Category: Teaching News

Fall semester, beginning August 17th, is right around the corner. As you prepare, CELT has you covered with website resources, programming, and the ISU Course Template. Of great interest:

• ISU Course Template: Easy to use and to adapt, the ISU Course Template contains the fundamental components for a quality online course. The template is pre-loaded with a homepage, modules, and necessary information of value to you and your students. Instructors such as Professor Stacy Cordery, History, have raved “The savings to me in terms of time, energy, and anxiety are incalculable. I know it’s going to be a great tool for faculty and students, whose lives will surely be made a bit easier with some uniformity and predictability as they try to navigate all their different syllabi (online, in class, and hybrid).” See the ISU Course Template page,
  Register to attend a webinar, Online Course Essentials (ONCE) using the ISU course template,
  • Jul. 30 (1-2:15 p.m.),
  • Aug. 3 (3-4:15 p.m.), or
  • Aug. 12 (11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.).
  • Or, submit a departmental ONCE workshop request form.

• Start of Semester Checklist: The how-to with pictures of preparing your Canvas course: The Start of Semester Checklist.

• Quick Start Guide: Apply these strategies to help you prioritize and communicate with your students this fall, Quick Start Guide.

• Teaching with Technology: Whether you are teaching face to face, hybrid, or online, check out the redesigned “teaching with technology” web resources. These resources include everything from the new Canvas @ ISU site, instructional strategies about teaching, including web conferencing (yes, info about Webex and Zoom!) to instructional tool how-tos to ideas for engaging students in the online environment. Review and bookmark the Teaching with Technology page.

• Programming: Mark your calendars for exciting CELT programming from 30-minute “choose your instructional tool adventures” to hour-long discussions of course design, engaging students, inclusion, accessibility, web conferencing (Webex, Zoom, MS Teams), managing disruptive conduct in learning spaces to semester-long teaching and learning communities, via the Upcoming Events page.

Do you have questions, concerns, ideas about teaching and learning? Or ideas about programming? Email celt@iastate.edu.

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

This teaching tip includes answers to the most frequently asked instructor questions as well as Canvas basics for those new to ISU’s learning management system (LMS) Canvas.

In addition, we want to share how faculty are finding success while delivering content online:

• ISU news highlighted Steve Butler (Mathematics), Raluca Iancu (Art and Visual Culture) in this, “Iowa State faculty get creative as courses move online for the remainder of spring semester” article.
• Matt Wetstein (Physics & Astronomy) developed this fun Physics 221 Online: Theatrical Trailer (YouTube video) for students.
• Inside Iowa State featured Megan Myers (World Languages and Cultures) in their “Instructors use student survey to guide online transition” article.

Do you or your colleagues have success stories to share? Email us at celt@iastate.edu.

With joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning?

Synchronous happens in ‘real-time’ at a specific virtual location during one particular time of the day using video conferencing tools (Webex, Zoom) to live stream a lecture/meeting. For example, every Monday at 2:10 p.m. (Central Savings Time) in a Webex virtual room. Use synchronous mode for student office hours and courses where oral communication and live discussions are crucial to attaining learning objectives.

Asynchronous happens on your schedule: materials, lectures, and assignments posted in Canvas for students to access. There are due dates, but there is also flexibility in when and where students access and complete the tasks. Self-guided lesson modules, streaming video content, virtual libraries, posted lecture notes, and exchanges across discussion boards are examples. The asynchronous model allows time for students to settle into the learning routine and for instructors to pace their facilitation.

How do I “deliver content”?

• Consider recording short, up to 8-minute videos of mini-lectures.
• Create videos in Canvas Studio (located on the left global navigation bar above ? help) and post them inside your online course. Videos uploaded to Studio are compacted and more accessible to students with limited internet access. For advice on how to do these things and more, see the Canvas Studio guide in MyCanvas Teacher.
• Or consider an even more accessible option, posting mini-lectures in the form of PowerPoint slides with notes, or even a PowerPoint file and a pdf of the Notes documents, in which instructors describe the slides.

How do I deliver exams and promote academic integrity?

