By Alena Aniskiewicz, CISAH
This year’s “Valuing Voices, Voicing Values” IAH workshop series concluded in April with a conversation that looked toward to online asynchronous teaching in the summer session and beyond. IAH instructors from across the College of Arts & Letters discussed strategies for creating engaging online courses and effective assessments that are responsive to the shifting demands of the AI era. Before opening the conversation to specific ideas and concerns, we highlighted the value of making our online asynchronous courses personal and focusing on process over product.
How can we encourage our students to connect course material with their lived experience? How can we design assessments to build across the course and respond to peer and instructor feedback?
Throughout our conversation, instructors shared approaches they have used in online asynchronous IAH courses. We discussed using programs like Perusall to encourage students to engage with course texts and their classmates. Instructors also shared successful assignments that ask students to participate in recorded conversations – both with their peers and in interviews. Across these conversations we were reminded of the need for clear guidance (and the value of recorded instructions) when asking students to engage and submit work across online platforms.
Recognizing that importance of digital accessibility when engaging students online, the workshop concluded with a Q&A with Kevin Henley from MSU’s Educational Technology’s Accessibility Team. Reminding us to focus on progress over perfection, Henley encouraged instructors to reach out with questions. Trainings and consultations on digital accessibility can be requested here:
https://tdx.msu.edu/TDClient/32/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=629
Henley also shared a collection of resources on cleaning up course sites, working with PDFs, and remediating content in D2L using Ally. Those documents can be found here:
Thank you to Kevin and those who attended the workshop. The lively conversation offered concrete suggestions and encouraged us to think about how we might create online spaces that inspire the same engagement, curiosity, and critical thought we cultivate in our on-campus classrooms.
A recording of the discussion can be found here: https://mediaspace.msu.edu/media/Online+Asynchronous+Engagement%2C+Assessment%2C+and+Accessibility/1_ngz2ra2r