Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 4

Universal Design for Learning

Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 4

When developing a course using the first principle of Universal Design for Learning, there are three specific guidelines to assist us. The third, Comprehension focuses on maintaining clarity about the content provided.

Criterion 4 of this guideline advocates that we maximize transfer and generalization so students can apply learning to new contexts.

Each learner varies in the amount of scaffolding necessary for memory and information transfer in order to access prior learning. Offering assistance in how to transfer the information to new situations, accelerates the learning process. Without this ability, the learned information may become inaccessible in new situations. Supports for memory, generalization, and transfer include techniques designed to heighten the memorability of the information can be assisted by:

• Providing checklists, organizers, notes, electronic reminders
• Prompting the use of mnemonic strategies and devices
• Incorporating explicit opportunities for review and practice
• Providing templates, graphic organizers, concept maps to support organizing the information learned
• Scaffolding the content to connect new information to prior knowledge
• Embedding new ideas in familiar ideas and contexts
• Providing explicit, supported opportunities to generalize learning to new situations
• Offer opportunities over time to revisit key ideas and linkages between ideas

By following these suggestions, your course will assist students communicating and expressing their knowledge, as well as being in line the Principle of Representation in the Theory of Universal Design for Learning.

Fall 2021 Teaching and Learning Webinars

 

This Fall, SUNY Schenectady has coordinated a set of webinars to help you improve your teaching, both online and in the classroom.  Topics will include:

• Accessibility is Not Optional
• 5 Easy Pieces: Tips for Improving Online Student Engagement
• Online Labs! Successfully Implementing Science Labs
• Diversity Awareness in the Curriculum and Inclusive Teaching: What can I do as a faculty?
• Making the Most from PowerPoint

The webinars will have a short presentation period and ample time for discussion.  Besides featuring Teaching and Learning Specialist, Dave Wolf, several guest speakers share their expertise. 

The webinars will occur every other Monday, from noon to 1:00PM, starting October 4th. You can download a schedule with more details as well as the links to each webinar.  

The series is open to all educators. 

Why are Synchronous Online Classes Dull?

When asked, students generally feel that they learn most from Asynchronous courses, followed by traditional face-to-face courses, and least by synchronous online courses.  How can this be?

This is in-part because many asynchronous courses rigorously apply instructional design best practices based on years of research.  It is not clear that most traditional course are and probably less likely for synchronous courses given the emergency adoption during the pandemic. We must remember that teaching online involves significantly more than simply dropping a face-to-face course, or Zoom meetings, into the campus learning-management system. Designing effective online courses is hard work and differs significantly from in-person teaching. HyFlex courses essentially braid the two together, which means it is even harder.

 

Before working on an HyFlex course, it is important that you are comfortable teaching asynchronously online. If not, you may underestimate the amount of effort and interaction necessary for engaging students.

With this in mind, why are synchronous online classes dull?

The issue is not that they are intrinsically worse than traditional classes. Instead students are perceiving that they are not learning from them.  It is vital to ask another question:

Are we using the technology correctly?

The online medium is dynamic and listening passively for an hour may not be the best way to promote learning. In fact, the average time a student will watch an instructional video is 6 minutes – regardless if its length is six or sixty minutes.  Clearly, the take home message for the medium is that video alone needs to be in small chunks if we want to foster learner engagement.

 

The traditional sage on the stage model has been abandoned by a significant number of teachers. For example, many teachers flip their classroom. The content is available on online, while the classes meet for a quick review, discussion, learning activities and assignments.

 

This strategy has also been successful in implementing HyFlex.  It is better suited for brief exposition (lessons, review, or instructions) that is recorded followed by breakout sessions for groups.  The class then returns for students to present or follow up information with the instructor.

During the breakout sessions, the instructor can offer more personalized assistance by visiting all groups, virtual or within the classroom.