Assessments are powerful learning tools and provide useful information to you as an instructor.

• In Canvas, quizzes serve as low and high-stakes assessments.
• Use Canvas Assignments for essay exams (or use the recommend File Upload option in Canvas quizzes).
• Consult ways to promote academic integrity and capture student learning for additional ideas.
• Be sure to post responses to the most challenging questions, and perhaps there is a need for more significant explanation via a short Video or posted notes.
• Ask students to self-assess their mistakes and find opportunities for mastery of content.

If you have not seen your questions answered here, please consult the Deliver course content table on the Quick Start Guide page for other ideas on transforming your in-person sessions into the online environment or email celt@iastate.edu.

3 things to emphasize to all ISU students

Senior Vice President and Provost Wickert asked us to share this with you, “As you send messages (via email or Announcements, Canvas Inbox) to students regarding ISU’s conversion to virtual instruction, it is helpful to emphasize these three points consistently:

• Virtual courses continue to count toward students’ degree programs.
• We have implemented a temporary Pass/Not Pass option (PDF) to provide students with additional flexibility.
• Our faculty are committed to providing a high-quality educational experience in the virtual environment. This commitment was expressed recently in a resolution from Iowa State’s Faculty Senate (PDF).”

5 steps to successful teaching in Canvas

Use these key Canvas steps to ensure a successful teaching and learning experience. Conversations with undergrad and graduate students, instructional designers, and examination of tickets submitted to the ISU Solution Center helped create these points.

1. Announcements. Every time a student logs into your course, they see whatever you provide them via the front page (How to set a Front Page guide) as well as announcements (How to add an announcement guide). During this time of uncertainty, be sure to create an informational front page and add (and remove outdated announcements) to keep students up to date.
2. Update Notifications. Students can turn off Canvas notifications! Set your notification preferences and then explain how students can update their notifications to ensure that they receive all Canvas updates in their iastate.edu emails.
3. Modules for Organization. Make your course easy to navigate so that students can concentrate on the subject matter at hand. Within each module, you can include PowerPoint slides, lectures, quizzes, assignments, and discussion prompts. Some instructors organize modules by weeks and some by multi-week units under the same topic.
4. SpeedGrader. This Canvas tool is an easy and effective way to provide an electronic record of the students’ work, your feedback, and the grade (How to use SpeedGrader guide).
5. Publish. One of the most frequent issues submitted to the ISU Solution Center is that students cannot access the course, the modules, quizzes, tests, or assignments. The solution? Publish each content item, and use Student View to make sure that they see what you see (How do I view a course as a student? web guide).

This fall semester brings more complications than any semester before. However, many fundamental aspects of teaching at Iowa State University remain the same. Our students bring their dreams and their aspirations with them to Ames. Whether the students know exactly what to study or are still figuring out their focus, it is our opportunity and responsibility to help them succeed.

Provide a roadmap to success

Share with your students why what they are learning is essential. What does it matter for the major and for their future careers? Provide a roadmap for them to succeed using transparent assignments that give students enough information to know how to meet the learning objectives.

Create connections between students, content, and you

Students bring with them the desire to not only learn the material but also to learn more about themselves and others. Students are still forming their identities shaped by their experiences. Provide multiple ways for students to connect, the content, and with you, the instructor. In all modalities, face-to-face, hybrid, and online, there are many ways to encourage connections. Such as synchronous meeting times, the formation of small pods of students, group projects that require the group to work together (but apart) on weighty problems significant to the discipline, and the use of discussion boards. Discover these strategies and more via the Engage Students Online webpage.

Care for our students, and ourselves

The university-wide Syllabus statement clarifies how we can keep each other safe and be sure to use the COVID-19 health and safety requirements statement. The Dean of Students office has extensive resources/services, including helpful scenarios to consider. If you are concerned about a student’s well-being or behavior, contact the Dean of Students Office at 515-294-1020, send an email to studentassistance@iastate.edu, or use the “refer a student” link at the top of the Office of Student Assistance page.

Good luck and best wishes for the fall semester,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching