Month: June 2016
Students Matter: How Organizational Culture Drives Student Success — League of Innovation Summit
Students Matter: How Organizational Culture Drives Student Success — League of Innovation Summit</
Students Matter: How Organizational Culture Drives Student Success
This session focuses on a culture transformation effort at Lone Star College. The presenters will introduce organizational culture as an underlying influence throughout the college and engage participants in a deeper discussion about culture transformation as an avenue to student success.
Debbra Esparza, Executive Director
Alicia Friday, Director
Melissa Hinshaw, Manager, Organizational Development, Lone Star College System, TX
How Organizational Culture Affects Student Success
Describe the culture at your college, and really write as many things about it as you can.
Student success is the major thrust at Wake Tech Community College. To that end, we have student organizations, numerous independent learning centers with free tutoring and it’s many different locations. Several open computer labs, free tutoring, faculty advising to work with our students. Office hour coverage seven days a week and evenings. Advising holds to help us know and help the students get along their degree in a timely manner. Our faculty has an open door policy. We have opportunities and job pushing out via email and Twitter feed as well as remind.com. We have hands-on classes as well as expansion and enrichment classes. Our Compututor and 24/7 blackboard assistance for students in need. We have an IT help-line. We have capstone courses and capstone presentations that psych our students for self-promotion and getting ready for interviews. Our faculty each do a yearly benchmarking activities and applied benchmarking grants to improve our process. We have the E-learning initiative which students must complete prior to being able to enroll in our online classes — which helps assure we have completions. We have epic functionality being undertaken by faculty and full section 508 compliance in all classes. A 30-hour professional development requirement for all teachers ensures we stay on top of our game, and we have starfish, we have college algebra MOOK and many other things that I can’t think of.
Culture changes
The important thing about changing your culture is first to establish the values that you want, and then a way to evaluate those values. Is there a disconnect between the disciplinary culture and the college culture that is the students? Do the teachers feel and act one way and the students feel and act another?
What are the positives the change brings to culture
It’s easy to fall into altruisc statements about what we do and what the value of it is, but most of us actually say “what’s in it for me?”. What is student success? Is it grades, is it transfers, is it completions, is it success or failure? And, what exactly is a failure?
Cultural beliefs are used to create the attributes for new faculty. Start with your core values: include benchmarking. Dr. Scott is a man of action and he leads with initiative and then stands behind those initiatives. Are higher-ups wanting to assist what I do? Rachel Ruise at Austin community college notes that within their institution, compensation is based on completions. A question comes up: Are teachers giving completions to keep compensation high while overall quality is driving low? It’s a legitimate question.
How will this change impact student success? How does a healthy college hold improved student success and completions? Epic implementation at wake Tech is set to be 100% by spring of 2017. A question came up: “Where/what will the headline be five years from now about your institution?” many people had a great joke over the fact that I suggested that might be in the middle of the second Trump administration and then where would we be?
Support for Student Achievement of Learning Outcomes: Partnering for Success — Innovation Summit Symposium
Support for Student Achievement of Learning Outcomes: Partnering for Success
Rachel Fulcher-Dawson, Associate Director, Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, University of Notre Dame, IN
Corinne Weaver, Senior Manager, Research, Data, and Evaluation, Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth, TX
Explore four community college approaches to help developmental students succeed, including a remedial paradigm shift at Morton College; basic skills mathematics instruction at Golden West College; Power Math Camp at GateWay Community College; and the Best Fit Project at Henry Ford College. I felt it was an interesting set of material, but I was a bit bagged out at this point in the conference I was probably more focused on lunch than this product. By and large, many of the schools they were talking about had small populations and issues that Wake Technical Community College had already covered. It was helpful for some, but some older ground for us.
Understanding and Communicating With the Overly-Informed Millennial Generation — League of Innovation Summit
Understanding and Communicating With the Overly-Informed Millennial Generation
Strong communication skills are critical to successful student learning. Participants will acquire a firm understanding of the impact generational differences play in choosing effective communication strategies. Small group discussion and interactive activities are included.