 

The flipped classroom has a long history of success.  It is not surprising that it also works for HyFlex.  It probably works equally as well for online synchronous courses because this strategy better aligns with the mode of educational delivery.

Modules are Not Folders of Weekly Content

 You are developing an online course and are looking at a syllabus for your fifteen-week traditional version.  You just reviewed Cognitive Load Theory, that states that students learn more effectively when content is ‘chunked’ into smaller parts.  But that is hard and you have a 15-week schedule already made.

Can’t each week be a module? This is generally not the best practice. 

1. Students should associate the module with specific content and a module titled, “Week 1,” is not very informative about the content and to anything other than the temporal relation in the course.
2. Modules that are longer than week allow for much needed time for students to be more successful with learning activities. Discussion sections and other collaborative exercises are more successful when they allow for reflection and when that affords time for communication.
3. This many divisions of concepts exceeds a person’s cognitive load limits. The students will struggle at connecting vital concepts of the course and their success will be impeded.
4. The course cannot be easily be re-purposed for anything other than a fifteen-week session.

Remember: If you are going to spend the time making a great course, you might as well make the most of your effort.

Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 2

Universal Design for Learning

Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 2

When developing a course using the first principle of Universal Design for Learning, there are three specific guidelines to assist us. The third, Comprehension focuses on maintaining clarity about the content provided.

Criterion 2 of this guideline advocates that we highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships.

These distinguish what is vital information from noise or unimportant information.  This is one of the key skills that experts display over laypeople.  Highlighting key patterns allows the learner to efficiently allocate their time and identify what is important.  Thus the most effective way to make information more accessible is to offer explicit cues to identify what features of the information matter most.  Try to:

§  Highlight or emphasize key elements in text, graphics, diagrams, formulas

§  Use outlines, graphic organizers, concept organizer routines, and concept mastery routines to for focus on key relationships

§  Use multiple examples to emphasize critical features and some non-examples to illustrate them

§  Use prompts to draw attention to critical features

§  Highlight previously learned skills and how they can be used to solve unfamiliar problems 

By following these suggestions, your course will assist students communicating and expressing their knowledge, as well as being in line with the Principle of Representation in the Theory of Universal Design for Learning.

Live in 3..2..1: Resuscitating Synchronous Classes with Dynamic Delivery

Students have reported more dissatisfaction with synchronous online delivery over face-to-face or asynchronous delivery.  This can often be attributed to the content expert not being aware of successful practices in presentations or the online medium.

Often instructors are never taught vital presentation skills that are key for capturing their classes attention.  For example, within the first few minutes of a presentation the audience's attention can be commanded by:

• Reflecting on a bold statement
• Considering a story
• Reviewing, and being primed for, the content they will learn
• Engaging in an interactive activity

When the presenter presents in a lively fashion, the movement keeps the viewers' attention.  Also, revealing one’s own humor and why you are excited about the topic both makes the talk personal to the audience. They then become more invested in the topic. These presentation skills benefit both synchronous online presentations and face-to-face presentations.   

The issue with teaching online is that instructors both must wrestle with using technology effectively as well as employ instructional strategies that best suit the medium they are using.  This webinar will first address faux pas with technology that diminishes the instructional effectiveness of the presentation.  Then it continues to investigate effective strategies for the medium.  Specifically, attention spans in this medium our short and instruction must be interactive to be effective. By adopting a micro-lesson approach as well as a flipped approach, instructors can maximize student engagement in their synchronous sessions. The session concludes on some of the pitfalls experienced by faculty using flipped classes online and how to overcome these issues. 

References

 

Azib-Powell, B. (2005) David Byrne really does love PowerPoint. UC Berkeley News.

Bumiller, Elisabeth (2010) We have met the enemy and he is PowerPoint, New York Times.

Cohen, N. (2010)  “The magical mystery four: how is working memory capacity limited, and why?”  Current Directions in Psychological Science. February 2010 vol. 19 no. 1 51-57. 

