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Quality Matters: 5 Reasons to use QM to Guide Online Course Development

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Quality Matters Logo

Quality Matters (QM) is a comprehensive quality assurance program used to evaluate and improve the design of online courses. If you are an instructor tasked with creating engaging, effective online courses, you may have heard of QM. Have you ever wondered if you should consider using QM to guide your course design? This blog post will introduce you to the QM program and explain why it is a valuable tool for instructors designing online courses. We will discuss the key features of QM and provide 5 reasons why instructors should use QM to guide their online course development.

The QM program was developed by a consortium of leading online educators and experts and is built around a set of rigorous quality standards. These standards cover a wide range of areas, including course design, course structure, technology use, student engagement, and accessibility and are grounded in best practices in online education.

QM provides a complete framework for evaluating and improving online courses, using both a rubric and a process to help instructors maximize their efforts. The QM course review program has been widely adopted by colleges and universities across the United States, and it is recognized as one of the leading quality assurance programs for online education. Loyola University Chicago became a QM-member school in 2019.

Does QM sound like it would be helpful to you as an instructor designing an online course?  Still unsure?  Here are 5 reasons to use QM to guide your course development journey:

  1. Student-Centered Design: Quality Matters places a strong emphasis on student-centered course design, which is critical to promote student engagement, motivation, and learning. By designing courses that are interactive and meaningful, instructors and course designers help students stay focused and motivated throughout the course, leading to higher levels of satisfaction and retention, as well as providing students with the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in their careers.
  2. Promotes Consistency: QM helps promote consistent online course design, which helps to provide students with a familiar and effective learning experience, regardless of the online courses they are enrolled in.
  3. Supports Effective Course Design: QM helps ensure that online courses are designed with an effective course structure, that adhere to accessibility guidelines and use appropriate technology. QM requires course learning objectives to be aligned with course learning activities and assessments, which results in online courses that are effective, easy to navigate, and include clear expectations for student learning.
  4. Enhances Institution and Instructor Reputations: Institutions that invest in quality assurance programs, such as QM, and instructors that follow the guidance and recommendations of these programs, demonstrate a commitment to providing a high-quality online student learning experience. This enhances the reputation of both the institution and the instructor and will attract more students looking to enroll in online courses and programs.
  5. Fosters Professional Development and Continuous Improvement: Quality assurance programs, such as QM, provide ongoing professional development opportunities for instructors and course designers, helping them stay up-to-date with online learning best practices. Also, by continuously improving the quality of their courses, instructors and course designers ensure that they are providing students with the best possible learning experience.

This July, QM will release an updated higher education rubric. LUC will use this new rubric for all future QM training sessions and for course reviews. Keep an eye out for new QM workshop opportunities later this year, which will be announced via OOL’s Ramble Online newsletter and in future blog posts.  We hope you found this QM overview and primer helpful. As always, if you have any questions regarding online course development or need instructional design assistance, please reach out to us at online@luc.edu.

ChatGPT: What do we need to know now?

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ChatGPT loading screen.

Having suddenly arrived one day last November a fully-formed, free-to-the-entire-world revolution in artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT has understandably elicited strong reactions. In education, its ability to produce clear, detailed writing for just about any topic and task has many worried that students will use it to circumvent the learning process; some schools have banned it, others have called it “The End of High School English.”

Our greatest fears about ChatGPT probably won’t be realized (they rarely are with new technologies), but given its immediate accessibility and capability, instructors should start thinking about how it might impact their work. Here are some of the top things to know now.

It won’t be going away. 

ChatGPT is not only here to stay, but with companies like Microsoft investing billions in it, we can likely expect its integration into major productivity software such as Word in the next few years. Long term, AI like ChatGPT may well become part of the fabric of everyday work, much like spell check is today. In addition to providing easier access to this technology, such a development would also increase the legitimacy of its use.

It will likely de-emphasize a focus on content in the classroom…

At one time, higher education’s value was partly due to exclusive access to content: textbooks, lectures, and other materials students couldn’t get anywhere else. Today, Internet search engines can curate this (or similar) content and make it available to anyone. ChatGPT goes even further by neatly presenting such content in clear, organized explanations that don’t require the effort of searching for and integrating information from multiple sources. Thus, higher education as an avenue to content access will hold much less value and students may increasingly realize that classes organized mostly around delivering content are a poor investment of their time and money.

