Category: Contributed

Organizing an Asynchronous Class in Moodle — Chuck Stull

Posted on by Rick Barth

In the Spring, I had students in Taiwan, India, Greece, Spain, and in all US time zones, including Alaska. Their locations, plus complicated work schedules for some students, made synchronous classes unworkable for me. I designed my class to be as accessible as possible, using Moodle.

Pages

My main organizing tool was a Moodle “Page” for each week. This page listed all of the assignments and activities for that week, with links. At the beginning of the week, I would post a short Moodle Announcement with a link to the page; students would automatically get a copy by email. This gave them three places to access the page— their email inbox, the announcement forum, and in the Moodle section for that week.

I used the following structure for each week’s page:

  1. Logistics. This section was about coordination— discussion groups, deadlines, extensions, etc.
  2. Review. Typically, this section had three parts— an anonymous survey on how the week had gone (using Moodle’s Feedback tool); an outline of the topics we had covered the previous week and an ungraded self-test on those topics.
  3. Project. A short weekly assignment that contributed to their longer research paper that was due late in the quarter.
  4. New Content. This section was the longest part of the page. I would embed 3-6 short videos I had made on the week’s topics. My videos were narrated PowerPoints, posted on YouTube. Each video would be followed by a short quiz or short assignment. Readings, either from the textbook or other sources, would be posted here along with required response questions. I would also assign a few questions related to the week’s content to discuss with their small group and post to the discussion forum.

Here, in two parts, is a screenshot of my Week 2 Moodle Page. Click on each image to see them full size:

Deadlines

Everything was due at the same time at the end of the week. In practice this meant, some students worked through everything as soon as it was posted; some spread the work throughout the week; and some waited until just before the deadline to start. (I initially set the deadlines for both my classes at the same time but that was too difficult for me, so I ended up staggering them— one due Sunday night and the other class due Monday night.) I opened the next week’s work the following morning.

Labels

Labels were a really useful Moodle tool that I hadn’t used earlier. I used simple boldface titles to identify related material and assignments on Moodle. I used photos as labels to differentiate my courses.

Review, Enrichment, and Advanced

I included some optional materials on Moodle. Econ 101 was a prerequisite for one of my classes. I linked videos and chapters from online textbooks on topics and models that they needed to remember. Beyond the review materials, each week I would try to provide links for students who had the time and interest to learn more. “Enrichment” materials provided a deeper view into particular aspects of a week’s topics. These weren’t more difficult, but they provided additional insights. “Advanced” materials were for students who were looking for additional challenges. They were beyond what I would require for this level class but would be accessible to some students.

“Selfie” videos

A few times during the quarter, I shared very short videos of myself— walking around campus or looking at the late Spring snowstorm. These were really just greetings, as opposed to course content. My intent was to try to make remote delivery a little more personal.

Overall, this approach worked well for me. It didn’t rely on sophisticated technology and students responded favorably to the organization.

Ideas for Organizing Your Moodle — Katie MacLean

Posted on by Rick Barth

Before the pandemic, I mostly used Moodle for the gradebook and to archive lots of pdfs, so I really needed step up my game for the spring. This video shows a few of the things I started to implement:

  • Consistent Rhythm
  • Visual Organization
  • Ease of Use
A ten-minute video by Katie MacLean

Business Communication in a Time of Difficult Communication — David Rhoa

Posted on by Rick Barth

David C. Rhoa
Visiting Asst Prof of Economics and Business.
July 2020

Spring 2020 was the first offering of BSUN/ECON 285 Business Communication. The course was designed from the ground up to be an interactive program that encouraged student engagement and discussion. When we switched to the distance-learning model, I had to scrap most of my planned in-person discussion prompts and activities.

My course was originally scheduled for Thursday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. E.D.T. Prior to the start of the course, I surveyed all course members to determine the following:
• Access to internet
• Access to a webcam
• Ability to meet at the scheduled time
100% of the students indicated that possessed all the requisite hardware, software, and internet access. In addition, all but one student (located in Greece) indicated that they would be able to meet at the scheduled time. My average attendance was 90% to 100% each week.

