Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 12, 2019

It’s clear to me that the course design–how I lay out the mix of resources, homework, classwork, and more–affects how students absorb and share knowledge. One of our Ask a Tech Teacher contributors knows a lot about how course design impacts learning. All of this starts with a good course design.

Course Design 89

Course Design Students Exams Feedback 89

Faculty Focus

MAY 15, 2025

Each semester, the surveys were refined based on student feedback and changing classroom dynamics. Dr. Emily Tarconish, a teaching professor in the College of Education, contributed her deep knowledge of Universal Design for Learning and accessible course design. They are co-creators of it.

Disabilities 54

Disabilities Course Design Lecturing Students 54

Edsurge

MAY 6, 2020

Recent class discussions have focused on the difficulties of getting through to students without in-person contact, especially during a time of enormous stress. Being an engaged teacher online means being visible in the class, whether that’s through discussion posts, announcements or assignment feedback.

Motivation 218

Motivation Education Learning Feedback 218

Edsurge

APRIL 8, 2020

The instructor can lecture and students can ask questions, or the instructor can lead a live discussion. She’s also the author of the book “ The Perfect Blend: A Practical Guide to Designing Student-Centered Learning Experiences ,” published by ISTE, EdSurge’s parent organization. Everyone sends in their reply by a set deadline.

Teaching 218

Teaching Instructors Distance Learning Lecturing 218

Edsurge

MARCH 7, 2024

That’s an approach that’s grown over the past decade or so where colleges try to harness the digital breadcrumbs left by students as they move through digital platforms and online course materials to find patterns that can improve course design and even personalize material for individual students. “AI

Intelligence 213

Intelligence Syllabus Feedback Assignments 213

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Unlike the end-of-semester feedback, when gathering formative feedback on what’s helping or hindering student learning might be too late, mid-term analysis of our teaching and student learning may help motivate students and enhance their learning. Sound familiar? Adding small activities for engagement.

Student Engagement 131

Student Engagement Lecturing Students Feedback 131

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

C) Ask students “Please discuss your answer with a neighbor.” Faculty risk excluding certain students and impeding their ability to succeed when they aren’t intentional about design and facilitation. Instructors often ask students to pair with their neighbors and “discuss” their answer. Select all that apply. Yeah, me too.”

Instructors 144

Instructors Multiple Choice Questions Course Design Discussions 144

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2025

Trusting students does not mean ignoring accountability; it means designing courses, policies, and practices that build their confidence and skills while treating them as equal partners in their education. Collaborative syllabus design: During the first class, engage students in setting community and classroom norms and goals.

Plagiarism 122

Plagiarism Syllabus Ethics Feedback 122

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 6, 2024

It’s important to consider the unique dynamics of each learning environment when discussing whether class caps for online and in-person courses should be the same. Given the absence of physical presence, online instructors must rely heavily on digital tools to communicate, facilitate discussions, and assess student progress.

Instructors 116

Instructors Course Design Students Authentic Assessment 116

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

Based on that feedback, the professor, Julia Parra, says she changed the assignment to make it broader, and more inclusive. Instead of just superheroes, she invites students to think about their own cultural icons and cultural representations, and use that to design a character. She takes the approach of co-designing.

Culture 154

Culture Teaching Syllabus English 154

Edsurge

JANUARY 13, 2017

Print content was uploaded and accessible via the LMS, where faculty could view discussion prompts and suggestions. A few trees were saved, but courses weren’t any smarter. So if automation and interactivity differentiate a smart phone from a phone, what makes a course “smart”? Enable Feedback Loops and Continuous Improvement.

Multiple Choice Questions 136

Multiple Choice Questions Instructors Textbooks Feedback 136

Edsurge

JANUARY 2, 2019

In addition to using technology in my own biology courses, I also work with faculty across the country on how to teach with technology through an inclusive lens. In my experience, graduate training in STEM tends to lack any discussion of this. Leverage partners. Provide opportunities for yourself to reflect.

Technology 167

Technology Teaching Intellectual Development Instructors 167

Edsurge

OCTOBER 10, 2017

The discussions are always rich and engaging, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, our efforts to scale them were always coming up short. From there, it was only natural to start applying some of the concepts we discussed using with students in our own professional development. of Wayne Township in Indianapolis.

Teachers 163

Teachers Lecturing Blended Learning Students 163

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

In higher education, there has been an over-reliance on administering summative assessments and simply assigning student grades, often with minimal to no feedback provided prior to the conclusion of the course. Providing student feedback on an assessment, or any assignment, provides extensive value.

Fairness 122

Fairness Instructors Feedback Evaluation 122

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 6, 2024

It’s important to consider the unique dynamics of each learning environment when discussing whether class caps for online and in-person courses should be the same. Given the absence of physical presence, online instructors must rely heavily on digital tools to communicate, facilitate discussions, and assess student progress.

Instructors 98

Instructors Course Design Students Authentic Assessment 98

Edsurge

OCTOBER 7, 2019

Evenchik, an assistant professor of the practice at the Carroll School, has taught in university-level classrooms for over 30 years and has spent two decades teaching courses online. Evenchik knew that delivering top-notch, online graduate-level courses required finding the right LXD team. Student discussion at Boston College.

Learning 144

Learning Gamification Course Design Textbooks 144

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 9, 2025

When our students overcome obstacles in their learning due to our support and encouragement, or experience transformations from our well-constructed course design and subsequent instruction, we succeed in cultivating spaces where their success is made possible. Student success is teacher success.

Students 122

Students Motivation Feedback Communication 122

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Be Present Being present in your online course goes beyond delivering the curriculum and providing assignment feedback. Consider using video for announcements, lesson overviews, and feedback. Provide options such as virtual meeting links for office hours and a discussion board for questions.

