University of Wisconsin Extended Campus

Archives for teaching online

teaching online

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

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. 

Four Strategies to Implement Retrieval Practice in Online Courses

Introduction 

In May 2022, Flower Darby was the keynote speaker of the annual Collaborative Faculty Symposium for UW Extended Campus faculty and instructional designers. She spoke about her book Small Teaching Online, which documents ways that instructors can implement small changes to their courses to make big impacts on student outcomes. One important strategy was retrieval practice.  

Retrieval practice is the process of asking students to “retrieve” information from their memory, the repeated act of which strengthens the process of retrieval and improves the recall of that information. For learning that requires memorization and recall (ex. Spanish conjugations, trigonometric values, domain-specific definitions, etc.), retrieval practice is a powerful tool to help students retain information (Roediger & Butler, 2011). Spacing out the instances of retrieval of the information improves the effects (Hopkins et al., 2016; Gurung & Burns, 2018). 

Four Strategies to Implement Retrieval Practice in Online Courses

Retrieval practice can be implemented in an online course in several ways, but it might look different than in face-to-face courses. In traditional course formats, instructors can rely on regularly scheduled meeting times to implement practices at the beginning or end of each meeting. They can also ask students to speak to a peer nearby. Online courses can’t rely on those aspects, so retrieval practice will look different.

1. Knowledge Checks

Rather than asking students to recall previous course content at the beginning or end of a class meeting, instructors can prompt students to recall information at the beginning or end of a module. For instance, at the top of a page in a learning management system (LMS), like Canvas, instructors can ask students several questions about previous content and provide hidden sample answers that students can reveal to compare their answers with the provided answers. 

A callout in a webpage titled "Reflection Check" with 3 reflection questions and sample answers.
Image 1: This course asks students to recall information about the foundations of the US government at the beginning of the next module. Students can click “Show sample response” to see the instructor’s provided answers.

2. Quizzes

In quizzes already used in the course, instructors can include a few questions from previous courses as retrieval practice. No more than around 25% of the quiz should come from past modules, though. In addition, the quizzes themselves can be spaced out throughout a module, rather than clustered at the end, to specifically design spaced retrieval practice in the course.

3. Reflective Activities

Ongoing reflective activities have a variety of benefits for a course, one of which is opportunities for retrieval practice. Prompts for the reflections can require students to use specific content from past modules, such as to connect it to the most recent content. The reflections don’t necessarily have to be written either! Students could record their thoughts in audio or visual formats, too.

4. Flashcards

Flashcards are a classic method of retrieval practice, and if structured well, of spaced retrieval practice, too. Many online tools for creating flashcards can be easily embedded on a Canvas page. Quizlet, for example, provides not just traditional flashcards for vocabulary terms, but also games that can prompt students to retrieve information over and over to improve their recall. 

Flashcards from Quizlet showing one vocabulary term ("essential fat") and directions how to use the flashcards.
Image 2: This course uses flashcards embedded on the Canvas page for students to practice important vocabulary terms.

In Summary 

For information that students should be able to recall quickly, such as definitions or vocabulary terms, retrieval practice is an effective, evidence-based practice to teach students that information. Retrieval practice may look different in online courses than in face-to-face courses. Incorporating past content into knowledge checks, quizzes, reflective activities, and flashcards are four ways to prompt students to continually recall important information, which improves their long-term memory of it. 

References 

Gurung, R. A. R., & Burns, K. (2018). Putting evidence-based claims to the test: A multi-site classroom study of retrieval practice and spaced practice. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33(5), 732-742. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3507.  

Hopkins, R. F., Lyle, K. B., Hieb, J. L., & Ralston, P. A. S. (2016). Spaced retrieval practice increases college students’ short- and long-term retention of mathematics knowledge. Educational Psychology Review, 28, 853-873. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9349-8.  

Roediger, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003. 

Faculty Spotlight: Jean Marsch

In this issue’s “Faculty Spotlight,” instructional designer Kerri Patton interviews Professor Jean Marsch about strategies to strengthen instructor presence in online courses. When teaching online, instructors have to compensate for their lack of physical presence in the classroom by engaging with their online students creatively and regularly. Here are some favorite strategies that Prof. Marsch uses in her course HIMT 415: Human Resource Management in Healthcare to build a rapport with her online students and increase her presence in the course.

