October 4, 2011

Use Universal Design to make course syllabi and handouts accessible with screen readers

Universal Design describes an approach to design that eliminates problems with accessibility for all users during design rather than retrofitting and correcting obstacles. 

Many students use screen readers to access electronic documents and web pages.  A bit of planning will enable you to create electronic documents and web pages that can be accessed and correctly read by the screen readers used by students with disabilities.

How can you avoid creating common obstacles that interfere with correct interpretation of electronic text or web pages by screen readers?

Insert a table to organize and format material such as a course calendar or chart for assigning grades to exam or assignment scores

Screen readers do not always read text that is enclosed in a text box correctly.  If you are in the habit of creating tables with tabs and indents (as was done on typewriters), the screen reader might not read this material properly.  Format this material with the table function instead.

• Use the insert table function to create a table that will organize content in rows and columns.
• Use the first row of the table to clearly describe the type of information you plan to provide in each column.   Define this row as a header row by opening the Table Properties dialog box.  Click on the Row tab and select repeat as header row at the top of each page to identify this row as a header row (even for small tables that will not appear on multiple pages).  Screen readers will read this header row information to assist users in interpreting the material in subsequent rows.

Provide a caption or “alternative text” to explain the meaning of images

Screen readers cannot interpret images for users unless you provide a text description that explains the image in the document.  You can provide this information in one of two ways:

• Right click on the inserted image.  Select the size dialog box from the menu and click on the Alt Text tab.  The file name of the image appears in this window by default.  Replace this text with a description or interpretation of the image that will help the student understand the content of the image.  When the person using the screen reader moves a pointer over a picture, the alternative text appears and will be read by the screen reader.  This operation works in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Create a descriptive text caption for the image.  This text will be available to all students.

Based in part on advice from the Technology & Learning Program, California State University, Chico (http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/accessibility/syllabus/checklist.shtml).

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January 18, 2011

Create activities that develop team skills and enable students to work effectively in groups

Students will work more effectively in groups on a major project if you provide them with explicit training on how to manage group dynamics and interpersonal interaction. If course learning outcomes include project management outcomes such as working effectively with colleagues, then include activities in the class that will teach these skills.  An effective instructional activity for group interaction will

• Provide instructions and specific criteria that define effective interaction.
• Create opportunities for practice, feedback, and opportunities to improve performance.

 
Strategies for structuring and guiding group processes

• Describe the common problems that characterize groups that go astray.
• Provide clear guidelines for group work.  Create a rubric that describes these expectations.  Group members and instructors should use this rubric to evaluate group processes and interaction to provide formative feedback during the term as well as for grading when the project is completed.  Examples of rubrics for team participation can be found on the Examples of Rubrics page on the CUTLA web site (http://uwf.edu/cutla/rubricexamples.cfm).
• Require that each group compose and sign a written agreement before beginning their work together.  The agreement should describe in detail the responsibilities of all members of the group (for example, being on time for meetings, completing their share of the work by specified deadlines, communicating regularly with other group members), and tasks that individual members will complete (Mary will research this part; John will research this part; Ling-Chi will produce the first full draft; Jamal will edit the draft).
• Each group should appoint each member to carry out specific group process roles such as record keeper, convener, deadline manager, and any other roles needed to monitor group process.
• Require that each group provide regular and frequent feedback to you and to each other.  At the end of each meeting, whether online or face-to-face, group members can write an email to one another and describe what they thought was successful about the group meeting and what they thought needed improvement.  Alternatively, they could post these comments to a discussion thread.  If the groups use email for this task, one group member should compile the responses and send the compilation to you, which will allow you to step in quickly if the group is struggling.  Some instructors create a Google group or an area in D2L for each group in the class and require that all group planning and interaction be carried out in a dedicated discussion thread and post interim group work through a common drop box.  The automatic tracking and time tags created for posts and document uploads in these electronic tools can be used as a way to evaluate and grade the effectiveness of group processes and document the contributions of individuals to the group effort.
• Schedule a face-to-face or synchronous online meeting with each group at intervals to check the group's progress and interaction. At these meeting, any member of the group who feels another group member is not doing his or her share should say so during this meeting so the issue can be discussed and you can facilitate.

