<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9756-tic-800…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Teaching Innovation Center" border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="1667" height="144" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9756-tic-800…; width="144" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/research/teaching-innovation-center" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teaching Innovation Center</a> (TIC) is a center within Arizona State University (ASU) dedicated to the design (and more) of School of Life Sciences (SOLS) courses. Meet our core team!</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#"><img alt="Group photo in separate circles of TIC team" border="0" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/tic-team560x…; title="TIC Image Source" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Top row (from left to right): </span><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/2237688" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amy Pate</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, </span><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/3212430" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah Prosory</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, </span><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/1557404" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lenora Ott</a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;">Bottom row (from left to right): <a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/2637721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christy Jersin Woods</a>, <a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/754060" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiffany Lewis</a></div></span></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our Partners</span></h1><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although our team is small, our network is mighty, and we couldn’t bring many of the services we offer to SOLS without the help and support of our partners in </span><a href="https://edplus.asu.edu/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EdPlus</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, </span><a href="https://vislab.asu.edu/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VisLab</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, </span><a href="https://news.asu.edu/20190820-solutions-asu-develops-world-first-adapti…; style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CogBooks</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/asu_rise_center?lang=en" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RISE Center</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/about/justice-equity-diversity-inclusion?dept=4260…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">JEDI initiatives</a>, <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/o/asu-learning-experience-integration-178468…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learning Experience (LX) Design</a>, and our incredible student-worker team. At TIC, we believe in a collaborative model to give faculty and instructors the best resources. Here are a few partners that we work with frequently:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Student Workers:</b> Tiffany Lewis, Ciarra Downing<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9756-tic-800…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9756-tic-800…; /></a></div></li><li><b>EdPlus</b>: Taylor O’Kelley, Jill Roter, Peter Van Leusen, Dee Mullins</li><li><b>CogBooks</b>: John Ball</li><li><b>VisLab</b>: Jacob Sahertian, Megan Joyce, Jo Ramirez, Samantha Lloyd, James Baxter</li><li><b>RISE Center: </b>Sara Brownell</li><li><b>SOLS JEDI Initiative: </b>Sharon Hall</li><li><b>LX Design:</b> UTO Workshops</li></ul></div></span></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What we do</span></h1></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div>As Instructional Designers, we wear many hats. We are <a href="https://instruction.thecollege.asu.edu/instructionaldesign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">builders, consultants, project managers, evaluators, trainers, and more</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><img alt="Three instructional designers with all of their tools and hats" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E78o4iHJJ6yfRLiUHB5SKWICOpYG5NMv4VkSy…; title="Image Source Ed Plus at ASU" width="365" /></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Relationship building is at the heart of what we do, and we want to collaborate with faculty and instructors at ASU. As instructional designers, we work side by side with faculty and instructors to help design and enhance their courses. We also work to provide a number of development opportunities for instructors to learn new innovative ways to teach their already fabulous courses. </div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Our mission</h2><div><div>TIC’s mission is to empower and engage the instructional community in the School of Life Sciences, working hand-in-hand to design outstanding student-centered learning through inclusive pedagogy, evidence-based practices, data-driven decisions, and digital innovation. </div><div><br /></div><div>TIC uses a few cornerstones to organize the services we offer to SOLS: Design, Develop, Enhance, Review. Let’s explore these further.</div></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Design<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Light bulb" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; title="Image source VisLab" width="200" /></a></div></h3><div style="text-align: left;">We customize and redesign both new and existing courses with a focus on quality and inclusion. These courses are not constrained by modality. We can assist if your course is online, immersion (face-to-face), or hybrid. </div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Develop</h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gears" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; title="Image source VisLab" width="200" /></a></div>We provide access to training and resources to foster ongoing development for instructors and graduate-level teaching assistants in SOLS. We do this through regular workshops, <a href="https://canvas.asu.edu/enroll/BER7J3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">development modules in canvas</a>, reading groups, blog posts like this one on using <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2021/05/24/alt-text-for-scientific-grap…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">alt text for scientific images</a>, this one on <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2021/04/09/building-effective-analytic-…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">building effective rubrics</a>, and more. Our blog post on alt text is being rewritten as a feature on the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TIMES Higher Education</a> website (coming soon!). <br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Enhance</h3></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Cloud brainstorm" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; title="Image source VisLab" width="200" /></a></div>We regularly research and evaluate the digital technologies we use in courses and help instructors select ones that improve the learning experience and outcomes for our students. We also keep updated canvas course templates and <a href="https://links.asu.edu/ImmersionTemplate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">syllabi templates </a>to consistently improve course delivery. While we are in the position to help folks with technology, we thrive when we help faculty plan <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2021/07/19/discussion-bored-to-discussi…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">how the technology is used in their course to further learning</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Review</h3></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Review eye" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/sols-tic-web…; title="Image source VisLab" width="200" /></a></div>Lastly, we review courses using program-level curriculum alignment through efforts like the <a href="https://news.asu.edu/20190820-solutions-asu-develops-world-first-adapti…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">BioSpine initiative</a>, but also now through our smaller review cycles available to all SOLS courses like our Rapid Review initiative over winter and summer break. During these sessions, we help guide faculty decision-making using evidence-based pedagogy and technology practices and champion a data-driven approach to course design. </div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><div style="text-align: left;">We are excited to collaborate with you! For upcoming workshops and events, please check out our <a href="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=YXN1LmVkdV9xdWVnaW5ua2FhOX…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">TIC google calendar</a>. Interested in working with a TIC Instructional Designer? Email <a href="mailto:tic@asu.edu">tic@asu.edu</a> to get started!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Post-Authors:</b></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Christy-2Bhe…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="973" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Christy-2Bhe…; width="152" /></a></div><b><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/2637721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christy Jersin Woods</a> </b>an Instructional Designer Associate for the <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/">School of Life Sciences </a>at ASU. She leverages technology and inclusive teaching pedagogy to assist faculty in the curriculum and design of their courses. She has several years of experience teaching and in curriculum design in higher education and continues to stay up to date in literature and best practices.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_1877.jpe…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1094" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_1877-300…; width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/1557404" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>Lenora Ott</b></a> is an Instructional Designer in the School of Life Sciences Teaching Innovation Center at Arizona State University. Lenora assists faculty with developing and launching their online courses and provides long-term evaluation, redesign, and support for online coursework. Her passion is empowering faculty to create meaningful learning experiences for their students and themselves online. She has worked in higher education for 8 years and has a Master of Science in Global Technology and Development from Arizona State University and a Graduate Certificate in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2019-6.jpg&q…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sarah Prosory" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1345" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2019-6-197x3…; title="Sarah Prosory" width="131" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/3212430" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>Sarah Prosory</b> </a><span style="font-family: verdana;">is an Instructional Designer within the</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a href="https://sols.asu.edu/research/teaching-innovation-center" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">School of Life Sciences' Teaching Innovation Center</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> at Arizona State University. She has worked in higher education for over ten years, supporting faculty in law, engineering, and biological sciences. Her experience includes assisting faculty with in-person, blended, and hybrid courses, as well as making the leap to fully online courses. She provides training to faculty and teaching assistants on how to use educational technologies, and shares evidence-based practices in course design to improve the student experience. She also teaches online for ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.</span></div></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /></span></div></div></div>
