Erica Young, M.S.Ed., is a Limited-Term Lecturer with the Lamb School who has been teaching COM 217: Science Writing and Presentation for three years, nearly two of which have been exclusively online. She is currently the Executive Director of Online Learning at another institution and a former Instructional Designer at Purdue. In this post, she shares research-driven and tested online teaching strategies that are specific to COM 217 and, but can help instructors of all courses more broadly, using Purdue University-supported solutions.
Student Presentations
Like most communication courses, COM 217 requires presentations to fulfill the learning outcomes of being able to present verbally and being able to use effective data visualizations and other visual aids.
- Tools: I have my students create a YouTube channel during the first week of the course. Most of them already have one since YouTube and Gmail use the same login and most people already have a Gmail account. Students use YouTube to create and share their videos.
- Peer Feedback: I set up a discussion board on Blackboard for each major presentation, but if you’re using BrightSpace, you can do that there, too. Some students simply share the link to their YouTube video on the discussion board. Others use the embed code found in YouTube and paste it into the HTML box when they make a post which allows the video to play right inside of the discussion post. I allow the students to use whichever method of posting they are more comfortable using. Peer review occurs through response posts on the discussion board.
- Instructor Feedback: I attach the presentation rubric to the discussion board and use it to grade the assignment. When I shifted from the on-campus course to the online version, I tweaked the rubric in a couple of ways. I allocated a few points toward response posts/peer-review just to incentivize the students to watch their peers’ videos and comment on them. I also added “video quality” to the delivery portion of the rubrics.
Communicating Course Updates
Just like in a face-to-face class, updating your students on course expectations and resources is an important part of teaching online, especially when things are changing so quickly. I often post video updates for my class using Purdue’s Kaltura Mediaspace. Alternatively, you can record the video on your phone and upload it to YouTube, just as many students do. If you are using Blackboard or BrightSpace, you can embed a video in an announcement. At a minimum, you should provide text-based announcements. Maintaining an instructor presence, however you choose to do that, is an important part of online teaching.
Video Lectures
A large body of learning science research shows that videos should be under eight minutes long. If you’re planning to create video lectures, chunk your material into subtopics and create several short videos as opposed to one long video. Don’t rely solely on video lectures, either. Think of alternative ways that students can learn, such as reading articles. Consider open educational resources for teaching materials, such as OpenStax.
Effective Slide Design
COM 217 teaches the assertion evidence model of PowerPoint design. I provide links to resources on that model (like this video and this video), and to assess my students’ learning I have them upload a slide that uses the model. I also teach Mayer’s Principles of Multimedia Learning at the same time. I ask my students to incorporate at least one of the principles into the slide and to name the principle they used, which is a great way to tell if the objectives are met. You may find these resources helpful as you prepare course content, too!
Stay Engaged
Above all, remember that the worst approach to online instruction is to “set it and forget it.” If you’re having trouble gauging how things are going for your students, solicit their feedback through a Qualtrics survey. Students like to be heard and being able to know how things are going for them can help you to tweak your online approach to be better for your students and yourself.
Online learning is constantly evolving, and none of us is doing it perfectly. I hope my experiences can be helpful to you and generate some ideas. Please share your ideas in the comments so that I and others can learn from you, too! If there is anything I can help you with, please reach out. We’re in this together.