Flipbook (using Flipsnack) that reviews and evaluates the usefulness of two books, two more recent journal articles, and two blogs or websites on gender and sexuality OR race and ethnicity within the context of specific course materials read or viewed during roughly the middle third of the course.

3) An Academic Poster (due at the end of Week 14) in which student teams revisit course materials and themes related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and identity. In addition, students are asked to examine issues of power, marginalization, disparity, equity, etc. in those same sources and look at how these same issues affect our own societies/cultures of origin in the real world. Finally, student teams (in course as diverse as Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, Horror Cinema, and the upcoming Contemporary Scandinavian and Nordic Authors) are asked to propose realistic, concrete solutions to the social problems facing us.


Anecdotally, student feedback has been largely very favorable so far. Based on remarks in their team reflections this semester (Fall 2021), students report that they enjoy these collaborative, creative projects and feel like they have considerable leeway to shape what their teams develop. Moreover, they also feel that they are learning quite a bit about the material presented as well as valuable 21st century employability skills in the process. Where their all important assignment grades are concerned, student learning teams in my courses are meeting or exceeding expectations with the work they have produced for the first two of three team projects this semester according to the grading rubrics currently in use.

Beginning in Spring 2022, I plan to give my student teams even more agency in choosing how they are assessed and will provide two possible options for each of the three collaborative projects. Right not, these will probably include:

Project #1 (Recent Journal Article Review and Evaluation)-- Powtoon Animated TV Newscast OR Infographic

Project #2 -- (Review and Evaluation of Digital Sources on Gender and Sexuality OR Race and Ethnicty in our specific course materials) Flipbook OR Podcast

Project #3 -- (Power, Marginality, Disparity, Equity in Course Materials and Real World of 21st Century Problem-Solving) Electronic Poster OR Digital Scrapbook.

Through collaborative projects like these, I am attempting to motivate and engage the students in my IAH courses more effectively, help them to think more actively and critically about the material presented as well as the various social issues that continue to plague our world, and provide them with ample opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will enable their full participation in the globalized world and economy of the 21st century. Bloom's (Revised) Digital Taxonomy, among other resources, continues to facilitate my evolving thought about how best to reach late Gen Y and Gen Z students within a general education context.

If anyone would like to talk more about all of this, offer constructive feedback, or anything else, just drop me a line. I am always looking for those magic beans that will increase student motivation and engagement, and eager to learn more along the way. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy has certainly been one of my three magical helpers in the quest to to do that.

After attending a learning community yesterday afternoon (and looking at MSU's online guidelines) on diversity, equity, and inclusion, I took a stab at putting together a two-minute Doodly video on the subject but pitched to the students in my courses. I've embedded it within the Week Six module of each course since part of student teamwork next week will be assessing their team dynamic, habits, and processes in the completion of Project #1, which teams are turning in on Friday, October 1st....

After attending a learning community yesterday afternoon (and looking at MSU's online guidelines) on diversity, equity, and inclusion, I took a stab at putting together a two-minute Doodly video on the subject but pitched to the students in my courses. I've embedded it within the Week Six module of each course since part of student teamwork next week will be assessing their team dynamic, habits, and processes in the completion of Project #1, which teams are turning in on Friday, October 1st. Invariably, there will be a few teams who had interpersonal and/or work habit problems due to procrastination, poor planning, or weak organization. I've tried to use very basic DEI guidelines/definitions as a way to help teams think about their approach and improve collaboration for the latter 2/3 of the semester. See what you think. I hope I am not missing the point somehow. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDX61xCHN74

I'm Brittany Dillman and today I will be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Teaching Online: Pedagogy, Assessment & Instructor Presence.

I have my PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from MSU and currently work with the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program in the College of Education. I am currently teaching a learning theories course and a technology teaching across the curriculum course, so I pretty much live, eat, and breath pedagogy, assess...

I'm Brittany Dillman and today I will be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Teaching Online: Pedagogy, Assessment & Instructor Presence.

I have my PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from MSU and currently work with the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program in the College of Education. I am currently teaching a learning theories course and a technology teaching across the curriculum course, so I pretty much live, eat, and breath pedagogy, assessment, and instructor presence in online learning spaces.

Please share your questions, comments, concerns, or ideas by commenting on this post and I'll share what I know (or ask the best questions I can come up with). Let's have a conversation about teaching online!