…and increase the need for personal, relevant, engaging educational experiences.

Just as simple content delivery will be devalued in the classroom, assignments that stay too close to content regurgitation will also lose value, as it is the easiest type of work replicated by ChatGPT and similar technologies. Educators will have to push assignments and activities further, asking students to apply content knowledge to new situations, integrate their personal experiences and thoughts into their work, and complete coursework of direct relevance to their personal and professional lives. In general, classes will have to move students towards higher-order thinking processes, and higher education will increasingly create its value from offering these richer, more engaging educational experiences.

It necessitates a conversation about how to use it well.

ChatGPT is a tool, and like all tools, it can be used well or used poorly. We highlight some good use cases below, but it’s worth noting that ChatGPT does raise one concern we haven’t seen with previous tech: a way for students to circumvent critical thinking processes. Even in the best designed educational experiences, ChatGPT and its future iterations will likely allow students to produce some amount of passable work without having to put in the cognitive effort that produces true competency. And while so much of the immediate focus has been on its implications for writing, ChatGPT is also great at coding and problem-solving, so the effects could be felt across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields alike. At the individual, course, and institutional levels, then, we need to talk with students about the potential learning losses that an over reliance on ChatGPT could cause.

We need to be proactive.

Though the future of this technology is uncertain, we can start preparing ourselves and our students for it today with a few steps:

  1. If you haven’t yet, experiment with ChatGPT while it’s still free. It’s probably the only way to appreciate what it can do, and that familiarity will allow you to have more informed discussions with students.
  2. Evaluate to what degree your current assignments ask students to reproduce content. Then, try running your assignments through ChatGPT and see how well the program can produce a passing assignment. If it can, start thinking about how you might be able to redesign this work. Can you have students apply the content to a new, novel, or contemporary situation? Can you have students reflect on how the content might apply to their own lives? Can you have students do something creative—even visual—with the content?
  3. Explore the upsides of ChatGPT and use it for your own work. ChatGPT can help create new cases and situations for students to respond to, can jump-start lesson planning, can provide the outline for lectures, and more. Visit this site to review more examples of instructor use cases.
  4. Have students use it as well. It can feel counterintuitive to “advertise” ChatGPT, but keep in mind that students already know about it and are using it. Show them some ways they can use it well while remaining in the bounds of academic integrity and so it doesn’t lead to learning loss. Visit this site to find some good examples of how students can productively use ChatGPT, and visit this site to find even more examples of student use of ChatGPT.
  5. No matter how you use it (or not), have a conversation with students about ChatGPT and technologies like it. ChatGPT is so new that no one is exactly sure what to do with it yet. What do you think about it? What do they think about it? How could they use it well, and how could they use it poorly? When is using it hurting their skill and knowledge development? How can it be used to catalyze their learning?

    Whatever you think of ChatGPT, know that it’s not going anywhere and it won’t be rendered moot by policy. Get to know it now and how you can use it well.

Engage & Motivate Your Students Using Authentic Writing Assignments

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photograph shot from above of college student sitting at desk writing on laptop, surrounded by open books, notebook, coffee cup, and iphone

In our March 2023 blog, Chris Dickman provided some thoughts on how ChatGPT might impact education going forward. One of the broader concerns is the effect AI will have on student writing. Instructors across curriculums are concerned about students using Chat GPT or other AI tools to complete writing assignments, or to circumvent learning activities designed to measure understanding of course material (i.e., to copy and paste content into asynchronous discussions). We recommend that you and your students become familiar with ChatGPT and similar tools; institutions like Montclair University are providing ideas and resources on how to do just that. But if you aren’t quite ready to let ChatGPT into your classroom, how can you, as an instructor, create an assignment that can both engage students and measure learning objectives, while negating the usefulness of these new AI tools?

One possibility is to create more authentic writing assignments.

What Does “Authentic” Mean?

