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Elevate Your Content: Top Platforms for Free Images, Illustrations, Icons and more!

Visual content plays a vital role in capturing and retaining the attention of online audiences. Incorporating high-quality images, eye-catching illustrations, attention-grabbing icons, or captivating presentations can significantly enhance your course content, making it more visually appealing and engaging for your audience. However, finding these valuable assets can sometimes be daunting. Below is a handpicked compilation of leading platforms that provide an abundance of free content, empowering you to enhance the quality of your creative work. Get ready to unlock a world of creativity and inspiration!

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Using 2-Stage Exams in Online Courses

A 2-stage exam, also called collaborative testing, is a method where, in its traditional form, students complete 2 stages of an exam:

    1. First, an in-person exam is completed individually, and then
    2. In groups of 3 or 4, students complete a similar (or identical) exam collaboratively.

Since students have just completed stage 1 individually, stage 2 typically takes less time because students are solving the same problems again. In stage 2, students must participate in analysis, problem-solving, and discussion to come to a consensus and agree on a final solution.

2-stage exams are an interesting option for online courses, and might appeal to instructors because of their collaborative nature. This post will offer some advice on using this approach in your online course.
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DEU EdTech Quick Tips – Issue 76

In this Issue: Events for SDG/OE Week, and More EdTech Tidbits

      • Open Education Events during USask SDG Week and #OEWeek2023
      • Using Perusall in Online Courses
      • Buy, Borrow, Bend, or Build?: A Framework for Course Material Selection
      • Enhance Course Navigation with Emojis 📖 ✏️ 💡
      • Canvas Quick Tip: Disabling YouTube Inline Preview in Canvas
      • DEU Support and Contact Information

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Buy, Borrow, Bend, or Build?: A Framework for Course Material Selection

An important part of the design and planning process for a new learning experience (like in the design of an online course) is deciding on where the learning materials or course content will come from. Typically, there will be multiple types of material and sources of content, and the course creator has to make content selections that balance factors like cost, time, fit, and effort. This post will introduce a simple framework for thinking about the task of course material selection, some factors to guide decision-making, and some resources to help during the selection process.

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What is “Chunking”? Why Does it Matter for Online Course Design?

“Chunks” might sound more like a way to describe your favourite chocolate bar than a useful learning strategy, but it actually relates to an important process in cognitive psychology. By taking complex materials and breaking them into smaller but related and well-organized elements (i.e., more “bite-sized” and “palatable”), you can design online course materials for more efficient application of your learners’ working memory, and improve the learning experience in your online class. In this post, I’ll cover a basic overview of what “chunking” is all about, and some ways we apply this strategy to online course design.

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