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 90

Course Design Students Exams Feedback 90

Faculty Focus

MAY 15, 2025

This project started with a deceptively simple question: What arent our students telling us? I wanted to change thatnot just by asking better questions, but by building an open-access platform that would amplify student voices and inform actionable change. Tessa Wolf strengthened our commitment to inclusive course design.

Disabilities 54

Disabilities Course Design Lecturing Students 54

Edsurge

APRIL 8, 2020

As professors and K-12 teachers adjust to the sudden move to online teaching, one question keeps coming up: How much of class time should be done live—known in education parlance as “synchronous” teaching—and how much should be done so that students can do the work at their convenience—or “asynchronous” teaching.

Teaching 218

Teaching Instructors Distance Learning Lecturing 218

Edsurge

MARCH 7, 2024

But the experiment points to interesting possibilities — and raises ethical questions — about how the latest AI tech might be used to improve teaching. The AI agents will also be fed information from the course syllabi and turn in assignments. So does he think the chatbots will be able to pass his courses? “At

Intelligence 211

Intelligence Syllabus Feedback Assignments 211

Edsurge

MAY 6, 2020

The crucial question that has emerged is: how do we engage learners when we are not together physically? When it comes to learning, engagement is influenced by a learner's level of motivation, focus and cognitive ability as well as online course design and a teacher's decisions regarding facilitation style.

Motivation 218

Motivation Education Learning Feedback 218

Edsurge

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

You can pose a question for a future column here. Reader Question: Dear Bonni, I know it is important to be able to address the needs of diverse learners. Moore have organized the self-assessment tool into three sections: The context and design of your course. The text of your syllabus and course design.

Syllabus 152

Syllabus Teaching Beliefs Instructors 152

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

A) Choose questions that most students will be able to answer correctly. B) Vary the types of poll questions beyond multiple choice. D) Stress that students answer questions independent of their peers. Here are a few tips: Scaffold your questions as class progresses. Select all that apply. Play with the polls.

Instructors 144

Instructors Multiple Choice Questions Course Design Discussions 144

Faculty Focus

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

This faculty member may give exams and may collect student artifacts, such as projects or papers, but the faculty really doesn’t connect student performance with the course design or classroom experience. In this scenario, the faculty might be more preoccupied with the question, “Am I doing my job?” Broadbent, J., Peterson, E.

Feedback 126

Feedback Course Design Assignments Evaluation 126

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

Louis’ Olin Business School encourages instructors to select a few questions to create an authentic course introduction video. 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.

Instructors 116

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 116

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.

Lecturing 126

Lecturing Feedback Evaluation Course Design 126

Edsurge

JANUARY 13, 2017

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”? What attributes of course design and applications of technology transform outcomes and impact, as opposed to gratuitous investment in technology for technology’s sake?

Multiple Choice Questions 127

Multiple Choice Questions Instructors Textbooks Feedback 127

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

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 6, 2024

Research on faculty perceptions suggests that the ideal enrollment for online courses is lower than what they would consider suitable for high-enrollment courses, with course design playing a crucial role. 2021) Immediate or timely detailed feedback is especially important in online and condensed courses.

Instructors 116

Instructors Course Design Students Authentic Assessment 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

Louis’ Olin Business School encourages instructors to select a few questions to create an authentic course introduction video. 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.

Instructors 105

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 105

Faculty Focus

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

This faculty member may give exams and may collect student artifacts, such as projects or papers, but the faculty really doesn’t connect student performance with the course design or classroom experience. In this scenario, the faculty might be more preoccupied with the question, “Am I doing my job?” Broadbent, J., Peterson, E.

Feedback 111

Feedback Course Design Assignments Evaluation 111

Faculty Focus

JUNE 2, 2024

This poses the question: How can we best serve our online students? This is in addition to online announcements posted in the Learning Management System and individualized outreach for folks who miss an assignment.

Syllabus 131

Syllabus Course Design Learning Students 131

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

Similarly, if you can, stick around for a few minutes after class so that students can ask you questions they might not have felt comfortable asking in front of others. Provide meaningful feedback Another way to achieve both of the above goals, and support student learning, is to provide students with clear, supportive feedback on their work.

Teaching 119

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 119

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. Artifact Type Key Steps Questions for Analysis Next Steps Agenda from class session Read through your agenda and highlight key words, actions, and topics.

