University of Wisconsin Extended Campus

Archives for Best Practices

Best Practices

Best Practices

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Erich Jauch

By Jessica O'Neel
May 8, 2023

Dr. Erich Jauch is a mathematics instructor at UW-Eau Claire. He currently teaches Algebra for Calculus for UW Independent Learning. He enjoys teaching introductory math courses and working with students at the beginning of their mathematical journey.

Dr. Erich Jauch, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UW-Eau Claire
Dr. Erich Jauch, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UW-Eau Claire

Recently, during a revision of Algebra for Calculus, Dr. Jauch added open educational resources to the course, removing the cost barrier of a textbook and online homework platform for students. He also added two types of activities to incorporate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles and connect with his asynchronous, self-paced students. Moreover, the course is mindful of reducing math anxiety in students.

The first activity is a series of math chats. In every unit, students are given a space to ask or answer a question about the material covered or read and reflect on an article pertaining to a mathematical topic. Through the math chats, students are able to:
• Discuss diversity within the math community
• Highlight the work of underrepresented mathematicians
• See fun applications of math, like the “mathematically perfect” way to slice a pizza

✅ See an example of a math chat discussion

The second activity is a three-part math mystery. Students apply course concepts to a fictional story about an international criminal stealing precious artifacts. Before and after students solve problems related to the math mystery, they are asked to reflect in discussions:
• First, students discuss the concepts they might apply to the problem in an introductory discussion for each math mystery scenario.
• Second, after they’ve worked out the problem and seen the answer, students complete a reflection discussion on what they understood from the activity, what they struggled with, and how they might apply concepts in the future.

✅ See an example of an introductory discussion and a reflection discussion from the math mystery activity.

These discussions help reduce math anxiety and create equity by allowing students to see how others are thinking about and approaching the problems in the activity. The math mystery activities keep the focus on the learning process, not just the correct answer, by asking students to reflect on their solutions to the problems. In this spotlight, Dr. Jauch gives us more details about adding EDI to math courses and the benefits of these activities for students.

Often, math and science courses are perceived to be “difficult” to incorporate EDI principles into. What has helped you include more EDI in your courses?

While trying to source these principles from classic material is certainly more difficult, if we take the time to look we can find many opportunities to witness EDI topics in mathematics. Especially if we are willing to look into the applications of mathematics.

Can you give a brief description of how these strategies work in your course? Tell us what students are expected to do when they complete this activity. How are they evaluated and what kind of feedback do they get?

The math mysteries are a way for students to work through some problems that are interconnected and in a fun and playful way. Too often students are given math problems as busy work, so these were designed to be light-hearted but also an assessment of their abilities to that point in the class. Additionally, the types of problems were selected to best fit the written setting. The main process of the assignment is for students to first complete a pre-assessment of the topics and skills they may need for the assignment. Then they complete the worksheet by hand and upload their work to Canvas. Afterward, they are presented with partial answers and asked to reflect on the experience.

Can you talk a little more about developing and including these strategies in your course?

With the course being fully online, one benefit of the math chats is an opportunity for the students to interact with each other and see different perspectives about interesting current and EDI topics. This was important to me because student interactions are an important piece of a standard class and this brings it to an IL course. It was important however to not link the score [course grade] to the interactions as the number of students concurrently enrolled can vary greatly.

What advice would you have for other faculty who may want to try similar activities in their courses?

Be willing to look outside the normal topics covered in your course that are accessible to students. There are usually many modern topics that students have an interest in that you can make approachable to them.

Conclusion

Using OERs, adding opportunities to reflect and collaborate, and reducing student anxiety are effective ways to add more equity, diversity, and inclusion into a course. Our course reflection tool is also a helpful resource when considering EDI-related changes to your course. Reach out to your instructional designer if you want to learn more!