I recorded all lectures, guest speakers, and discussions and made the recordings available to students within 24-hours of meeting via a link on Moodle. I kept a detailed index of the topics I covered during each week. When students would email or text asking a question, I first referred them to our discussion during Week X. I asked them to review the videos and then confirm with me that their original questions were answered. 80% indicated that reviewing the videos answered their questions. The remaining 20% were given direct Zoom meetings with me.

Class meetings were planned for three hours each. In most cases, the time was split between course material and guided discussion. I discovered early on that, unlike my business Zoom meetings where participants are eager to share opinions, many of our class discussions were more abrupt, almost simplex in nature. One student might share an opinion. A second student might then state their agreement with the first student and add their own opinion. Unlike in-person instruction, I found it difficult to gauge student reactions to opinions offered by their classmates.

The average class period ran approximately 2 hours 30 minutes. At the end of every class I would take time to ask students how they were doing. Response levels were mixed early on and then dropped as the term continued. One could sense that students were increasingly fatigued by the circumstances of the COVID-19 shutdown and their exile from campus. I encouraged students to contact me if they had questions, about the course material or anything having to do with COVID-19 and the shutdown. On average, I spent about 6.25 hours per week in direct contact with students.

I purposely scaled back my lecture content to allow more time to engage with students in smaller groups. The downside to this approach was it added significantly to my workload. To counter this, I made a point providing any response I made to a small group available for the entire class through email (for speed), or Moodle posting (for depth). The approach of providing all students with both the questions of their classmates, and my response, more closely simulated in-class discussion.

In lieu of the direct-engagement elements originally planned for the course, I added impromptu discussion questions on Moodle. These proved very popular with the students as the discussions typically ran their course over a couple of days with students agreeing and respectfully disagreeing with each other.

By about third/fourth week I started to notice that the “newness” of distance learning was beginning to wane. In response, I added a “pop quiz” feature. I would email students “ripped from the headlines” issues on a variety of topics and ask them to comment on the tonality and content of a tweet, social media post, or news headline using the techniques discussed during our class sessions. To encourage participation, I made it clear that these “pop quizzes” would not be graded. I know that a campus-wide, a number of students said they disliked the use of email. In my course, I found that the “pop quizzes” were well received and produced a variety of discussion topics for our next class.

The one struggle I encountered throughout the course was the students NOT using their web camera. It was nearly impossible for me to gauge their sense of understanding when their screens appeared black or displaying a portrait photograph. Should the same circumstances be present in future classes, I would require that all participants use their camera for the duration of any class meeting

Using Guest Lectures — Elizabeth Manwell

Posted on by Rick Barth

I was part of a Classics Facebook group called #GuestNatter, where people could volunteer to chat about a topic or to solicit help. I did a video conversation with a colleague a Oberlin for his class, and I invited five colleagues into mine. The conversations I recorded with colleagues were a real grab-bag, but they were really great for sharing information that you might otherwise do in a lecture. Whereas a lecture can get pretty boring, I think these were a lot more engaging—and students often referenced them in other assignments, so they were popular with at least a portion of the class.

A 7 minute video about Guest Lecturers

Using Moodle Feedback — Elizabeth Manwell

Posted on by Rick Barth

I used “feedback” in  Moodle to create a quick quiz/assignment that I used to gauge reading comprehension of the “theoretical” piece we read in class each week. Giving feedback to students using it was the least elegant aspect, but it was otherwise a good and quick way to check their understanding of the main points.

Two assignments that take advantage of distance learning to make profound connections — Mark McDonald

Posted on by Rick Barth

Foreign correspondent and bureau chief for IHT, Knight Ridder, New York Times, etc. Author of the new PTSD novel, Off the X, Mark McDonald (K73) returned to Kalamazoo this winter and spring to teach two courses in Journalism.

Two interview-based assignments that I used in the Winter and Spring terms seemed particularly successful with the students, and I think they could work across a range of departments, subjects and courses at K. I first used them in the journalism and politics seminars that I taught at the University of Michigan.

