Students are accustomed to the campus classroom, where the teacher is available regularly to remind them how to find the resources that they need to complete activities in a course. Instructure’s Trenton Goble suggests the five questions on this infographic “as the foundation for improving communication processes—wherever and however learning happens.” Goble is addressing K–12 […]
All posts by Traci Gardner
How to Restore Deleted Files in Canvas
My favorite hidden feature in Canvas is the ability to restore files and other resources that you have deleted. Warnings: The tool is not 100% effective, so be cautious when you remove information from your course. The tool only restores your content. Any related student submissions or responses may not be restored. Use these instructions […]
Ten Ways to Improve Educational Videos
The move to online courses has many of us working to create videos that replace the explanations of concepts and demonstrations of skills that we would customarily do in the campus classroom. The strategies below help make those videos more effective. Focus Cover only one topic in your video. Focusing on one topic allows students […]
Using Google Forms to Jump Start Your Video
Now that everyone is teaching online, active learning strategies like minute papers and muddiest point are hard to manage spontaneously. In a campus classroom, you can ask everyone to share responses out loud or on a piece of paper. In an asynchronous online class, students aren’t able to participate in quite the same way. Google […]
Explain What to Do in an Emergency
Providing students with instructions on what to do in an emergency is always a good idea. It’s even more important now as all classes are moving online and many students are relying on technology resources more than they are used to. You may be thinking, “Oh, I will wait and deal with trouble if it […]
Turn Your Handout into a Video
You can make a simple video that pairs key information from a short handout with images using the free web-based tool Lumen5. You can edit the video components (the text on screen, how it appears, and the image shown). As you are moving course materials online, Lumen5 can be a quick way to add a […]
Ten Tips for Moving Your Class Online Quickly
You’re probably working away at moving your class online. Even with the extra week to prepare that some of us have been given, there are weeks of work ahead of us. We’ll all have to rethink activities, change things that aren’t working, and give up on some things that are beyond the possible right now. […]
Set a Consistent Schedule
Every aspect of a college student’s life is in flux right now. All the familiar routines they are used to are changing because of COVID-19. One of the best things you can do is provide these students with a consistent schedule that they can rely on. Why do these routines matter so much? There’s no […]
Preparing Students for Online Classes
Teaching completely online writing courses quickly taught me that students needed additional preparation and support in most cases. While students at my university are online often, they are not frequently online for academic purposes. Now, thanks to COVID-19, they are online for every course—and they are unlikely to be prepared for it. I made the […]
Teaching Online 911 Collection on Evernote
As everyone scrambles to support students in online classes, colleagues are sharing links to teaching tips, free online resources, and classroom activities. I have found links in my Twitter Timeline, my Facebook Newsfeed, and my email inbox. Lots of links. Soooo many links. Every time a new link shows up on my screen, I make […]