Integrating evidence-based teaching practices with innovative technologies to support instructors in creating high-quality online, blended, flipped and face-to-face courses for the School of Life Sciences.
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">When I work with faculty that teach immersion (students in the classroom) many of them are worried that if they teach online or hybrid they will lose what they feel is the cornerstone of the classroom experience: collaborative discussion. And it’s true, for many years we’ve been constrained by a model created in old-style internet forums using threads and responses. At first, they were exciting (maybe), but for many of us they’ve grown stale and the conversations contrived….or non-existent. But we shouldn’t abandon hope that online asynchronous discussion is possible and important. If anything, the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Discord have shown us that <b>not only are many of our students capable of meaningful asynchronous interaction, but a large part of their social existence depends on it.</b> So why don’t we have meaningful conversations in our own asynchronous classroom discussions? Why do students “go behind our backs” to create a Discord? (Will they please let us in?!) I would argue that perhaps we aren’t setting the stage for discussions about our course topics in the right way, and we too, can adapt to the times and trust our students to adapt with us.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mobile-phone…; style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Drawing of a smartphone as it it were a paper tablet. A pencil touches the screen to write notes." border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1280" height="448" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mobile-phone…; title="Image by Susan Cipriano from Pixabay" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />In our last blog, <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2021/07/12/creating-peer-to-peer-intera…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creating Peer-to-Peer Interaction in Online Courses</a>, Instructional Designer Christy Jersin Woods, recommended moving away from our tried and true model of a discussion prompt with one response and two replies to peers. She recommended tools like Yellowdig and Slack for organic collaboration, but what do these software do? And how can you effectively launch them in your course?<br /><br />In this article, we will break down how Yellowdig works and some ideas for getting started.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yellowdig Engage!</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yellowdig is a community discussion page embedded in Canvas that operates best around open conversation. Think of it as your new classroom social media outlet. Students get points for original posts, comments, and liking or endorsing other students' posts with emoji. All of the things that help students earn points are customizable, but Yellowdig works best if you let it do what it does instead of trying to convert it back into the way Canvas or other LMS Discussion threads work.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fueling Conversation</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instead of providing a weekly prompt to your students where you ask a specific question and get a very specific answer (and the last person to post has no idea what to say because it’s already been said), Yellowdig encourages instructors to think about using themes in their course. So what’s the difference between a prompt and a theme?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">A prompt might look something like this:<br /><blockquote>Describe the impact of the scientific method in laboratories designing vaccines.</blockquote></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But if we use Yellowdig’s <a href="https://d2x3xhvgiqkx42.cloudfront.net/d895b6a8-ee11-4f82-9c05-0b5a1e766…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">handy guide</a> or even their <a href="https://help.yellowdig.co/kb/en/article/interactive-guide-to-conversati…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">interactive theme tool</a>, we can convert this prompt into a more open-ended theme.<br /><br /><blockquote>We’ve covered so many aspects of the scientific methods in this unit. While you are able to contribute interesting questions, articles, and resources within Yellowdig this week, if you need help getting started you could consider any of the following questions:<br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">How do scientists use the scientific method to inform decision-making?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What types of decisions do you see scientists helping policymakers make today?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Beyond the scientific method, what types of information contribute to how scientific conclusions are received by the scientific community or the general public?</span> </li></ul></blockquote></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">You may find yourself asking, “But won't students post irrelevant stuff or spam the system to get their weekly points if I don’t tell them what to post?” Yellowdig’s data says otherwise. The gamification aspect of Yellowdig by awarding points for liking, hashtagging, emoji, and replying to peers’ posts helps motivate more quality engagement. According to Yellowdig, “Points and grades motivate specific patterns of engagement. By rewarding activity that fosters useful conversations, the points drive students to behave in ways that create dynamic, interesting, and engaging communities. (<a href="https://help.yellowdig.co/kb/en/article/gamification-not-gradification-…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yellowdig Knowledge Base</a>)”<br /><br />Additionally, instructors can use topics to help students see how themes connect across the entire course curriculum. Instead of “Week 1” think instead “science in the news”, “ethics”, or “unanswered questions”. Yellowdig notes, “Yellowdig should not only be used for discussing problem sets. Great value can be derived when students share and discuss real-world connections to your course. Keeping a STEM course relevant in an ever-changing world is a difficult task for a single professor, but enabling students to bring in the content they discover can immediately ensure that your class is staying up to date. Students can share videos, articles, or even simulations they find interesting for other students to learn from as well (<a href="https://www.yellowdig.co/post/guide-to-using-yellowdig-for-stem-classes…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yellowdig for STEM</a>).”<br /><br />Trust the system! If it doesn’t work for you, LMS Discussion Threads are still waiting back in your shell.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZACief-qMwY" width="451" youtube-src-></iframe></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For all Modalities</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Something that Yellowdig does well is that it allows instructors to help students create a growth mindset. The ability to get points not only for posts and replies but also other types of engagement demonstrates to students that there are varieties of ways to participate that matter within a community. It’s ok to not have all the answers, to get things incorrect sometimes, and to have deep conversations that help us evolve our learning. So often in historical discussion boards, we graded upon correct answers, but in Yellowdig we want students to have a space to think critically about the course content. <br /><br />Students can share text, video, articles, drawings, and more in the space giving them the ability to express their questions and knowledge in ways that are the most authentic to them.<br /><br />Because of these features, Yellowdig works well in both online and face-to-face or immersion classrooms. You can use it in real-time in a classroom (or between sessions), or you can use it in asynchronous online courses, and, for once, all the conversation won’t happen on Sunday evenings between 10:30 and 11:59pm.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Grading</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the beautiful things about Yellowdig is that it’s auto-graded based on the point system you assign to various activities. Despite Yellodig’s auto-graded feature, you can still check in the group and participate. You can also endorse conversations, and if you’d like, set up badges to acknowledge students for their hard work. You can also manually adjust points as you’d like for individual students.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Getting Started</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you’re interested in using Yellowdig in your courses, I highly recommended the <a href="https://learn.yellowdig.co/courses/icc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yellowdig instructor training course</a>. It takes 1 hour to complete and will help you reframe how you see discussion in both your live and asynchronous online classes. <br /><br />After you’ve done this one, there is a 15-minute short course that really lays the foundation for <a href="https://learn.yellowdig.co/courses/stem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">setting up a community in STEM-specific courses</a>. <br /><br />Additionally, the instructional design team in the School of Life Sciences Teaching Innovation Center can help you install and format Yellowdig in your Canvas course, and help you plan themes that guide the discussion in creative directions within your course content. Contact <a href="mailto:TIC@asu.edu">TIC@asu.edu</a> to get started.<br /></span><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stay tuned for Part 2: How to effectively use Slack Channels for online and immersion courses! </span></h4><div><span></span><div><h4><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><span><!--more--></span>Post Author:</span></h4></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_1877.jpe…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1094" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_1877-300…; width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/1557404" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lenora Ott</a> is an instructional designer in the School of Life Sciences Teaching Innovation Center at Arizona State University. Lenora assists faculty with developing and launching their online courses and provides long term evaluation, redesign, and support for online coursework. Her passion is empowering faculty to create meaningful learning experiences for their students and themselves online. She has worked in higher education for 8 years and has a Master of Science in Global Technology and Development from Arizona State University and a Graduate Certificate in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University.</span></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">As a higher education professional, I’ve had the special privilege of wearing multiple hats. I am currently an Instructional Designer, an Instructor, and an online graduate student. In previous roles, I’ve also been an Academic Advisor and a Counselor. In part due to the many roles I’ve had, I’ve worked significantly with online students and the faculty who create online learning. No matter if I’m working with students or with faculty, peer-to-peer interaction continues to be a concern among all in the online learning sphere. That is to say that when faculty translate their course from immersion (in person) to online, they ask, “How can I ensure the same peer-to-peer learning experiences I’d find in an in-person course?” </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/wes-hicks-4-…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Student with headphones on looking at laptop" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/wes-hicks-4-…; title="Image source Wes Hick @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the same way, I’ve had students beg and plead with me as an advisor to encourage professors to create peer interaction in their online courses. I even had a student report a complaint against a professor who wouldn’t use <a href="https://medium.com/bucknell-hci/how-i-use-slack-in-my-courses-a-3-year-…; in their course. This example, however, isn’t a show of poor teaching; this is, instead, evidence that students want to collaborate with other students, even if they are hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. The bottom line, students and faculty want the same thing: peer-to-peer interaction.