Common Accessibility Challenges Faced by Students and How We Can Help Fix Them

By Brian Chervitz
April 27, 2023

As part of serving the people of Wisconsin, UW Extended Campus strives to ensure every student, no matter what, can earn a high-quality and accessible postsecondary education. In service to this goal, the UWEX Instructional Design team and faculty work together to fix the common accessibility challenges faced by UW students. In fact, the UWEX ID team works hard to check our courses to address many potential accessibility issues before they ever become problematic. Checking images, HTML code, text, videos, language, links, and more is part of our process for every course.

What about your course announcements? We know things can change and you may need to share other learning resources or web links with your students in an announcement. While the ID team is available to lend a hand, we want you to feel confident in ensuring your announcements or other course updates are as accessible as the rest of the course.

In the video below, see how three common challenges might appear in a course announcement, and how they can be fixed using the accessibility tool already integrated into Canvas. The rest of this article reviews some challenges beyond those addressed in the video.

See the video on MS Stream.
Download the “Common Accessibility Challenges and How to Fix Them” infographic above or the accessible PDF to share with your students or colleagues.

Further Issues, Their Causes, and How We Fix Them

There are several other accessibility issues that the ID team addresses during the design of a course. Check out how we fix the issues below.

Issue: Students who are deaf or hard of hearing aren’t getting the key information from a video. 

The cause of this issue 

The video likely doesn’t have a transcription or closed captioning (or the captions are inaccurate). 

How we fix it 

If there is a video as a learning resource, we need to verify that the video has captions or a transcription. Resources made with UWEX Media Services automatically have both. To resolve a lack of captions or a transcript, we might reach out to the instructor to either make them or find a new video. 

Best practices 

To make videos as accessible as possible, we comply with following best practices: 

  • Captions are best for videos while transcriptions are best for audio-only resources. 
  • If using auto-generated captioning, rewatch the video to check that the captions line up with the audio, there are no critical errors, and fix likely mistakes, such as names or acronyms. 

For more information, visit the Transcripts page from the Web Accessibility Initiative as well as the Captions/Subtitles page from the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Issue: Students using assistive technology can’t distinguish links when searching through them. 

The cause(s) of this issue 

Screen readers will read all the text that is on the screen, including URLs, letter by letter (“h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-w-w-w-dot…”). Furthermore, screen readers can jump from link to link for easier navigation, but knowing the correct link to select can be a challenge if they all say, “Click here.” 

How we fix it 

We make each link on a page succinct, descriptive, and unique. Consider the differences between the following three examples: 

  1. Here is the website for the Web Accessibility Initiative: https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/.
  2. Click here to view the Web Accessibility Initiative website.
  3. The Web Accessibility Initiative website has plenty of resources to help you. 

The third example has the most accessible link because it is unique and concisely describes the link’s destination. 

Best practices 

For clear and accessible links, we comply with following best practices: 

  • Avoid phrases like “click here” or “read more.” Even if the student only reads the linked text, they should know exactly where the link takes them. 

Issue: Students using assistive technology have difficulty finding the information they need on the page. 

The cause(s) of this issue 

In addition to the challenges described in the video, there are a few other reasons a webpage can be inaccessible. One is an inefficient or clunky presentation of information. Just as an entirely written-out URL can disrupt the smooth reading of a paragraph or list, the use of a table to structure a page could prevent a logical interpretation of the page by assistive technology. 

How we fix it 

As mentioned above, w make sure links are succinct, descriptive, and unique. In addition, we check that tables are only used to present tabular data. If the situation demands a table to help us structure the page layout, we will change the HTML code to set the table to role=”presentation”, such as in the image below. 

In the image, the HTML code of a table is shown. In the table tag, the role attribute has been set to presentation.

Best practices 

To ensure the course’s pages present information undisrupted, we comply with following best practices: 

  • In the body of the text, write in short, clear sentences and paragraphs, and use list formatting as appropriate. 
  • When using tables to present data, include headers and a caption. 

How to Use Plain Language in Your Online Course

By Abbie Amadio
April 26, 2023

Download the “How to Use Plain Language in Your Online Course” infographic above or the accessible PDF to share with your students or colleagues.

If you’ve ever tried to explain your work or research to anyone outside your field, you may have realized how much your discipline relies on specialized language that is often difficult for people outside your field to understand. To students, this type of language can be especially intimidating. And even more so when they aspire to join your profession or discipline and may not want to admit they don’t understand something.