If you go searching for the term “authentic writing,” you’ll find it’s often placed at odds with what is more traditionally considered “academic writing.” Many researchers define authentic writing assignments as those which have a real-world audience and an authentic purpose. At its core, a writing assignment is authentic when students are required to use concepts and content from their discipline just as professionals in the field would. We can consider a writing assignment authentic when students are:

  • Writing for a “real world” audience. It should be clear to students that what they write will be read and what kind of audience persona they are writing to.
  • Writing with purpose/to create a product. Assignment topics should be focused and have a function or context. Students should be able to recognize their writing as a product (i.e., a proposal submitted for a grant, a letter posted to a forum, a voice added to the research canon, etc.).
  • Writing with motivation. Students are more motivated when assignments are purposeful and relevant to their discipline or to their interests.
  • Writing with choice. Assignment topics should allow for flexibility and student autonomy in some way.

Examples of Real-World Writing Products

There are many types of authentic writing assignments that you might consider incorporating into your courses. A few examples include:

  • Memos, letters to the editor, professional emails to stakeholders
  • Proposals, grant applications, policy briefs and top-sheets, reports
  • Reaction essays to fictional case studies or simulation exercises
  • Presentations

Even more “traditional” essays can be authentic, as long as it’s clear to students how the final product fits within their discipline or how it ties to future professional goals.

Authenticity as a Motivator

photograph of two college students sitting at a table outside, laughing and working on an assignment, with paper and books

Authentic writing assignments can help motivate students to more actively participate in their learning, to not go searching for a quick answer, and to think more deeply. Research consistently finds that students are more intrinsically motivated when they perceive assignments, activities, and learning materials as relevant and worthwhile to their lives or to the real world. Meaningful writing assignments occur across all disciplines, and they are typically ones that “offer students opportunities to engage with instructors, peers, and texts and are relevant to past experiences and passions as well as to future aspirations and identities” (Eodice, Geller, & Lerner, 2016).

The next section provides you with a few ways to create more authentic assignments in your course.

Authentic Assignment Design

Pair Academic Research with Personal Experience

Students experience the world from their own, unique perspectives. And they approach course content and assignments from all different perspectives, as well. One possibility is to modify your assignments to allow more student reflection or personal experience, while still requiring academic research to support their writing. Outside activities or simulated, real-world tasks can provide students with relevant experiences and clear audiences. For instance:

  • Students in a political science course attend a town hall, reflect on the structure and content, and use research to relate the experience to the unit or course learning objectives.
  • Students in an advanced chemistry class create a process lab for an intro-level course, apply research to highlight the knowledge students would acquire, and identify potential issues or questions intro-level students might have.
  • Students in an art history course visit an online museum exhibit and then reflect on the exhibit, using both personal reaction and knowledge directly from class lecture or course material.

Incentivize the Process, Not Just the Product

Authentic writing does not come out of the brain whole cloth. Brainstorming, research, drafting, review, and revision are all behaviors associated with good writing practice. Grading only the final product of a student’s writing does not fully assess student learning, and students might be tempted to use AI shortcuts if there is no accountability for their process in completing written work. Scaffolding the tasks related to your writing assignment can help make it more authentic, as it gives students an opportunity to reflect on the process all writers go through. Students can also reflect on their choices, their learning, and the final product. Some possibilities include:

  • Using minute papers or a one-question, timed quiz for brainstorming. Students can react in real time to a simple prompt as a jumping off point for a larger assignment. This gives you, as the instructor, a sample of their draft writing, and it provides students an opportunity to hone their draft writing skills.
  • Asking students to create and submit a list of potential resources, along with their thesis or topic.
  • Having students submit drafts. You might even incorporate ChatGPT as a tool for drafting, having students compare it with their own draft, or have them edit a draft created by an AI tool.?
  • Including peer-to-peer review to mimic authentic collaborative work.
  • Making revision a larger percentage of the final grade. Authentic writing assignments should show a progression of learning or an improved application of course material. Weighting revision in your assignment rubric motivates students to hone a final draft based off feedback (both instructor, peer, and individual).

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

The ultimate goal of our work with students is to prepare them to be critical thinkers, to communicate well, and to excel in the future discipline they choose. There will always be new technology or tools that challenge the status quo and force us to reconsider what we do in the classroom. But assignments and activities that are more authentic to real-world experiences can help us, as educators, motivate students to acquire and showcase the knowledge we hope they get from our courses.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to incorporate more authentic writing assignments into your courses, you can visit the resources and readings, below, or schedule a consultation with an Instructional Designer. We’re more than happy to help brainstorm possibilities that work for you!

