Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice?

Design and instruction go hand-in-hand and are often hard to differentiate. While one faculty member may describe using a wide range of learning materials from numerous sources as a strong design practice, another may view it as an instructional necessity. Here is an overly simple yet useful way to tell the difference: Design is the effort to establish in advance how learners will engage with the instructor, the topic and fellow learners; instruction includes those practices that engage students in learning within the preestablished design. While teasing out what overlaps and what is unique is difficult, it’s certain that shaky design makes effective instruction difficult, and no matter how well a class is designed it cannot replace the importance of an active, engaged instructor.

The following design and teaching sections further explore this relationship, while the final section shares resources on how to incorporate the two. 

Designing your virtual classroom 

While the online-class-design standards available through Quality Matters was a good starting point for Metropolitan State University of Denver to establish strong online design practices and to assist with faculty development, the structure at times stifled creativity, required time to check boxes rather than focus on thoughtful design and was limited regarding active teaching and diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines. Due to these limitations, we needed to develop broader standards to help MSU Denver faculty members address a wider range of needs for our virtual learners. 

As a result, the faculty-led Peer Review of Online Course Excellence Subcommittee created the MSU Denver Online Course Design Standards. Instructors teaching a class that meets virtually only (asynchronously, synchronously or both) should strive to address each of these standards. 

Teaching in your virtual classroom 

Strong design of a virtual learning environment provides the backdrop against which the most effective online teaching and learning can take place. With that backdrop, effective online instruction incorporates social presence (see  SIP 10.10), instructor/teaching presence (see  SIP 10.2) and cognitive presence (see SIP 10.13). Simplified, the best online classes are designed to allow learners to clearly understand what is expected of them, engage them in active learning and be led by consistently invested instructors. Below are broader themes to consider, and while you read them, ask a few questions: How do I amplify just one of these in my classes this term? How do these apply across my in-person and online classes? In which theme would I find the most benefit from deeper investment? 

1. Be present, engaged and, most important, yourself. Why does this matter? What brings an in-person classroom to life? You and your personal way of breathing life into the topic. Online classes are the same; without your active involvement, they can feel static and stale. Be yourself. Tell personal stories you are comfortable sharing, let your cat walk across your keyboard or your dog nap in the background and give the context of your lived experiences researching or working in your field.   
2. Be explicit about how you will communicate and how learners should communicate with you. Why does this matter? Feeling connected to your communication preferences is important to learners and increases their willingness to share questions and concerns. Share how you prefer to be contacted and how regularly you will reply. Also tell them how they should share their content-related and course-administration-related questions with you. 
3. Ask for feedback early. Why does this matter? It allows students to engage early in the course if they feel they have a voice in how the class will progress; it gives you a window into each learner’s starting point; and it allows you to make minor adjustments to serve their learning needs. Conduct a synchronous session after a couple of weeks in which students can share what they are uncertain about related to course expectations, or have a standing forum where they can share similar information.   
4. Allow learners to gauge their likelihood of success in the course through early assessment. Why does this matter? It is a terrible feeling for a learner to realize they are not prepared for a class academically or that their life won’t allow them to invest the time needed to succeed. And it’s worse to learn this after drop/refund dates when enrollment will impact their academic record and finances. Give them agency to make decisions, an understanding of the time it will take to thrive and appreciation for the rigor of the course early on by placing a meaningful assessment before drop deadlines. 
5. Create a supportive learning community that invites questions, discussions and reflections. Why does this matter? Asking questions is itself a powerful learning activity. Helping learners settle into “making sense of” a topic rather than “getting answers to” their questions is at the heart of powerful teaching methods. Design these opportunities into your class, then celebrate insightful comments or posts and point out themes and relationships among learners’ ideas. Also, don’t be afraid to privately ask students to engage when they seem disconnected or to consider empathy when their responses to classmates are less thoughtful.   
6. Engage students through synchronous and asynchronous activities. Why does this matter? While new MSU Denver instructional methods will welcome classes that include only one of these two options, it is a wonderful aspiration to connect with students in both ways within any online class. Students in primarily asynchronous classes benefit from synchronous sessions (office hours, midterm study sessions, group work, etc.) by connecting with you and their classmates to learn in real time (but remember to provide a few scheduled options to accommodate their busy schedules). Students in primarily synchronous classes benefit from asynchronous learning to catch up if they get behind, move ahead if they are ready and access content on their schedule.  
7. Allow for choice — include core-concept learning and customized/personalized learning. Why does this matter? In addition to materials, expectations and assessments that are the same for all learners, begin each unit with an assessment of prior knowledge so you can appreciate learners’ starting point and can tailor instruction; guide them in making choices in the papers, projects and assessments they are assigned; and use project-based learning so they can gravitate toward areas of most interest to them. 
8. Close the class by placing their learning into broader context and find ways for them to feel anticipation about their next classes. Why does this matter? Change the lead-in to each of these themes — “why does this matter?” to “why does this class matter?” Your class is a piece of a larger puzzle, but not having clues about how the pieces fit together can be confusing or frustrating. Do “on the next episode…” previews after you finish the previous episode of your favorite show make you more likely to stick around for another half-hour? Make your discipline bingeworthy. Does placing technological advances, political events or your favorite author into historical context provide a clearer picture of why people make certain choices or why events occur? Pan out a bit to close each term. 

Robust design creates teachable classes that make learning efficient and enjoyable. While guidelines and standards can point you in the right direction, we wouldn’t be living these lessons if we stopped there. MSU Denver has in place numerous resources, trainings and support for you to advance your virtual-class design and teaching practices. Take a look: 

If you have a few minutes: 

Returning from remote. Close to 100% of faculty members around the world now have experiences with virtual instruction. What worked? What didn’t? What lessons can be applied more broadly?  

In-person and virtual drop-in support. Have a quick question? Want to dip a toe into using the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design team’s support? Want to begin to peel back the layers on how you can enhance your instructional practices or course design? This is a great place to begin.  

Spotlight articles. Learn how to apply technology tools and software functionality to real instructional scenarios.  

If you have a few hours: 

Self-guided tutorials. CTLD instructional designers have created a library of 200 videos to assist you in using available tools to create active and engaging courses that are efficient to teach.  

If you can devote time throughout a semester:  

Online course-development cycle with CTLD designers. Within a fall or spring cycle, collaborate with the design team to create or enhance an online course. Includes design, content sourcing, 

accessibility, video, audio and production support. You leave with a course ready to teach.  

If you can devote time throughout one year: 

Association of College and University Educators courses. These courses prepare and support faculty members to teach with research-based best practices, improving student achievement and closing equity gaps. They also culminate in a nationally recognized Certificate in Effective College Instruction. 

Visit the Well at http://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/ for more great ideas and resources for Strong Instructional Practices in your higher–education classroom.