Jean MarschProf. Marsch is an Associate Lecturer at UW-Green Bay and teaches in the Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and Technology (HIMT) program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UW-Madison and an MBA from UW-Oshkosh. She was the Chief Human Resources Officer for Green Bay Public Schools and the Director of Human Resources at St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay. She was also elected to and a member of the Green Bay School Board for 15 years. For 10 years, she served as the School Board’s president.

 

Kerri PattonKerri Patton is an instructional designer with UW-Extended Campus. She holds bachelor degrees in English Literature and German from UW-Eau Claire, a Master’s of Educational Technology from Boise State University, and a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching from Boise State University. Prior to her current role, she served as an instructional designer with the UW MBA Consortium/UW Undergraduate Business Alliance. For 10 years, she was the German language instructor (Levels 1-AP) and German American Partnership Program coordinator for Memorial High School in Eau Claire, as well as a district instructional technology liaison. She also taught English in Germany as a U.S. Fulbright scholar. She began her career as a project coordinator and assessment report writer for Personnel Decisions International and a Desktop and Helpdesk Support Technician for UW-Eau Claire. 

Interview

What tools or strategies do you use to connect with students in your course so they know you are “present”?

Throughout HIMT 415: Human Resource Management in Healthcare, students take on the role of the newly hired manager of a health information management department in a fictitious hospital. They are divided into two discussion groups and alternate between responding to human resource issues posed in the scenarios or reflecting on the issues through discussion prompts. There is no perfect solution to the issues, but students are able to analyze various approaches to the issues using the concepts in the lecture, text, readings, and past or current employment. [Note: This type of activity is called a fishbowl discussion. You can reach out to your instructional designer if you would like to use a similar activity in your course.]

Screenshot of a Canvas Fishbowl Discussion
Screenshot of a fishbowl discussion set up in the Canvas learning management system

I connect with each student at least every week and write a response that is specific to their work. I feel it is important to respond timely to each student’s work, so I strive to do so within a day or two of the due date. In my response, I comment on the points they made and add additional supporting details, often making connections through my personal experiences in nursing and/or human resources. If a student’s response lacks depth and demonstrates little analysis, I encourage them by sharing examples of what additional information may be helpful to explain their ideas. I may also refer to a section of the text to supplement my responses.

Which of these strategies is your favorite? Which do you think is most effective?

I feel strongly that the content of this course can benefit students in current and future employment, and personally. For example, when we explore the issues around effective recruitment and retention, I encourage students to think not only about compensation, but all the other factors that are at play. When we study the chapter on benefits, students often comment that they took a second look at the benefits offered by their employer and came to appreciate not only the health and dental plans, but disability insurance, tuition assistance, paid time off, and more. By sharing the list of benefits (other than health insurance) that they consider most important, students comment on how they changed their thinking about the importance of benefits and that they will pay close attention when looking for employment. We relate this to how organizations can promote a full array of benefits when they develop recruitment materials.

Is there a story or example you would be willing to share about a time when developing a connection and presence in the course helped a student be successful?

One of the assignments in the course consists of writing a resume, cover letter, and reference list. When I first taught this class, I wondered if this lesson would be helpful to students who might find this assignment merely busywork. My concern was unfounded when I received a great deal of immediate feedback from students who appreciated my critiques. A student stated that after submitting the updated documents, an interview was scheduled within 24 hours. Clearly, this was not the only reason for the interview. However, I inform students that well-prepared application materials are often the first opportunity for a candidate to present themselves to an employer and therefore must be carefully and accurately prepared.

After each lesson, I send an announcement that summarizes the points of the lesson . . . I may call attention to a reading or share a recent and relevant article. Most often, I share an experience from my work that demonstrates how the concepts relate to HR and leadership practices.

How does your connection to students provide increased learning opportunities?

After each lesson, I send an announcement that summarizes the points of the lesson and I include important points or themes shared by students. I may call attention to a reading or share a recent and relevant article. Most often, I share an experience from my work that demonstrates how the concepts relate to HR and leadership practices.

How does your connection to students impact student performance or engagement?

I find that my students are very engaged in the lessons. They demonstrate engagement through responses to other students and me in which they share insights from their current or past employment, based on the topic of the lesson. For example, they may share how important it is to be able to balance work and family commitments or the impact that a supervisor and tuition assistance through an employer had on their decision to continue their education. We then translate these ideas into ways to structure a new position to retain staff. In our class scenarios, which were developed as real-world situations, the students are the supervisors. Through their participation in the scenarios, they learn that the decisions they make directly impact the ability to recruit and retain staff.

