6x16
-
Reflections on Unfiltered Student Feedback on an Online Course
Last year, I sent two of my online courses through the Quality Matters process. Both my ENG 101 and my ENG 102 courses are now officially Quality Matters certified, and my ENG 101 is serving as the shell for our new English adjuncts. The point, as most of you know, of QM is to ensure that students are getting the best possible course–a course that well-designed and in which the learning activities clearly address the learning outcomes. Even with all of the time and effort it took to create QM certified courses, I still look at them each semester and find things I can do to make them better. As…
-
Have you used Canva?
I’ve had several people comment on images/flyers that I’ve created this semester. It always makes me smile because I know how very easy it was to create them! For those of us who don’t have a knack for graphic design, Canva.com offers a fantastic short-cut to well-crafted images and documents. Whether you are wanting to update the look of your online courses or create a flyer advertising your spring classes, Canva.com is a fantastic (and, mostly, free) resource. Just create a free account with Canva, and you, too, can make beautiful flyers like this one (shameless plug for Beth’s amazing Women in Lit course) : women in lit I also…
-
The Power of “My Why”
At the Summer Institute last May, the keynote speakers talked about helping students to connect with their ‘why’ as a tool to foster student success. I will never forget an illustration of the power of the ‘why’ I heard at an event years ago. Imagine that you are at the top of a 100 story highrise. A 2×4 board is balanced between the top of the building you are standing on and the building 100 feet away. All around you, a blizzard is raging. It’s windy, and snowing so hard you can hardly see. The board is covered with snow and ice. Would you cross that slippery bridge for $1,000?…
-
To Notebowl, or Not to Notebowl…
I started using Notebowl in my composition classes over the summer in the hopes that it would increase student engagement in discussions. Here we are, at almost the mid-way point in the fall semester, and the jury is still out. Notebowl definitely has some great features, but there are also some significant drawbacks to the user experience. Notebowl promises a better discussion experience for students–one that will increase engagement by looking more like the social media platforms that students are used to. I’m not so sure that Notebowl is significantly better in this regard. Here’s a look at a Notebowl discussion vs a Canvas discussion: Visually, the two discussions are…
-
An Experiment with Badgr
Last summer, I implemented a new component into all of my courses–Badgr. My goal is to incentivize behaviors that I know will increase my students’ ability to succeed in my course, in their academic careers, and in their futures. I started by making a list of activities that I know increase student success. As I made my list, I included activities that would engage students in the culture of YC, as well as those that are simply habits of successful people. So, students will find options from goal-setting to joining a YC club. Then, I created simple assignments to go along with each activity–take a selfie at a YC event…