Sally Pestana, Director, Health Education, Kapi’olani Community College, HI; Rick Walker, Director, STARLINK, Dallas County Community College District, TX
Did you know?
| Millennials | Boomers | Matures | |
| Attended college | 61% | 46% | ?? |
| Married | 26% | 48% | 65% |
- 84% of millennials say having a meaningful impact on the world is more important than professional recognition or wealth
- 84% donated to a social cause in 2014
- 84% own a smart phone – and use it on average 45 times per day
Educating the Overly Informed Millennial Generation
Session Goals
- Understand how generational differences are formed
- Articulate the importance of recognizing generational differences in the classroom
- Responding to the need for teaching skills addressing generational differences
- Helping all students respect the differences among the generations
The Generations
- The Matures (1920-1945) – Age 71+
- The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) – Age 51 to 70
- The Gen Xers (1965-1980) – Age 35 to 50
- The Millennials (1981-2000) – Age 15 to 34
Guess Which One Is The Largest Living Generation!!
Generational Differences Influence:
- Habits
- Values
- Attitudes
- Behaviors
- Expectations
- Motivational buttons
- Communication preferences
Matures (1920-1945)
- Duty, honor, country
- Conformity, consistency, and commitment
- Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation”
- Hard times and then prosperity
- Save – then pay cash
- Hardworking; doing a good job is most important
- Education was a dream
- Nuclear family
Matures, sometimes referred to as the “silents” in the literature were raised during the depression. Commitment is a huge value for this generation. Think back to a grandparent or parent that worked in the same job for three, four or five decades. This generation is known for rarely leaving an employer on their own volition – most stayed with the same company their entire career.
Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
- Raised in prosperity by depression era parents with significant impact
- Raised to be independent and “go out and get a job”
- Work ethic = Long hours / “workaholics”
- Success defined by number of hours at the office
- Competitive – only one winner
- Education was a birthright
- Buy now, pay later
Important to realize how matures impacted the Baby Boomers. They were raised by depression and war-era parents. They were taught to do what you need to do to gain financial security, thus avoiding the challenges their parents faced. Baby Boomers were raised to always save and work hard. Told to get a job that will leave an impact on society and has benefits. The Baby Boomers Created the term “workaholics”.
Millennial view – “Gosh, now I realize why my bosses are here all the time. They have no other life. Now I feel sorry for them. How sad.”
Baby Boomers have few hobbies – too busy working. Some are taking on hobbies post retirement. By and large, they did not receive much affection, and thus are not very demonstrative. Discipline was the rule. There was only one winner.
First generation Americans tend to have more BB characteristics – regardless of their generation. Baby Boomers have most direct influence on Millenials because of their success and close connections.
Gen Xers (1965-1980)
- Had two working parents (often children of divorce) / “latch-key kids”
- Saw parents laid off leading to distrust
- Self reliant, independent, and resilient
- Want their passion to be their profession
- Technologically adept and flexible
- Work ethic = “Measure me by my outcomes.”
- Money is important but control of time is the goal
- Save, save, save
- Frustrated that “boomers” won’t turn over responsibility to them
Millennials (1981-2000)
- Raised by boomers who used opposite child rearing practices as their depression era parents
- Grew up in merged families, and/or had grandparents with strong influence
- Protected – raised by “helicopter” parents
- Participation generation – everybody gets a trophy
- “Techno-kids” – taking multi-tasking to a new level
- Work ethic = Get paid to get the job done, NOT to be in the office
- Expect flexibility, fun, and meaningful work – with their first job
- Optimistic, energetic, and demanding
- Empowered and spontaneous
- Enter job market confident of their own value
- Family and friends come above their careers
- Education is a huge expense
- Earn to spend
- Encouraged to “Find a job that makes you happy”
- Work, think, and travel in groups
- Value education, relationships, achievements, and diversity
- Want and need constant and immediate feedback and will give the same
Years of self-esteem building have given this generation the sense of being wanted and special. Baby Boomers told their children to find a job that makes you happy! This generation expects not only that they’ll be happy, but well compensated and make a difference for their happiness. They prefer to have LOTS of feedback as contrasted with the Baby Boomer philosophy of “no news is good news”.
Generations of U.H. Faculty vs. National Engineering Firm
| UH Faculty | large national engineering firm | |
| Matures (Age 71+ | 4% | 0% |
| Baby Boomers (Age 51 to 70) | 47% | 15% |
| Gen Xers (Age 35 to 50) | 36% | 31% |
| Millennials (Age 15 to 34) | 13% | 54% |
Depending on which report you read
Faculty’s Role
- Be aware of stereotypes and understand how they shape other’s perceptions of you, and you of them!