Resources

Further Reading

Tackling the Challenges of Asynchronous Discussions: Strategies for your Online Course

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Online discussion thread
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Facilitating any course discussion can be challenging, but in this post, we will address the specific barriers to facilitating effective asynchronous discussions. In an asynchronous discussion, students participate in the discussion within a specified time frame but contribute on their own schedule. For example, you could open the discussion for a week, but students can post and respond to their peers at times that are convenient for them.

Discussions are an important component of many undergraduate and graduate-level courses. They promote student-student and teacher-student interaction, which are significant contributors to student learning and satisfaction. Asynchronous discussions have their own unique benefits. Without time and space constraints, students can participate in discussions in a way that fits into their schedules. This provides them with the opportunity to carefully craft their own post and fully process their peers’ posts before responding. On the other hand, students may be less motivated to participate in asynchronous discussions due to the lack of immediate feedback, leading to surface-level, inauthentic conversations. Additionally, in a threaded discussion format, students may become overwhelmed, and the conversation can lack focus. Lastly, it can be challenging for instructors to find a balance between engaging in the conversation and dominating it.

Challenge 1: Motivation

You can motivate student participation by making personal connections, leveraging student interests, and explaining your teaching methods.

  • Make connections: In your discussion prompt, ask students to connect the content to their lived experiences, whether academic, work-related, or personal.
  • Leverage student interests: To leverage student interests, offer choices. For example, provide three discussion questions or prompts and ask students to respond to one. This can be completed in a whole-class discussion or small-group discussions based on a choice of topic. Another option is planning student-facilitated discussions, in which students sign up to facilitate a discussion based on a topic and provide the discussion prompt. One student could facilitate the discussion for the whole class, or a few students could facilitate small-group discussions.
  • Explain your methods: In the syllabus, let students know the importance of course discussions and what you hope they gain from them. There are a variety of possible purposes for discussions, including comparing or debating ideas, group processing, synthesizing information, applying concepts, or building community. Consider letting students know how each discussion relates to the overall structure of the course. For example, one discussion may help prepare students for a future project or assessment.

Challenge 2: Surface-Level or Inauthentic Discussions

Two students chatting in a discussion thread.
Image by storyset on Freepik

Often in an asynchronous discussion, students will each post their own ideas, without attempting to promote further interactions or dialogue with their peers. Even when students respond to each other’s posts, the responses may tend to feel inauthentic or bring the conversation to an end. To promote more meaningful conversations, explicitly teach students how to effectively engage with each other asynchronously. You can direct your students to the “Asynchronous Discussions (Discussion Board 101)” in our Online Student Orientation, which includes detailed information on composing asynchronous discussion posts and example posts.  

You can also set clear expectations for posts and responses using a discussion rubric. The following examples provide a variety of ways to structure a discussion rubric:

Challenge 3: Organization of Discussion Threads

Threaded discussions can become overwhelming when there are too many participants. Using small-group discussions is one way to improve the organization of a threaded discussion. When structuring small-group discussions consider:

Online conversation where students are interacting with each other's posts
Image by storyset on Freepik

Choosing groups: There are a variety of ways to organize students into groups: random assignment, assigned groups, or student choice groups. Assigned groups can be based on shared experiences of students, such as academic or career goals. Student choice groups give students the opportunity to choose their own group based on their interest in specific topics.

Changing groups: Students can participate in the same group for a few weeks or the entire semester. Alternatively, you could rotate groups on a weekly basis. The timing will depend on your students and content. If your students would benefit from varying perspectives, rotating groups more often would be appropriate. However, if your groups are based on shared experiences, students may benefit from working closely together throughout the term.