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Online Asynchronous Learning vs. In-Person Synchronous Learning</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thanks to the many roles I have had, I am also able to leverage my experience as an online student. Through the lens of an online student, the asynchronous classroom can be an isolating place. Sometimes the maximum interaction I’ll have with my peers in an online class is one introduction discussion post where (you’ve guessed it) we have to post and then reply twice. Discussion posts, at least with the post and reply twice method, are <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/collaborative-communication-improving-peer… sufficient methods of peer interaction online</a>. And while there are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4041502/">no significant differences</a> between face-to-face and online learning in terms of student learning outcomes, you cannot simply take a course designed for face-to-face interactions and make it an online course. You have to do more if you want to afford your students the opportunity for peer-to-peer interaction.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Design Interaction for Online Learning</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/clay-banks-L…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hands on a table as part of a team" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/clay-banks-L…; title="Image source Clay Banks @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div>For in-person courses, peer-to-peer interaction often happens organically, partly because in-person courses are synchronous. But with online asynchronous courses, <a href="https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/onlinelearningtoolbox/chapter/northrup-a… need to create opportunities for peer interaction</a>. <b>Here are three different ways you might create </b><a href="https://blog.cengage.com/fostering-peer-to-peer-interactions-in-an-onli… interaction in online courses</a>:<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Methods for Increasing Peer Interaction in Online Classes</span></h2><h3 style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let Go of the Online Discussion Board</span></li></ul></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">"<i>Post once, reply twice"</i> is an outdated model, and is essentially asking students to write a paper, not collaborate. Instead, create a peer community forum in Canvas to allow for organic collaboration. Allow students to freely discuss and ask questions effectively building community. You may even consider leveraging technology like <a href="https://www.yellowdig.co/post/what-makes-yellowdig-more-engaging-than-y…; or <a href="https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/distance-learning-in-slack">Slack<…;, both of which allow space for more organic collaboration.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Peer Groups</span></li></ul></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Give students the opportunity to learn more about each other and then allow students to <a href="https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-allow-stud… their own groups </a>in the course. One of my favorite ways I’ve seen this done is by having all students complete a nongraded survey and sharing the results with the class (this can be done in Canvas or Google Forms, for example). In the survey, ask students what their strengths are in a group, what times they work best (weekdays, weekends, early in the day, evening, etc), the time zone they are in, their interests in the class, and so on. Keep in mind, the objective for the survey is for students to learn more about their peers before choosing groups. Once students have completed the survey, post students’ responses to show who has the same interests as them, who is in the same time zone, prefers to work at the same time of day, and what strengths they may bring to the team. Once students have a chance to learn more about each other, ask students to <a href="https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-allow-stud… groups</a>.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Student groups can be moderated or unmoderated in a course. You can simply have students form peer groups just for the sake of building a sense of community. In this case, you can encourage your students to check in with their peer group weekly, expressing the value of team collaboration, especially for <a href="https://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-… readiness</a>.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Peer Review</span></li></ul></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maybe you like the idea of peer groups in a class but you’re not sure what to do with them. Here’s one idea: incorporate peer review into your course! In a peer group of their choosing, have students practice refining communication skills and providing feedback to students through peer critique. To successfully do this, you’ll want to build a solid <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2021/04/09/building-effective-analytic-…; for students to base their review from. Peer review is a great way for students to showcase their critical thinking skills.</span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Summary</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Online students want to collaborate with their peers. Instead of forcing students to come up with their own ideas for how they will collaborate (think <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/04/21/what-do-when-your-stud…;), you can create a multitude of opportunities for students to interact with one another in the online classroom, ensuring equity regardless of modality. Unsure of how to incorporate peer interaction into your course? Email the Teaching Innovation Center at <a href="mailto:tic@asu.edu">tic@asu.edu</a> to meet with an Instructional Designer. We’d love to collaborate! </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Post-Author:</b></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Christy-2Bhe…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="973" height="320" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Christy-2Bhe…; /></a></div><b>Christy Jersin Woods </b>is an Instructional Designer Associate for the <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/">School of Life Sciences </a>at ASU. She leverages technology and inclusive teaching pedagogy to assist faculty in curriculum and design of their courses. She has several years of experience teaching and in curriculum design in higher education and continues to stay up to date in literature and best practices.<br /></span></div></span></div></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Are you looking for ways to mix up your video lectures or announcements? Do you want to streamline and enhance your step-by-step instructions? Loom is an asynchronous presentation and video tool that is easy to use and offers a variety of sharing options that can help enhance your presence and levels of instruction online. From demo GIFs to content lectures, there are many ways to “show it, say it, and send it” with Loom!<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is Loom?</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Loom is a recording tool that can capture your desktop, camera, and microphone to create interactive videos and presentations. In addition to HD video and sound recording, other recording features include an emphasized mouse cursor to highlight areas of the screen, a drawing tool to emphasize content, pop-up buttons that call viewers to action, and emoji reactions to take your screencasting videos to the next level. You have the option to turn any of these features on or off to customize your preferred recording experience.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />There are multiple ways to get started with Loom:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002187698-How-to-get-star… Chrome extension</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002207917-How-to-get-star… app</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004149378-How-to-record-w… mobile app</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017767818-How-to-record-w… mobile app</a></span></li></ul></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How can I use Loom in my course?</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are many use cases for Loom--from technical demonstrations to online lectures. Loom offers an opportunity to provide an authentic presence and just-in-time resources to an asynchronous approach.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enhanced asynchronous lessons. </span></h3><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Regardless of the topic of your course, screencast lectures are a great way to help guide students through important learning materials. Loom helps call out important areas with the drawing tool and the call to action button, which provides a hands-on experience for students with on-demand resources. By recording your camera, you can include your own presence in the screencast to provide a personable touch asynchronously.</span><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/waldemar-bra…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Webcam attached to computer monitor" border="0" data-original-height="1383" data-original-width="2048" height="270" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/waldemar-bra…; title="Image Source by Waldemar Brandt @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Here’s a short demo video (3:51) on <a href="https://www.loom.com/share/ab07affb74d540199b16ca8b1d9dcd30">recording a lesson with Loom.</a> In the video, you will learn how to customize your recording experience, edit, and share your recording.</span></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How-to demos. </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Loom is an excellent tool for sharing valuable resources that work for everyone’s schedule. When you’re unable to schedule a meeting to walk someone through how to use a tool, consider recording a video demonstration that you can share. This allows the recipient to watch and learn at their own pace, as well as rewatch as necessary.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Exporting a Loom recording as a GIF is a great way to create visible demonstrations in chunks that can be shared in a resource for step-by-step instructions. Consider using GIFs to pair written and visual content into manageable chunks that appear just as they are needed. This method can be effective for how-to tutorials.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Animated thumbnails. </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">GIFs can also be used to provide an animated preview of a video, which is a great way to grab your viewers’ attention. Compared to a static thumbnail, an animated thumbnail can convey more emotion, intention, and possibly generate more interest.</span></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002244577-How-to-create-a… to create an animated thumbnail with GIFs in Loom.</a></span></h4><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/chris-montgo…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Laptop showing students in Zoom room with a green mug next to laptop" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/chris-montgo…; title="Image source from Chris Montgomery @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div>Instructor presence. </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whether it’s an overview video at the start of the course, in each module, or in your announcements, Loom offers video customization like <a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014840018-How-to-add-a-fr… frames</a> and <a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017464517-How-to-react-to… reactions</a> to remind students that you are real and showcase your personality.