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Lecture Videos: Keep Them Short
You can use Panopto to record your lectures with slides, and incorporate an audiovisual experience to the learning so that students can see and hear you. Note the links at the bottom of this article access detailed training resources. To get started, you should break your previously prepared lectures into smaller sections (5-7 minutes) to record them that way. Here is why: Most important when you are getting started: if you have to, it’s quicker to re-record a 5-7 minute video than a 60-90 minute video. In the future, you are more likely to make use of these shorter videos in your teaching. When people talk about the “flipped” teaching…
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Worried About Take Home Exams and Academic Misconduct?
There is more than one way of looking at the extended time period for open book exams when it comes to academic misconduct worries. You can see 24 hours of unsupervised time with an exam as more time for students to break your rules. Some students may use the time that way and that is deeply frustrating. More encouraging is a view based in research about academic integrity in higher education (for a great review, see the 2013 book referenced below). The basic premise is this: When students are more confident they can do what needs to be done on their own, they are less likely to cheat. Obvious? Perhaps…
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It Helps To Be Transparent About Academic Integrity
You and your students will be out there wondering how fair final assessments can be when everyone is unsupervised. Thankfully, there are some students, that no matter what, will follow the rules and maintain their academic integrity. A small number, will seek to cheat no matter what we do. The group to focus on right now is that large majority that wants the rules to be clear, to be enforced, and for there to be a level playing field for all. The majority of students want to be honest, but at the same time, they do not want to feel at a disadvantage if they are. When students see their…
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How much help are students getting on their assignments?
You may be concerned with how much feedback or advice students are getting on their assignments or open exams. Below are some options, reasons to try them, and some tools for implementing. Option Reason Helpful tools for this Require an acknowledgement of feedback, guidance or teachings received Respectful of contributions of others Common academic practice as seen in many published papers Truthful An example acknowledgement from a paper you have written, An example where you have been acknowledged; Another example that you find or create that could fit with the assessment Distinguish types of feedback and their acceptability: e.g., proofreading, editing, error correction, peer teaching, conceptual changes… Communicates differences…
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Ways To Limit Concerns About Non-permitted Collaboration
Are you worried about non-permitted collaboration? It’s true, students can seek each other out for help, examples, interpretations, translations, feedback, and peer teaching when unsupervised. In fact, we often encourage students to do so as part of the learning process. Blatant “copying” is a real problem because then the submitted work does not represent what that individual student knows or can do “without the support of resources or colleagues.” Most students want assessment to be fair and are likely to appreciate your effort to have everyone play by the same rules. Below are two options you may want to consider for addressing concerns about students collaborating. Option 1: Limit collusion…
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First, Take Inventory
You might feel like the first thing to do for creating an online course is to understand the technology. Before, you dive into that first assess what you’ve currently got going for you in your course as you have been teaching it. Remember, the expectation is not for a fully developed on line experience, our circumstances really don’t allow for that. And, our higher tech solutions may not stay reliable. Some of the advice given when we first shifted to remote teaching is helpful: 3 steps for an inventory: What is the course catalogue description of this course? The course should reflect this description. What is essential for students to…
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Academic Integrity and Remote Teaching
The commitment of the University of Saskatchewan to academic integrity and fair assessment remains in place during this time of remote and online learning. As instructors, here are key points for academic integrity: You should explain your rules again, or any shift in your rules, for assessments. Clear understanding by students improves students’ academic integrity. You should explain the reason for the rules and how the rules improve learning and/or make the assessment more fair. Transparency about purpose and decisions improves students’ academic integrity. You should avoid statements focused exclusively on penalties – these are ineffective at deterring dishonesty. Instead, commit to following up on academic misconduct concerns as…
- Academic Integrity, Assessment and Evaluation, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies
Promoting Academic Integrity: Some design questions for instructors
[social_share/] [social-bio] Here are some propositions about students’ academic integrity that I’ve been working with: Students are more likely to do their work honestly when they see the personal value in what is to be learned. Students are more likely to do their work honestly when they believe the assessment produces actual evidence of what they have learned. Students are more likely to do their work honestly when they’ve had the chance for practice and feedback. Students are more likely to do their work honestly when they know the rules and expect them to be enforced. Designing assessments for academic integrity is much more than tight invigilation processes and tools…
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When Performing Gets in the Way of Improving
[social_share/] [social-bio] I encountered the following video in the spring and have been sharing it with faculty and groups with an interest in questions of assessment. I think it lays a useful foundation for discussions on (1) what it takes to master skills and knowledge, (2) the value of lower stakes practice, (3) the necessity of formative feedback for learning, and (4) recognition that moments of “performance” or assessment for grades are also needed. Additionally, this video supports the thinking behind a core element of the Instructional Skills Workshop—an internationally recognized workshop and certification offered regularly at our Centre. For that workshop, participants practice the facilitation of a 10 minute “mini…
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Interested in Funding for your Teaching Innovation? Check out the “Innovative Teaching Showcase”
[social_share/] [social-bio] Sometimes, that example from a peer is just what is needed to help us move from thinking about it to doing it! As part of GMCTL Celebration Week, check out a wide range of teaching and learning projects undertaken with assistance of funds administered through the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning since 2012. Four showcases, each organized around a theme and set up as a series of faculty panel presentations, are offered: Teaching approaches and open pedagogy, Wednesday, April 26 9:00 – 12:00 Indigenization, Wednesday, April 26, 1:00 – 4:00 Program and course design, Thursday, April 27 1:00 – 4:00 Experiential learning and undergraduate research, Friday,…