Digital Equity

Equity-Oriented Technology with Digital Learning Systems was presented by Korah Wiley and Julie Neisler (abstract). The presenters conducted a survey of student perceptions of course quality. They assumed that centering learning around equity is urgent, implementing digital learning is critical which can in turn promote equity and finally that students are experts on their own experience. 

Alternative Text: screenshot from presentation, includes definitions for foundational terms including equity, digital learning, online and hybrid.

They summarized their findings based on course quality and culture, focusing on which modalities do you expect to be similar between online and hybrid learning environments. 

Alternative Text: screenshot from presentation, includes student profiles for online and hybrid students. 

The top five similarities that they saw for online and hybrid students include

• Cognitive engagement
• Timely tech support
• The need for instructors to create a sense of partnership with students 
• demonstrated that they cared about the student
• there to offer support
• Supportive peers outside class
• development of community
• peer interaction
• care about them as individuals
• interactions happened at a regular frequency
• Low rates of feelings of marginalization

The top five differences include

• Cost of software/textbooks
• greater problem experienced by hybrid students
• perhaps online students did not buy the textbook, or their instructors were more reliant on OER?
• Share experiences
• hybrid instructors did a great job of ensuring comfort
• easier to interact at a more human level
• generally instructors may be more comfortable teaching in a F2F learning environment
• Course learned content well
• less likely in online despite similarities in cognitive engagement
• hybrid students had more contact with instructor which may have lead to higher success rates
• more distractions when you are an online student
• Staying motivated
• more difficult online
• responsibility showing up in person, but can easily disengage when you on Zoom
• hybrid students have the benefit of a more regular schedule
• Overall course satisfaction
• hybrid students more likely to be very satisfied, yet rates for online and hybrid students both significantly higher then in 2020.

Instructor Presence

The fourth and final module in the Instructional Design course focused on Instructor Presence in an online course.  I thought this module was particularly helpful because so much of the focus in online instruction is the creation of the learning objects.  It is important to remember that your presence in the classroom promotes learning, understanding, community and achievement of the learning outcomes, and moves you from "information gatekeeper to facilitator" (Library Juice Academy, 2020, para. 1).

This module provides some hints on establishes and maintaining your presence within the course.  Everything from ice breakers and welcome activities to moderating discussion posts and providing feedback for students. While developing relationships with your students is infinitely more difficulty online, McCroskey (1992) concluded an instructor’s credibility was determined in three primary dimensions: caring, competence, and trustworthiness. Being presence and demonstrating that you care about your students, you are knowledge about your subject matter and that you follow through (or do what you say you will do) all help in creating a positive learning environment for your students.  

References
Library Juice Academy.  (2020) Online Instructional Design and Delivery [Online Course offered M. O'Malley].  Retrieved from https://www.libraryjuiceacademy.com/moodle/mod/book/view.php?id=36985 

McCroskey, J. S. (1992). An Introduction to Communication in the Classroom. Edina, MN: Burgess International.

Baby Steps

I recently watched Flower Darby's webinar entitled 8 Small Teaching Strategies that Deliver Big Results to Engage Online Students an Improve Learning.  The webinar was offered through Magna Online Courses.

She started the webinar by posing two questions that instructor's can ask themselves when transitioning content into an online learning environment: How do help others to learn and succeed in an online teaching environment? and How do we create an environment that is welcoming and supported?  Students working online often feel like socially isolated, which is compounded in our current circumstances (COVID-19).

There is an assumption that students can easily navigate online courses with little external supports, but that is not always the case.  Many students feel anxious.  Students may have had a past experience that was negative or no experience whatsoever.  They may be unsure of what to expect or feel a lack of being supported by their instructors or others in the institution.  Faculty can also experience anxiety, or a lack or engagement working online.  They may have no training teaching online and therefore do not know what to expect.  Almost everyone is familiar with the social norms of a F2F classroom (i.e.: teacher at the front, students in desks) but many people have no experience with online classrooms.

