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iDigest News Bulletin – Fall 2021

By Kristin Kowal
November 8, 2021

Posted in: News

In this news bulletin, read an update on Zoom and about a resource you can use to add videos to courses in Canvas!

Learning Technology Team Leads Transition to Zoom

I reached out to Patrick Wirth, director of the Learning Technology and Media Team at UW-Extended Campus for an update on the wonderful work his team has done on the Zoom transition:

Over the course of summer 2021, UW as a whole moved away from Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (BBCU) to incorporate Zoom as the preferred tool to facilitate live conferencing in Canvas courses. Even though all UW Extended Campus courses are asynchronous, our courses still use live conferencing tools frequently for online office hours, open Q&A sessions, group study sessions, group presentations, and more. This fall, we have helped instructors in almost 40 of our courses successfully make the transition to Zoom. Not only have we offered one-on-one help to instructors needing to learn a new tool, we have created documentation for students and faculty on how to use Zoom in Canvas courses. We are continuing to gather feedback from faculty about this transition to help ensure that the next wave of courses, launching in Spring 2022, are well primed to take advantage of all Zoom has to offer. – Patrick Wirth, Director of Creative Services, UW Extended Campus

After reading the update about Zoom, you might have interest or questions about how you can use it in your course. Reach out to your instructional designer for more information and we will help you find what you need!

New Resource: Films On Demand

Films On Demand is a collection of video databases that focus on educational and academic content. It offers access to thousands of films, documentaries, and news for streaming on demand. Best of all, you can browse for videos and embed them directly in your course in Canvas. If you’re interested in exploring Films on Demand, contact your instructional designer to discuss how to access this exciting new option for adding resources to your course!

Offering Students Free and Easy Access to Learning Materials

By Nate Ewings
November 4, 2021

Posted in: Faculty / Teaching Online

I’ve been impressed with how many instructors have it as a goal to provide students with high-quality, affordable resources. Increasingly, instructors have been inquiring about providing students with easy access to free materials through the campus library. As an instructor in one of our collaborative programs, you may be aware of the potential challenges that can accompany providing library materials for your students: each campus library in the degree partnership needs to have the resource, it needs to be available online, and access needs to be stable. Determining if a resource checked all these boxes was no easy task.

I thought, “there has got to be a way to make the process easier!” Luckily, I found a group of UW librarians familiar with the mission of UWEX who were willing to help. I recently sat down with three of these librarians to discuss an excellent opportunity to offer students free, easy, and stable access to library materials: UW Shared Resources.

Left to Right: Julie Pohlman Library Program Director (UW System), Renee Ettinger Assistant Director, Research and Outreach Services (UW-Green Bay), Aubrey Huff Undergraduate Support/Outreach Librarian (UW-Stout)

Left to Right: Julie Pohlman Library Program Director (UW System), Renee Ettinger Assistant Director, Research and Outreach Services (UW-Green Bay), Aubrey Huff Undergraduate Support/Outreach Librarian (UW-Stout)

Can you explain what UW Shared Resources are?

[Julie] Sure! UW Shared Resources are library materials licensed specifically to be available to all UW students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, UW Shared Resources are located online, which means students can access them without needing to go to a specific campus, which is why they are great for online programs with geographically dispersed students.

What types of resources are included in this collection? 

[Renee] I could probably fill a whole page answering this question, but I’ll highlight just a few items.

  • Books: We have many books. For example, Proquest Ebook Central has more than 200,000 titles across publishers, and Wiley Online has over 40,000 titles. If an instructor is using a Wiley book, I highly recommend looking into whether or not it is a title we have.
  • Journals: We have tens of thousands of journals articles across most disciplines in various databases. Too many to list, honestly.
  • Streaming Media: Films on Demand has 30,000 titles across disciplines; Alexander Street Press collections: PBS Video, the National Theatre, Nursing and Mental Health, and LGBT Studies.
  • Newspapers: Proquest “Newstreams” – U.S., Canada, International; Westlaw Campus Research.

As you can see, there are a lot of resources available that can be used as a primary or supporting component to a course.

What are the benefits of linking to UW Shared Resources in a course versus uploading them or linking to other resources on the Internet? 

[Aubrey] A few benefits quickly come to mind:

  • Stability. We can run reports on resource usage and ensure long-term access to materials by negotiating with vendors to keep a resource during contracting.
  • Copyright compliance. Directing students to library content instead of uploading PDF copies is the best way to ensure course materials are copyright compliant.
  • Increased Options. Shared Resources provide instructors more options when developing a course. Many instructors are being asked to be cost considerate when developing a course, which can result in fewer resources being selected. Using Shared Resources provides more options. For example, we worked with an instructor who had already identified a required textbook for a course and wanted to use only two chapters from another book to flesh out a particular topic. In this case, he felt he couldn’t justify having students buy a book for just two chapters. Fortunately, the book was part of the Shared Resource collection, so the instructor was able to provide his students with exactly the material he wanted to adequately cover the topic.

