Student Appointment Slots

Did you know that Google Calendar has a feature called ? This has been an amazing feature for me as an instructor. I started using it back in 2015 and have never looked back. You might be thinking, why would I want to use an appointment calendar to set up office time with my students? Here are my reasons:

1. I schedule times that I know I’ll be available. This provides a variety of opportunities for students whose schedules vary considerably. Plus, the times don’t have to be consistent from week to week.
2. Students feel empowered because they can set up a time dedicated to them vs. open office hours. They know how much time they have reserved and generally come prepared.
3. I can plan my life better. I know who is showing up and when! They even let me know why they want to meet! Now isn’t that nice?
4. ��A Google Meet link automatically generates when creating an appointment and the student gets an invite too. I can also leave notes in the calendar invite for myself and the student!
5. I can set up a notification for my phone/computer to ping me so I don’t miss the meeting (especially if I am busy grading or… folding laundry).

I am sure there are more reasons to love using Appointment Calendars, but this is what comes to mind immediately.

How do I let students know about it?

Everywhere! Not really, but rather strategic locations in my Brightspace course:

1. My Syllabus
2. My homepage widget in Brightspace
3. My page in Brightspace
4. My email reminders
   I provide reminders to students who haven’t completed an assignment or received a certain score. In the email that goes out, a link to my appointment calendar is always included encouraging them to set up a time to go over anything that might be challenging.
5. ���Ѳ�

You know what! While writing this list I realized there is another place I thought I had mentioned my appointment calendar, but I forgot! I need to add it to my Welcome video! I just watched it thinking it was there. What a lapse on my part. So, that makes #6. I’m sure you can think of other places as well!

Empowering our students

Since the onset of the pandemic, the use of my appointment calendar has drastically increased. I feel like I am connecting with my student much more than I ever did before as a fully online instructor. I thrive on those interactions. Students are concerned about my time, but they don’t realize how much I enjoy getting to help them and see that light bulb turn on. (I think they do after meeting with me, though. ��) ��Letting them know they can have one-on-one time with me is important. I want to empower them to feel comfortable meeting with me. A dedicated timeslot lets them feel that this is “their” time and that it wasn’t an inconvenience to me, the instructor, to schedule.

If you need more help than the Google documentation on setting up , feel free to reach out to one of our amazing instructional technology specialists! They excel in helping faculty make their student experience better using technology!

Take care and think of ways you can empower your students to ask you questions this Fall term!

Rondi :)

• Increase your Online Presence
  • Increasing My Presence
  • Is it time to try intelligent agents?
• Restructure your Online Discussions
• Revamp your assignment instructions for equitable student success
• Organize your instructional materials to make the most of D2L Brightspace
  • Organizing Content for Student Success!
• Write module level learning outcomes
  • (Arizona State U)
  • (U Nevada)
• Improving the Zoom experience for students:
• Create more engaging slide decks for video and Zoom sessions:
  • LinkedIn Learning via :
  • PowerPoint Designer
  • Tips for Animating PowerPoint for Video:
• Read about what our students have said:
  • What has made you feel successful in one of your classes?
  • Quickpoll Results: What is expected of you
  • Quickpoll Results: What have you struggled with in one of your current classes?
  • Quickpoll Results: Is maintaining attendance in remote classes challenging?
  • Quickpoll Results: Overall, how is remote learning going for you?

�ճ����Accessible Technology Policy states that staff and faculty will create accessible documents, videos, and other ICT (Information and Communication Technology), attending trainings or getting technical support as needed.��More and more, instructors have been reaching out to learn about how to format accessible course materials for all their students.�� So, I thought I share with you some info and resources that are available to you here at PCC!

Accessibility ≠ Availability

What does this mean? Posting course materials in D2L Brightspace does indeed make them available for your students. However, the formatting you choose may hinder their ability to read, interpret, and comprehend what you would like them to learn. For example:

• A document with small fonts, tight line spacing, long paragraphs, no section headers, long web addresses, and lots of colors can be difficult for anyone to absorb, but it is especially so for students with learning and cognitive disabilities.
• A video without closed captions may be difficult for someone where English is a second language, who is hearing impaired, or who can’t wear headphones because they have to keep an eye on their noisy children.
• A scanned PDF will not be readable by those who rely on text to speech software, like those with learning/cognitive disabilities or those who are visually impaired.

