In a time of rapid change, these tactics can help higher education faculty “center the needs of the students” and “ensure equitable and inclusive experiences.” For the past few months, I have been thinking about the future of higher education. Recently, I have learned from books like the Great Upheaval and at conferences like OLC […]
Learn more about who Ball State students are, the challenges they face in their academic and personal lives, and how this can impact your teaching. Every Fall and Spring, Ball State deploys a survey to students (online and in-person) through institution-wide Canvas announcements. This survey, which consists of about 40 questions, is designed to evaluate […]
Discover the best path for an online course review through Quality Matters+ at Ball State. Revising or creating a new course is a laborious process. While higher education institutions around the globe transitioned to emergency remote teaching in 2020, building an effective online course for our learners requires strategic planning and thoughtful user experience design. […]
Learn how a tool from user experience design can help inform student-centered and empathetic course design. User personas are a tool for user experience design to help make products with the specific users at the center. While I’m not advocating for a view of higher education that sees students as consumers and courses as products, […]
Frustrated by your Canvas Gradebook? This new feature can help you organize your grades to see exactly what you need to see when you need to see it. Frequent, low-stakes, formative assessments are good teaching practices in all classes, online and in-person. Assessments such as activities, weekly quizzes, peer reviews, scaffolded assignments, reflections, and group […]
Debunked or not, there is value in reflecting on our learning style. How can we support this kind of self-reflection from our students? It was June 2022, and I was attending a free event hosted by Adobe. As an Adobe School, Ball State faculty members and employees are invited to attend a variety of yearly […]
With some work and intentionality, we can begin to chip away at the negative group work narrative and reframe it in a positive light. Who loves group work? No one apparently. Yet, we continue to push for its use in our classrooms as we all, teachers and students, grumble about our dissatisfaction with group projects. […]
What tools do you quickly have at hand to make a good impact on your learners? What can we learn from reflecting on our competency levels? Did you know that there is a historical town in Switzerland (Swiss Family Fun 2015) where you can learn about the history of the iconic Victorinox company, and build your […]
Explore how the web design practice of “Mobile First” can be applied to course design to create mobile-friendly courses. Before we start, a quick warning. I’m going to assume that you value creating a good learning environment for all your students. Your students are using smartphones all the time, and that includes interacting with your […]
Help students manage the course workload in your class with Canvas features by reducing the need for reminders and making important steps more visible. The demands on university students are extraordinarily high. Our students manage demanding course workloads, high-grade expectations, and career readiness tasks in the classroom. Yet, the expectations do not stop there. Students […]