Who can instructors work with to see if a particular resource is part of the Shared Resources collection?

[Julie] Instructors have two options:

  1. If they are currently revising or developing a course, we recommend they reach out to the instructional designer with whom they are working. The instructional designer then reaches out to the campus librarians, who locate the shared digital content.
  2. If they aren’t currently developing or revising a course but would like to explore options, they should contact their campus librarian! The librarian can help determine if a resource is shared. If not, they can offer additional suggestions prior to moving to a purchase option.

If instructors want to find resources on their own, how can they tell if a resource is part of the UW Shared Resources? 

[Julie] First, when an instructor searches for a book or article in Search@UW (the library search portal), they need to make sure they search for only online resources. Second, Shared Resources will be identified as such (UW System Shared) in the listing.

Example of (UW Systems Shared) in a resource link

If instructors want to start a search in a shared database, they should visit the guide listing all shared content databases: https://libguides.uwgb.edu/uws-library-resources.

Last question, what other services do UW librarians want instructors to be aware of?

[Aubrey] In this interview, we talked about how librarians can help instructors locate materials, but we can also work with them to incorporate student-facing library and information literacy instruction directly into an online course.

[Renee] We can also provide point-of-need help for you or your students when they are doing research, so please don’t hesitate to have your students contact their campus’ librarian if they need to locate high-quality resources.

As I wrap up this article, I’m happy to say that because of the collaboration with the librarians and the simple process they have developed. I’ve been able to assist a number of instructors incorporate UW Shared Resources into their courses. The UWEX ID team is excited about the opportunities UW Shared Resources provide. These resources are a free and easy way to provide stable, high-quality, and copyright-compliant materials to students in our collaborative programs.

We look forward to seeing how instructors incorporate these resources into new and existing courses!

UW-Milwaukee RN to BSN OER Project

By Jessica O'Neel
November 1, 2021

Posted in: Faculty / News / Projects / Teaching Online

Introduction

Starting in June of 2021, UW Milwaukee College of Nursing RN to BSN Flex program began a year-long OER Grant Workshop Series. OER stands for “open educational resources”, which means that subject matter experts develop content and materials or lists of content and materials for learners to retrieve and use at no expense. Through this workshop, the team learned how to recruit team members and structure content into textbook or handbook resources.

The Flex nursing team decided to focus on the transition from study to practice. Once a nurse has obtained their bachelor’s, what new opportunities do they have? How does the nurse leverage the new degree within their profession and practice? The team is still in the early phases of development, but so far, they have created a handbook consisting of five chapters about the transition to practice for RN-to-BSN nurses. After creating a detailed outline, they focused on content development for each chapter. The team has also learned about various interactive technologies which could be implemented. Ryan Anderson is lending his expertise in the area of instructional design.

Interview

Team member Nicole Marie Simonson was kind enough to provide an insider’s perspective on the project.

Can you speak a little more to the motivation behind this project, or was reducing student costs the primary motive?

[Nicole] ​The motivation behind this project was addressing a topic that is not readily available to students and targets this specific student population. Traditional undergrads get a transition-to-practice course for becoming bachelor’s prepared nurses, but what does that transition to practice look like in Flex? We wanted to explore this further and inform our students about the differences in nursing when transitioning from ADN to BSN. As for cost, students would not have the cost associated with purchasing a textbook.

What learning benefits will this resource provide to students? For example, do you think this handbook is more representative of real-world workplace challenges compared to an existing textbook?

[Nicole] ​​We are unaware of a current text that addresses RN-to-BSN students and their transition to practice. This resource expands far beyond what the transition to practice is for the new nurse. They will learn about the asset of having their BSN and how to leverage the degree within their practice. They will explore additional opportunities that will open as a result of being BSN-prepared. The handbook will allow them to take what they have learned within the program and apply it to real-world situations.

What challenges have you had finding, evaluating, and selecting OERs for the handbook? How have you worked through them?  ​

[Nicole] ​One challenge was selecting a topic with few existing OERs. We did have challenges in finding supporting research and literature on this topic. We found broader topics that were applicable, but little research exists about this topic specifically.