</span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How can I share my recordings?</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Loom offers Personal, Team, and Shared Libraries. Your recorded videos are automatically stored in the library of your choice, which can be organized into folders. From the library, there are multiple convenient options to save, host, and share your recordings:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Embed code to host your videos as an iFrame</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Link to your video</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">GIF</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Social media</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Gmail</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Invitation and collaboration</span></li></ul></span><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002208157-How-to-share-yo… to share your recordings in Loom.</a></span></h4><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Where can I learn more or get support?</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Loom is not a tool provided directly through ASU, but there is a free version available to everyone. The <a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006579637-Loom-for-Educat… Education Plan </a>is always free to educators.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Loom has an extensive knowledge base full of tutorials, blog posts, resources, and use case examples in their <a href="https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us">Help Center.</a></span> <br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;">Post-Author:</i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Small.jpg&qu…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image of Taylor O'Kelley (post-author)" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="373" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Small-200x30…; title="Image provided by author" width="248" /></a></div><b>Taylor O’Kelley, M.Ed.</b>, is an instructional designer with ASU Online and the Learning Experience and Student Success team, supporting large-scale initiatives of future learning spaces.</span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Technology can extend access to content and enrich an educational experience, no doubt. But the flipside is that it can also, unwittingly, create barriers. All learners’ abilities and disabilities affect how they consume information, apply concepts, and achieve mastery. This, in turn, requires everyone involved in course design, development, and delivery to consider and evolve instructional practices.<br /><br />That said, trying to account for all the elements of accessible course design can be dizzying, leaving you with more questions than answers. It can make you wonder how you’ll be able to identify every element, how you’ll ever manage to learn all the skills necessary, and whether you’re getting it “right” when you finally do. (For the record, there are certainly <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/articles">best practices</a>, but the only wrong thing to do is nothing!)</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/kind-and-cur…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cairn of stacked rocks to point the way on a trail in the forest" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/kind-and-cur…; title="Image sources Kind and Curious @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In any given situation, having too many priorities often translates into having zero priorities. To avoid this pitfall and begin formulating a plan, simply ask yourself, “What is at least one thing I can address this term? And another thing I can address next term?” And so on, and so forth. Start with what you know, or what you can easily learn. <br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Readability, Consistency, and Communication</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you were to think of knowledge, skills, and abilities you already have and use every day, it’s probably a safe bet that reading, navigating the web, and communicating with others would be chief among them. Similarly, if you were to think of 3 fundamental aspects of good course design, digestible content, a logical sequence and structure, and information-sharing may be top of mind. So if you were looking for 3 high-impact ways to start incorporating accessibility into learning, well, there you have it! Make your course materials easy to read. Make your course site’s navigation consistent and predictable. And create community and conduits for communication. Here’s how.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Readability</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Put plainly, writing for the web and its outgrowth, readability, impact learning. Consider your materials and practices in the context of the following key areas, and make adjustments as necessary. (And also visit <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/articles">ASU’s accessibility website</a> for easy-to-follow instructions across different media.)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Chunk your content.</b> Large blocks of text are fatiguing, and a very clear way of signaling “skim,” “skip altogether,” or, “TL; DR (too long, don’t read).” While paragraph breaks may seem artificial in some cases, the web is a visual medium; you may have to make some discretionary concessions to accommodate it.</span></li><li><b>Write clearly and simply.</b> Use the most straightforward language possible, and stick to one or two important points per paragraph. Check your spelling and grammar, employ bulleted and numbered lists, and steer clear of ALL CAPS for emphasis.</li><li><b>Use a hierarchical, descriptive heading structure.</b> This helps both visual and non-visual learners alike. As previously mentioned, large blocks of text are tough going. For nonvisual learners who use text-to-speech screen readers, the absence of headings makes it impossible to index content and quickly access information auditorily. If given a <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/articles/writing#headings">hierarchical heading structure</a>, their screen reader can construct an index for expeditious consumption; otherwise, the learner has to run through all the material presented, something a sighted person wouldn’t have to do.</li><li><b>Use a singular, san serif font, no smaller than 12 point for your instructional materials.</b> Imagine looking through a <a href="https://medialibrary.nei.nih.gov/search?keywords=&f%5B0%5D=category… lens</a>; the little “feet” on a serif font make it difficult to differentiate between letters. And multiple fonts create visual “noise.” (Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, or Verdana are good choices.)</li><li><b>Use descriptive links. </b>Long URLs are distracting, and don’t provide meaning to learners in general, nor does “click here.” And nondescript links are particularly problematic for those who are blind. Screen reading software identifies links in running text; in addition, a user can pull up a list of all links on a page. Linking the text, “click here” or having just the URL creates an inefficiency and causes confusion. It makes it impossible to reconcile where a link will take them. So, for example, if you want them to visit <a href="http://accessibility.asu.edu/">ASU’s accessibility website</a>, make it apparent in the running text.</li><li><b>Use discretion when formatting.</b> While using bold or italics for emphasis here and there is fine, extensive formatting makes reading distracting, difficult, and fatiguing. (Note: Avoid underlining anything that isn’t an active web link; this can be misleading to learners, particularly to those with low vision.)</li><li><b>Consider your color scheme. </b>Those with low vision often have decreased contrast sensitivity, and those with color blindness can’t distinguish between certain colors. Avoid using color to convey meaning, as well as color-referenced tasks. Choose high contrast color schemes when developing materials from scratch, or when drawing from existing resources. <a href="https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/">WebAIM’s color/contrast checker</a> is a great tool to help you evaluate your choices.</li></ul></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Consistency</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Everyone can agree that when content isn’t easy to find, it diverts all learners’ attention. Sure, in a New York City, shoebox-sized apartment you may have no better choice than to store linens in kitchen cabinets. But when it comes to your course site, you have the luxury of organizing it as you’d want any site you’d visit to be organized. You can, for instance:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/charles-delu…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Two students navigating their webpages on their own laptops" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/charles-delu…; title="Image source Charles Deluvio @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div><b>Provide logical sequence and structure. </b>Even for the most seasoned online learner, each course is new; everyone benefits from a consistent, predictable navigation routine from week to week. For those with disabilities such as low vision/blindness, ADHD, learning disorders, and Autism Spectrum Disorder, the absence of this routine can make it difficult or impossible to get from point A to point B and be successful. Determine and employ structure throughout your course, including naming conventions to identify its various content types and assessment categories.</span></li><li><b>Implement readability considerations.</b> Apart from basic navigation, your pages themselves should be consistent in their overall look and feel across your course. It should be readily apparent to learners how and where to find things on a page for a given content/assessment type used in each module, what the expectations are, and how to meet them.</li></ul></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Communication</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whether online or in-person, clear communication makes it possible for everyone to establish connections, create support mechanisms, and build community. It can minimize frustration and remove obstacles to learning. <br /><br />The previously covered best practices for readability and consistency are all integral to clear communication. And, as luck would have it, it’s likely you’ve already baked several conduits for information-sharing and community into your course (how easy was that?), including, but not limited to:</span></div><div><ul><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Managing expectations.</b> Your syllabus, course schedule, and welcome message on your homepage are good places to start managing expectations, mapping out assignments, and ushering students in.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Providing opportunities for direct, timely feedback, whether peer-to-peer or instructor-to-learner(s). </b>Feedback from various sources helps learners evaluate their work; they can determine what they’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Maintaining “general questions” discussion forums and holding optional office hours. </b>This is useful to all learners. Depending on abstract reasoning skills, those with and without disabilities may be unaware of an information gap until a peer asks. A public forum allows everyone to benefit from others’ questions and answers, creating a safe space for reciprocity and community.</span></li></ul><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lastly...A Call to Action</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Readability, consistency, and community are just three points of entry for accessibility. What will your accessibility plan be for your course? Make it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria">S.M.A.R.T</a>.; write it down, work with an instructional designer, take advantage of <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/">ASU's accessibility resources</a>, and do your best to ensure full access and participation for all learners!