- Be prepared to teach millennials the importance of generational differences, as they will be working with some boomers and many Xers during their careers
In the classroom…
- Flexibility is critical
- Use clear and straightforward language with everyone, but especially with millennials because millennials don’t respond to subtleties
- Millennials grew up in an instantaneous world, with Google immediately answering their every question and helicopter parents at their beck and call – they bring those same expectations into the classroom
- Have career goals, positive attitudes, technological savvy, and collaborative inclinations
- Value communication and information and respond well when told the “why” behind the teaching and assessment methods you use
- View higher education as an expensive but economically necessary consumer good
- Higher education is not a privilege earned by hard work and outstanding performance
- ¡They (or their parents) “purchase” it for the purpose of opening well-paying occupational doors on graduation
- Feel entitled to their degree for the cost of the credits
- Want to know that you care about them — “They will care how much you know, when they know how much you care”.
- Accustomed to near-constant interaction, and want to relate to you
- Used to having clear expectations set
- Respond well to structure, discipline, rules, and regulations
Those whose grades slip in college feel their self-esteem threatened and may react with depression, anxiety, defensiveness, and even anger against us. In addition, they hear a lot a “bad news” from us in their classes: that they didn’t learn enough in high school to handle college, that knowledge bases are full of holes and unsolved mysteries, that their beliefs and values are subject to question and debate, and that both college and the real world demand that they work and prove their worth.
Golden Rule vs. Platinum Rule
- Treat others as you would like to be treated.
- Communicate with others using their preferred method of communication.
- Rotary phones
- Touch tone phones
- Cell phones
- Texting
Communication Needs
- Boomers communicated with family and friends via snail mail and long distance phone
- Millennials prefer to communicate by text message or e-mail
- They don’t expect to have to talk
- Or write formally
- Lots of room for teaching and growth
Messages that Motivate
“Your experience is respected” – satisfaction comes from a job well done
“You are valued and needed” – satisfaction comes from money and title recognition
“Do it your way – forget the rules” – satisfaction comes from freedom
“You will work with other bright, creative people” – satisfaction comes from constant feedback and doing meaningful work
Work Ethic
- Duty before fun
- Workaholic – works efficiently, quality important, not afraid to question authority
- Eliminate the task! Desires structure and direction, but skeptical
- What’s next?! Goal oriented, multi-tasker
Creativity, Action, Results: Connecting Student Engagement to Student Success — League of Innovation Summit
Creativity, Action, Results: Connecting Student Engagement to Student Success
The focus of this forum is to discuss strategies that can help students put their ideas into purposeful action, thereby increasing their chances of success. Attendees will address the concepts of empowerment and engagement in small group discussions and written activities.
David Pegram, Professor, English
Caron Sada, Faculty, Psychology
Michaelle Shadburne, Manager, Employee and Organizational Learning, Paradise Valley Community College, AZ
This was another hands-on bonanza, and I didn’t really even have time to take notes.
Just In Time Professional Development That Makes A Difference — League of Innovation Summit
Just in Time Professional Development That Makes A Difference
Manuel Gomes, PhD. with Associate Provost of National American University
This session was a last-minute addition to the league of innovation summit. Technology is great for students learning in the college environment, but can also transform how, when and where teachers learn. So why are so many professional development programs so detached from the classroom? National American University is changing professional developement for teachers through “Just-in-Time” professional development, focusing on delivering real-time learning solutions that can be immediately applied to the classroom. Key takeaways included:
- How to set up an effective coaching program for new teachers and on-going professional growth
- How to leverage a variety of professional development solutions to support different learning & teaching styles
- Differentiating between the best tools to use for just-in-time PD and deferred PD
Honestly, it was very surprising to see just how many of these colleges are struggling to reach the place where our college is. At Wake Technical Community College, we are required to undertake a minimum of 30 professional development hours every year, and frankly, most overshoot this by double or more.