Online is a viable option for learning as it improves access to education.  Yet we need to ensure that students have the organizational skills, motivation and confidence to reach out when they feel they need help.  Problems facing disadvantaged, or under-prepared can be amplified online, so supports need to be in place to help these students.

It is important to acknowledge the emotional presence as a part of teaching and learning. 

Her final takeaways were:

1. Make small adjustments or modifications and use backward design intentionally.  
2. Harness the science of emotion - as an instructor be passionate about your topic and be emphatic to your students (show them that you care).
3. Design your program for persistence and success
4. Make cognitive connections.  Activate prior knowledge, train students how to categorize knowledge and provide a framework for the course work.  

Saskatchewan Polytechnic has a copy of her book, Small Teaching Online, written with James Lang.

My Stand Up Comedy Routine

I recently attended "Using Humor to Engage Students in the Classroom by Dr. M. Cundall through Faculty Focus, a webinar that was made available by Magna Online Courses.  

Some of the key takeaways from this session included: 

• Finding humour in the incongruities and as a method to build relationships with students.
• Acknowledging that there are many different ways to engage with students and using humour can be very effective provided that you do so with caution.  You must know your audience and be thoughtful in which types of humour you try to employ.  Observe the classroom environment and act accordingly. 
• The use of self-deprecating humour can help to humanize you, and make you more authentic to your students (I definitely make fun of myself all the time when I am teaching and play to the many librarian stereotypes).  One such method is to recognize your errors and poke fun at yourself for the error.  
• Classrooms are performative, so end with your best joke!

The webinar provided a different perspective on learning.  It acknowledges that you can be silly or funny and still respected professionally.  If the goal of teaching is to increase engagement and provide meaningful learning activities, then you can (and should) have fun doing so!

Resources

The third module in the Instructional Design course from Library Juice Academy covered the creation of learning outcomes and the use of supplemental materials.  

Learning materials fall into several categories:

• The traditional commercially published textbook model.  Many publishers are making their packages more lucrative by including learning objects, such as PPT, test banks, instructional videos, etc.  These additional items leave me wondering if they take teaching out of instruction and out of the institution.  The instruction materials covered by the publisher rely on use of the textbook from start to finish.  The instructor becoming dependent on what is available from the publisher and at the will of updates/edits/adaptations that are made by said company.
• Library resources is a viable alternative, removing many copyright restrictions.  Library resources can be embedded in class materials through a permalink.  When an instructor used a permalink to share content, the library can capture accurate usage statistics.  Also, providing references increases awareness of this type of information and how it can be used as search clues for retrieving content.
• OER is another option that is gaining traction in post-secondary institutions.  OER allows for more flexibility and versatility of instruction, as the instructor can pick and choose what works for them and their teaching activities. 

This module included some basic information about accessibility: 

• Visual - screen readers, considerations of font and colour variances 
• Hearing - save chat transcript, consideration synchronous vs. asynchronous courses and how that might effective the needs of your students.  Ask yourself, what arrangements need to be made in advance?  

A good source for further information on this topic is: https://webaim.org.  This is a very important topic and I encourage you to delve deeper into it.   

Online Assessment

School cancellations struck with appropriately 3 weeks left in the school year for the majority of students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic.  Although it was challenging to get classes up and running online, it was not an insurmountable obstacle.  Students knew the syllabus, and knew what their assignments were for the remainder of the semester.  In comparison to K12 schools, minimal content needed to be transitioned from F2F to online.  

The big problem: how do you assess students online?  As year-end finals typically rely on our Test Centres, or huge gymnasiums that are set up for this purpose.  