<br /></span></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">References:</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">[1] National Center on Disability and Access to Education. Creating accessible electronic content. https://ncdae.org/resources/cheatsheets/electronic-content.php<br /><br />[2] ASU Accessibility. Best practices. accessibility.asu.edu</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Post-Author:</b></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image.png&qu…; style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="870" height="240" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image.png&qu…; width="224" /></a>Jill Roter, M.A., is a Senior Instructional Designer with <a href="https://edplus.asu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EdPlus @ ASU,</a> where she focuses on scalable initiatives for worldwide learner audiences.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Active learning has been recommended as a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more effective</a> way to teach when compared to traditional lecturing, yet active learning can be implemented in many different ways. One common approach in active learning is to ask students to share out their thoughts either with other students or in front of the whole class.<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/designecolog…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Microphone with cord." border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/designecolog…; title="Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash" width="266" /></a></div><br /> These social interactions can be fruitful for hearing different perspectives and building classroom community, but they also can present challenges because they create a larger number of opportunities for a student to feel judged based on their answers. This worry of being judged, or fear of negative evaluation, has been shown to be a problem in active learning, particularly for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339444503_Student_Anxiety_and_…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">students with anxiety</a>.</span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Implementation of Active Learning</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In two interview studies, one with students from a <a href="https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-0…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">research institution</a> and a second with <a href="https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.19-09-0186" target="_blank" rel="noopener">community college students</a>, students reported that how active learning is implemented matters. Answering a question that is timed based on accuracy while working with students they don’t know elevated students’ fear of negative evaluation and their levels of anxiety. However, it’s not that active learning alone increased their anxiety because those same students talked about active learning decreasing their anxiety when they could check their understanding of a topic when working with groupmates that they know.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Small Decisions Make a Difference</span></h2></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/markus-spisk…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="A group of orange pegs next to a single brown peg." border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/markus-spisk…; title="Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">When instructors choose to teach in an active learning way, they are making hundreds of small decisions, some of which may elevate student anxiety, while others may decrease it. The only classroom decision that we found always heightened anxiety: requiring students to share in front of the class. Even though <a href="https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.13-10-0204" target="_blank" rel="noopener">random call</a> has been recommended as a way to ensure that there are no inequities in student participation in response to instructor questions, equal participation does not mean that students equally benefit from the experience. For some students with anxiety, requiring them to share out in front of the whole class seemed to cause them to not be able to think clearly through the problem, which detracted from their learning! However, there are <a href="https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.20-08-0200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other ways</a> to elicit student participation that are less anxiety-inducing and potentially more equitable as far as an experience, so instructors can create less anxiety-inducing active learning courses that are just as effective for student learning without forcing students to share in front of the class. <br /><br />So next time you decide to teach in an active learning way, remember that you are making countless little decisions that can impact students… for better or worse. <br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><hr /><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Brownell-2Bh…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1361" data-original-width="2048" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Brownell-2Bh…; width="320" /></a></div><b>Post-Author: </b><br />Sara Brownell is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University where she explores how to create more inclusive undergraduate biology learning environments.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Summer is here (feeling the heat!), and hopefully, you can set aside a bit of time to spend on developing yourself professionally! In the School of Life Sciences Teaching Innovation Center (TIC), we’re reading evidence-based articles this summer and meeting to discuss them to grow in our teaching practice. <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2020/09/23/pause-for-professional-devel…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">We did this last summer</a> and found it to be successful!<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/angello-pro-…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Palm trees against a blue sky." border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/angello-pro-…; title="Photo by Angello Pro on Unsplash" width="266" /></a></div></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We invite you to join us in reading one article each month for June and July. We will meet virtually to discuss the key takeaways and how we can implement the strategies provided in the articles for our courses. Bonus: in June, the first author of the article, <i><a href="https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.20-10-0238" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Student Perceptions of Instructor Supportiveness: What Characteristics Make a Difference</a></i>, will be joining us to share their research and answer questions we have. </span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">TIC Summer Reading Group</span></span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://forms.gle/BF1UscWeHhFJJ4pD7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign-up</a> to receive invitations to the conversations! We plan to meet via Zoom on Fridays, June 25 and July 23, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Arizona/PST time.</span><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">June 25</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Schussler, E. E., Weatherton, M., Chen Musgrove, M. M., Brigati, J. R., & England, B. J. (2021). Student Perceptions of Instructor Supportiveness: What Characteristics Make a Difference? CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(2). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-10-0238" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-10-0238</a><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">July 23</span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;">Chen, X., Redden, J. M., Bobrownicki, A., Gill, J., & Graham, M. J. (2021). Using Pathway Modeling to Evaluate and Improve Student-Centered Teaching Practices in Co-Taught College Science Courses. CBE life sciences education, 20(2), es5. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-07-0147" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-07-0147</a></span> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Benefits of Reading and Discussing Articles</span></h2><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">A common practice in higher education is to provide evidence-based research or journal articles in a course, and then have discussions that follow. Reading and discussing the information helps to form connections with prior knowledge, provides further context, and determines what actions to take next. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Learners, or even educators growing their teaching practice, can benefit from the social interaction of a collaborative discussion, as seen in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, along with the development of higher-order thinking skills (<a href="https://edtechbooks.org/studentguide/socioculturalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Allman, 2020</a>).</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a course, consider asking students to choose an article and lead the discussion with their peers. This evidence-based method of learning is called "reciprocal teaching." It is a scaffolded approach in which the dialogue leader (can be teacher or student) models the following techniques, which then are followed by the group (</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.05.003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spörer et al., 2009</a>):</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">generating one's own questions</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">summarizing parts of the text </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">clarifying word meanings and confusing text passages</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">predicting what might come next </span></li></ul></span><div><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many skills can be gained and improved from this practice of guided reading and discussions, such as communication, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, and analysis. This practice not only enhances students' ability to read and present primary scientific research but helps them to present their own research (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-02-0144" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kozeraki, 2006</a>). </span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I propose that as educators we should practice these methods ourselves, and then feel confident adding the method to our courses. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Educators equally benefit from this kind of dialogue on teaching development practices and the creation of a scholarly community </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">(<a href="https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/eric/docview/2155990890/E…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hessling et al., 2018</a>)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Opportunities for Scholarly Dialogues<br /><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/christina-wo…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Two people sitting at a table engaging in conversation." border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/christina-wo…; title="Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div></span></h2></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Starting this fall, we will be offering <i><b>Teaching Conversations</b></i> each month to create a dedicated time for the valuable dialogues surrounding evidence-based articles, teaching challenges, and acknowledging the failures that lead to innovation. Watch for emails and announcements for the dates and times. We hope to offer at least one or more per month, in a hybrid style (in the TIC office, LSC L1-54, with a Zoom link too). Can't wait to converse with you and other teaching colleagues!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">We are also happy to meet one-to-one with you to discuss ways to implement strategies in your courses. We are here to support you in your teaching practice and can follow up later in the semester to see if what you implemented worked, or discuss any challenges you had. Contact us at <a href="mailto:tic@asu.edu">tic@asu.edu</a>!