Example One:

As part of a Reading the World/Genre class called “Media Literacy,” we read a snappy, timely new book by Bob Garfield, who co-hosts a weekend media/politics show that’s heard on NPR. (In the world of mainstream journalism, he’s kind of a minor celebrity.) We read and discussed a chapter or two each week and finished by the seventh week. I had called Bob earlier and he agreed to Zoom-speak with us in Week 8.

Each student sent in a couple questions beforehand, which I edited down to a dozen or so, and Bob joined us for 90 minutes one afternoon. With 30 students jammed onto Zoom, having a free-flowing, back-and-forth discussion was a little unwieldy, but not too bad. All the scripted questions got asked/answered, we had time for several impromptu ones, and Bob delivered a rousing outro that was both a challenge to the students and a call to civic action.

Most of the students were kind of stunned that we were actually talking to the person who wrote the book we had just read. They didn’t buy into all of his arguments and positions, to be sure, but that was an instructive part of the experience, too.

Now, I realize that any number of professors deploy guest lecturers when we’re on campus, sure, but online classes make Zoom appearances by luminaries and superstars all the easier now. Hey, they’re just sitting around at home, too. Aren’t they dying to talk to someone, especially student-fans at our hot little liberal-arts school? Zooming also precludes the need for a guests’ travel costs, sizable obligations of time, and honoraria. (Marin Heinritz freed up some ENGL money that allowed me to send some K-branded gifts to Garfield as a thank-you, and Debbie Thompson pulled the items for me. Sixty bucks, all in.)

Example Two:

I used another somewhat unusual assignment in both the RTW class and my Shared Passages seminar titled “Combat, Conflict and International News.”

In the sophomore seminar, each student was required to interview a working journalist, preferably someone with international news experience. (Diplomats, aid workers and combat veterans were OK, too.) I encouraged the students to think big. Google people. Give it a shot. Look on Facebook, Twitter, university and NGO websites, Instagram, whitepages.com. Cast a wide net, I told them. Aim high. Be resourceful.

When I debriefed them afterward, most students said they had been wholly intimidated by the assignment. They were sure they wouldn’t be able to identify anybody, or find their contact details, or get folks to agree to talk. “How do I interview someone? Do I record the thing, or take notes? How many questions? What does off-the-record mean? Is a conversation an interview? What happens if they bail on me? Why would they talk to ME?”

Were they stressed? Daunted? Uncertain? Maybe a little scared? A little angry? Yep, all of that.

I helped about half the students with names of people I know in the journalism business; the other half found interviewees entirely on their own. Nobody failed to find somebody, although several students did have to resort to Plans B, C or F. (Which was part of the assignment, too, of course. Welcome to the life of a working reporter.) Some students panicked a little, but they all persevered. In the end I think they quite surprised themselves — and were proud of what they saw as a real accomplishment.

And some of their “gets” were stunning. One sophomore found and interviewed the courtroom sketch artist assigned to the Guantánamo Bay prison tribunals. (She even got permission to use several original sketches of the detainees in her presentation; the sketches came with approval stickers from Defense Department censors.) Two students landed superstar writers from The New Yorker, and a dozen or so reached and interviewed New York Times and Washington Post reporters, including a handful of Pulitzer winners. Several interviewed combat photographers. One student got a long interview with Linda Greenhouse, now at Yale Law, perhaps the country’s foremost expert on the Supreme Court. Another found a female combat officer who’s a policy analyst at a big D.C. think tank. Another interviewed a Houston-based reporter who has been covering femicide in Mexico, an issue we examined in class. So many examples like these. Really remarkable.

Within the first two weeks of the seminars, each student also had selected a book from a list of 30 relevant titles that I provided. (One book per student, no overlaps. Most chose books on their own; a few needed a little guidance. They were to read the book throughout the term and do a substantial critical essay on it by Week 9.) Anyway, for their interview assignment, a dozen or so students tracked down the authors of their books. They were clearly thrilled when they found the writers freely exchanging thoughts and ideas with them — mere college students!