Instructors 116

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 116

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2025

Trusting students does not mean ignoring accountability; it means designing courses, policies, and practices that build their confidence and skills while treating them as equal partners in their education. Collaborative syllabus design: During the first class, engage students in setting community and classroom norms and goals.

Plagiarism 98

Plagiarism Syllabus Ethics Feedback 98

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Unlike the end-of-semester feedback, when gathering formative feedback on what’s helping or hindering student learning might be too late, mid-term analysis of our teaching and student learning may help motivate students and enhance their learning. Sound familiar? Adding small activities for engagement.

Student Engagement 98

Student Engagement Lecturing Students Feedback 98

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

Try mixing up how students participate by facilitating small and large group discussions, as well as providing ways for students to participate non-verbally, through the use of discussion boards or response systems. Utilize the Wise feedback model. Use formative assessment.

Teaching 119

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 119

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

In higher education, there has been an over-reliance on administering summative assessments and simply assigning student grades, often with minimal to no feedback provided prior to the conclusion of the course. Providing student feedback on an assessment, or any assignment, provides extensive value.

Fairness 111

Fairness Instructors Feedback Evaluation 111

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Easily overlooked in this process can be maintaining the use of outside experts as guest speakers, panelists, or evaluators because of condensed class formats and the reliance on asynchronous elements in online course designs. All four approaches preserve an essential element of traditional brick-and-mortar classroom experiences.

Lecturing 126

Lecturing Feedback Evaluation Course Design 126

Faculty Focus

JUNE 2, 2024

Online student struggles When you think of “student support,” you probably think about an academic-based intervention; perhaps on-campus or Zoom-based tutoring, a writing center that can provide feedback and services related to class writing assignments, or services for students with accommodations.

Syllabus 131

Syllabus Course Design Learning Students 131

Faculty Focus

MARCH 19, 2023

The Business Education Design Thinking Instructional Model (Wickam et al., For example, written papers and class discussion are assignments that can be used to aid students in reflecting on each stage of the design thinking process (Clark & Brennan, 1991; Grandzol & Grandzol, 2006; Wickam et al.,

Course Design 116

Course Design Testing Feedback Assignments 116

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 9, 2025

When our students overcome obstacles in their learning due to our support and encouragement, or experience transformations from our well-constructed course design and subsequent instruction, we succeed in cultivating spaces where their success is made possible. Student success is teacher success.

Students 111

Students Motivation Feedback Communication 111

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Be Present Being present in your online course goes beyond delivering the curriculum and providing assignment feedback. Consider using video for announcements, lesson overviews, and feedback. Provide options such as virtual meeting links for office hours and a discussion board for questions.

Instructors 105

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 105

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 13, 2024

Posting grades and feedback weeks or months after assignment submission is frustrating for students, especially for assignments that build on one another. Ensure content in the LMS course matches syllabus content and information (it’s ok to have information in both the syllabus and the LMS).

Syllabus 122

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 122

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

Try mixing up how students participate by facilitating small and large group discussions, as well as providing ways for students to participate non-verbally, through the use of discussion boards or response systems. Utilize the Wise feedback model. Use formative assessment.

Teaching 111

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 111

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Tip 1: Conduct an artifact analysis Grab some coffee , settle in, and then gather your meeting agenda, minutes, and feedback data from the class session you held. Were statements made solely by you, or was time spent with students debriefing, acknowledging, questioning for clarification, and providing feedback?

Feedback 116

Feedback Beliefs Lecturing Participation 116

Faculty Focus

DECEMBER 5, 2024

Access: Building Bridges to Opportunity Accessible Course Design Accessibility in online education goes beyond compliance with legal requirements. It involves designing courses that accommodate diverse learning needs and preferences. Personalized feedback demonstrates the instructors investment in each students success.

Accessibility 105

Accessibility Disabilities Education Culture 105

Faculty Focus

MAY 30, 2023

Additionally, this approach balanced the need for high-levels of faculty-student interaction as well as personalized feedback within a growing class size, a previously challenging task. The target course was a completely asynchronous and was redesigned into three blocks, each containing five modules.

Student Engagement 98

Student Engagement Assignments Instructors Students 98

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2024

Establish and maintain an inclusive community: During the first days of class, it is important to initiate an anonymous survey and a follow-up discussion about what makes students feel valued, seen, respected, included, challenged, and supported by the instructor and their peers. This type of intellectual rigor is desirable in course design.

Syllabus 132

Syllabus Exams Students Motivation 132

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 4, 2022

How do you fold the remote students into discussions and activities? All of this also requires feedback from both of your audiences. But what you don’t see is the feedback the host gets from the director and staff of the show. How do you know if the remote students can see and hear you?

Feedback 105

Feedback Minute Papers Mobile Devices Discussions 105

Gaggle Speaks

MAY 8, 2015

Transform Discussion Boards. Discussion boards are a great way to assess whether students are grasping foundational knowledge. Typically, discussion board posts are rubric-focused and require a certain number of posts and responses. Provide a Feedback Loop.

Learning Spaces 83

Learning Spaces Hybrid Courses Learning Assignments 83

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Tip 1: Conduct an artifact analysis Grab some coffee , settle in, and then gather your meeting agenda, minutes, and feedback data from the class session you held. Were statements made solely by you, or was time spent with students debriefing, acknowledging, questioning for clarification, and providing feedback?

Feedback 111

Feedback Beliefs Lecturing Participation 111

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 12, 2025

Consideration 2: Identify the Learning Experience After reflecting on your course design, the second consideration is to identify the type of experience you want students to engage in that can help bridge the gap between theory and practice and determine how you will assess their success.

Learning 107

Learning Evaluation Students Course Design 107