Challenge 4: Balance Instructor Input

The perfect balance of post-engagement may vary for each instructor, but here are some guidelines I recommend:

  • Read discussion posts daily. If community agreements are violated, you will need to intervene quickly. Visit these additional resources for how to handle difficult moments during discussions:
  • Respond to a portion of students’ posts to show you are engaged but avoid responding to every post in the thread and turning the discussion into a question-and-answer forum. If you would like to provide feedback to each student, you can do so by grading their post and leaving a comment only they can see.
  • When responding to your students’ posts, ask follow-up questions that require reflection.
  • Instead of directly answering questions, give students ideas to reflect on and encouragement to solve the problem themselves.
  • Your participation within the thread should be used to focus and guide the conversation by re-directing the conversation, clarifying misconceptions, or encouraging participation from specific students.
  • Once a discussion has run its course, add a comment to add closure. This comment can summarize the conversation or provide the next steps.

For assistance designing asynchronous discussions for your class, reach out to the Office of Online Learning at online@luc.edu to schedule a one-on-one consultation with one of our instructional designers.

Resources

Discussions in online courses: Best practices and expectations. (2023, May 15). Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering: Teaching and Learning Resources. https://ep.jhu.edu/faculty-staff/teaching-technology-resources/discussions-in-online-courses-best-practices-and-expectations/#_Benefits_of_Discussions 

Gao, F., Zhang, T., & Franklin, T. (2013). Designing asynchronous online discussion environments: Recent progress and possible future directions: Designing asynchronous discussion environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(3), 469–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01330.x  

Hrastinski, S. (2008). The potential of synchronous communication to enhance participation in online discussions: A case study of two e-learning courses. Information & Management, 45(7), 499–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2008.07.005 

Nilson, L. B. & Goodson, L. A. (2021). Online teaching at its best: Merging instructional design with teaching and learning research (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass: A Wiley Brand. 

Rovai, A. P. (2007). Facilitating online discussions effectively. The Internet and Higher Education, 10(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.10.001  

Sher, A. (2009). Assessing the relationship of student-instructor and student-student interaction to student learning and satisfaction in web-based online learning environment. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(2), 102-120. 

Weimer, M. (2011). 10 benefits of getting students to participate in classroom discussions. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/10-benefits-of-getting-students-to-participate-in-classroom-discussions/ 

Wise, A. F., Hausknecht, S. N., & Zhao, Y. (2014). Attending to others’ posts in asynchronous discussions: Learners’ online “listening” and its relationship to speaking. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 9(2), 185–209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-014-9192-9

Mobile Learning: Taking Online Learning to the Next Level 

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Three students on a sofa using different devices. The first student is looking at a tablet. The second student is on their mobile phone. The third student is on their laptop.
Image by Clemens Locker on Flickr

While online learning methods have existed for decades, the past couple of years have necessitated a greater shift from in-person classroom learning to incorporating online tools and learning management systems. We have seen how offering courses in a digital medium has provided flexibility and accessibility to students, but it has also introduced us to the strengths of asynchronous learning. As we continue to enhance online instruction in this new “normal,” it is essential to explore the next frontier of digital learning: mobile learning. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, offer unique opportunities to enhance online learning experiences. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of mobile learning and discuss how you can incorporate it into your online courses.

So, what is Mobile Learning, and why should I incorporate it in my course?

Mobile learning refers to any learning that can be done on a portable device like smartphones or tablets. These portable devices have been treated as peripheral tools that students use if they do not have immediate access to a computer and are seldom considered as the primary mode that students use to do any coursework. However, instruction during the COVID pandemic and the pivot to online instruction brought attention to the issue of digital poverty, or a lack of access to computers and the internet in lower socioeconomic communities. Students experiencing digital poverty were more likely to attend in-person courses before the pandemic and were unable to attend synchronous sessions to the same degree throughout the pandemic due to lack of access to computers and the internet. According to Pew Research Center Mobile Fact sheet, low-income households use home broadband less than other income brackets but are the most reliant on mobile devices. So, while students from low-income households might have limited access to computers and the internet, they are more likely to have access to a portable device like a smartphone. This presents an opportunity to explore a new tool for online instruction. 