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enjoy your summer, and we hope to see you at these conversations around teaching and learning!</span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">References</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Allman, B. (2020). Socioculturalism. In R. Kimmons & S. Caskurlu (Eds.), The Students' Guide to Learning Design and Research. EdTech Books. <a href="https://edtechbooks.org/studentguide/socioculturalism">https://edtechbo… style="font-family: verdana;">Hessling, P.A., Robinson, E.E., Capps, J.A., Gallardo-Williams, M.T. (2018) Cross-Disciplinary Reading Circles: Community Building, Collaboration and Professional Growth. Journal of Faculty Development, 32(3), 19-24. <a href="https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/eric/docview/2155990890/E…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">ASU Library Access.</a> </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kozeracki, C. A., Carey, M. F., Colicelli, J., Levis-Fitzgerald, M., & Grossel, M. (2006). An intensive primary-literature-based teaching program directly benefits undergraduate science majors and facilitates their transition to doctoral programs. CBE life sciences education, 5(4), 340–347. </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-02-0144" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-02-0144</a></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Spörer, N., Brunstein, J.C., Kieschke, U. (2009). Improving students' reading comprehension skills: Effects of strategy instruction and reciprocal teaching. Learning and Instruction, 19(3), 272-286. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.05.003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.05.003</a> </span></li… style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span><hr /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2019-6.jpg&q…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1345" height="200" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2019-6-197x3…; width="131" /></a></div></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Post author:</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sarah Prosory is an Instructional Designer within the <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/research/teaching-innovation-center">School of Life Sciences' Teaching Innovation Center</a> at Arizona State University. She has worked in higher education for over ten years, supporting faculty in law, engineering, and biological sciences. Her experience includes assisting faculty with in-person, blended, and hybrid courses, as well as making the leap to fully online courses. She provides training to faculty and teaching assistants on how to use educational technologies, and shares evidence-based practices in course design to improve the student experience. She also teaches online for ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.</span></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">In summer 2020, I attended a <a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/2020/11/04/evolving-exams-adapt-your-as…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grading Alternatives webinar</a> put on by the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Teaching Innovation Center (TIC)</a>. Josh Caulkins (previous Assistant Director) and <a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/3212430" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah Prosory</a> (Instructional Designer) shared a number of intriguing ideas that, for better or for worse, I decided to try to implement in my spring “boutique” course <i>Parasites and Their Relatives.</i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/daniel-oberg…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Person holding three plants that are just sprouting" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/daniel-oberg…; title="Image Source Daniel Oberg @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div>The big one is <b>specifications grading.</b> This idea has been featured in this <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/01/19/new-ways-grade-more-eff…; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside Higher Ed</a> article, this <a href="http://rtalbert.org/specs-grading-iteration-winner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Talbert, Ph.D</a>. article, and more fully in the book <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time</a> by Linda B. Nilson. (No, I did not read the book.) The essential philosophy is to make grades more like badges, like indications of a completed contract, and less like value judgments. All assessments are considered either “complete” or “incomplete” according to a detailed rubric. The final letter grade is based on a predefined basket of completes, with the number and/or level of assessments included in the basket for an “A” indicating a higher level of mastery than the basket of assessments required for a “B”.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">My Course Design</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because I was adapting a course I had already run four times, I wanted to keep a similar assessment structure. My grading scheme was based on the number of successfully completed assignments in each of three essential, equally-weighted categories (attendance & participation, reading quizzes, and research project). Students could complete all assessments for an A+, miss one of them for an A, miss 2 or 3 of them for a B, and so on. An “incomplete” could mean the assignment was never attempted, or it could mean that the student attempted it but did not meet the requirements laid out in the rubric. For any student attempt deemed “incomplete”, I provided feedback on which aspects needed to be improved for the assignment to be considered “complete”. I allowed students up to three assignment revisions for each of the class activity and reading quiz categories, while the number of resubmissions was unlimited for the research essay drafts. The three assessment categories were weighted equally and the grading scheme required a minimum level of completion for all three to earn a productive grade. In this way, I attempted to ensure that the grades would reflect mastery of each of the learning objectives for the course.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How did this function in practice? </span></h2><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The positives.</span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I’ll admit that one of the main benefits that attracted me to the concept of specifications grading in the first place, was that I would no longer have to agonize over grading. I have always been uncomfortable with the judgment process of grading because despite my detailed rubrics, I know I am human and I am readily biased by factors other than the quality of the student work. For example, the first essay in the pile might be treated differently than the last one, despite my best efforts. (Also, my blood sugar level, my caffeine status, the tone of my most recent interaction with the student … the list goes on.) Inevitably I would doubt myself when leaning toward a lower score, not wishing to hurt my students’ confidence or risk confrontation, and end up with nearly all As at the end of the term. By contrast, with specifications grading I felt more comfortable assessing a binary “complete” or “incomplete”, especially because students still had the chance to revise and resubmit.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />More importantly, I see this grading style as encouraging a <b>growth mindset.</b> Rather than telling the students how good or bad their work was, I told them how to improve. I gave feedback on all assignments, but especially on the “incomplete” ones in which I could explain to the student specifically where the deficiencies lay and how to correct them. Philosophically, this felt right: I was no longer the sole (and potentially biased) arbiter of quality, I was a coach, encouraging my students and pointing the way for them to achieve their best work.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Three weeks in, an anonymous and ungraded survey told me that the students understood the grading scheme, despite its foreignness and complexity. 77% either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I know what is expected of me in the course; 15% were neutral. 100% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I understand the grading scheme of the course”. I didn’t ask whether they thought I was more like a coach or an arbiter of quality; maybe I should have.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The downsides.</span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/green-chamel…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Person writing feedback on paper" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/green-chamel…; title="Image Source Green Chameleon @ Unsplash" width="400" /></a></div>There were some downsides, mainly related to <b>time and effort</b>. Because of the remote, synchronous format, I devised in-class activities for each and every class, in order to promote active learning and break up the class time. Students had to read an article from the scientific literature and answer a few questions about each (11 total over the semester). All of these things needed to be “graded” as complete/incomplete, with specific feedback from me. These took time, but it was the research project that ate up the most of my time. Covid exacerbated the workload: I was intentionally and transparently flexible about deadlines, so the assignments trickled in. Because I wanted to provide timely feedback for those who wished to revise and resubmit, there was always something for me to grade.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The other main downside was the awkwardness of grading this way on Canvas. Assignments can be set to complete/incomplete, but quizzes cannot. They need to have a score. And there is no easy way to set up a grading scheme whereby a certain number of completes equals a letter grade. I kept a separate spreadsheet where I noted each student’s completed assignments, with a simple “<a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">countif</a>” function to keep track of the total. Between Canvas’ limitations and the deadline flexibility demanded by covid, staying on top of everyone’s research projects was more challenging than usual.<br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Would I do it again?</span></h2></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yes, though if I had higher enrollment, I would either need to reduce the number of assessments that need feedback or get help with grading (I only had 14 students compared to last year’s 23). I might also consider a hybrid scheme that would work better with canvas, for example including a category of graded quizzes while the writing assignments would stay on a complete/incomplete basis. Maybe one day, Canvas will build features to facilitate <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">specifications grading</a>. There are certainly plenty of requests for such features on the Canvas forums. The trick, which I suppose is not unique to specifications grading, is to find the balance between providing high quality, individualized feedback, and saving time for other things. I’m planning a new course for spring 2022, so I have the opportunity to design the assessments with a specifications grading scheme in mind. Watch this space for an update.</span><br /><div><div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;">Post-Author:</i></div></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><b><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gillian-gile…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gillian Gile photo in striped shirt" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="675" height="178" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gillian-gile…; width="400" /></a></div>Dr. Gillian Gile </b>is an Associate Professor for the School of Life Sciences and an Evolutionary Microbiologist who studies the diversity and evolution of microbial eukaryotes, otherwise known as protists. The Gile lab also studies the evolution of plastids, which represent a microbial symbiosis so ancient that the protist and cyanobacterial partners have merged into a single organism.