This tip was based on a submission by Barbara Millis, Teaching and Learning Center, University of Texas at San Antonio.
http://www.utsa.edu/tlc/

Portions of this tip were based on Walvoord, B. E., & Anderson, V. J. (2010). Effective grading:  A tool for learning and assessment in college (2nd ed).  Jossey-Bass and circulated as a teaching tip by TOMORROW'S PROFESSOR(sm) eMAIL NEWSLETTER  http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php.

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November 9, 2010

Improve the technical preparation of students in your class by describing the technical skills and specialized software needed for your course during course registration

Students will begin registering for courses on November 15. 

All UWF students are expected to have an active ArgoNet e-mail account, regular access to e-mail (2-3 times a week), and basic skills in the use of a word processor.  Many courses make additional demands on technology skills, including the ability to use web conferencing for Elluminate sessions, access to D2L, the ability to use course functions in D2L (such as uploading material to an assignment drop box), and the use of specialized software required for tasks such as statistical analysis, creation of power point presentations, or creation and manipulation of digital images. 

The academic course search pages on the UWF web site include icons for each course that allow students to view the course syllabus, determine whether the course is an eLearning course or a distance learning course (and whether the instructor will be present in the location for that section), determine the extent of computer use expected in the course, and identify other technology needs associated with the course (special software available only in a lab, Elluminate, need to purchase a clicker, use of proctored exams, and other specialized software or technology needs).

If you expect students to use specific technology in your course, identify these needs on your syllabus and set the appropriate technology codes for the course.  After logging into MyUWF, select the Classmate App and then click on the Syllabus/Tech Codes link under Action to open an interface for uploading your syllabus.  This interface also includes drop-down menus that allow instructors to set technology codes for their course.  When a technology code is selected, the appropriate icon will appear in the course search output for this course.  A full list of the technology codes available for the course search interface can be found at https://nautical.uwf.edu/people/techCodesExplained.cfm.

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September 7, 2010
Request feedback from your students about your course during the term

Model the use of formative feedback for your students and reinforce the credibility of the end-of-term course evaluations.  Discuss the value for both you and your students of constructive, formative feedback about the class structure and your teaching.  Point out to your students that evaluative feedback from students at the end of the term does nothing to benefit the students who are currently enrolled in the course.  Faculty simply can’t correct a problem that they don’t know about.  If they learn about a problem only after the term ends, the problem might be corrected in the following term and benefit those students, but it can’t possibly be resolved for students during the current term.

Consider conducting a mid-course evaluation. 

• Create a short survey by creating a Form in Google documents.  This option is located in the create new menu in Google documents.  Your questions can be embedded in an email sent to students.  Responses will be collected in an Excel file stored as a Google document.
• Invite a representative from CUTLA or a colleague to visit your class and conduct a focus group (e.g., a Small Group Instructional Diagnosis) to elicit student feedback on the course.
• Request written feedback in class through a Minute Paper in-class writing.  Ask students to describe an aspect of the class or your teaching that has helped them learn, an aspect of the class that they would like to change (and why), and suggest something you might do to help them learn the material more effectively. 
• Participate in the Teaching Partners program (http://uwf.edu/cutla/teaching_partners.cfm).  Teaching Partners is a mutual mentoring program in which faculty conduct classroom observation visits and provide one another formative feedback about their teaching.  The program includes a workshop on how to structure an effective classroom observation.

Not all suggestions or comments can be acted on (nor should all suggestions be acted on).  Instructors can draw attention in class to those changes they make based on student suggestions and explain why some suggestions cannot be implemented (e.g., dispensing with exams or grading, ending an evening class half an hour early every night).  The fact that you take the comments seriously and responded to those that you can reasonably implement strengthens students’ beliefs that you take course evaluations seriously.

This tip is based in part by a tip submitted by Michael Dabney, Director, Teaching and Learning Center
Hawaii Pacific University (http://www.hpu.edu/index.cfm?contentID=9473&siteID=1).

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August 24, 2010

To Post or Not to Post:  What are the consequences of posting power point slides for student learning?

What is the evidence about the impact of having a handout of the power point slides during the presentations?  Do instructors who provide the slides as handouts free students from the multi-tasking associated with copying information from the slides and allow them to concentrate on listening to the presentation and class discussion?  Or does having a copy of the slides encourage students to skip class, allow them to surf the web during class, or otherwise disengage? 