JIT or Just In Time training is certainly a helpful thing in some cases, but wouldn’t it be more helpful if teachers prepared ahead, or new what they might be coming against? Better still, would not a proactive teaching populace take the initiative and take or demand the training they forsee needing or would like to have in order to be ready and available for the troubled time to come? Some colleges may need individuals who are ready “right now”. Would it not be better to have a team who was prepared for the eventuality BEFORE it happened? I’d rather have learned to swim a month before my boat start sinking than try to have a quick lesson on the dead man’s float in a boat which is slowly going under…
Quality, Inquiry, and Accountability in Pathways to Student Success — League of Innovation Symposium
Quality, Inquiry, and Accountability in Pathways to Student Success
Symposium: Quality, Inquiry, and Accountability
Jo-Carol Fabianke, Vice Chancellor for Academic Success, Alamo Colleges, TX
Rachel Ruiz, Dean, Student Services, Riverside Campus, Austin Community College, TX
Moderator
Allatia Harris, Vice Chancellor, Strategic Initiatives, Community Relations, and Diversity, San Jacinto College District, TX
The Role of a Healthy College Culture in Fostering Student Success — League of Innovation Summit
The Role of a Healthy College Culture in Fostering Student Success
Symposium: Organizational Culture
Kristina Binard, Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Student Success, Front Range Community College, CO
Debbra Esparza, Executive Director, Organizational Development, Lone Star College System, TX
Shyamal Tiwari, Professor, Performing Arts, Bergen Community College, NJ
Moderator
Allatia Harris, Vice Chancellor, Strategic Initiatives, Community Relations, and Diversity, San Jacinto College District, TX
This was a very interesting round table. Allatia moderated as the schools talked about healthy college culture and student success. It included minor break-out sessions in which I was the only teacher at a table full of administrators. Lone Start College seemed to have the most advanced materials, being a nice and honest contemporary competitor with us. Shyamal made a very funny joke about how 5 years from now everything might change as we’d all be in the second Trump presidency. That was very, very humorous indeed, and almost everyone was laughing.
We focused in on what things were great about our colleges, which initiatives were truly assisting our students, and what they future would bring. It was very hands on. Interspersed within these team items we heard from each individual college, including a story from Bergen Community College about how the community and the school gathered together to raise funds for a student who’d had his upright bass stolen, and short movies about how students with recent wheelchair injuries would not let physical handicaps stop them from achieving the education that would build the careers which would set the cornerstones of their lives.
Expanding Opportunity for All: How Can We Increase Community College Student Completion? — League of Innovation Symposium
Expanding Opportunity for All: How Can We Increase Community College Student Completion?
Moderator
Cynthia Wilson, Vice President, Learning and Research, League for Innovation in the Community College, AZ
Although over 80 percent of the 1.5 million students who enter community colleges each year indicate they intend to attain a bachelor’s degree or higher, less than 40 percent earn any form of college credential within six years. Low student completion rates coincide with economic forces that have made a postsecondary degree more important than ever. Increasingly, the manynew jobs that offer family-sustaining wages require two- or four-year college degrees, and by giving students the chance to pursue them, community colleges provide vital opportunities to those seeking social and economic mobility.
Many colleges are aware of the problem of low completion rates and are working to address it. This Choicework Discussion Starter aims to help by encouraging faculty and staff to reflect on these questions:
- “What approach or combination of approaches would best serve our college’s students, and why?”
- “What are our strengths and weaknesses in this area?”
- “What steps should we take next to better engage students, help them learn and support their progress toward obtaining the credentials
they seek?”
Please keep these questions in mind as we review the following three approaches to tackling the challenge of low student completion rates.
APPROACH A: EMPOWER STUDENTS AND HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR COMPLETING THEIR DEGREES
The primary responsibility for student completion rests with the student.
Without a student’s commitment to do what it takes to complete a college degree, no amount of help will make a difference. Our college’s role is to provide students with the tools they need to be successful and hold them accountable for reaching their goals.
Therefore, we should do things like the following:
- Establish a meaningful goal-setting process for all incoming students to make sure they have a clear sense of their objectives and how to achieve them.
- Encourage students to serve as tutors and peer mentors so they can connect with and learn from one another.
- Develop a mandatory orientation to ensure all students have the information they need to obtain college degrees.
- Eliminate late registration to stop setting up students for failure.
Those who like this approach may say, “Too often when we talk about student completion we leave out the most important variable: the students. At the end of the day, the responsibility for completion rests with them, not us.”
Those who don’t like this approach may say, “We won’t improve completion rates until we stop blaming our students for their lack of success. These are good ideas, but they don’t go far enough. To really help more of our students, we need to think about what we can do to improve their experience at our college.”
APPROACH B: BEGIN BY IMPROVING TEACHING AND LEARNING, AND COMPLETION WILL FOLLOW
A growing body of research suggests traditional approaches to postsecondary instruction are not particularly effective, especially in developmental and introductory courses. Students who experience alternative methods of teaching demonstrate greater learning and engagement. Improving teaching and learning is the best way to help more students complete degrees at our college.