</span></div><span><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span></div></div></div></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Feedback is one of the most valuable tools available to instructors, designers, and students. When students invest their time and creativity in an assignment, instructor feedback provides them an opportunity to know what they excelled in, as well as what still needs improvement. Authentic feedback between an instructor and student creates a conversation that is conducive to learning and growing. Similarly, after countless hours are spent designing a curriculum and developing a course--whether online, on-site, or a hybrid of the two--feedback provides instructors a path to continue improving the course for an impactful student experience. When we bring students into the conversation by requesting their feedback on specific elements of a course, we have the opportunity to showcase more diverse backgrounds and voices, employ current applications and content, and establish an environment that makes students feel valued and heard. This article explores how to create space for feedback, what to ask students, methods of receiving feedback, and how to apply student feedback toward course revisions.</span><div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seek Feedback Intentionally</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">Requesting and sharing authentic, honest feedback involves vulnerability, so consider establishing a welcoming environment before soliciting feedback by leveraging specific goals to create student buy-in and plan your approach.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Identify your goals. </span></h3><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Before soliciting student feedback, determine your goals for surveying students. Consider the following questions as you develop your own.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What do you know you want to improve in your course?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">How well did you include diversity and inclusion in the images or learning materials of your course?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Did you try something new and want feedback?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What kind of comments do you anticipate from students?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">How often will this course run?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is the average enrollment size?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What kinds of questions can help you locate weak or strong areas in your course?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">What kind of survey tool or assignment will help you collect feedback?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Will you require students to provide feedback or make it optional (graded or ungraded)?</span></li></ul>Once you have clear goals for gathering student feedback, you have a foundation on which you can begin to create an environment conducive to sharing ideas and opinions.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Create student buy-in. </span></h3><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/john-schnobr…; style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Two people pointing at laptop document for feedback" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/john-schnobr…; title="Source image John Schnobrich @ Unsplash" width="320" /></a></span>Tell students early on that you value their opinions because you want to improve the content and learning experience of the course based on their feedback. This could be mentioned in a welcome module as a video or page devoted to establishing how you plan to seek their feedback and possibly apply their experiences to revisions. Involving students in the conversation empowers them to make decisions and take ownership of the learning materials. If students know what is at stake and they understand the opportunities they have to make a direct impact on the course, it may influence how closely they view the learning materials. This in turn could also contribute to increasing their own learning retention.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Establish a clear structure. </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Plan how often you wish to seek input from students and strategically weave it into your course. Most online courses ask students to complete a course evaluation at the end of the course, but there are many opportunities and reasons to seek feedback earlier in the course as well.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dl.sps.northwestern.edu/blog/2018/04/write-pre-course-survey-qu… feedback.</b></a> If you would like to learn more about where students are starting in your course, consider surveying students in the first week of the course. This may be an opportunity to discern commonly preconceived notions that students may begin with.</span></li><li><b>Post-module feedback.</b> If you want students to provide feedback on specific content or activities, try implementing a survey or reflection when that content is fresh on their minds. It is easy to forget specific items in a course unless students are specifically asked to pause and reflect on those items.</li><li><b>Mid-course feedback.</b> If you’re looking for a general read on your course and not feedback on specific learning materials, then a survey or reflection activity halfway through the course may be an option to gather feedback from students.</li><li><b>End of course feedback.</b> By the time students complete a course, there are competing priorities and interests on their minds, which may mean that students typically share the best or worst parts of their learning experience. This feedback is valuable, but it may not be the best way to collect meaningful information; this will depend on your goals for feedback and what you are trying to achieve.<br /></li></ul></span><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Leverage available resources</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">After determining the goals and cadence of your feedback collection, consider the types of questions you want to ask and the tool or method that would be best suited for gathering student feedback.</span></div><div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sharon-mccut…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Colorful stacked folders and papers in a pile" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sharon-mccut…; title="Source image by Sharon McCutch @ Unsplash" width="213" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-feedback/">Ask the right questions.</a> </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Plan your questions based on your goals, and keep in mind the kind of tool you plan to use. For example, will you employ open-ended questions that students can reflect on thoughtfully without topical restrictions, or do you want a specific opinion that a scale could reveal? There are multiple methods to solicit feedback from students, ranging from Likert scales to personal reflections or interviews, online forms, and group discussions. Regardless of the tool you use, how you frame and present questions will direct students' feedback.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Open-ended questions. </b>Avoid yes or no questions in isolation. Consider asking questions that begin with “how” and “what” so that students are prompted to list specific examples or point back to a specific module or resource. Open-ended questions could also be used to ask students to share resources or materials that they would recommend including in the course.</span></li><li><b>Questionnaires. </b>This is a type of survey that seeks feedback while also providing some parameters. This typically looks like a rating where students would select their provided response on a range from something like “not likely” to “very likely,” or some other psychometric scale. While this type of feedback will not point directly back to a specific example in the responses, framing the questions intentionally could help guide the student to a specific resource or module.</li></ul></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-cft/resources/teaching_resources/reflecti… the right tool.</a> </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Determining which tool you use to seek student feedback depends on your goals, the types of questions you want to employ, and other factors such as privacy, class size/scale, available resources, and personal preferences.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-s… Surveys</a> </b>are available in all Canvas courses and are excellent for blending different question types, grading options, and student anonymity. Because Canvas Surveys fall under Quizzes, you can mix up your question types to include multiple-choice (which can be used as a rating scale), open-ended questions, and other question types.</span></li><li><a href="https://www.google.com/forms/about/"><b>Google Forms</b></a> are easy to use for gathering all kinds of feedback because you can select from a variety of question types and customize the experience with graphics. As part of the G Suite, you can also export feedback into a Google Sheet for storage and review.</li><li><b>Discussion Forums </b>are not typically used to receive survey feedback, but this could be an option to gather ideas and opinions from students as they discuss prompts with their peers. Instead of asking questions in a vacuum, it could be interesting to see what they share with one another when multiple opinions and experiences are involved. Ultimately, each student comes to a discussion with different backgrounds and abilities, so some students may hesitate from sharing their honest opinions in a group.</li></ul><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/tim-mosshold…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Green open sign hanging on brown wood door" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/tim-mosshold…; title="Source image by Tim Mossholder @ Unsplash" width="320" /></a></div></span><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Apply the feedback </span></h2></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">After you collect student feedback and begin to sort through the data, <a href="https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-feedback/">look for patterns.</a> What was a common criticism or compliment? Which open-ended questions got lengthier or more passionate responses? Which kinds of questions did students skip? Be sure to review the feedback with an open mind, because it can be tough on the ego to receive negative feedback on something you invested time in, but the goal is to leverage the feedback to create a more authentic and engaging learning experience for students. Based on the feedback you receive, you decide how you want to incorporate revisions. Whether it’s a well-timed announcement or addition of a new textbook, determine the urgency and best method of implementing the changes, but consider letting your future students in on the process just like you did before: tell them where the ideas came from and how real students helped shape the course, just like they could. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><hr /></u></i><i style="font-family: verdana;">Post-Author:</i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Small.jpg&qu…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image of Taylor O'Kelley (post-author)" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="373" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Small-200x30…; title="Image provided by author" width="248" /></a></div><b>Taylor O’Kelley, M.Ed.</b>, is an instructional designer with ASU Online and the Learning Experience and Student Success team, supporting large-scale initiatives of future learning spaces.</span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></div></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Imagine you’re a student in an introductory biology course. On an exam, your professor asks: "<b>What is a byproduct of photosynthesis as exhibited by Figure 1.1 below?</b>" Could you answer the question?