 Benefits of Mobile Learning 

Here are a few key benefits of incorporating mobile learning as part of course design: 

  • Just in time learning: Mobile devices allow students to access course content anytime, anywhere. If they encounter any difficulties understanding a concept, they can review content immediately on their device. 
  • Alternative communication modes: Mobile devices allow students additional communication channels, enabling students to contact instructors in a method that is convenient to the student. Students can text their instructors to seek clarification or address issues promptly as an alternative to traditional email communications. Instructors should still set parameters such as digital office hours, when they can respond promptly or indicate an estimated turnaround time for a response. Allowing students to message as issues arise will decrease the number of issues that may fall through the cracks. In addition, students can build community among themselves by utilizing apps that allow texting and group chats in real time, like Slack or Discord. 
  • Self-paced learning: Mobile devices allow students to learn on the go and at their own pace. They can listen to lectures or access readings while performing daily tasks or during downtime, maximizing their time and fitting learning into their busy schedules.  
  • When broadband or Wi-Fi is unavailable: Students who want to do coursework while traveling can have the freedom to download and interact with course content when Wi-Fi is not available. This is especially useful for students who work in areas where Wi-Fi is limited. 
  • Digital literacy: Incorporating mobile device use in coursework will allow students to gain experience in a marketable skill, especially in careers that require working outside of a traditional office setting (i.e., geology, social work).

How can Mobile Learning be incorporated in online courses? 

Here is a short list of suggested ways you can kickstart incorporating Mobile Learning into your online courses:  

  • Break up long lecture videos into bite-sized learning clips, preferably 3-5 minutes long. Focus these short clips on one topic or objective. This will not only allow students to pace out the content to fit busy schedules but will also allow students to be able to later refer to content when they need to review. Don’t forget to clearly label these clips so students can find them in a keyword search.  
  • Make videos, transcripts, and reading resources accessible and downloadable so students can access them on the go. 
  • Incorporate asynchronous discussions so students can take time to respond to peers and craft robust responses. For more on asynchronous discussions, please refer to last month’s post.  
  • Allow for multiple channels of participation by offering a balance of low-stake discussions and submission assignments. Give students a choice of formats to allow them to decide how to best complete an assignment. Mobile devices allow students to record video, audio, take pictures, or share social media they might find relevant to course content, and thus gives students the opportunity to submit more creative and robust coursework. Microsoft 365 also allows students to save content they have created on their mobile device(s) to the cloud that can then be shared out or worked on when a computer or the internet is not accessible.  
  • When scheduling synchronous Zoom meetings, include information on how to download the Zoom mobile app and how to join meetings from their mobile device(s).  

Word of Caution

There are a lot of third-party tools in the market that advertise being mobile compatible. Unless the tool is one you are familiar with and how it behaves on mobile devices, it is best to avoid adding third-party tools just for novelty. If there is a tool you would like to try out in your course to increase engagement on mobile devices, use it for a low-stakes activity so you can see how it behaves and whether it is a good fit for your course goals. If you have questions about how third-party tools can be integrated in Sakai or would like to schedule a consultation, please reach out to ITRS (Instructional Technology & Research Support). For assistance designing mobile learning activities for your class, reach out to the Office of Online Learning at online@luc.edu to schedule a one-on-one consultation with one of our instructional designers. 

Further Readings 

Colin M., Eastman S., Merrill M., Rocky A. (2021) Leveraging Mobile Technology to Achieve Teaching Goals. Educause Review. Retrieved on July 10, 2023 at https://er.educause.edu/articles/2021/3/leveraging-mobile-technology-to-achieve-teaching-goals  
 
Singh H. (2020). Why Mobile Learning Is Now More Than Just A Nice-To-Have. eLearning Industry. Retrieved on July 10, 2023 at https://elearningindustry.com/why-mobile-learning-is-more-than-just-nice-to-have  

Three Ways to Increase Student Belonging in Online Courses

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Introduction

We often talk about persistence and retention in higher education, and for good reason–they are two of the leading indicators that we are achieving our central mission. While attention to how diversity, equity, and inclusion can help us achieve these goals, we should consider belonging more directly as a crucial factor in student success and enrollment. A sense of belonging speaks to a fundamental human need to be a legitimate and valued member of a community, and it can be more difficult to achieve for marginalized students and, at times, for those in online classes. In this post we outline a few key strategies that can be integrated into online educational settings and why promoting a greater sense of belonging for individual students will aid in student retention and persistence at LUC.

Why add belonging to course design?

