The IAS eFellows launched two revised courses this fall. One is Maryam Griffin’s Hybrid (80% online) Introduction to Law and Society and the other is Kristin Gustafson’s BIS 499 Capstone Portfolio course. As IAS eFellows, both faculty put in many hours working digitally on various portions of their courses, improving the design of the class, and altering the existing content to make it more accessible, visually appealing, and make the best use of the tools offered .
Maryam shared her thoughts about the month long eFellows cohort work.
“My course (and indeed my teaching) has improved in myriad ways through the eFellows Institute, not least of all that it now features more sophisticated and user-friendly design and more purposeful material curation. The organizational strategies I accessed through the Institute as well as Todd’s direct (and extensive) design support have generated a course that eliminates the mental taxation of encountering a messy website and that instead allows students to easily navigate the Canvas page, which is their main point of access to the course. Consistent design elements across pages and modules mirror the consistency in types of content, assignments, and expectations from week to week, which in turn signals a rhythm to students so that they can anticipate and timely meet expectations. The pedagogical strategies we learned in the Institute have also caused me to think more deliberately about the distinct purpose(s) of each course assignment so that I now make sure to have specific spaces for students to absorb, process, apply, and extend course material. As I prepare for my in-person courses, I am finding this shift in approach, and the many skills I gained through the Institute, to be benefiting me in non-online classes, as well.”
With help from the DLI, Maryam modified her homepage to depict the nine course modules using a UW purple theme and icons representing the topics for each week. She added a course banner and simplified the course menu.
Maryam and the DLI created icons for each of the heading items on her module pages. She matched the color of the headings to the color of the icons. Adding to the course consistency, she gives a short overview of the module, describes the learning objectives, and shares a weekly “action Plan” for the week. These same pages are the first things students see in each week of the course.
Even Maryam’s assignments utilize the small icons and color scheme. Here is an example of a discussion board assignment.
Both courses had custom “dashboard cards” made for them.
Kristen’s course incorporated similar homepage icons that represented content studied that weeek.
Her pages in the weekly modules made use of a themed set of icons and a bar of links to each of the modules in the course.
Part of the BIS 499 course involves reflection. Each of the weeks in Kristin’s class ends with a reflection. An image highlights each of the pages.
