Related Articles and Resources.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/topic/articles/


https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/identifying-and-supporting-struggling-students-in-online-courses/


https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-online-teaching?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1078582&cid=nwsltrtn&source=ams&sourceId=4831216

https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/resource-center/articles-resources/ERI-Checklist

COPING WITH CORONAVIRUS

NATIONAL EMERGENCY LIBARY

EMERGENCY LIBRARY ARCHIVES

ACCESSIBLE TEACHING ONLINE 

MORE ON ACCESSIBLE TEACHING

FREE Assistive Technologies

With new environments can come new barriers for people with disabilities as we learn to adapt to new circumstances of working from home, participate in virtual meetings, and teach in virtual classrooms.

The following resources and assistive technologies have been temporarily been made free of charge and become widely accessible for home use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion (Links to an external site.)
• Freedom Scientific has released special, free, short-term licenses of these three softwares for individuals with a personal email address in Canada or the United States
• WordQ (Links to an external site.)
• Quillsoft has an Extended Access Request form for a trial to use for remote work or online learning. Once you fill out the form, they'll email you with your trial information within 24 hrs
• Kurzweil 3000 (Links to an external site.)
• Kurzweil education is offering a free subscription for all during COVID-19

In a short amount of time, students, faculty and staff are having to learn new tools and technologies to manage with the transition to online learning. Below are a few tips regarding the accessibility features of a few of these technologies, to support  the transition:

Accessibility features of Zoom (Links to an external site.)

• Closed captioning (Links to an external site.)
• Automatic transcripts (Links to an external site.)
• Keyboard accessibility – hot keys and keyboard shortcuts (Links to an external site.)
• Screen reader: it is WCAG 2.1 AA compliant

Accessibility features of Microsoft Teams

• Using Microsoft Teams with a screen reader (Links to an external site.)
• Using Live Captions in a Teams meeting (Links to an external site.)
• Changing your viewing settings to high contrast or dark mode

Backwards course design

In this module you will learn about lesson planning using the "Backward Design" approach. Templates for designing lessons will be on following pages.

Start with the End in Mind

Your course outcomes provide the foundation for all lesson planning.

• Outcomes = What your students will be able to do by the end of the course
• Lesson Planning = How you will help them get there

At LWTech, course outcomes are designed by faculty and approved by the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC). Once approved, all faculty who facilitate a particular course teach to the same outcomes.

Approved Course Outcomes for Your Course(s)

You can find your course outcomes in the online catalog.

1. Go to: http://catalog.lwtech.edu (Links to an external site.)
2. In the right-hand navigation, click on Course Descriptions
3. In the Course Filter box, select the prefix for your course (e.g., ENGL&)
4. Click on your specific course in the list of results to access the course information, including outcomes

Once you know the official outcomes for your class, start building on that foundation. This short video shares more about backward design to help you get started.

Start here module

Purpose of Creating a Start Here Module

A Start Here or Getting Started module is a place you can send your students prior to the start of the class to communicate and prepare them to be successful. 

If you click on Modules in the navigation links of this course, you'll notice again that there was a Start Here module. 

Items to include in Start Here module:

• Create a Welcome Page
  • Include information about yourself and how to best communicate with you if they need support.
  • This could include any scheduled office hours you plan to hold over zoom/email/phone. (Let them know your hours and preferred communication modes.)
  • Provide them with highlights of what is in the Start Here module, and why each is important to go through.
• Create and add a Welcome Video (create Video with Canvas Studio)
  • In the video you may be repeating much of what you conveyed on the welcome page. Show enthusiam about the subject they will be learning. Share with them how this course can apply to their program/life so they get WHY it's important to be in this course. Be yourself and be positive and encouraging. (Again, nice for them to see you as a human behind the course.)
• Create a Canvas + Syllabus Overview video providing a quick tour of your Canvas course, maybe also showing programs they may be using, do a quick overview of your syllabus, etc. 
• Add a link to your Syllabus and to any textbook or learning material resources.

Remember to keep videos 10 mins or less. 

Canvas How-to's

You may refer to the Instructor Canvas Guides (Links to an external site.) for step-by-step how-tos on create a module (Links to an external site.) and add items (Links to an external site.) to it. (The purpose of this course is to provide online course design basics, and does not explictly include Canvas how-tos, as there are other resources for Canvas use.)