Marsh and Sink (2010) examined the content of notes students took during classes when they either had an advance copy of the presentation slides or only had blank paper for taking notes.  They also examined student performance on several types of course exams (multiple choice questions, short answer questions, free recall essays).  Although students took more notes when they did not have copies of the presentation slides, the notes they took consisted primarily of verbatim copies of the content of the slides presented during class.  Both groups recorded additional information from the lecture and discussion that had not been included on the slides, but both groups of students recorded this additional information at equal rates. 

What were the consequences for learning?  Students who received a copy of the slides as handouts before attending the lecture performed better than students who took notes and received the slide handouts later when both groups were tested with short-answer questions.  The groups performed equivalently on other types of questions.  Thus, student’s claims that having a copy of the slides in advance helps them focus on the meaning of the lecture by reducing the time they spend recording specific slide content appears to be supported by evidence.

If you decide to post slides in advance, consider posting a bare-bones variant of the slides you plan to use in class.  This handout will support note-taking without providing all the detail that might be included on class slides.  This creates an incentive to attend class, provides a structure for organizing the notes, and forces students to attend to details included in the class slides and your presentation as they add these details to the notes on their handouts. 

Marsh, E. J., & Sink, H. E.  (2010).  Access to handouts of presentation slides during lecture:  Consequences for learning,  Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 691-706.  doi: 10.1002/acp.1579

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March 2, 2010

Using electronic tools to manage collaborations with students and colleagues

Current technology now provides a variety of tools that allow faculty to collaborate with students and colleagues.  E-mail enables rapid communication and exchange of documents with collaborators.  Faculty can now easily draft and edit a manuscript with co-authors on several continents by sending documents as attachments or sharing documents through other electronic forums.  For example, Google Documents and Google Sites allow faculty to share and edit documents without exchanging large attachments in e-mail.

Although technology creates many convenient tools for collaboration, it also creates vulnerabilities to the security of intellectual property and personal identity.   When collaborating with students and colleagues in the UWF community, faculty are sometimes tempted to provide access to files on a computer or server by disclosing their password instead of using a more secure collaboration tool.  ITS and CUTLA developed a new information website that discusses the tools currently available for electronic collaboration that will help faculty easily share files with students and colleagues without compromising password security.

The new web site is located at http://uwf.edu/cutla/password.cfm

Thanks to Sylvia Maxwell and Michael White (ITS) for contributions to this teaching tip.

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January 26, 2010

Encouraging active learning by adding clicker questions to your class

Student response systems (“clickers”) can be used in a variety of ways to engage students with course content and promote deep learning. Clickers can also promote the development of faculty expertise in addressing problems in student learning. For example, Derek Bruff notes that one instructor was shocked when he discovered that students’ performance on a clicker question did not improve after students heard his standard explanation of a confusing concept. He had firmly believed that this explanation was crystal clear, but student performance clearly indicated that this explanation did not improve student understanding. Students were just as confused after hearing the explanation as before. The instructor decided that he needed to find a better way to explain this concept and discovered that he could use clicker questions to determine immediately whether a given explanation improved student understanding.

Want to learn more about strategies for using clickers?

The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching has a rich supply of resources on the use of clickers, including a list of resources organized by discipline:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/technology/crs_biblio.htm

You can also find a useful resource page full of technical examples, including some video demonstrations of instructors using clickers on the Vanderbilt site:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/technology/crs.htm

Derek Bruff also hosts a blog, Teaching with Classroom Response Systems:
http://derekbruff.org/?cat=122

UWF now hosts a Student Response System Users Group as a Google Group.
Click on the Sites option in your UWF GMail to access and join this group.

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December 1, 2009

Electronic Information Literacy: Promoting Netiquette in your Class

The campus migration to Gmail provides us with an opportunity to revisit how faculty and students use e-mail for communication. Capitalize on this opportunity by discussing e-mail netiquette with students in your class.

The introduction of electronic communication (e-mail, online threaded discussions, Twitter feeds, etc.) to class interaction poses a new set of challenges for instructors: Teaching students to communicate professionally in electronic media. Faculty might initially think of this issue mainly in terms of their own response to inappropriate language from students in e-mail (Hey! Missed class yesterday. Did I miss anything?) and posts to online discussions (i don’t get the reading this week – booooooring  : - (   will this be on the test?).