Goa, Philip (2012) Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement. EdX.

Grabill, Carolyn (2009) Why learning from PowerPoint lectures is frustrating Carolyn Works. 

Hicks, Cat, Emeline Brulé, and Roberta Dombrowski. 2020. “You Have to Put Your Class Online: Simple Things to Think About.” Online resource.

Hinck, G. & Burke, L. (2019). New Technologies Deliver on the Promise of HyFlex: University of St. Thomas. In B. J. Beatty, Hybrid-Flexible Course Design: Implementing student-directed hybrid classes. EdTech Books.

Lokken, F. (2017) Online Courses as Good as In-Person Classes. Inside Higher Ed.

Malczyk, B. R. (2019). Introducing Social Work to HyFlex Blended Learning: A Student-centered Approach. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39(4-5), 414-428.

Meyer, R (2001) Multimedia Learning. Cambridge Press, NY.

McGee, P. &. A. Reis (2012) “Blended Course Design: A Synthesis of Best Practices.” Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 14(4).

Rhoads, D. (2020). Traditional, online or both? A comparative study of university student learning and satisfaction between traditional and Hyflex delivery modalities. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Rose, D & A Meyer (2002) Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Singh, C. (2021) Why Flipped classes often flop. Inside Higher Ed.

Sweller, John (1999) Visualization and instruction design, Australian Educational Review

Tufte, Edward (2003) PowerPoint is evil, Wired. 11:09.

Vanderstoep, S. W., Pintrich, P. R., & Fagerlin, A. (1996). Disciplinary differences in self-regulated learning in college students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21(4), 345-362.

Whittaker S.&  Hirschberg J (2003) Look or Listen: Discovering Effective Techniques for Accessing Speech Data. In Proc. CHI98. Springer-Verlag, 253-269

What is a Module?

 

A ‘module’ is a functional unit that organizes content. It is similar to a section in a textbook. Whether you are teaching geology, mathematics, American short stories, epistemology, accounting or another other topic, it is best to "chunk" the content into digestible pieces (or modules) to give it:

• Structure.
• Consistency
• Form.

This is particularly true for online delivery to students.  Often you can get inspiration from viewing a textbook or the Course Description or Proposal for getting clues on how to best sequence the course content. Ideally, a course should contain 4-7 modules to conform to principles of cognitive load theory. Likewise, a module should cover more than a week of material to ensure that discussion sections have plenty (ideally 2 or more weeks) of time for students to develop a post and then foster meaningful discussions.

Once you determine the 4-7 modules for your course, the module will be most effective if it fits a uniform practice. Each module will cover a particular topic or aspect of study within the overall scope of the course and is titled accordingly. Ideally, threaded activities tie the modules together and give cohesion to the course. In general, the structure of a module contains:

• An overview or “At a Glance” section that offers insight to learning objectives and offers a module roadmap for the student.
• Content Guides: offer a section where key content can be accessed.  It should do more than refer to textbook readings.  Instead, think of them as offering a space for:

• Short lectures on content necessary for meeting the modules objectives written by the faculty developer or instructor (around one page).
• Links to key readings or source material
• OER content that will prepare students for the learning activities
• Learning activities that make the student meet the modules learning objectives. These activities should be engaging and are not necessarily graded.  Some activities may include: virtual fieldtrips, simulations, group learning activity or role-play exercises.
• Assessments, while not necessary for each module, should be constructed to demonstrate that the student can complete the modules learning outcomes. These could be non-graded, such as self-tests, or graded exercises that could include: written assignments, case studies, pro/con debate, group projects, discussion forum with an open-ended question or set of questions.
• Online Resources that can be from the library, or elsewhere, that augment the student learning.  This section should not be overwhelming, but designed to assist the student without distracting them. This section may be optional, and can be deleted if there the resources do not assist students.