In my Instructional Design demo course from Library Juice Academy the second module discusses online assessment.  The instructor Mimi O'Malley noted early in the module that online students are often self-sufficient learners, likely with strong time management skills.  In the absence of F2F classrooms where students could clarify instructions for an assignment or exam, online instructors need to give thorough explanations and step-by-step instructions for these activities or students are likely to become muddled.  O'Malley states 'more is better' in online learning environments.  Provide concise, clear directions and perhaps spelled it out more than you think you should.  Despite being self-sufficient learners, online environments can be breeding grounds for confusion and anxiety.  Students may not know where they should be looking for information and often have a fear that they may have missed a critical piece of information.  I have certainly felt this way every time I have enrolled in an online class. 

Another issue with online assessments can be unclear learning outcomes, or when there is a disconnect between the learning activities and the assessment.  

Lesson learned: online assessment requires clearly identified learning outcomes and thoughtful and thorough instructions.  Another recommendation: host online office hours so that students can ask questions or post a video where you walk through the assignment outlining each of the expectations.  A beautiful rubric does not hurt either!

Cause for Confusion

I registered in the Library Juice Academy's Demo course on Instructional Design recently.  I felt like it would complement previous classes that I participated in at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in the Adult Teaching and Learning Program (ATL).

The opening content gave me pause.  The instructor defined goals, objectives and outcomes, acknowledging that the terms are typically used interchangeably and arguably incorrectly.  Goals are overarching and broad.  A goal is set for an entire course or perhaps a program of study.  Objectives are more specific and apply to the instructor.  In other words, what the instructor intends to convey in each section.  Outcomes apply to students and communicate what the student will have learned by the end of each section of content (University of Connecticut, n.d.).  Outcomes must be measurable. 

In ATL, we concentrated on learning outcomes and the individual learning steps that would help the student achieve the desired outcome, in much the same manner.  By the end of the _____ (time), student (who) will ______ (Bloom's Taxonomy) ______ (skill).  Here is an example of a learning step from an online course on library research skills that my colleague Diane Zerr and I created. 

Analyse (Bloom's Taxonomy) and critically appraise articles, capturing key messages from the resources (skill)

Reference given in course: 

University of Connecticut. (n.d.). Assessment primer: Goals, objectives and outcomes.  Retrieved from http://assessment.uconn.edu/primer/goals1.html

Online Instruction for Adult Learners

Diane Zerr and I presented our online module for the Adult Learning and Teaching program here at Saskatchewan Polytechnic at the Saskatchewan Health Libraries Association AGM.  It was an opportunity to showcase how important the learning cycle is, and the need to ensure that learning outcomes are clearly tied to assessments.  Program Overview

Kahoot!

Kahoot (https://kahoot.com/welcomeback/) is a free online tool that allows individuals to create simple multiple choice quizzes or learning games.  Users can add video, images or diagrams for a wide variety of quiz offerings.  Kahoot can be accessed on any mobile device via a unique game PIN or through an internet connection on a desk or laptop.  Users can easily sign up for an account using a Gmail account or other email address.  The tool requires little to no training and is very intuiative to use.  Users can create a new quiz or access an existing quiz.  Once you are creating a new quiz, you add questions and at least two possible answers for the multiple choice quiz.  You also have the option of creating discussions, surveys or Jumbles (their newest game option).  

Pros: 

• No login or sign up is required for participants
• Kahoots can be assigned as homework to reinforce learning materials
• Students can create flash cards for themselves as a memory aide

Cons:

• Potential copyright concerns when sharing content, such as: images, videos or diagrams.  Instructors need to be cognizant of what they can legally share online and what content would be best avoided.  Caveat - there is a copyright open text field on the opening screen of the quiz for instructors to note which content is protected by copyright.  
• Instructors often assume that all participants will have access to a smartphone or a tablet and want to use it for classroom activity.  This may not be the case.  Instructors need to be aware that they may be putting an unnecessary barrier between learning and the activity, for these students.

Both a pro and a con, there are only two access settings available for the quiz; everyone can see it or only me.  It is a global testing tool and can be played in real time by players from 180 countries.  There may be individuals who do not wish to share their quizzes globally.  And there be students who are hesitant to participate in this type of social activity.