Effective communication through electronic media is an important skill. Help your students develop this skill with the following strategies:

• Establish some guidelines and communicate these clearly at the beginning of class. Put your guidelines in your syllabus along with your guidelines for appropriate conduct in class. Post your guidelines with course materials and in the instructions for threaded discussions in an online course.
• Guidelines for effective communication through e-mail might include the following:
• Create meaningful subject lines. Some instructors require students to identify the course number in the subject line. Faculty can use this information to filter and label messages from one class and redirect these messages to a specific group outside the inbox in Gmail.
• Subject lines should briefly describe the topic of the message.
• Describe appropriate (and inappropriate) salutations. If you have a preference, state how you would like to be addressed. Students appreciate direct instruction about how their instructor wants to be addressed in face-to-face interactions, too.
• Senders should clearly identify themselves. Who is Jen who mails from hothonney@yahoo.com? Remind students of the impression these informal e-mail addresses have when students use them for professional communications.
• Pay attention to whether you are using reply or reply all to avoid distributing private messages to unintended parties.
• Remember to attach attachments.
• Encourage students to think of e-mail communication and posts to online discussions as a form of academic writing, which requires the use of standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Good web guidelines on netiquette can be found at the following:

Virginia Commonwealth University
Center for Teaching Excellence
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/resources/OTLRG/04_12_Behavior.html

Texas Tech University
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
http://www.tlpd.ttu.edu/content/asp/blackboard/Resources/netiquette.asp

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October 6, 2009

Human factors in the classroom: Minimizing problems created by inadvertent multitasking associated with PowerPoint

In spite of popular media depictions and their own proclaimed competence, students are not as adept at multitasking as they believe. Divided attention has costs for the quality of student learning. Classroom situations can create unintended divided attention conditions that interfere with student learning. For example, PowerPoint presentations can create a variety of challenges to effective note-taking:

• When instructors use PowerPoint instead of using a blackboard to write key concepts for students, they no longer pause during lectures while they write notes on a blackboard (an activity that slows lecture presentations and creates down time for students to write). As a result, the presentation of content may be accelerated and students might not have adequate time to make appropriate notes.

• When an instructor presents a complex PowerPoint slide and lectures about content not present on the slide, students are required to multitask to process slide and lecture content. If students do not have access to the slides in advance of class, they must divide their attention between reading the presentation slides and making notes on their content, listening to the instructor talk about the slides, and making notes on this additional content. If students have the PowerPoint bullets in a handout or electronic copy of the presentation slides at the time the slides are used in class, they need not write down the bullet items and can focus entirely on taking notes on the new information provided during class.

Instructors can help students manage the task of taking effective notes on PowerPoint presentations by providing a minimalist version of their slides before class.  Posting a minimalist version of slides rather than the detailed slides used during class also creates an incentive for students to attend class. Remember to provide enough time during the lecture to allow students to complete their notes on one topic before moving on to the next.

Based on:

Matlin, M. (2007). How cognitive psychology can enhance your students’ learning. In S. A. Meyers & J. R. Stowell (Eds.), Essays from E-xcellence in Teaching (Chapter 9), Volume 7.
E-book retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Web site:
http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/eit2007/eit07-09.pdf

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April 7, 2009

Micro-lectures: Just-in-time teaching for critical topics and skills

Attaining competence with some concepts and skills requires repetition and practice. Instructors can use class time more efficiently if they create short electronic modules that discuss a particular concept or demonstrate a skill that students struggle to learn. Create an out-of-class assignment in which students view the micro-lecture and then complete an activity, small project, or written assignment that entails applying the concept or using the skill. Micro-lectures can be as short as 60 seconds to 5 minutes or as long as 15-20 minutes.

• Micro-lectures should focus on a specific concept or skill. This technique works best with content that can be explained or discussed in small chunks. An advantage is that narrowly-focused micro-lectures allow students to access instruction on a specific concept or skill they need to practice. They do not have to wade through a longer presentation to review one specific topic. Students can return to a micro-lecture any number of times to get the practice they need.

