Level One Badges: Participation
Best Practices in the online classroom
A great session that provides an overview of the biggest topics in online learning, this two-hour presentation outlines several major ways that courses are impacted by the online environment, and also discusses how to deal with these challenges to maximize student learning. Best practices and pedagogical considerations will be discussed around topics such as: communication, interaction, feedback, engagement, teaching presence, content considerations, accessibility, and fostering an online learning community.
Accessibility and Usability in Online Courses
Focusing on General Standard 8 of the Quality Matters rubric, this presentation will help make you aware of how to consider accessibility and usability when designing your online course. We'll cover best practices for navigation and course structure, as well as easy ways to make course content more accessible for all learners. While this is not a hands-on workshop, you will come away with some strategies to help you be proactive about accessibly and usability issues, and can follow-up with Student Accessibility Services for further information or training.
breaking new ground: rethinking content in your online course
This presentation will discuss considerations and strategies for online course content, including: reconceptualizing traditional lectures, attending to content strategy, considering alignment, and thinking about rigor in online courses. You'll leave with do-able takeaways to help you storyboard and create online presentations, evaluate the type and amount of content in your course, find educational content you can use from other sources, and ensure that your materials support students doing well on your assignments. For those of you interested in Quality Matters, this workshop will help you design a course that will meet General Standard 4 of the QM Rubric(TM) .
Creating Effective and Engaging Online Assignments
This informational presentation will highlight the importance of clear assignment instructions and expectations in online courses, and provide you with a worksheet to think through your assignment prompts. You'll also discuss how to ensure your assignments are aligned with your objectives, and the benefits of scaffolding larger assessments to improve student learning. Finally, over a dozen different types of online assignments will be presented, along with takeaway handouts that will help you consider new options for your online classroom.
Designing with Quality Matters
This presentation introduces you to instructional design methods and best practices for the online environment. You will gain an overview of the backward design process, which promotes a well-aligned course that is focused on student learning outcomes, as well as an introduction to the Quality Matters rubric, which can serve as both a guide and checklist for the design of online courses. If you’d like to continue to work on the design of your course, great follow-up options would be: attending the Applying the QM Rubric full-day, in-person workshop, or enrolling in the Designing your Online Course fully-online, asynchronous workshop.
Effective online discussions
Get the most out of using online discussions to promote interaction and engagement! This workshop addresses the challenges and rewards of utilizing discussions effectively in the online classroom. If you think there’s only one way to do an online discussion, come to this workshop to learn about several ways to approach an interactive, online discussion that will leave your students (and you!) re-invigorated and engaged. Other topics include: writing clear expectations and instructions, considering deadlines and grading, using effective facilitation strategies, and developing engaging discussion prompts to promote critical thinking. In addition, hands-on activities will be included to allow you a chance to engage with the workshop material.
Rubrics and Feedback: Providing accurate assessment and effective feedback
In this workshop, you’ll get ideas and best practices for providing feedback (including audio and screencast feedback!) for several Bb tools, including Assignments and Discussions. We’ll also help you think through the creation of your rubrics, using the Bb Rubric tool, and provide you with some rubric templates and examples to help you get started. This in-person session includes applied activities where Kent State staff will be on-hand to help answer questions.
Hitting the Mark: Checklists for Online Quality
Whether you're developing a new online course or have been teaching online for years, Kent State Online can help you decide on important components to include, as well as prioritize your time for course development or revision. In this presentation, we'll discuss checklists for Design & Development (separated into Basic and Advanced), as well as checklists for Accessibility, Course copy and prep, and Online teaching. Come join the discussion to hear about online course components that are vital to student learning, as well as resources that can help you "hit the mark".
Springboard for Success: Using Kent State Online templates to get you and your students off to a great start
Did you know that Kent State Online has created a Bb course template and online course syllabus template for faculty to use? Contrary to what you might think, these templates do not infringe on your course content, nor do they prescribe that you design your course in a specific way. They really can benefit you and your students, however, as they include things such as: university policies and links to university resources, clear links and descriptions for technology help, editable wording for netiquette and communication policies, and much, much more! In this presentation, we'll showcase the Kent State Online templates, including what they contain, how to access them, and how to edit/modify them. For those of you interested in Quality Matters, we'll also detail the QM standards that are met in the templates through included items and item placeholders. Want to get off to a great start with your new online course or revision? Start with the Kent State Online templates!