Because of the high student-to-instructor ratio, it is easy for students in large courses to feel under-valued. This is not always just a perception: very often, the instructor will not, in fact, know a given student's name or notice if the student exhibits signs of struggling. Likewise, because the students often do not get to know the instructor, it is easy for them to dismiss the instructor as harsh or uncaring. For both of these reasons, it is critical to take steps to make sure students know that you do care, that you are available, and that you are rooting for their success. At a minimum, communicating this regularly is important. Better yet, building an infrastructure of student support into your course will make that message more credible. Finally, treating students with respect - by using their names and pronouns, by treating them like adults, and by communicating trust - is non-negotiable if you want students feeling valued.
For assistance implementing any of the following techniques, please contact an instructional designer assigned to your college.
- Include an orientation module to put student-focused information about Canvas, technology, academic integrity, and support services at students' fingertips. You don't have to create this from scratch. Instructional designer, Eyde Olson, maintains a general purpose orientation module in the Canvas Commons that is easily imported into your course.
- Include a Course Information or Resources module specific to your course. Components might include: Office hours with link to your Zoom. General course Q & A discussion forum where students ask questions related to the general course and are encouraged to answer each other’s questions. Study guides and guidelines (discussion board, Netiquette, how to prepare for quizzes or exams. Sample questions. Terms of discipline. How to take notes. Study suggestions.) Tutorials for Zoom, YuJa, technology used in the course. Add Canvas mini-tutorials before the first time using a Canvas assessment (How do I take my exam or quiz and how can I see my results? How does the Discussion Board work?)
- Design with an early and often perspective. Get students working immediately with small-stakes graded work. Small wins on the quizzes build student confidence and motivation. Students then expect to be actively engaged in the course. Provide opportunities to revise and improve (repeatable online quizzes, small self-checks, weekly topic discussions, small writings that build to a research paper).
- Remove barriers to learning by intentionally designing first week activities that orient and engage students in the course, and familiarize them with the course elements
- Create a short Instructor Welcome video to introduce yourself and share why you are excited to participate in the course community. Share your passion about the course. Tell students why you chose the field. Talk about the course learning goals. Suggest strategies for academic success.
- Create a short Course Tour video. Be sure to use the Student View setting when you record your screen capture of the course. Walk students through the course so they understand the organization and why you designed the course the way you did. End by telling students what to do first to get started in their learning experience.
- Design a small-stakes Getting Started or Syllabus quiz as part of the first week orientation activities. Benefits? Reinforces syllabus and course policies, and familiarizes students with the quiz tool (for an example of a Getting Started Quiz, search under Eyde Olson in Canvas Commons). Questions might be over many topics: course policies such as late assignments, what day the first posting of discussions is due, where to get technical help, critical information in the syllabus, how to email instructor, etc. Especially consider questions your students frequently ask. Debrief about prior course offerings. What things did you wish your student paid more attention to? What were things students struggled with?
- Design a small-stakes Writing quiz as one of the first week orientation activities if your course has writing assignments. Pose citation scenarios based on the citation style of your discipline. Add automated feedback to each question (for an example of a Writing Quiz, search under Eyde Olson in Commons).
- Be redundant: Redundancy is your friend, especially when teaching large classes. Remind frequently. Use the “To Do” setting on Canvas Pages to help your students manage their time. Set a day on weekly overview pages, for example, to recommend to your students when you want them to begin working on that week’s learning.
- Design with Cognitive Load Theory in mind: Give explicit instructions, information, links, tutorials, etc. Place information right where it is needed (Miller, 2014). Send a pre-course announcement: time commitment especially for summer sessions, textbook information, links to orientation module and syllabus. Remove any guesswork; answer the five questions: What is the purpose? Why is it important? How to do it? Where to do it? When to do it?
- Provide relevant and detailed examples: Show and teach with examples (well-written discussion post, good answer to an essay question, well-supported paragraph).
- Explain your pedagogy: Explain why you are using the teaching strategies you do, what you expect them to learn, and how they will be assessed.
- Clearly communicate: Share your expectations about policies, workload, schedule, etc. Utilize due dates for assessments so they show on the course calendar.
- Offer flexibility, when appropriate: Flexible deadline policy can be efficient with templates like the “I Need an Extension!” form. You could also offer a “time bank” where students can draw one 2-day extension on an assignment or a 1-day extension on two separate assignments.
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