So, while the course materials are available, they may not be “accessible” for the student.

What can you do?

The applications we use to make course materials are loaded with time saving features to help us format documents quickly and ensure they are accessible for a wide range of student needs! The old way of formatting can be thrown out the window. Learning how to use these tools effectively is a sure-fire way to save time, give your documents a professional flair, and make them accessible all at once. That sounds like a triple win!

Create Accessible Documents

Here are some training lessons that an help you get started! They are available through MyCareer@PCC and can be tracked as professional development!

• : Learn why��accessibility��matters and the concepts behind Universal Design. This training will take 30-60 minutes.
• Accessible��Word Documents:�� Learn how to make your Word Documents��accessible��for posting digitally. This training will take 30 – 60 minutes.
• :��Learn how to make your Word Documents��accessible��for posting digitally. This training will take 30 – 60 minutes.
• :��Learn how to make your PDFs��accessible��for posting digitally. This training will take 30 – 60 minutes.

You will need to sign in using your PCC credentials and click the Launch button to begin. Note: You may need to “Allow Pop-ups from��” and click the Launch button again.

Use Accessibility Checkers

Use these to do a check of existing documents before uploading into D2L Brightspace!

Ally in D2L Brightspace – Coming Soon!

A new tool will be released in all Summer term D2l Brightspace courses. It is called Ally. It is amazing and I highly recommend you take advantage of it, especially after taking some of the training above.�� There are three key features for instructors to know about!

• Dial icon: There is a dial that let’s you know about the level of accessibility of the documents you upload into D2L Brightspace. Don’t worry, you students do not see it, only you do! Click on the indicator and you will be given an accessibility percentage score, specific issues affecting the file, and instructions for improving the file.
• Instructor Course Report: There is a dashboard that will allow you to see that accessibility of all your course materials at-a-glance. Ally categorizes issues in order of priority for you. That way you can focus on what matters most!�� To view the dashboard, you may need to add the .
• Alternative Formats: This is really for your students. They have the ability to download a variety of file types. With Ally, students who are auditory learners can convert documents to audio files, students who like to use e-readers can export files to ePub for highlighting and note-taking support, students who use braille can even download the braille equivalents! There are more examples to choose from depending on file type.

Go to the PCC Ally resource page to learn more about what Ally can do for you! :)

Additional PCC Resources

• Accessible��Syllabus Templates
• ����𲹳پ��Բ��������������������������DzԳٱ�Գ�
• Tips��for Faculty��Disability��Services
• Guidance from Accessible Ed & Disability Resources

Take care all!

Rondi :)

Organizational Barriers

Unfortunately, organizing our content as we would on our personal computers creates significant barriers to students. For instance:

• Students do not know your personal naming conventions or organizational structuring. They are also left guessing at obscure file names.
• Students have to navigate to multiple places to view all the required materials for a topic or assignment. There is no directed path through the learning content.

Now multiply this by the number of courses they are taking! Figuring out the organizational style for multiple courses is a huge learning curve in and of itself. Your students might not be able to master it in time to be successful. This is magnified even more if they are unfamiliar with D2L Brightspace.

Create a Learning Path

1. Create a module for each Week or Topic. Avoid using sub-modules. See my 2018 version of this post where I talk about sub-modules in detail.
2. Add a module description. (Consider this to be the prompt you would say to your class at the beginning of a new topic.)
3. Add the learning content that pertains to that Week or Topic in the order you want student to review them.
4. Edit the titles of your content items, so they are clear. Avoid abbreviations.
   • Instead of “Ch3_2020.pptx” rename it to “Slides: Supply and Demand”
5. If you add a video from YouTube, TedTalks, Vimeo, etc, use the option “Video or Audio” from Upload/Create instead of “Create a Link.” This provides a video icon below the title.
6. Add descriptions to select items (these act as the “prompt” you might say in class as you pass out the document).
7. Make sure to include links to all your course learning activities (i.e. Discussions, Quizzes, Assignments) in appropriate modules. In addition, make sure each one includes a prompt for instructions. Even if it is to download an attached or linked resource.
   
   • Adding assignment specific resources to the activity descriptions, reduces clutter in�� your weekly/topic modules. Plus, students have everything for the assignment all in once easy place, the assignment prompt itself.
8. If you use a publisher website for activities, include a link to the website in each module and consider using a short description to remind the students what activities must be completed through the platform.
   