Use micro-lectures to:

• Provide an overview for a particular concept or small group of related concepts.
• Demonstrate a single problem-solving procedure (e.g., solving a particular type of problem in physics, chemistry, statistics, algebra, etc).
• Provide step-by-step instructions and demonstrate completion of a task or laboratory procedure.
• Create the micro-lecture as a narrated PowerPoint, a short video, or an Elluminate session. The Academic Technology Center can provide guidance and technical support if you need help creating a micro-lecture using this technology (http://uwf.edu/atc/).
• Structure the micro-lecture carefully. Prepare a 15-30 second introduction and conclusion for each micro-lecture to create an appropriate context for the content presented or the skill or procedure demonstrated.
• Include an activity, example problem, or written assignment as a follow-up assignment. Require students to apply the learning from the micro-lecture. Students overestimate their understanding and need concrete feedback to determine whether they have adequately learned the material. If they need to see the demonstration again, micro-lectures are short enough to allow students to view them as often as needed.
• Upload the micro-lectures into your course content in D2L. Students are more likely to use micro-lectures and complete the application activity if the work is a course requirement that contributes to the final grade. You might be able to construct a quiz for content material in D2L that provides immediate feedback to students about the quality of their learning without increasing your grading burden during the term.

Shieh, D. (2009). These lectures are gone in 60 seconds. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55 (26), Page A13.

Want to create a micro-lecture and need help?
Contact the Academic Technology Center: http://uwf.edu/atc/

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October 28, 2008

Using Clicker Technology in Large Classes

Embedding questions in a large lecture and requiring student responses via clickers can motivate students to attend class, complete readings and assignments as preparation for class discussion, generate interest in course material, evaluate student learning mid-lecture, or apply new learning to conceptual or practical problems.  The types of questions posed and how the instructor uses student responses are important for the successful use of these devices.

Woelk (2008) provides a useful taxonomy of the types of questions that can be posed:

• I am here (attendance questions, demographic questions)
• I am prepared (factual questions about the assigned reading)
• I am interested (questions that pose course topics in a context that relates to student interest – e.g., preceding a discussion of saline concentrations with a question about the mass of salt found in the blood of an average human)
• I learn (questions that evaluate student learning of a topic just covered in lecture)
• I understand (questions that evaluate conceptual understanding or application of new material presented in lecture)
• I apply (questions that require students to make a prediction based on new learning)
• I will (questions that pose an open-ended problem for students to consider before the next class – questions that bridge the content of adjacent classes)

Students enrolled in sections of courses that included clicker questions during lectures outperformed students enrolled in sections (taught by the same instructor) in which students could answer questions as an optional out-of-class activity (Radosevich, et al., 2008; Reay, 2008; Woelk, 2008). The improvements observed in exam performance persist in long-term follow-up exams.

Interested in learning more about the use of clickers in the classroom?
Attend the November 7 Faculty Friday to try using clickers yourself and listen to faculty who are using these devices in an ongoing pilot project at UWF.

Radosevich, D. J., Salomon, R., Radosevich, D. M., & Kahn, P. (2008). Using student response systems to increase motivation, learning, and knowledge retention. Innovate 5 (1).
http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol5_issue1/Using_Student_Response_Systems_
to_Increase_Motivation,_Learning,_and_Knowledge_Retention.pdf

Reay, N. W., Li, P., & Bao, L. (2008). Testing a new voting machine question methodology.  American Journal of Physics, 76, 171-178.

Woelk, K. (2008). Optimizing the use of personal response devices (clickers) in large-enrollment introductory courses. Journal of Chemical Education, 85, 1400-1405.

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September 9, 2008

Using Technology to Create Community and Engage Students with Course Content

Lang (2008) argues that building community can be difficult if the only opportunity for interaction occurs during regularly-scheduled class time. In contrast, the online environment provides access to asynchronous discussion 24/7.  Threaded discussions can play an important role for building community in both online and face-to-face courses. These discussions can also encourage students to read course materials before coming to class.

Make sure that threaded discussions are relevant and “matter” for class performance

Using technology for threaded discussions will be effective for community building only if students are actively engaged in the discussions. If participation is optional, students won’t participate. If the discussions and student postings are not used during regular class meetings and discussions, students will perceive threaded discussions as “make work.”

One way to create an engaging and relevant threaded discussion is to require that students post a 2-paragraph response to the reading for a given week. Skim the postings before class to identify specific topics or questions posed by students. At the beginning of class, briefly discuss high-frequency comments and address important misconceptions or questions included in the posts. When you connect the content of classroom discussion to the content of the threaded discussion, students will know their posts have an impact on the class.

Grading the posts will also motivate students to participate in this activity. But grading should not be onerous. D2L will automatically track the number of posts by each student. One simple grading strategy would be to base a student’s participation grade on the number of posts to the threaded discussion.

Lang, J. M. (2008). On course: A week-by-week guide to your first semester of college teaching.  Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.

 

 

Updated 04/23/12 cdw