Many articles and workshops explore complex concepts and tools that may not be suitable for everyone. With this in mind, I asked our instructional design team at ASU Online, “What are some easy, non-technical, low-hanging-fruit-type enhancements for online courses that all instructors should consider? Here are the recommendations we came up with. Continue reading
Whenever student enrollment capacity dramatically increases for an instructor, there are a number of common questions and concerns: How will the increased grading load be managed? How can instructors facilitate a discussion among 100+ students? How will students receive meaningful feedback? Here are some best practices and considerations for managing high-enrollment courses that have been successful in our ASU Online courses. Continue reading
Imagine you’re an online instructor in the middle of a semester. Every week at the 11:58 pm deadline, students submit assignments that barely meet the rubric minimums. The discussion boards and virtual office hours are ghost towns, and you’re not convinced anyone is reading your feedback. What can you do to motivate your online students to engage with the content and go the extra mile with their assignments and studies? Turner and Paris (1995) identified 6 factors to consider in your own course design to improve student motivation: Choice, Constructing Meaning, Control, Challenge, Consequence, and Collaboration. Continue reading
Does your course content use any Adobe Flash elements? This article will break down why Flash is a problem, how to know if you have Flash-based content, and how to replace the most commonly-found uses of Flash-based instructional materials. Continue reading
Easy course navigation is a critical component of a great online course. According to Quality Matters (QM), an organization dedicated to improving online course quality, one of the requirements for a QM certified course is that the, “Course navigation facilitates ease of use” (QM Standard 8.1), adding, “Navigation throughout the course [should be] consistent, logical, and efficient.” Reducing the amount of scrolling, clicking, and searching means your students can spend more time learning the content and they’ll miss fewer critical details like assignment requirements and due dates, resulting in a better overall experience for both students and instructors. Here are nine ways to improve your students’ ability to get where they need to go. Continue reading
True or false?: College courses should never include true or false questions.
True or false questions are notoriously unreliable for student assessment, but used outside of an exam context, they can enhance student engagement.
