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June 10, 2016

Best Practices When Blazing the Trail

for Online Learners

Connie Fisk, Ph.D.

Extension Educator - Regional Food Systems

Quality Matters (QM)

• QM is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online course design and online components

• QM Rubrics are used in course reviews that result in continuous improvement and faculty development

– Higher Education

– K-12 Education

– Educational Publishing

– Continuing and Professional Education

https://www.qualitymatters.org/

The QM Continuing and Professional Education Rubric

http://www.elo.iastate.edu/files/2016/03/qm-rubric.pdf

Why Use the Rubric?

• Ensure maximum return on investment in course development with well-designed courses that deliver expected results

• Improve the design of academic non-credit, professional training and personal development courses in a cost-effective way

• Create well-structured courses with research-based standards to engage learners

• Ensure learning is effective and meets course objectives

• Learn design strategies to develop a replicable approach to course development

https://www.qualitymatters.org/continuing-and-professional-education-rubric-program

General Standard 1

• Much of this information could be included on a course syllabus

– Could share with prospective participants

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http://fast.dcccd.edu/pdf/QMExamplesforFaculty2014.pdf

http://fast.dcccd.edu/pdf/QMExamplesforFaculty2014.pdf

https://prezi.com/7kvot6y8j_as/introducing-connie-fisk/

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General Standard 2

• Plan ahead – how will you assess/evaluate learning?

– What do you want learners to BE ABLE TO DO after the class?

– How will you assess their learning? Multiple choice, fill-in, matching? Make sure the verbs match how you will assess.

• Helps when reporting impact

• Helps students know what they will learn and be tested on

http://www.fractuslearning.com/2016/01/25/blooms-taxonomy-verbs-free-chart/

Learning Outcomes as listed on the Syllabus vs. module/unit learning objectives provided with the textbook Which are measurable?

General Standard 3

• Better to include assessments throughout the course rather than one overall assessment at end – Allows you to evaluate learning of participants who don’t

complete course

– Helps learners assess their own learning and adjust their studying/time commitment to achieve their desired outcome

• Helpful to provide rubrics with each assignment so learners know how their work will be assessed

General Standard 4

• As a subject matter expert, carefully think about how current the materials are – If not current, or not exactly correct for your location or

clientele, consider writing a Fact Sheet or NebGuide on the topic

• Use a variety of instructional materials – textbooks, other publications, instructor-created resources, websites, multimedia – to keep students engaged – Multiple authors

– Give students options for how they consume content

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General Standard 5

• Engage learners in activities that promote mastery of the stated learning objectives/competencies

• Active learning: – Involves learners engaging by “doing” something, such as

discovering, processing, or applying concepts and information

– Entails guiding learners to increasing levels of responsibility for their own learning

– Avoids the learner’s passive assimilation of the content

General Standard 6

• Technologies include hardware, software, subscriptions, and plug-ins and can be obtained through download or purchase – Make sure it works on both Mac and Windows, or suggest

equivalent alternative

• Technology is not to be used simply for its own sake – make it clear to learners how use of a tool will support a learning objective/competency

• Provide clear information and instructions for learners who may not be familiar with technology – Anticipate questions

Example of an Automated Self-check Exercise

General Standard 7

• Technical support – help with use of the LMS

• Accessibility support – services and accommodations for students with disabilities

• Academic services support – online orientation, library services, tutoring, writing or math centers, etc.

• Learner services support – advising, registration, financial aid, counseling, career services, etc.

General Standard 8

• Course design should reflect a commitment to: – Accessibility so that all learners can access all course

content and activities

– Usability so that all learners can easily navigate and interact with course components

• Consistent layout and design – makes content, instructional materials, tools and media easy to locate from anywhere in the course

• Design elements are used repetitively, increasing predictability and intuitiveness

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Strategies that Facilitate Ease of Use

• Links, files, and icons labeled with easy-to-understand, self-describing, meaningful names

• Learners can locate where they are in the course w/o going back to main menu

• Hierarchy of material in a page or document is clearly indicated through heading styles

Options for Textual Representation of Non-Text Content

• Videos and animations – captions or text transcripts to provide an equivalent experience

• Images, graphs, and tables – alt-tags, long descriptions, or captions

• PDFs that contain text or are merely image scans – any text in PDFs should be selectable and searchable

• Do not rely on colors to convey meaning – convey meaning using a method that does not require perceiving different colors

What is alt-text?

• Improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Provides context when images do not load on a page

• Communicates the image to a blind or low vision user using a screen-reader

https://www.phase2technology.com/blog/no-more-excuses-the-definitive-guide-to-the-alt-text-field/

Example: Jones Produce

Cantaloupe

Broccoli

Potatoes Buckwheat cover crop

Accessible Tweets

https://support.twitter.com/articles/20174660#

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Accessible Tweets, cont.

Readability

• Includes minimizing distractions and clutter

• Best practices: – Group similar content together and use headings between

different topics

– Select font styles and sizes to maximize on-screen legibility

– Use white space

– Use format and text color to convey meaning, emphasize relationships

– Make sure text is clearly distinguishable from the background

• Proofread all course materials

• Run text through a readability program

Color

• Avoid using color alone to convey important information

• Red/green and pastels may not be distinguishable to someone with color blind issues

• Use * or other annotation in addition to color to bring attention to important information

• Ensure that text, graphics, and images are understandable when viewed without color

• Use available tools: Run Vischeck on images and web pages to show what they look like to the color blind

https://cms.ysu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/administrative-offices/distance-education/Creating%20Accessible%20Documents%20Manual.pdf

Color Perception in Different Types of Color Blindness

Designing for Colorblind Learners

https://designshack.net/articles/accessibility/tips-for-designing-for-colorblind-users/

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https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/10-principles-for-readable-web-typography/

Contrast More Readability Recommendations

• Use sans-serif fonts (Arial, Verdana, etc.)

– Important for people with dyslexia

– Decorative and narrow fonts should be used only for headlines

• Font size & line spacing are important

• Keep paragraphs short

• Don’t use jargon

• Careful with those acronyms

http://blog.usabilla.com/8-guidelines-for-better-readability-on-the-web/

Fonts for Dyslexic Readers

https://bdatech.org/what-technology/typefaces-for-dyslexia/

• None of the Microsoft Office fonts have all the good points listed above

• Font with identical settings (e.g. 12 point size, normal letter spacing, and 1.5 line spacing) show very differently

Accessibility Resources

• Seven Steps to Creating an Accessible PowerPoint Slideshow

• Seven Steps to Creating an Accessible Microsoft Word document

• Three Steps to Creating an Accessible PDF file (without Adobe Acrobat)

• Seven Steps to Creating an Accessible Excel Worksheet

• Seven Steps to Creating an Accessible Email in Outlook

http://www.dor.ca.gov/DisabilityAccessInfo/Making-Documents-Accessible.html

More Resources

• The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom

• Top 10 Moodle course design no-nos

• QM Examples for Faculty

• Test your document's readability

Questions?

Email: connie.fisk@unl.edu Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest @connie_fisk