What has been the most exciting/fulfilling part of working on this project? ​

[Nicole] ​Exciting aspects are working with fellow team members— learning about their expertise and knowledge on the topic. Also, learning about how the transition to practice for RN to BSN looks different from what it would for a new nurse or nurse transitioning into a graduate degree with a more formal role. It is exciting to be part of something bigger than oneself and to work with others with similar passions and interests. The Rebus OER workshops have provided us with tools and resources that help support our success with creating our OER.

Can you share any advice or tips for faculty who want to implement OERs into their course, even if it is not to this same level? ​

[Nicole] ​Create a plan, identify your key team members. You will have additional team members along the way, but a core group is helpful as you move along. Set a timeline and goals for moving forward and a means to hold one another accountable. It is great to have team members who have varying levels of experience and perspective to add.

All of us at UW Extended Campus are excited to follow the progress of this project!

Utilizing the Power of Feedback

By Eric Peloza
April 19, 2021

Posted in: Faculty / News / Teaching Online / Tips

Feedback is a crucial part of the online experience for students and instructors. It is valuable for a number of reasons, one being that it allows instructors to connect to students and help students grow their skill set. This blog post will look at the importance of feedback and how you can leverage it in your courses.

Let’s unpack feedback!

Does feedback matter?

Instructor Sharon Frazier, Healthcare Administration

As we know from student feedback and research, instructor feedback is a priority for students in an online course. It has also been shown to have a direct impact on students’ perceived satisfaction with online courses. A study from an online nursing program showed that a lack of feedback caused students to be unsatisfied with their online learning experience (Soon, Sook, Jung, & Im, 2000). Additionally, we have heard from our students through surveys and student success coaches that they appreciate quality instructor feedback.

One of our Healthcare Administration students had this to say about the great feedback her instructor, Sharon Frazier, provided: “Overall, things have been going well. Getting constant guidance from Professor has been helpful in understanding the assignments and expectations for HCA 700. I find myself learning a lot through the discussions. She also provides a lot of feedback which is incredibly helpful.”

Getting constant guidance from Professor has been helpful in understanding the assignments and expectations…She also provides a lot of feedback which is incredibly helpful

What do students want from their online instructor?

Studies show that students feel affirmed, challenged, and influenced when they receive quality feedback from exemplary instructors (Edwards, Perry, & Janzen, 2011). Students also report frustrations with inadequate feedback and a lack of depth in another study (Lai, 2006). When you provide thoughtful feedback, it shows students that their instructor is invested in their learning. Students may have invested a lot of time and energy into an assignment, so putting the same effort into giving good feedback reassures and motivates them.

Finding the correct tool to meet the feedback requirement

How to use the tools in Canvas to maximize your feedback

In online learning, providing effective feedback is facilitated by the tools in the learning management system or digital learning environment. Effective feedback is frequent or immediate, specific, or interrogative (Leibold & Schwarz, 2015). Our digital learning environment, Canvas, enables faculty to easily give feedback with these characteristics.

If you’re looking to provide feedback in Canvas, consider one of these tools:

  • Announcements: Announcements are a quick and great way to communicate to the entire class at once, such as when you notice a running theme when grading and want to point it out. You can also use them to prepare students for the next stage in the course.
  • Rubrics: The Canvas rubrics tool gives you the ability to use pre-built feedback and personalized feedback. You can use the pre-built feedback to quickly assess the main criteria of an assessment. It also gives you the ability to justify your grading with the differing levels of criteria assessment. The rubrics tool also has an area that allows you to provide context and commentary regarding your grading.

    Example of using feedback in Canvas Quizzes
  • Quizzes: The Canvas quizzes tool allows you to give feedback on quiz questions based upon the correct answer, incorrect answers, or for specific selections. You can create this feedback before the course opens, and students can receive it immediately after submitting their quiz. The advantage of this option is that you only need to write feedback once and it applies to every student attempt.

Canvas also has a great analytics tool that allows you to view student performance at the class-level. You can interpret the data and identify common threads from the reporting then use this information to provide additional feedback on specific content areas that have lower than expected performance. You can also leverage announcements to share content with students right when they need it!

If you’re looking to learn more about feedback and other related topics, you can review our Journey to Online self-guided courses! In our Teaching course, the following modules address feedback:

  • Developing Your Online Course – This module explores the ideas behind creating effective, feedback-drive, rubrics for your students and yourself
  • Teaching Your Online Course – This module has great information and advice on how you can best provide valuable feedback

If you learned something new or would like to suggest future topics for us to dig into, leave a comment below! We’d love to hear from you.

References

Edwards, M., Perry, B., & Janzen, K. (2011). The making of an exemplary online educator. Distance Education, 32(1), 101-118.