Therefore, we should do things like the following:
- Restructure developmental education to provide streamlined and customized courses that demonstrate the relevance of foundational math and English skills to students’ academic and professional goals.
- Capitalize on advances in cognitive science by using new pedagogical approaches, such as flipped classrooms, which have shown promise in increasing student learning.
- Provide high-quality professional development opportunities to all faculty to support them in adopting the latest, research-based advances in teaching and learning.
- Provide release time and other incentives to faculty who experiment with new teaching methods to encourage innovation aimed at increasing student completion.
Those who like this approach may say, “Most of us were trained as experts in our disciplines, not as educators. If we want and expect our students to be lifelong learners, we have to set an example by adapting our teaching methods to the twenty-first century.”
Those who don’t like this approach may say, “We are already doing everything we can to help students succeed. The last thing we need is to be blamed for the sad fact that many students aren’t prepared or motivated enough to complete a degree.”
APPROACH C: CREATE CLEAR PATHWAYS TO GUIDE STUDENTS TO COMPLETION
Many students experience community college as just another complex institution they struggle to navigate effectively. Unclear programs of study, overflowing course catalogs, confusing transfer requirements and conflicting sources of information often combine to discourage students, and many drop out of college altogether. To mitigate this, we must develop coherent pathways for our students to help them find their way through our college and complete their degrees.
Therefore, we should do things like the following:
- • Establish coherent program requirements and sequences and simplify students’ choices to provide a
clear roadmap to completion.
• Accelerate student entry into academic pathways to prevent them from spending time, money and
financial aid on courses that won’t help them obtain college degrees.
• Strengthen academic and career advising to help students complete their degrees as quickly as possible.
• Monitor student progress and provide students with customized feedback to help them stay on track with
their goals.
Those who like this approach may say, “The colleges that have made the biggest strides in increasing student completion have created clear pathways to help their students succeed; we owe it to our students to explore this approach at our college.”
Those who don’t like this approach may say, “These changes sound expensive and unrealistic for our college. More importantly, college is about finding your own path, not following someone else’s.”
USING THIS GUIDE IN COMMUNITY CONVERSATION, DISCUSSION GROUP OR CLASSROOM SETTING
Summarizing a Choicework Conversation
These questions are a good way to summarize a Choicework conversation, prior to considering more action-oriented questions.
Are there individual steps we can take? Are there things we can do collectively?
After a discussion of the choices, it can be helpful to first summarize the conversation and then bridge to action-oriented deliberations, as follows:
- In our conversation so far, have we discovered any common ground? What do we agree on or have in common?
- What were our important areas of disagreement, the issues we may have to keep talking about in the future?
- What are the questions and concerns that need more attention? Are there things we need more information about?
Bridging Dialogue to Action
These questions can help you move from dialogue about the issue at hand to actions that can help address the issue.
- How can we work together to make a difference in our community on the issues we discussed today? This is a brainstorming phase of the discussion.
- Among the action ideas we’ve discussed, how should we prioritize them?
- How should we follow up on today’s conversation?
No Greater Odds — League for Innovation Opening Session
No Greater Odds — League for Innovation Opening Session
This session began with a Welcome Address from Maria Harper-Marinick, Chancellor of Maricopa Community Colleges. She introduced us to James McCoy, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at the College of Southern Nevada , and Executive Producer of No Greater Odds. She also introduced Charlene Gibson, Communication Instructor at College of Southern Nevada and Associate Producer, of No Greater Odds.
Keynote Presentation
No Greater Odds Documentary Screening and Panel
The documentary, No Greater Odds, follows the inspirational stories of five community college students. Their stories of complicated family issues, financial difficulties and other personal obstacles are the stories of millions of students who attend community college in the hopes of bettering their lives and futures through higher education. By sharing these stories of struggle and triumph, these students will understand that the way their story ends depends on how it begins – because for them, there are No Greater Odds. Highlighting the mission of access and student success of community colleges everywhere, No Greater Odds underscores the unique and integral role of these higher education institutions.