But jargon doesn’t only occur in academia—it occurs across fields, especially in health and medicine where critical information often needs to be communicated to patients and the public. With this in mind, U.S. Congress passed the Plain Writing Act in 2010 to make public communications from the federal government clearer and easier to understand. But many of the plain writing techniques detailed in the 2010 Act can be used to make any type of writing clearer. In your courses, these techniques can be used to explain lengthy assignments, assessments, or discussion prompts. They can also be used for longer-form writing and media like presentations and scripts. Many of the techniques highlighted in this article are especially useful for writing online, where many readers often skim the page and look for what they need to know and what they need to do.

To put it simply, plain language is used to communicate complex topics to a broad audience in a digestible way. And it’s an important part of making online courses at UW Extended Campus accessible for all students. Here are some key techniques to write in plain (or plainer) language in your online courses.

Know Your Audience

Write for your audience (your students), and write directly to one person in the class. Use “I” to refer to yourself and “you” to refer to your reader.

Use Detailed Headings

Use detailed headings, so your reader understands how your document is organized. Consider writing headings as questions or statements. To keep your headings accessible though, keep them under 120 characters in length.

Use Simple Verbs & Present Tense

Tell your reader what they should do and keep it simple. Write in the present tense, and use “must” to communicate anything your reader is required to do. For example, avoid “should.” Rather than telling students, “You should keep your paper under two pages,” say, “You must keep your paper under two pages.”

Keep Sentences & Paragraphs Short

Limit sentences to one idea and paragraphs to one topic. When you write a sentence, remember to put your subject, verb, and object close together, and keep any modifying information concise.

Use Examples, Tables, & Lists

Use examples to clarify abstract concepts, tables to break up and organize complex information, and lists to highlight important tasks.

Format Carefully

Only use bold for emphasis, and use it sparingly. Avoid writing in all capital letters or underlining, which can be distracting or confusing. Only use underlining for links.

If you’re interested in reading the complete guidelines, check out the Federal Plain Language Guidelines.

See Plain Language in Action!

Here are two examples from an introductory marketing course that have been revised using plain language techniques. The first example is instructions for an essay assignment; the second is an excerpt from an instructor’s commentary. Both examples use some of the same techniques (notated in pink italicized text) to make the language clearer.

Original Instructions

As part of your academic obligations to this course and its field, expectations are that you write an eight- to ten-page essay using one-inch margins, double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, that examines a current trend in the marketing industry such as privacy marketing, micro-influencing, chatbots, social commerce, or another topic. Write 2000-2500 words.

Revised Instructions

In this course, you will write an essay on a current trend in marketing. Directly address your reader. → You may choose to write about privacy marketing, micro-influencing, chatbots, social commerce, or another marketing trend. ← Use consistent language. Use the same words to refer to the same things. Your essay must be 8 to 10 pages (2,000 to 2,500 words) double-spaced in 12-point, Times New Roman font with one-inch margins. ← Group similar information together.

Original Commentary

Consumers make many purchasing decisions, some rather unimportant day-to-day purchases, and some substantial and infrequent decisions. The amount of effort we put into making these decisions depends on many factors. For example, when you are choosing a snack to buy to take to a party, some factors you may not even be aware of that are part of your decision may include: How much can you afford to spend? Does an advertisement you’ve seen for a snack item come to mind? If no one likes your snack, will you feel embarrassed? Would you feel guilty for bringing an item you consider to be junk food if the people at the party are health and fitness oriented? On the other hand, would you feel awkward if you brought a health-food snack to a group that prefers beer and nachos? What if you’re taking the snack to a birthday celebration for an 8-year-old? Maybe you previously brought a certain snack to an event that was the hit of the party so you’ll return to the store to buy the same item without considering other alternatives.

Now that students have some understanding of consumer-buying processes, in the next module, they will be asked to author and submit a document in which they assess their own purchasing decision.

