Last week in the Hub Cap, Belen discussed course organization which is the foundation in any class. For students to have transformative experiences in your classes, they have to know where to access those learning experiences. Particularly in online asynchronous classes, course organization goes hand in hand with consistency. I like for my students to know what to expect every week with regard to deadlines and workload.
Course organization and consistency - sounds boring, right? Not at all! Once you create a structure of support you can engage your students’ creativity in the content of your class. Instead of using their cognitive capacity to find out when something is due or where you store a file, they can puzzle through the complex questions in your discipline. Here are some ideas to creatively engage your students with choice and flexibility:
Combining Structure and Flexibility in Your Courses Penn’s CETLI offers options to provide structure and still offer flexibility when students need it.
Give Students Choice, Where Appropriate CMU’s Eberly Center explores how offering a choice in final products or topics can increase student motivation while maintaining core learning objectives.
Flexible Assessment This guide, from the University of Sussex, provides a spectrum of flexibility for common modes like exams and essays, helping you transition from "this is how I want you to show me" to "how do you want to show me" that you’ve met the learning outcomes.
Alternatives to Traditional Exams and Papers Indiana’s CITL provides a comprehensive list of creative assessments that allow students to demonstrate problem-solving through varied formats including public service announcements, policy memos, and "meaningful paragraphs."
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Are you watching the Olympics? Curling (stones pictured above) clearly requires both consistency and flexibility, while this SNL video suggests that Luge just requires the perfect height-weight distribution.