What was difficult at first about maintaining a presence in your course? How did you overcome that difficulty?

When I first taught the course, I was unsure of how much and the type of feedback to offer students. Based on input from students, I found that they appreciate feedback that enhances their ability to think deeper about an issue. When I get responses such as, “I never thought about this before,” or “I never realized that…,” or “I am going to add that to my staff evaluations,” I realize that the lessons and my personalized feedback make an impact.

Facilitating Online Social Presence

Introduction

Students report greater satisfaction in online courses where they perceive instructors to be active and engaged—that is, “socially present.” In the absence of their physical presence, online educators must establish a strong virtual presence with students to foster and sustain connectedness for the duration of a course. These connections are key to building a strong community of learning, which is a motivating factor for all learners. Read on for three straightforward strategies you can use in your online classroom to ramp up your social presence and foster connection with your students.

Create a Social Presence Plan

Developing an online course takes plenty of time and a great deal of planning. Once your curriculum is developed, your learning materials are chosen and vetted, and your class is constructed and published online, you might think your work is done. Good news: much of it is! To ensure all your efforts pay off when it’s “go time,” don’t forget to create a social presence plan that maps out how you will build, foster, and sustain meaningful and consistent engagement for the duration of your course. This plan might include strategies for items such as:

  • Posting Announcements: How often will you post? What type of information will you share? How will you share this information (written, audio, video)? What announcement content can you create ahead of time so it can be repurposed each term?
  • Giving Feedback: What level of feedback will you offer your students? Which assignments will you target for customized feedback? How will you deliver this feedback (written, audio, video)?
  • Participating in Discussions: When will you enter the conversation? As the subject-matter expert, how can you further a discussion without smothering it? How will you encourage more participation from group members? How will you intercede if group members get off track?
  • Holding Synchronous Office Hours: How will you structure office hours to encourage participation? How can you purpose office hours to achieve particular goals (e.g., live working sessions, interactive Q&As, collaborative problem-solving, etc.)?

Customize Announcements

Published right at the top of all Canvas courses, course announcements are located in a high-traffic area that is convenient for learners to engage with every time they log in to a course. Take advantage of this “prime real estate” by regularly using announcements. Doing so is an easy way to increase your presence and build a rapport with your students. Here are different types of announcements you might use in your course:

  • Regular Weekly Announcements: Start students off on the right foot by letting them know what’s to come in the week ahead. You can also highlight important due dates.
    Screenshot of weekly announcements in a Canvas course
    Screenshot of a list of regular weekly announcements posted in a Canvas course
  • Content-Specific Announcements: Hook students into a new unit or lesson by posting an enticing introduction that grabs their attention. Inject your energy and expertise into a topic by offering concentrated bursts of content-rich information that relates directly to what students are learning. Sell learners on “What’s in it for me?” and increase their interest in your topic by explaining how they will benefit from what’s being taught.
    Screenshot of a content-specific announcement
    Screenshot of a content-specific announcement
  • “Lesson Wrap-Up” Announcements: Extend student learning by wrapping up what’s just been covered and connecting it to the real world. Students want your subject-matter expertise—here’s a great chance to weigh in.
    Screenshot of a "Lesson Wrap-Up" Announcement
    Screenshot of a “lesson wrap-up” announcement
  • Solutions-Based Announcements: Offer helpful hints to students as they work through their assignments. Posting homework help and worked examples for students to reference as they complete their work is a fantastic way to guide their learning.
    Screenshot of a Solutions-Based Announcement (Homework Help)
    Screenshot of a solutions-based (homework help) announcement
  • “Just-in-Time” Announcements: Broadcast logistical updates as needed to alert students to important information that will affect them. Examples include updates to course content, technical issues, grading information, etc.
    Screenshot of a Just-in-Time Announcement
    Screenshot of a “just-in-time” announcement
  • Connection Announcements: Connect course content to the real world. Adult learners want to take what they’re learning in class and apply it to their lives and professions. Use announcements to show them how those arenas connect. Additionally, use announcements to connect your students to relevant job and professional development opportunities and/or resources that encourage them to engage with the subject matter more in-depth outside of class.
    Screenshot of a Connection Announcement Highlighting Additional Opportunities for Students Outside of Class
    Screenshot of a connection announcement advertising additional opportunities to students

Bonus Tip: Enabling the commenting feature on your announcements will encourage additional student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactions, which helps build community!