Revised Commentary

Consumers make many purchasing decisions. Some are routine, but others are rare and much more significant. ← Keep sentences short. Try to use one idea per sentence. This sentence was split into two separate sentences. The effort we put into these decisions depends on many factors.

Say, for example, you must choose a snack to bring to a party. You might consider the following questions:

  • How much can you afford to spend?
  • Did you recently see an advertisement for a particular snack?
  • Will you feel embarrassed if no one likes your snack?
  • Would you feel guilty bringing junk food if the group is health conscious? ← Keep language consistent. Use the same words to refer to the same things.
  • Would you feel awkward bringing a healthy snack if the group prefers beer and nachos? ← See the above list item. These two items were revised to use consistent language.
  • What if the party is for an eight-year-old child?
  • If you recently brought a snack to another party that was a hit, would you buy the same item without considering alternatives?

      ↑ Use lists, so your information is easier to read. Also, make list items parallel in structure. All these items are questions.

Now that you have learned about how consumers make decisions, you’ll tell me how you decided to buy a product (or not) in the next module’s assignment. ← Directly address your reader, and use simple, clear words to tell them what they need to know or do.

Small Course Changes, Big EDI Impacts

By Kristine Pierick
December 20, 2022

Introduction

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Three small words with huge meaning! So what do these words mean to our Instructional Design team? They mean creating courses where students see their lived experiences valued and represented and space for their voices to be heard. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing courses with an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) perspective. What this looks like varies from subject to subject and course to course.

EDI can sometimes feel like an all-or-nothing task. It may feel overwhelming to figure out where to start or how to incorporate it into your course. In that regard, EDI is no different than other course design principles. For example, you may start your course development with one or two really engaging, dynamic discussions or one authentic assessment. And that is great! When the next revision comes around, you may find another assessment to modify or resource to update. EDI is similar. The challenge with EDI can sometimes be where to start. To help, we’ve created the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Reflection Document. This document can be used during new course development and revisions to help identify areas where EDI is incorporated well and areas where it could be improved. From that information, we create an EDI action plan for your course.

An Example of Using the EDI Reflection Document

A recent example of how to use this document comes from Lifetime Wellness and Self-Growth, a course that is part of the Collaborative AAS program. Chris Jones (Lecturer of Kinesiology at UW-Eau Claire – Barron County) and I started off the course development by looking at what he wanted to do, where EDI was present in the course already, and where there were opportunities for improvement. One area Chris identified early on was the list of resources provided to students for a semester-long project in the course, the Self-Growth Book Review. Early in the semester, students are given a list of books and are asked to select one related to wellness to read for the assignment. Chris identified that the books on the list were narrow in focus and perspective. Most of the books were written by professional coaches and focused on sports, which wasn’t representative of the professional interests or experiences of students in the Collaborative AAS program. This became the action plan for the semester: to create a more inclusive list of books for students to choose from. We worked with a campus librarian to identify books available to students throughout the program’s partner campuses that would provide diverse voices, perspectives, and lived experiences related to the topic of self-growth.

Along with updating the list of books, we updated the design and layout of the assignment page. The books were organized thematically, annotations for each book were provided, and callouts were added to highlight which of the nine dimensions of wellness each book related to. So not only were the books more diverse in perspectives, but those perspectives were the categories by which the books were organized, making it easy for students to find the books that they were most interested in.

The amount of time it took to make this update was low, and now students have a list of books that represent a more diverse range of voices, lived experiences, and perspectives.

Screenshots of Self-Growth Book Review instructions page on Canvas. Book titles are organized by the perspectives they take on wellness and growth.

Image 1: Screenshots of Self-Growth Book Review instructions page on Canvas. Book titles are organized by the perspectives they take on wellness and growth.

Using the EDI Reflection Document

The reflection document was created to be easy to use for instructors and instructional designers. There are just three steps. Step 1 is to identify the strengths relative to EDI in your current course. The document lists many components of a course and how EDI can be incorporated into each. Step 2 is to identify the opportunities for making the course more equitable and including more diverse perspectives on the subject matter. Step 3 is to identify one of the opportunities from Step 2 and create an action plan for making that course component (and the rest of your course as a result) stronger.