Lai, H. J. (2006). On-line courses: Recommendations for teachers. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 10(4), 50-55.
Leibold, N., & Schwarz, L. M. (2015). The Art of Giving Online Feedback. Journal of Effective Teaching, 15(1), 34-46.

Soon, K. H., Sook, K. I., Jung, C. W., & Im, K. M. (2000). The effects of internet-based distance learning in nursing. Computers in Nursing, 18(1), 19-25.

Faculty Spotlight: Melissa Gavin

By Kristin Kowal

Posted in: News

Introduction

Melissa Gavin

In the revision of APC 330: Technical and Professional Communications, Melissa and I worked together to design the “Ten-Minute Check-in” activity. This weekly, timed reflection ultimately helped Melissa adapt her teaching and learn more about her students during the Fall 2020 semester. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could read the room in my online courses to get a sense of how students are doing,” read on to learn about the activity that Melissa says changed her opinion of online learning.

Figure 1: Ten-Minute Check-in Question Text in the Canvas Survey Tool

The following is the prompt for the Ten-Minute Check-in: Write for up to 10 minutes. This question will close after 10 minutes. Examples of what to write about: Are there any areas you need more insight on? Is there anything you are stuck on and would like to ask a question about? Is there a thought or insight that was sparked by the content? Anything else that comes to mind while you are free-writing

 

Interview

Kristin: Why would you recommend the Ten-Minute Check-in to other instructors? 

Melissa: I am a firm believer that online students need to be engaged in some way, shape, or form. In so many online courses—and I’ve taught them over and over—when students submit their assignments, they make passive-aggressive comments in the submission area. And it frustrates the students and the instructor. And when I say passive-aggressive comments, I mean the comments like “Well, I don’t know what you want, so I hope this is right” or “I’m not sure what this was asking, this was my best shot.” It’s just really frustrating as an instructor to get those. 

And so, the check-ins alleviated all of that because they gave students a place that wasn’t public—like a discussion board—where they could ask questions that they may have felt dumb asking or didn’t want to ask. It almost forced them to do it because it was a required assignment that week, but it also allowed them also to share their knowledge gains or concerns that they were having. It also gave them a nice safe spot and created a level of engagement between me and the student.

So, because of these check-ins, I could answer students’ questions or see that there was a common problem with all or a majority of the students. I could address the problem right away rather than waiting until after the fact, getting passive-aggressive comments, and having to figure it out afterward.

Kristin: Did you notice any patterns of engagement? Did students take to it right away or did it take them a while to open up? Did student participation fall off as the semester went on? 

Melissa: I would say that the level of sharing never changed throughout the semester. How they used it varied by the student. I would actually have students who missed the deadline, and they’d be like, “Oh my goodness, I want to complete this! I know I won’t get credit for it, but I have to tell you something,” or “I have to share this with you,” or “I have this amazing thing.” So they would ask to have it reopened even though they knew they’d get no points. They still wanted to complete them, and that caught me off guard. 

They shared things like, “Hey, I really liked this concept, but I’m struggling with this part of it; can you help me understand it?” and “Hey, I had this unique situation happen that relates to this topic and I’m so appreciative that we’re learning about it. It helped me manage it.” I also got a lot of, “Hey I’m really stressed this week. I just want you to know that I’m really stressed. I don’t expect anything from you, but you need to understand where I’m at.“ This was a COVID semester, after all.

That all helped me adapt my teaching for those students. And it helped me be more sympathetic and empathetic to their situations. 

Kristin: And that’s something I hear from a lot of instructors: “When I’m face-to-face with the students, I am able to gauge how they’re doing. I’m able to read their faces, read the room, and I can adapt my teaching.” This sounds like a great way to do that when students aren’t in front of you. And it sounds like you’re getting a lot more engagement than a “Raise Your Hand” discussion board that’s plunked into the course. And we all know that those are not used very often. 

Melissa: Right. Probably because you don’t want to be the only person in the room that’s like, “I don’t know, and I feel dumb!”

Kristin: It’s like being the first person up to dance, right? You think, “I don’t want to be doing this by myself!”

Melissa: Exactly. I think the check-ins helped create an environment where you could read the student’s “face,” but the students also realized that the instructor was a real person. 

Kristin: Instructional designers call that presence. This is a great example of it!

So these check-ins sound great, but is there anybody that you wouldn’t recommend it to? Like someone that doesn’t have a lot of time? What are the realities of implementing something like this?

Melissa: So, it does take a little bit of time, but it’s not overwhelming because the students only get a set amount of time to write. But, if you are a person that is really passionate about grammar, punctuation, and spelling, or you have a hard time deciphering information that may not be the best written, you should avoid doing this because it’s not for you. 