If you follow these rules and break down the course into a set of 4-7 functional units, i.e., modules, that have informative titles, the course will be reinforcing an understanding of the course content though the students’ passive perception and time spent in the course.  Further, by adopting a uniform and proven module format, the students will spend less cognitive time on navigating the course and more time on learning.  This will contribute to their success.

What is HyFlex?

 College students face unprecedented challenges compared to the past and in order to serve their needs, colleges need to adopt customizable learning opportunities that are highly flexible.  The success of online courses demonstrated that students needn’t be constrained to a geographical location, but can experience quality learning experiences at anytime, anywhere, and from a variety of devices. HyFlex teaching is aligned with this mission of offering more flexible learning environments. It aims to deliver students the maximal amount of choices possible within a formal learning program.  Students are provided a choice between a variety of course delivery modes and can regularly change modes during the semester.  MgGee and Reis (2012)  define HyFlex where,

“course designs involve instructor and learners working together in mixed delivery modes, typically face-to-face and technology mediated, to accomplish learning outcomes that are pedagogically supported through assignments, activities, and assessments as appropriate for a given mode and which bridge course environments in a manner meaningful to the learner.”

Essentially, a well-designed HyFlex course will provide effective alternative participation modes that all meet the same learning outcomes. This will provide meaningful learning opportunities for all students.

HyFlex instructors are not merely recording lectures for students to asynchronously watch.  Instead, a full asynchronous version of the course offers an alternative to the synchronous as well as face-to-face options (See Figure 1). It is preferable to provide the content from the face-to-face delivery in an online version as well. This will require little additional work if materials are already available in digital format, however it is important that this format is accessible (such as having closed captions).

Figure 1: The various modes of instruction in HyFlex 

Those interested should look to the four principles Brian Beatty defined for HyFlex over ten years ago and that act as pillars for its implementation.  They are:

• Principle 1 – Learner Choice: Provide meaningful alternative participation modes and enable students to choose between participation modes.  This may be weekly, by class, or topically.
• Principle 2 – Equivalency: Provide equivalent learning activities in all participation modes. This is also good teaching practice in line with the theory of Universal Design for Learning.
• Principle 3 – Reusability: Utilize artifacts from learning activities in each participation mode as “learning objects” or resources for all students. Make use of your labor efficiently – this will make the process sustainable and affords students equitable access to learning resources.
• Principle 4 – Accessibility: Provide all students with technology skills and enable full access to instructional resources and activities in all participation modes. This may also require equitable access to minimal technology.

A key aspect of accessibility is the need to make all course materials and activities accessible for all students. 

Naturally, HyFlex courses require more time and work in their development and delivery. In most cases, it may take close to twice as much time. Nevertheless, the time spent is well worth it.  This model both benefits the college and students.

 Colleges benefit from:

o   Insuring all courses are rigorously reviewed and apply instructional design practices that are proven to increase student success.

o   Crisis protection, as courses can immediately continue online in the event of emergencies that would close the campus. Courses would continue uninterrupted as the deliver would pivot to be online.

 Students benefit from:

o   Well-designed courses that can accommodate different learning styles.

o   Courses that accommodate the student need for flexibility.

Doing HyFlex correctly to ensure all modes are equally provided for students is not a trivial task, but done correctly will afford students much needed flexibility that many students require.  Besides offering benefits that increase student success, retention, and potentially enrollments, HyFlex can be a way of promoting equity in education.

References

Beatty, B. (2019) Four Fundamental Principles for HyFlex – The Pillars HyFlexWorld. Republished from 2010.  Retrieved: 3/26/2021

Beatty, B. (2012) HyFlex Design Enables a Quick Flip. HyFlexWorld. Retrieved: 3/30/2021.

Beatty, B. (2008). Sloan Consortium Effective Practice Award: Using the “HyFlex” Course and Design Process. Retrieved 02/28/2021

McGee, P. &. A. Reis (2012) “Blended Course Design: A Synthesis of Best Practices.” Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 14(4).