Recording Instruction and Communications for Distance Learners
By Dana Shreaves, Instructional Designer When instructors want to communicate with students at a distance, one option is to create video or audio recordings. Many faculty dislike seeing or hearing themselves recorded. Others are intimidated by the process of creating recordings. However, recordings can be…
Rethinking Assessment at a Distance
By Dana Shreaves, Instructional Designer Considering how to assess students at a distance may seem daunting. Many faculty have always relied on specific assessment practices and believe in-person assessment is the best way to assess student learning. However, the principles underlying good assessment practices are…
Engaging Students During Remote Learning
By Dana Shreaves, Instructional Designer Engaging students who are learning at a distance can be challenging for faculty, especially when faculty are accustomed to judging engagement face-to-face. During the PLUTO Institute for Online and Blended Learning, we recommend a number of strategies to engage students…
How to Create a Basic Online Lesson
By Dana Shreaves, Instructional Designer When on-campus class sessions cannot be held as scheduled, online lessons provide an alternative method for teaching. Online lessons created in Sakai can provide faculty and students with access to all the major components of a course, including instructional content,…
How to Conduct a Virtual Class Session
By Dana Shreaves, Instructional Designer When students or instructors cannot meet in the same physical location, virtual class sessions are one alternative to consider. Virtual meetings are intended for live communication, but some software allows meeting facilitators to record and share videos after a session…
Managing Student Email with Discussion Forums
By Dana Bodewes, Instructional Designer Living in the age of digital communication, email inboxes can demand the time and attention of many professionals. While there is no perfect remedy to managing email, one strategy faculty may consider is using an online forum for answering general…
Sharing Ideas for #PLUteaching
by Dana Bodewes, Instructional Designer In the age of information overload, it can be challenging to filter through constant streams of information to find good ideas to take your teaching to the next level. However, that doesn’t mean we should stop looking or sharing ideas…
Helping Students “Stay Connected” This Summer
by Dana Bodewes, Instructional Designer You may have noticed PLU promoting a new summer session campaign called “Stay Connected”. The campaign hopes to improve retention, decrease time to matriculation, and increase enrollments in summer session courses. A February 2015 survey of PLU students found:…
The Tao of Online Discussion Rubrics
By Dana Bodewes, Instructional Designer Over the past two weeks, I have been preparing for a faculty workshop on using assessment tools in Sakai. While drafting a section on discussion forums, I scoured the internet looking for an exemplary discussion board rubric to share…