Feedback 116

Feedback Beliefs Lecturing Participation 116

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. This lack of consistency can create confusion and unnecessary cognitive load for students who are taking multiple classes in a term, each one with a very different-looking course shell.

Syllabus 122

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 122

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.

Lecturing 110

Lecturing Feedback Evaluation Course Design 110

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Photo Credit: Tina Nazerian Consider Pedagogy and Course Design Safeguarding a course from cheating can come down to the very design of the course itself. For example, a course that has two big tests worth 80 percent of a student’s grade can create anxiety because the stakes are so high.

Academic Integrity 147

Academic Integrity Exams Assignments Instructors 147

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. Artifact Type Key Steps Questions for Analysis Next Steps Agenda from class session Read through your agenda and highlight key words, actions, and topics.

Feedback 111

Feedback Beliefs Lecturing Participation 111

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. Paradoxically, the abundance of technology in STEM classrooms, for me, has reprioritized the non-STEM disciplines that ask philosophical questions about human connection.

Technology 167

Technology Teaching Intellectual Development Instructors 167

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

Similarly, if you can, stick around for a few minutes after class so that students can ask you questions they might not have felt comfortable asking in front of others. Provide meaningful feedback Another way to achieve both of the above goals, and support student learning, is to provide students with clear, supportive feedback on their work.

Teaching 111

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 111

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 6, 2024

Research on faculty perceptions suggests that the ideal enrollment for online courses is lower than what they would consider suitable for high-enrollment courses, with course design playing a crucial role. 2021) Immediate or timely detailed feedback is especially important in online and condensed courses.

Instructors 98

Instructors Course Design Students Authentic Assessment 98

Faculty Focus

MAY 15, 2025

This project started with a deceptively simple question: What arent our students telling us? I wanted to change thatnot just by asking better questions, but by building an open-access platform that would amplify student voices and inform actionable change. Tessa Wolf strengthened our commitment to inclusive course design.

Disabilities 64

Disabilities Course Design Lecturing Students 64

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

This drastic class redesign demanded that I ask myself some big questions: what content was required, what elements of learning could students control and what traditional and new measures I could use to gauge progress? Almost every question led to another. From 2011-2015, I continued to iterate on the course design for my class.

Syllabus 156

Syllabus Learning Course Outline History 156

Faculty Focus

JUNE 2, 2024

This poses the question: How can we best serve our online students? This is in addition to online announcements posted in the Learning Management System and individualized outreach for folks who miss an assignment.

Syllabus 110

Syllabus Course Design Learning Students 110

Edsurge

OCTOBER 10, 2017

During that summer meeting, the teachers answered three specific questions. Based on this feedback, we decided to scale back some of the options. Personalization is now part of our course design process and is making its way into each and every one of our classes. What about the ILPs worked well for you?

Teachers 163

Teachers Lecturing Blended Learning Students 163

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. This lack of consistency can create confusion and unnecessary cognitive load for students who are taking multiple classes in a term, each one with a very different-looking course shell.

Syllabus 105

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 105

Scholarly Teacher

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

The program fosters student agency in learning through solidarity, creates a sense of belonging and self-efficacy for students and instructors, integrates teaching approaches responsive to students’ learning needs, and builds a culture of openness to student feedback (Cavazos, 2024; Cavazos & Chapa, 2023; Cavazos et al.,

Teaching 98

Teaching Instructors English Languages 98

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Each theme included prompt questions designed to encourage the use of specific vocabulary covered during the course. Of the 11 students who participated, 72% expressed positive feedback, finding the AI conversation to be a helpful tool for practicing Spanish.

Language 124

Language Languages Writing Communication 124

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

DECEMBER 10, 2023

Adding quiz due dates also provided students with grades and feedback earlier in the semester. Online learning can exceed those expectations by providing students with immediate quiz feedback. We also made note of commonly missed quiz questions and posted further explanations and examples after quiz due dates. Jossey-Bass.

Quizzes 126

Quizzes Teaching Learning Feedback 126

Faculty Focus

APRIL 10, 2025

Many professors may not be familiar with, A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning , a resource designed to do just what it says. From this, Fink developed a model known as integrated course design which consists of three phases: the initial, intermediate and final design phases.

Course Design 64

Course Design Students Active Learning Activities 64