The advantage of using this tool is the simplistic access mechanism to join the game, as opposed to Poll Everywhere which is a bit more involved.  The site itself is colourful and appealing and there is a sense that the quiz will be fun and engaging (as much as that is possible).  The quiz that I set up for demonstration purposes below was easy to do.  I did not have to consult any training materials and the process was not complicated in any way.  I tested it on my daughter and husband.  Despite their lack of APA knowledge they were easily able to join my quiz and had fun testing out the tool.  I can see using this tool in the future as a quick assessment at the end of my library session.

Further reading that might be useful to you: 

Boitshwarelo, B., Reedy, A., & Billany, T. (2017). Envisioning the use of online tests in assessing twenty-first century learning: A literature review. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(1), 1-16.

Harter, Cynthia, & Harter, John. (2004). Teaching with technology: Does access to computer technology increase student achievement? Eastern Economic Journal, 30(4), 507-514.

Test your APA knowledge: https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/60516291-fea4-45ab-8194-87c264a7d344

Third time is the charm

I was recently asked to create an online plagiarism module that would be embedded into course across the institution in D2L.  I first experimented with a PowToon video having had great fun with the software previously.  I was disappointed to discover that there was a recent change to the program when trying to download the completed video - PowToon's required that you allow them access to your YouTube account.  I did not feel comfortable doing that, so I started again.

Take two - I tried the video creation in Camtasia.  I love this program as it is easy to use and creates high quality videos.  The problem that I encountered was in the audio recording.  I only have a very old microphone that creates an odd swirling sound in the playback.

Take three - I rerecorded the video for a final time.  I used Camtasia for the screen capture, but this time I used my iPhone and voice memo app to record my voice.  I started both recordings at the same time, and advanced the slides as I spoke, so that the audio and the video would be easy to sync afterwards.  We had to do some fancy conversions, but managed to create a .wav file from the initial recording and add it as an audio 2 track. Worked like a charm!  Sounds great and it was not all that hard to achieve.  Although, I did need to rely on my husband's expertise to convert the file.  I am not sure I would have been able to figure that one out on my own.

sound quality in synchronous sessions

although it may seem really awkward, remember to speak slowly and take a significant pause at the completion of each slide.  If the sound is buffering for participants, this will allow the audio transcript a chance to catch up.

also (although I can't believe I am saying this as it breaks my #1 PPT rule) put your key points on your slides.  If participants are not able to hear what you are saying, at least they will be able to read your key points.

I am sorry the number you were trying to dial is not in service, please phone again later....

This is my first entry of notes taken and information gleaned from last week's WILU conference.  This session on Wednesday afternoon; I attended because I was curious about the title!

'Take Your Phone Off The Hook' covered a pilot project that was launched by a team of 13 librarians to address the learning needs of new undergraduate students and compare which teaching platform was more successful.  To adequately compare online vs. in-class, one of each was offered at the same time.  The librarians utilized Blackboard Collaborate to deliver the online orientation sessions which focused on top ten tips that first year students need to know (similar I am guessing to the U of S' FYIT group and library guide http://libguides.usask.ca/NeedToKnow).  Two librarians were present for online webinars, so that one librarian could monitor the chat.  They recorded all online sessions to personally evaluate the effective of using the tool. 

Considerations:

• test software and hardware in advance
• use chat instead of microphones for students
• have 2 moderators for webinars
• Collaborate has more limited functionality for smartphones and tablets
• don't forget to take your phone off the hook
• presenters emphasized this point by having a phone ring several times in the background.  You could tell that the audience was very uncomfortable by the phone ringing and were becoming irritated.  Very effective illustration of the importance of being completely focused on the webinar, and not external distractions.

Findings:

• students were less likely to attend online sessions even if they had registered.  In other words, if they registered for an in-person session they would show up!
• students chose in-person over online even when offered at the same time.  In other words, there was higher registration in in-person classes.