   • Some instructors choose to add separate link to the platform login page for each activity, so that the due dates can be added to the Brightspace Calendar – something students love to see!

Getting Started

You might be wondering how do I do some of these things?

After reading through these instructions, you probably noticed that I reference clicking on a down arrow a lot! This is because those down arrows in D2L Brightspace are like right-clicking in Word or PowerPoint. Its an Action Menu and lists everything you can do to the item.

Attend a Training

Training sessions will be offered on this very topic!�� Please go to the Instructional Support�� Workshop Schedule to find a session that works for you!

Announcements

I post at least three announcements per week. I avoid posting more than five though. Five would be a rare occasion. I don’t want to overload the students with too many announcements, so I try to be judicious and space them out a bit. :) I do add for a bit of personalization.

That’s me

I’ve scattered pictures of myself throughout the course. I try to use a variety of pictures in different places like my Questions? widget on Course Home or in the module descriptions.

Quiz Submission Views

I use submission views for my Quiz activities. I�� provide a submission view if a student got and A to congratulate them or to encourage them to try again. In those views, I had begun using emoticons for fun visual interest.

I played around one day with a new app that made an emoji of me based off a selfie. I probably spent too much time with it to be honest, but a few of the animated GIFs that were generated gave me an idea!�� Oh yes, you know where I am going and not because the picture is below. I replaced my emoticons with an animated emoji of me.

Intelligent Agents

I have an activity that is required but not graded. Students must complete one attempt on my Worksheets before they can access the Challenge Questions. The worksheets provide students with an opportunity to practice the math and graphing that are required on the Challenge Question assignments.�� ��I release a detailed answer key if they can get a 60% or better on the practice exercise. (Yes, I do make them work a little for it.)

Intelligent Agents lets me set up an automatic email that will be sent if a student doesn’t get a 60% on the worksheets.�� This runs every night and I have it set up to only send the first time it is triggered by a student on a particular worksheet.

I’d add a banner or an emoji to this as well, but Brightspace doesn’t embed the image inline with the text. Rather, it’s sent as an attachment. :(

What can you think up?

What might you do in your own class?�� The sky’s the limit! Well, Brightspace does have it’s own limitations, so maybe not the sky. But there is a lot of room to get creative! :)

Click on image to see animated version

Major features

• Record a slideshow slide by slide.�� Benefits:
  • You can simply re-record the slide with the mistake instead of starting over or having to use video editing applications.
  • You can update your presentation at a future date and only re-record the new and improved slides.
  • ��You can use the pen and highlighter functionality to draw on the presentation as you talk.
  • Any information included in the notes section will present as a transcript while recording.
• Record your screen along with the webcam or just audio. Benefits:
  • You don’t have to learn a separate screen-casting or video editing application.
  • You can record your whole screen or just a portion of your screen.
• Inserted video from your computer will autoplay in your presentation.�� Benefits:
  • Users will not have to click on the video for it to play when in presentation mode.
  • When you export the presentation to video, it will play the entire video clip as well.
• Export to Video. Benefits:
  • This allows you to publish your presentation as a video that can be streamed from My Media in D2L Brightspace, YouTube, or any video streaming site that you use.
  • If you are only distributing the video, you do not have to add alt-text to images or worry about the reading order of your PowerPoint. (If you plan to distribute the PPT files as well, then you will need to ensure proper reading order and alt text for images.)

Enabling the Recording tab

To enable this feature go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon and check the box next to Recording.

When you click OK, you should see the Recording Tab appear in the PowerPoint Ribbon:

Recording tips

When recording consider that your audience may be listening to it on their commute to work and only has the ability to listen and not watch. Could they understand the crux of your presentation without being able to see the slides?

• Avoid using the terms “and here you see,”�� “over there,”�� “right there,” etc.
• ��If there is text on the screen and you want the viewer to know that text, then also read it out loud. For instance:
  • A sentence may need to be read out for a grammar lesson, instead of only saying “This sentence needs a comma between…”
  • An equation should be read out prior to it being solved, instead of saying “In this equation, subtract 2 from both sides…”
• For diagrams, flow charts, graphs, models and the like, try your best to provide enough information that if someone wasn’t able to see the slide, they would still be getting the information they needed.
• Have your slides clean, engaging and not too cluttered. In the new Office 356/2019 this is easier than ever with the new tool. The screenshots below give you a taste of the different styles that PowerPoint can auto-generate for you in the Design Ideas Pane.
  