She requested the we join her for a special screening of the acclaimed documentary, No Greater Odds, which follows the inspirational stories of five community college students. Their stories – of complicated family issues, financial difficulties and other personal obstacles – are the stories of millions of students who attend community college in the hopes of bettering their lives and futures through higher education. By sharing these stories of struggle and triumph, these students understand that the way their story ends depends on how it begins – because for them, there are No Greater Odds. Highlighting the mission of access and student success of community colleges everywhere, No Greater Odds underscores the unique and integral role of these higher education institutions.
Movie Screening
If you’re interested, view the trailer and share your story at http://nogreaterodds.com.
Panel Discussion
Immediately following the special screening of No Greater Odds, we got to meet members of the cast of the film to provide a more intimate look at each of the students’ inspiring stories featured in this powerful documentary. The No Greater Odds movement and how the film was created was discussed in greater detail, and the cast and producers answered questions about this film.
Panel Members
- James McCoy, Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, and Executive Producer, College of Southern Nevada
- Charlene Gibson, Communication Instructor and Associate Producer, College of Southern Nevada
Cast Members:
- Barbara Ayarza
- Carlos Holguin
- Jaklin Guyumjyan
- Monique Makhlouf
- Tyrone Foster, College of Southern Nevada. (He was unfortunately called away for a family emergency)
Thoughts on the Session
Determination is not enough. For many students, just being determined is not enough to succeed, as family problems, monetary issues, and lack of resources can quickly stop them from succeeding. This movie was a great example of how individual attention can lead to success in the college space, however sometimes that’s not something every college can bring to bear. Student success is so vital to our mission at community colleges, but Want is not all it will take to succeed.
One of the interesting things they discussed was the use of TRIO, a federal program for students. I’m not familiar with this program or how it might be utilized at our school. Looks like I have some work to do.
Some students have no computers at home, and so the labs at school can really help. Many students are overwhelmed and underprepared, and that’s an issue that must be taken into account early in the process, or at least as early as possible.
Multimodal Strategies to Increase Student Engagement — League of Innovation Summit
Multimodal Strategies to Increase Student Engagement
The focus of this forum is to experience multimodal universal design strategies aimed at increasing student engagement. Formal student engagement directly increases student success and indirectly increases student goal completion. Participants will gain special insights through small group practice.
William Strond, Professor, Biology, Oakton Community College, IL
Many new online instructors initially create online courses that are fairly linear and mostly text. They quickly realize that such an approach would not work for every student, particularly those in pre-college learning courses.
Many begin by writing lectures in a rather formal style, almost as though the pages were a textbook before they come to realize why it isn’t working. Teaching is an art, and not all people are very good at reading, and their engagement level is going to be fairly low, regardless of how much the content grips someone who loves the text.
Practical advice you can take to bring life back into your online classes using multimodal strategies:
1. Change the activity every 15 or 20 minutes.
Instructors in a traditional classroom can immediately see their students losing interest— but these cues are not available in the online environment, so estimate how much time each activity in you course is likely to take students and change learning modes when necessary.
One way to break up the content is by using videos, mp3s and screencasts created with Camtasia as a way of demonstrating the concepts presented in your lectures. In addition to engaging students in a different way, there are certain concepts that are easier to understand in this format. Realize that there are times when you as a teacher really want to show them how things go. Show them how you take main ideas from one assignment and apply them to one or more individual lesson items. This will make learning physical, and the making will deepen understanding among your students
2. Repeat the lesson in multiple modes to reinforce the learning. In addition to breaking up the monotony, presenting the same concepts in more than one mode can reinforce ideas and help students learn in ways that suit them best. Students may notice the repetition, but in a typical lesson it is possible to repeat the same information in three different modes.
A typical lesson might include a Web page, an animated PowerPoint presentation, and perhaps a video—so that you’re giving them the same material in three different ways. They may be reluctant to go back and read the Web page, but what they don’t realize is that in the three lessons they’ve gotten the same exact information three different times.
In addition to incorporating these various modes within each lesson, intersperse quiz questions throughout. If you’ve been telling students what’s going to be on the quiz, you can actually see the answers as you read or as you listen. Some students learn best with facts and when points are on the line. This acts as a motivator and shows that the quizzes are directly connected to your course content.
3. Create supplementary activities if necessary. Sometimes students fail to grasp the content immediately. In a face-to-face course, this lack of understanding can be remedied easily with a quick and simple review. Consider the same thing in your online courses when low quiz grades or other indications that students are failing to understand something. In these instances, consider creating a quick Camtasia screencast and incorporates that into the next lesson as a review.
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