I left the scope and presentations of the interview projects up to each student — written Q-and-A transcription, recorded Zoom interview, PowerPoint, audio file with written text, whatever. One student did a manga-like presentation on Acrobat. One wrote an epic poem. Another made a short documentary film.

Predictably, perhaps, most students wanted to know beforehand exactly what I wanted, what questions to ask, how long the interview should be, how many pages of transcript, what format I preferred. I refused to answer these questions. The students were not comfortable with this AT ALL, and they gave me a good bit of heat about it. They complained that “You’re not being clear.” They wanted to succeed, of course, and not having specific metrics and parameters was new territory. Their stress was almost palpable. Still, I left them to their own devices — and they all succeeded. In splendid fashion.

The Bob Garfield appearance and the interview assignment showed the students that “unthinkable “things are indeed quite achievable. Also, feeling intimidated and uncertain needn’t be paralyzing. You’re 20 years old but you CAN operate and succeed on your own initiative in the wider world. (I suspect this kind of lesson is especially helpful for second-years who have yet to study abroad.) Famous authors, scholars, soldiers, journalists, civic leaders — they’re within your reach. They were 20 once, too.

To sum up, I think this kind of assignment could be useful in any number of courses at the College. And I will apologize in advance for what will likely sound like a rant, but we can easily and obliquely teach the students to think big and dream bigger by using unusual interview assignments or Zoom visits.

Like visits from working artists, musicians, dancers, theater/film folk. Historians, scientists, judges, journalists, engineers, novelists. Call up the U.S. poet laureate, or a former one. Try to land the head of design at Tesla, Ford or Shinola. Invite the winner of a Fields Medal to speak to a Math class. Get a Nobel laureate in economics like my friend Joe Stiglitz or Esther Duflo, who works in poverty alleviation. Zoom-interview an archeologist on site at a dig somewhere — Italy, China, Greece, Mexico.

Get the author of your class textbook to Zoom with you for an hour. We have supremely accomplished alumni in countless disciplines who would love to help out, too. Farmers and entrepreneurs. Interview a former soldier from the My Lai massacre, like the combat photographer who was there that day and blew the scandal open. (He’s 80 now and lives in Cleveland, by the way.) Call up the heads of Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the NRA. So many of these folks will happily and graciously talk to students or classes. We just have to ask.

Creating Breakout Groups in Teams with Channels — Kathryn Sederberg

Posted on by Rick Barth

Kathryn Sederberg (German Studies)

In this post, I share how I used channels in Microsoft Teams to create small groups similar to Zoom breakout rooms, in which students can meet to work on a task and the instructor can “drop in” and move between groups during synchronous class sessions.

In my classroom (the one with tables and chairs), the hour is usually spent alternating between small-group or pair activities and large-group follow-up. Language instructors want nearly 100% of the class time to be spent in the target language, and we want students to be using the language actively as much as possible. Students speak and listen to one another, or they write together, communicating about a topic and thinking about how to express themselves and make themselves understood. The smaller the group, the more speaking time for each student. After setting up an activity, I usually move around the classroom to help students, and turn on a dime when I hear a group across the room that maybe misunderstood the task, or thought I was out of earshot and just slipped back into English.

In March, when I thought about how to adapt my spring courses (German 201 and German 470) to an online format, creating small groups for synchronous video meetings was one of my biggest priorities. For those of us who had experience with Zoom, the lack of a breakout room function in Teams was a problem. In this post, I share how I used channels in Microsoft Teams to create small groups similar to Zoom breakout rooms, in which students can meet to work on a task and the instructor can “drop in” and move between groups during synchronous class sessions.

Although there were of course mishaps along the way, the students and I got used to the rhythm of moving between large and small group work and in the end it worked fairly well. In my course feedback, students responded positively to this setup: “we did a lot of partner/group work which was helpful in improving my collaborative thinking skills”; “the small groups were useful in practicing speaking and writing in a smaller environment”; “The balance between large class meetings, small group meetings, and individual work was pretty good.” I can imagine how using small groups in Teams would be useful for many kinds of group or pair assignments in other disciplines. ​

Using Channels for Small Groups

Microsoft Teams allows users to create channels within their teams, and from within a channel you can easily click on the “Meet now” button in the bottom toolbar to start a group call (with or without video). You can have more than one call going on simultaneously in a team, and as an instructor you can see who is meeting in each call, the duration of the call, and you can join and leave these calls. Students can also record their meetings. There is a chat associated with each channel and with each call/meeting.