When it comes to incorporating EDI into courses, the most important step is to pick a place and get started. Your instructional designer is here as a resource to help! Make it your new year’s resolution this year to make your course more equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

Step Up Your Students’ Motivation Using Instant Feedback

By Brian Chervitz
October 6, 2022

It can be difficult knowing how to increase student motivation in your online course. But online learning has a ton of ways to raise engagement and students’ motivation! This article focuses on the ways that providing kinds of instant feedback can ensure your students are getting the resources and comments they need at the moment they need them.

How to Use This Article

Use the following article in the way best suited for your needs:

  • Read just Step 1 if you want the most important information and a simple example. This is for faculty who just want the abstract or are looking for an easy way to improve their instruction.
  • Also read Step 2 if you want to implement more advanced instant feedback on an assignment. This is for faculty who want to improve their quality of feedback and want more than the basics.
  • Continue to Step 3 if you want to learn more about using instant feedback throughout your course, beyond just quizzes. This is for faculty who are open to changing different parts of their course. Your instructional designer can help you implement instant feedback in many parts of your course!

Step 1: Introduction to Instant Feedback

Timely feedback for students is integral to effective learning and students’ satisfaction with their learning experiences (Espasa & Meneses, 2010). Providing that feedback, however, can be more difficult in online classes. Although your lack of physical proximity to your students can be challenging, your feedback remains essential. It can be a powerful tool for motivating students through online courses, especially instant feedback (Bridge, Appleyard, & Wilson, 2007).

Instant feedback could include praise for excellent work, corrections of mistakes, or helping a student assess the quality of their work and assess the pace of their learning.

Instant feedback provides several benefits for students:

  • Mistakes and misconceptions can be immediately corrected.
  • Correct knowledge and skill application can be positively reinforced.
  • Corrective feedback can be personal, which avoids embarrassing students.
  • Students gain more self-awareness of strengths and gaps in knowledge or skill sets.
  • Instant feedback can increase the amount of time a student is engaged in the course.

Two Types of Instant Feedback

In an online course, students can benefit from two kinds of instant feedback: instructor comments and norm-referenced feedback. Norm-referenced feedback is feedback students get by comparing their work or progress to other examples or standards, often created by the instructor. For instance, giving students an example of an exceptional essay to help them with their essay is providing norm-referenced feedback. Both instructor comments and norm-referenced feedback are common in coursework, though the latter form may not be immediately recognized as instant feedback.

Instructor Comments

You can provide automatically generated written comments in response to specific answers or behaviors provided by students. For instance, when students choose an incorrect answer on a quiz, you can set up an automatic comment to provide the student with the necessary resources to fix their mistake the next time they need that knowledge (for example, in an assignment or exam).

Norm-Referenced Feedback

Students don’t just receive instant information from their instructors in the form of comments in response to answers. If you provide your students with norms for the class, such as deadlines, suggested timelines, and models of good work (and examples of poor work), they can compare their work and learning progression with those norms. They can instantly recognize when they are falling behind, need to improve their answers, or need to complete specific, upcoming work, all as soon as they need it.

Example of Instant Feedback in Canvas

In this political science course, the instructor set up a Canvas quiz to automatically provide feedback based on a student’s answer. In the first image, the correct answer provides positive feedback.

An example of positive feedback automatically appears when the correct answer is selected in a quiz.
Image 1: Positive feedback for the correct answer.

In the second image, an incorrect answer provides instant feedback as well, explaining the likely misconception that would lead a student to choose that answer.

An example of constructive feedback automatically appears when the incorrect answer is selected in a quiz.
Image 2: Constructive feedback for the incorrect answer.

Step 2: More Advanced Instant Feedback

Thanks for striving to improve your feedback! While any helpful feedback is better than no feedback (Espasa & Meneses, 2010), there are ways to improve its quality and effectiveness. The third and fourth images below show more detailed feedback for both correct and incorrect answers, demonstrating the characteristics of effective feedback.

Read more »