As individuals, we have an innate desire to find community and belonging in whatever setting we find ourselves in, but there is a risk that marginalized students might not perceive that they belong at the institution and feel that many DEI initiatives are only for show despite the institution’s best intentions. For that reason, we need to take initiatives a step further by incorporating belonging and building community in our online courses. This is especially important since feeling like being in the out-group or isolated from a community has harsh ramifications for student wellness, which in turn can result in students leaving institutions. Students who do not form a sense of belonging can develop anxiety or depression, as well as feelings of jealousy towards students who do seem to fit into the university community, especially if preference is given to those who uphold the status quo.

The existence of a support system for students where they feel accepted and valued can decrease stress when students face adversity. The following are interventions that incorporate a degree of community building and creating a sense of belonging. Some of these suggestions already exist in online courses, while others are interventions that are gaining popularity in response to the growing interest in online course options.

Communicate expectations and support

In his interview with APA’s Speaking of Psychology, Geoffrey Cohen, PhD, outlines how addressing students’ desire for belonging and community can mitigate achievement gaps, imposter syndrome, and feelings of being an outsider. He discusses how clearly communicating expected standards and belief in a student’s potential can change how a student approaches their work, revisions, and even their relationship with instructors in building trust. Some examples of how to do so in your course are:

  • Giving feedback that acknowledges the student’s progress in the course, and how their efforts will help them move forward in the program and in practice.
  • Reassure students that hurdles in learning are opportunities for growth and that everyone encounters such challenges in their work.
  • Include multiple channels through which students can reach out to their instructors or classmates if they have questions about content.

    Build belonging into your Zoom Sessions

    Transitioning to higher education from high school typically involves forging new connections during the initial weeks of class and embarking on a distinct phase of adulthood beyond the K-12 experience. These connections serve as the bedrock for establishing a sense of community and belonging throughout college. The disruption of this traditional rite of passage for many students during the pandemic resulted in a focus on adapting to online instruction and engaging with peers through a screen which may have resulted in disengagement during lectures or feelings of isolation. While the return to campus has alleviated some of these feelings, online lectures remain a prevalent format due to their accessibility. To counter disengagement and nurture a sense of belonging, instructors can consider incorporating additional opportunities for interaction within online lectures beyond group work. Some suggested ways of creating spaces for interaction to foster feelings of belonging include:

  • Creating a “watercooler” space for students to engage in 15 minutes prior to a synchronous lecture session start
  • Plan to stay online after a Zoom lecture has wrapped up so students can ask questions that they might not have felt comfortable bringing up in front of other students. If the queue of students sticking around gets unmanageable, you can utilize the waiting room function in Zoom.
  • When utilizing breakout rooms for group discussions, decide between keeping students in the same groups so they can build relationships and a group identity over the course of the term, or randomizing students so every student can interact with a different set of people to decrease the chance of forming biases.

    Create spaces for collaboration

    Despite the longstanding presence of open-source learning, its adoption has not matched the potential benefits demonstrated by research. Contributing to a community of shared knowledge encourages students to invest in their peers’ learning while simultaneously benefiting from the information their peers share in return. Mutual exchange also acts to level the playing field when students can agree on standard knowledge as a community. This collaborative approach not only enhances students’ educational experiences but also instills a profound sense of belonging within the classroom.

  • Suggest ways that students can utilize shared documents and media for collaborative notetaking and study guides, such as a shared document in SharePoint or utilizing a shared notebook in OneNote.
  • Assign a reflection project where students can create media to address future students of the course. These can be saved in a folder in Panopto that can then be shared out to future cohorts of students.
  • Construct a repository of student papers that students can reference for different writing approaches or arguments for writing assignments using the Resouces tool in Sakai.

    Resources

    If you would like to learn more about belonging or DEI in general at LUC, visit the following resources.

  • The Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy (FCIP) provides resources and programs around anti-racist pedagogy
  • The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offers workshops and training courses on DEIB
  • Table on strategies for facilitating belonging in Zoom lectures: Tice, D., Baumeister, R., Crawford, J., Allen, K., & Percy, A. (2021). Student belongingness in higher education: Lessons for Professors from the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.18.4.2
  • For assistance with implementing OERs in your course, please contact Annette Alvarado, the Lewis librarian specializes in OER