Give Prompt, High-Quality Feedback

Ensure that the feedback you offer to students is prompt. Being prompt in your replies will teach learners that they can rely on you to be present and responsive, which models professionalism and builds trust. Whether returning student calls, replying to questions in discussion forums, responding to student emails, or grading assignments and giving feedback, your timeliness matters to students so they get the information they need to make progress in your course.

Similarly, the quality of your feedback matters. Adult learners desire your expertise. They want your feedback to reflect on, learn from, and inform their current and future academic and professional efforts. Though it might be tempting to allow Canvas to auto-grade assignments, leaving students tailored comments, questions, insights, and suggestions for improvement is better for their learning. Giving customized feedback (via text, audio, or video comments in Speedgrader) is yet another way to beef up your presence in the course as learners can interact with your comments and respond.

Bonus Tip: Saving commonly used feedback for reuse (in a Word document, Excel file, etc.) is one way to make the grading process quicker. Just don’t forget to review and edit what you’ve written each time you copy it into Speedgrader Comments to ensure it’s accurate and fine-tuned for each student.

This article is based on a conference presentation by Kerri Patton and Terry Tao entitled “Facilitating Online Social Presence,” which was presented at the UW Extended Campus 2022 Collaborative Online Programs Faculty Symposium, May 24-25, 2022, Middleton, WI, United States. https://ce.uwex.edu/faculty-symposium/

✅ If you enjoyed this article and do not already recieve the IDeas newsletter, keep reading by subscribing now!

Mid-Course Surveys: Ask Students How Your Course Is Working

Diverse group of students holding signs that say "survey".
Mid-course surveys capture formative feedback from students.

Mid-Course Surveys

Do your students have suggestions that could be incorporated into your course to make it a better experience for current and future students? Rather than waiting until the end of the course for feedback, instructors can ask for formative feedback from students midway through the course.

Although it may be hard to ask for feedback, the fact that you are asking shows how much you care about your students. The mid-course feedback is a way for instructors and students to share and respond to formative feedback, which can improve a course that is in progress and have a positive impact on learning now and in the future.

How to Design Questions

It is easy to create and set up a mid-course survey in Canvas. The survey should be anonymous (Canvas has a setting for anonymous responses) and can be as short as three short-answer questions.

To motivate students to provide feedback, it is important to emphasize in the survey’s instructions that student feedback is valuable and will be used to improve current and future learning experiences. If you would like to ask students for formative feedback, please contact your instructional designer for help in setting up a survey in your course.

Examples of formative feedback survey questions:

  1. What is one significant insight you have gained thus far in this course?
  2. What is one question about this course’s subjects that you still have?
  3. Please give your instructor one or two specific, practical suggestions of how they could help you improve your learning in this course.

Benefits of Conducting Mid-Course Surveys

There are several benefits to asking students for feedback in a mid-course survey:

  • By asking open-ended questions during the course, instructors can show that they are interested and open to students’ feedback, which can help motivate students.
  • The survey gathers the overall student perspective and gives the instructor time to respond to constructive feedback that can be implemented in the last half of the course.
  • The instructor can serve as a good role model for students by constructively responding to both positive and negative feedback.
  • Some students will be more receptive to formative feedback because they will see that the instructor is open to feedback as well.
  • Responding to feedback acknowledges the students that provided feedback and manages student expectations for the remainder of the course.
  • Instructors demonstrate that student feedback is valued with their willingness to incorporate recommended changes into the course and explain procedures or policies that may be confusing to students.

Tips for Follow-Up

After you ask students to complete the mid-course survey, it is important to respond to the formative feedback that you receive from students; we suggest that instructors respond by the end of the next week. Carefully consider what students say and look for themes that you can categorize their suggestions into for follow-up, such as the following:

  • Items you can change during the semester and when you will make the changes
  • Suggestions that need to wait until the next time the course is revised because of the impact on the remaining instruction in the course
  • The aspects that you either cannot or will not change because of instructional reasons (e.g., assessments)

Talk to your instructional designer about creating a mid-course survey today!

Resources