Good Module Design

Here are some nicely designed Modules examples from Instructure:

Although each uses a different approach, they all have a nicely organized and consistent layout. Beneath each link, I've added notes on what I particularly like about the layout.

Intro to GeologyLinks to an external site. (Links to an external site.)

• • In this example, please notice the nice Course Orientation/Getting Started module and components.
  • Also notice the use of Week by Week modules and the Before Class and After Class sections on those weekly modules to help make expectations of when and what to complete clear. (See Image 1 below.)

History of Ancient CivilizationLinks to an external site. (Links to an external site.)

• • In this example, notice the use of Module and Section Numbering to create a well organized learning unit. (See Image 2 below.)

U.S. History 2 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

• • In this example, notice the use of labeling items clearly with Text to Read, Video, Quiz, etc.  For example in Module 1, the Quiz is title M1 Quiz, and for Module 2, M2 Quiz. (See Image 3 below.)

Images of Good Module Design

Image 1: Notice the use of Week by Week modules and the Before Class and After Class sections on those weekly modules to help make expectations of when and what to complete clear.

 

Image 2: Notice the use of Module and Section Numbering to create a well organized learning unit.

 

Image 3: Notice the use of labeling items clearly with Text to Read, Video, Quiz, etc.  For example in Module 1, the Quiz is title M1 Quiz, and for Module 2, M2 Quiz.

  

Seattle Central Simple Template

The eLearning folks at Seattle Central created a Module Template. It is another great example of great module design.

Image 4: Notice the use of Text Headers within module such as "Read & Watch" and "Complete & Submit". Also notice the clear labeling of everything added within the module:

 

 

Organization of Modules.

Clear Path to Learning + Activities

An essential part to an online learning environments is a clear path to learning materials and learning activities that students will be participating in. An organized course can go a long ways to help reduce student anxiety or frustration. If they are simply logging in to turn in an assignment or participate in a discussion, they shouldn't have to spend too much time finding the (file/tool/assignment/discussion/etc) they need at that moment. 

The better the organization the easier it becomes for both students and instructors to locate the materials they need.   

Introducing Modules

One of the best features within Canvas to help you design your course to be efficient and effective is the Modules area.   

• Modules allow you to add  learning materials (lectures, videos, handouts, discussions, assignments, etc.) in a linear and highly organized format.  
• You can use Modules to organize course content by weeks, units, or a different organizational structure that you prefer. 
• Each module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials. 

On the next page, you will see some good examples of module organization.

Course design checklist

Basics to Get Started

The [To-Do] Complete Checklist that you just went through in this module, along with the other content in this course is a GREAT START for any online course, and some of the steps are specific to teaching online at LWTech. These ensure you are taking steps to "humanize" and communicate guidelines and expectations for your course, which go a LONG ways in the online environment.

If You Want More

If you are already experienced in Canvas and want to go even further with refining and improving your online course design, check out the WA Course Design Checklist (Links to an external site.). This WA Course Design Checklist was created by Alissa Sells at SBCTC, along with a focus group of our system faculty. At this time, I would consider this list as something that you can continue using now and in the future as you are comfortable, but do not feel you need to do everything on this list for Spring Qtr. It is very detailed.

Welcome Email

Purpose of a Welcome Email

Creating a welcome is yet another way to reach out to students to let them know you are there as their instructor, introduce yourself, welcome them, and point them towards the Getting Started section of the course.

If you didn't see it earlier in the course, there was a section titled Communicte, Communicate and Communicate some More! In the online environment, remember that some repetition is good, particularly when the class is getting started.

Remember your students are probably in other courses, not just yours, so they will be receiving a lot of different messaging. But if there's some consistency that they see over and over from each of you, pointing them to a Getting Started section of each course, that message of consistency will be felt and appreciated by them. It will add a level of familiarity of "walking in the door", in this class, the virtual door, and knowing what they need to do to get started!

Canvas How-to's

You may refer to the Instructor Canvas Guides (Links to an external site.) for step-by-step how-tos on how to send a message (email) to all students in your course (Links to an external site.). (The purpose of this course is to provide online course design basics, and does not explictly include Canvas how-tos, as there are other resources for Canvas use.)