That was one thing I made clear to my students: that grammar, punctuation, spelling didn’t matter because I knew they only had a couple of minutes to write. You also have to be very prepared that students won’t necessarily complete their thoughts because when the timer shuts off, the check-in closes. A lot of times it was like, “Ok, I want to know more.” You could tell when a student stopped mid-sentence, so you might have to do a little extra follow-up with that student. 

Kristin: Why did you choose to add the timer?

Melissa: Personally, I like the timer because it forces them just to write. And they can’t think about it—can’t overthink it. They just have to let their words down. You get ten minutes, so write for ten minutes. 

I think that’s important too. You have to make sure that it’s the right amount of time. We started with less time (5 minutes). Having more time benefitted the students. They loved it, and I loved it. I felt like their answers were more thought out and less rushed. It gave them a little bit of extra reflection time. 

Kristin: How long did it take you to review the check-ins?

Melissa: I would start reading them as soon as they came in, but if I missed doing that, it probably took me a good hour to two hours to read them all. I didn’t respond to everybody, and that was hard for me. I like to respond to people; I want to make sure I’m giving them feedback. But, not all of them warranted a response, so I made it very clear ahead of time that I just couldn’t respond to everybody but that I would try to respond to questions. So that was a challenge. 

I also looked for trends. If I saw some common questions come through, I wouldn’t respond individually; I would respond as a class discussion instead. So it’s just really managing your students’ expectations about a response. 

One of the other challenges for me that I found—it wasn’t like a negative challenge, but it was still a challenge—was that students will respond to your comments within that submission area in Canvas, so if you leave them feedback there, they are likely to respond there. You have to make sure that you’re checking back in occasionally. I know Canvas can set up email alerts for this, so making sure those alerts are on is a major thing to keep in mind. 

Kristin: You said the word ‘feedback’ and it made me think of how feedback is important in an online course. A lot of times feedback is something that happens after an assignment is already given. Do you have any insights? Did this change at all the way you think about how we’re giving feedback?

Melissa: Yes and no. I still give the feedback afterward, but I felt like students were more prepared for their assignments because they had the chance to ask questions upfront.  So some of those questions that they may have had previously that they were too scared (or whatever) to ask, they asked. And so I actually felt like these helped improve assignments. It allowed me to tackle their concerns right away rather than addressing them after the fact. 

Kristin: Were most questions students were asking within this check-in activity, or did you see any activity on a “Raise Your Hand” discussion board? Did these affect each other very much?

Melissa: I would say there were still questions on the Raise Your Hand. If anything, I think students were more likely to ask questions in the Ten-Minute Check-ins than they were in the “Raise Your Hand” discussion. 

Kristin: So it didn’t seem that students were getting more comfortable asking questions publicly because of the Ten-Minute Check-ins?

Melissa: No. There was definitely more. I would say in my years of teaching that there were more questions asked this last semester than I’ve ever had before. And I really think it’s because it’s a safe space. 

Kristin: Is there anything else you want to share besides the amazing information you’ve already shared? 

Melissa: I think one thing that comes to mind that needs to be shared is that you have to be prepared for students to really share their personal life. It may not be every student, but it definitely happens. And you have to be prepared to know who to contact when a student reaches out to you with something that really needs to be escalated. And it might not be your course or course content. It might not even be related to the course at all; it could be a personal issue. Sometimes you as the instructor may not be able to help directly, but you can pass that information on to somebody who can make a difference. So you have to be prepared and knowledgeable about who to pass that on to.

Thankfully, this program has the student referral form, so it’s really easy to do that. But I would say situations like that are one of the hardest but most important things. You have to be prepared for the situations that arise that you can’t be involved in but you need to get somebody else involved with. 

And then, I think it was so great because I met students on a different level. It changed my opinion about online learning. 

Kristin: That’s pretty powerful stuff. Thank you for sharing the details of the Ten-Minute Check-in. I can’t wait to share this with other instructors. 

Melissa: I hope others do it!

Kristin: Me too!    

Conclusion

The idea for the check-in was sparked from a discussion Melissa and I had about adding a reflection component to one assignment. But why stop there? In our case, we tried this generalized approach and added a reflection every week. The effort was a success because students were excited to participate in the check-ins and were more prepared for and performed better on their assignments because they could ask questions in advance. It also allowed Melissa to get to know her students better!

There are many ways to build reflections into your course. It could be a check-in like this or assignment-specific. We’d love to hear from you in the comments about your own experiences with designing for reflection or if you are interested in adding a Ten-Minute Check-in activity to your own course.