In a typical class session, I would begin class by starting a video call in the “General” team channel. I would make small talk with students, take attendance, and do a warm-up activity and perhaps some review. Then at some point I give students a task to work on in small groups. For German 201, I created six small groups with 3 students each, and in German 470 I created groups of 3-5 students. While students are working in their small groups, I could leave the general call on “hold” and toggle over to “visit” the small groups by clicking on the channel names on the left sidebar and on “join meeting” from each channel chat. In this way, I could usually visit all groups during the hour. At the end of the scheduled group work time, students meet back up in the general meeting, which was left “on hold.”

I found that it is important to create a clear and specific task (“Work through this set of 5 questions”) with a time limit (“Meet back in the main group in 30 minutes, at 10:30”), and to somehow hold students accountable for the work (“Designate one person to take notes”). I also found that the combination of Teams for small group video calls and collaborative, real-time documents like Google Docs or Google Sheets helped to hold students accountable for the work and allowed me to watch their progress in real time and check in with the students who needed assistance. For example, my intermediate German students asked each other questions related to our topic “nature and the environment,” and recorded their answers in a Google Sheet. I could see immediately how far the groups were in the activity, who needed help, and what grammar and vocabulary I needed to review with the whole class. In my upper-level seminar, to provide another example, students worked together in small groups on a Google Doc to summarize an article they had read, to write discussion questions based on a text, or to write a film review.  

How to set up channels in your team:

  1. Open your class team by clicking on the “Teams” icon on the left sidebar and selecting your class.
  2. Next to the name of the team, click on the “…” button and then “Add channel.” Give your channel a name that includes the names of the students, for example: “Group 1 – Max, Ben, Sarah.” This enables students to easily see which group they are in. Leave the default Privacy setting (Standard – Accessible to everyone). Important: click the box that says “Automatically show this channel in everyone’s channel list.”
  3. Continue to add channels for all groups following the instructions above
  4. You may also click on the “…” icon next to your Team name, and then on “Manage Team” / “Channels”. This allows you to select/unselect the boxes for “Show for me” and “Show for Members” and to delete channels

For my 400-level German class, I set up small groups that I changed every two weeks, mixing the students randomly. I found that students wanted a more stable group so they could get to know their small group members and 2 weeks was about right, because they also wanted variety and to get to work with different students in the class. In my 200-level German class, I changed the groups every week because they were smaller and the groups met more frequently. When you change up groups, you have the option to delete the old channels and thus their chat/call history (what I did), or you could also just re-title the channels with the names of new group members.

I also learned the hard way that if you click on “hide” under the channel options, the channel only disappears from view on your team, not for all members. I had a student screen share and was horrified that they had a list of 10+ different channels on the left sidebar – a confusing mess of old channels I thought I had “hidden” and thus cleaned up. You can manage channels that are shown by clicking “Manage team” / “Channels.”

Summary and Tips:

  •   Use channels in Microsoft Teams to create small groups.
  • Students can video call in small groups and the instructor may join and leave calls
  • You can have multiple video calls (meetings) going on at the same time within a team. You can leave the main (general) call “on hold” as a place for students to return to after their group meets
  • Be clear about how long students should meet in their group, and assign someone to keep an eye on the clock
  • Ask students how often they want to switch up small groups. You want to allow students to get to know their small groups, but also work with different students in class.
  • Use collaborative documents (Google Docs, Sheets) to see students work together in real-time and give feedback.
  • Teams allows you to view video for up to 9 users. If you create groups larger than 8, some students will be able to “hide.”

I want to end this post with a round of applause for Josh Moon and a huge thanks for all his help in supporting faculty over the past few months. Danke, Josh!