<br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="“A plant at the center of the cycle of photosynthesis. It takes water in through the roots, carbon dioxide and sunlight through its leaves. The leaves release oxygen back into the air as part of the cycle." height="400" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VcdjmYCaRMvTikSTVmUEE2e63kd0dsChfGayJ…; style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Created with BioRender.com" width="343" /></span></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Figure 1.1</i></b></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now imagine you are a student who has a visual impairment and you were asked the same question. Could you provide the answer then? Chances are you may not be able to answer the question based on <i>Figure 1.1</i> alone.<b> What seems like a well-written question, is actually only accessible to students who are sighted or otherwise have functional vision.</b> For students with visual impairments, assessment questions based solely on scientific images or graphs may create a barrier in the learning process. Being <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/">web inclusive</a> means that course content and associated materials are equitably available to all students regardless of their abilities, or type of technological device that they are using. Instead of relying only on scientific images and graphs to showcase data, you can improve access to course materials by also providing <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/articles/images">Alternative Text (alt text)</a>. The purpose of alt text is to provide a text equivalent of the image, so people who are unable to see the image have access to the message it’s intended to convey. Students using alt text regularly may include those with low vision or students with cognitive impairments that work more efficiently with text than images.</span><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/conscious-de…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Skeletal system diagram with nerves showing" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1363" height="400" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/conscious-de…; title="Source Conscious Design @ Unsplash" width="266" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />To be accessible, all graphics must have alt text or a transcription that describes them. <a href="https://www.afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/using-technology/assistive… readers</a> and other machines (such as search engines) can't read images and rely on text alternatives and transcriptions. Supplying concise and equivalent alt text ensures equitable course content for all students and all types of devices.</span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An Example of Alt Text for Scientific Data</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here’s an example of alt text to describe <i>Figure 1.1</i> (as seen above):</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><blockquote>A plant at the center of the cycle of photosynthesis. It takes water in through the roots, carbon dioxide and sunlight through its leaves. The leaves release oxygen back into the air as part of the cycle.</blockquote></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>In this example, the alt text details the scientific data thoroughly, and may inadvertently give away the answer to the original question, “What is a byproduct of photosynthesis as exhibited by the diagram below?” </b>This is a concern when using alt text for scientific graphs and images. Professors are wary of giving away the answer, but also want to make sure their course materials are accessible and equitable for all students. Writing <a href="https://247accessibledocuments.com/2020/09/23/writing-image-description… text descriptions for graphs</a> can be particularly challenging without giving away the answers.</span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So what can you do?</span></h2><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></h2><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Write better questions.</span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Write questions that do not rely solely on visual stimuli. For example, instead of using the initial question, instead, you might ask, “<i>Which aspect of the photosynthesis cycle serves as the source of energy to fuel a light-dependent chemical reaction inside of the leaves?</i>” Or you may ask, “<i>Which aspects of the photosynthesis cycle serve as sources of energy for light-independent reactions inside the leaves?</i>” These questions ask the student about their content knowledge of photosynthesis rather than their ability to visually see an image.<br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reformat <a href="https://www.washington.edu/doit/are-there-guidelines-describing-complex… text</a>. </span></h3></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">If the question you want to ask is based on the student’s ability to read and interpret <a href="https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/#complex">complex text</a>, such as a scientific graph or chart, and cannot be limited to a succinct alt text, you may consider reformatting the text into an accessible table or list instead. For example, if you ask students to interpret the<b> bar chart below</b>, you may also provide the following alt text and accessible table. <br /><br /><img alt="The figure is a bar chart which illustrates the frequency of number of mistakes while driving. On the horizontal axis or X axis, the number of mistakes while driving is given and on Vertical axis or Y axis, frequency is distributed. The data are summarized in the following table. All data are approximate." src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BwrkOJ8PhfUE8gAZ57zr56gaFVLsdJq4dqRYU…; title="Image created by Christian Wright, School of Life Sciences at ASU" /><br /><br /><b>Alt text:</b> The figure is a bar chart which illustrates the frequency of number of mistakes while driving. On the horizontal axis or X axis, the number of mistakes while driving is given and on Vertical axis or Y axis, frequency is distributed. The data are summarized in the following table. All data are approximate.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Accessible table: </b></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="295"></col><col width="298"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Number of Mistakes while driving (X-axis)</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frequency (Y-Axis)</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">0 to 2</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 to 4</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 to 6</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">23</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 to 8</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 to 10</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 to 12</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12 to 14</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14 to 16</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">0</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22.75pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">16 to 18</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-left: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-right: solid #000000 0.99609pt; border-top: solid #000000 0.99609pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Providing this information in a chart rather than in alt text will assist students who use screen readers with navigating the information in the graph/chart. While alt text is helpful, there is no way for the student who is using a screen reader to navigate a lengthy paragraph. In a chart or list format, the student can navigate easily with a screen reader. Keep in mind that alt text doesn’t have to exist in the same format the original image does. If you’re unsure of where to start, here are some best practices. <br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alt Text Best Practices for Scientific Images and Graphs:</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Be<b> </b><a href="https://www.washington.edu/doit/how-long-can-alt-attribute-be"><b>brief and succinct</b>,</a> while providing enough information for students to successfully complete the assessment.</span></li><li><b>Omit Titles and Labels </b>in the Alt Text description.</li><li><b>Omit unnecessary information</b> (Ex: if the mention of color within a graph or image is not pertinent to successfully completing the assessment, omit it).</li><li>Before describing a graph or image, read the associated assessment questions to <b>determine which information is critical</b>.</li><li>There might be some details of the image that are not relevant to answer the questions, therefore each <a href="https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-constitutes-good-alt-text"><b>Alt Text must be tailored</b> </a>to fit in the context of the question.</li><li><b>Consider prerequisite knowledge </b>that students are expected to know. This will help structure how much detail is necessary in the Alt Text.</li></ul></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Get help with <a href="https://accessibility.asu.edu/">web accessibility</a> and alt text:</span></h2><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are many resources available to those who want to learn more about <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Making-Online-Teaching-Accessible-Disabilities/d… their teaching accessible</a>. The important thing to remember about accessibility and alt text is that you’re not alone. ASU provides many resources to help you ensure your content and your assessments are accessible.<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Connect with ASU Accessibility on the #accessibility Slack channel at <a href="https://asu-community.slack.com/messages/accessibility">asu-community.s… style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=ITACCESS">Subscribe to the ITACCESS mailing list</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://asu-a11y.appointlet.com/s/1-hour-consultation/kathy">Book an appointment at the Access Clinic</a> at ASU, held online every Wednesday from 1-5 p.m.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Connect with <a href="https://eoss.asu.edu/accessibility">Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services (SAILS)</a> at ASU to help provide alt text for your scientific images and graphics.</span></li></ul><div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><hr /><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><i><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TLewis-1.jpg…; style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1288" height="240" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TLewis-1-300…; width="320" /></a></i></span></div><i>Post Authors: </i></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span><b>Tiffany Lewis</b> is an ELS PhD candidate in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on how we can work with communities to find collaborative solutions to pollution. She is also committed to teaching, learning, and continuing to improve educational environments, particularly online.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Christy-2Bhe…; style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="973" height="320" src="https://dev-tic-blog.ws.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Christy-2Bhe…; /></a></span></div></div><b>Christy Jersin Woods</b> an Instructional Designer Associate for the <a href="https://sols.asu.edu/">School of Life</a></span><a href="https://sols.asu.edu/" style="font-family: verdana;"> Sciences </a><span style="font-family: verdana;">at ASU. She leverages technology and inclusive teaching pedagogy to assist faculty in curriculum and design of their courses. Currently, Christy is earning her Master’s in Educational Leadership and Graduate Certificate in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University, both of which she will complete this year. She has several years of experience teaching and in curriculum design in higher education and continues to stay up to date in literature and best practices.</span></div><div></div></div>
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