Tutorials to get started

Note: A student should be able to find all online course materials from the Content area.

D2L Brightspace allows you to organize your content in a modular format. Two of the most common practices is to organize content by week or topic.

Weekly modules are a popular choice for faculty and students as both groups tend to think of the passage of a quarter in terms of weeks. If you have topics that encompass two more weeks, organizing by topic might work better as long as you don’t need sub-modules to break up your content.

Regardless of the organizational method you use:

1. List your course materials in the order you would like your students to review them.
2. Make sure your content item titles are meaningful.
3. Consider adding descriptions to select items (these act as the “prompt” you might say in class as you pass out the document).
4. If you add a video from YouTube, TedTalks, Vimeo, etc, use the option “Video or Audio” from Upload/Create instead of “Create a Link.” This provides a video icon below the title.
5. Make sure to include links to all your course learning activities (i.e. Discussions, Quizzes, Assignments) in appropriate modules.
6. If you use a publisher website for activities, include a link to the website in each module and consider using a short description to remind the students what activities must be completed through the platform.
   
   • Some instructors choose to add separate link to the platform login page for each activity, so that the due dates can be added to the Brightspace Calendar – something students love to see!

Using sub-modules

Something to be very careful of is the use of sub-modules. These should only be used in specific instances. Before I get to what those are, let me explain what the student experiences when viewing content this way.

When a student clicks on a top level module (i.e. Week 1), the sub-modules visually appear as nice boxes around content (i.e. Readings, Activities).

Having this categorization seems like a great way to provide visual interest and focus, but what you might not know is that it adds an additional layer of navigational complexity to your course. ��For instance:

1. Let’s say that the student clicks on the “Readings” sub-module from the Table of Contents, then the student is taken to that sub-module only and can no longer see the items in the Week 1 module or the Due this Week sub-module.
2. If you have a sub-module in a sub-module, from the top level module it is denoted by a folder icon before the sub-module title. Students don’t see what is in that module until they go into the sub-module.
3. In the Table of Contents, there is no way to distinguish a 4th level module from a third level module. (i.e. Test 1 > SB1 > SB2 > SB3). Submodule 2 and submodule 3 look like they are both 3rd level modules.
4. Many students navigate content by clicking on the arrow button at the top of the page after clicking on the first content item for the top level module (i.e. in Week 1). When sub-modules are included, clicking the arrow keys does not take the student to the content item in the next sub-module.
   
   Instead, they are taken back to Content and into the sub-module only. They then must click on the first item in the sub-module to view. When they have viewed the last item in the sub-module, they are taken back to the top of the “Week 1” module and now must scroll down to the next item below the sub-module.
5. Instructors who add brief descriptions to content items may be disappointed to know that the only way to view that description is to click on the sub-module first from the Table of Contents. So, if a student navigates from the top level folder only, they will not see the description.

So now you know some reasons why the use of sub-modules can be problematic for navigating content. ��When is it a good idea to use sub-modules?

1. If you have a lot of content in each module. By that I mean more than 12-15 items. (I have that many, about 15 items in my Weekly modules, and it still looks just fine. In these cases, try to limit to one sub-module and place it at the end of your top level content items.
2. If you have a large group of content items that may not be required, but useful. ��For example, I have used a submodule for “Study Aids” with about 5 to 7 items. I place it at the end of my main module content items.

How can I categorize without sub-modules?

Instead of using sub-modules, you can do other practical or creative things to categorize your content. ��For instance:

1. You can create a naming convention:
   • Reading 1: What is economics about?
   • Reading 2: Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics
   • Reading 3: How Economists Understand Economics Issues
2. You can use icons to accompany descriptions to provide a visual cue as to the content item type. I have created a��!

Need more ideas?

Are you interested in a spring clean? If you are someone who has a large number of content items in each module or uses multiple sub-modules within one top-level module, take advantage of an Instructional Technology Specialist (campus and online courses) to brainstorm options.�� There are many ways to consolidate the number of content items you have too!