4.3 Managing Flexible Course Content

Reusable content

Whether you’re a fan of sustainability—reduce, reuse, recycle—or want to maintain your sanity, reusable content is the way to go. As you plan or create content for your class, think through how one item or one version can support students in multiple environments. In Module 2, we explored strategies like a library of reusable feedback comments and reusing help snippets from your syllabus to provide just-in-time support in your activity instructions. Here are some strategies for reusable course content:

• Record live lectures – An easy way to create reusable content is to press the record button before each class meeting. Even better, use the videoconference settings to automatically record each session to the cloud. Share the link to the video with a transcript in a follow-up message to the class. Most videoconference tools will let you trim the ends, so students see only the relevant material.
• Create short how-to videos – If you are teaching students a skill that they need to use throughout the semester, record one how-to video and reuse it any time students need to recall that skill.
• Avoid time-based references – When you record mini-lectures or give live presentations, try to avoid references to days, times, holidays, seasons or current events. This gives you a better chance of being able to reuse that content in a future class or for another section of the same class. I’ll do this in the summary module for this Institute, by saying “We’ll conduct several open lab opportunities to answer questions, discuss specific flexible course scenarios, explore strategies in more depth and solicit feedback about our works in progress. I’ll email you all with the dates and times.”
• Find someone else’s reusable content – If you need to create content for your class, someone else may have created it already and shared it on the web. Look through websites dedicated to sharing reusable content, like MERLOT Links to an external site. or OER Commons Links to an external site..

Flexibility strategies for lectures

If you’re a fan of the musical Hamilton, now is the time to sing “The Room Where It Happens.” Why? Because we’re going to talk about a big flexible course challenge: delivering and recording lectures from a campus classroom.

Imagine a student is using a smartphone to participate in a Zoom lecture or watch a Zoom recording. Can they read what you share on your screen, such as presentation slides, a website, an application like Excel, or something else?

• Give access to slides, notes, handouts
• Provide audio descriptions of each screen you share
• Address students in each modality you offer

Addressing student needs

There is a lot to consider when you give a lecture. Can everyone see the visuals well?  Can they read the videoconference chat? Can everyone hear me? Can they hear students in the classroom talking? Can they hear remote students who turn on their microphone?

• Play-by-play announcer – In your transition from teacher to flexible course experience facilitator, support students by giving play-by-play commentary. Get in the habit of repeating anything that someone may not have been able to see or hear.
• Crowdsourcing – Delegate some of the play-by-play activity by asking students in the classroom—volunteer tech scribes or chat jockeys—to type their classmates’ questions and comments.

Managing visuals

Some people have a rule about using 24-point font or larger for presentations so people in the back of the room can read the text. The new rule should be to test any lecture visuals by viewing them on a smartphone.

• Simultaneous movie release – Some mainstream movies are released to theaters and to streaming services like HBO Max at the same time. For flexible course experiences, students in your classroom are in the theater watching the big screen, while remote and asynchronous learners are streaming it to their device.
• Airplane seat-back TVs – Use software like Nearpod to allow in-person and remote, real-time students to watch the visuals on their own monitors
• Advance screening – Borrow from the flipped classroom model and record your lecture ahead of time. Ask students to watch it before the scheduled class time, summarize the main points when the class meeting begins, and jump into a series of activities that builds on or applies what students need to learn.
• Remote control – Share your slides ahead of time or put a link to them in the videoconference chat once everyone is in the room. This allows the students to follow along locally as you present, which may make it easier for them to read the text or review complex diagrams or images. In micro-lesson 3.3, we talked about run-of-show documents. If you use a run of show document, have your links ready to copy and paste into the chat when you need to share them with students. This avoids losing time to searching for a link. If you’re not tied to PowerPoint, Google slides are easy to share and students with smartphones don’t have to download them to their device.

Visual communication

In Module 3 we talked about some visual forms of communication, but we’ll quickly revisit visual communication scenarios that may emerge during a class meeting.

• ASL interpreters – If a sign language interpreter joins one of your students for live class meetings, here are some ways to support them. Send the interpreter your slides and other visuals in advance, so they can get familiar with the vocabulary. In the videoconference environment use a feature like spotlight (Zoom) so the interpreter is always pinned for the student.
• Real-time captioners – Similarly, a student may use a real-time captioning service. Be sure to use the videoconference settings to set up the captioning experience.
• Automated captions – Although they are not consistent enough for accessibility purposes, automated captions support English language learners and students who prefer text. Use videoconference settings to set up automated captioning, and remember to enable them when you start each session.
• Videoconference chat – If you don’t have a Chat Jockey—a role we discussed in Micro-lecture 3.3—then create regular time slots to check the chat for questions and comments. If you think you might forget, add “checking for understanding” slides that prompt you to pause and check for verbal and chat-based questions. This allows you to lecture uninterrupted for chunks of time, rather than bouncing back and forth from your lecture and the chat.
• Other visual tools
  • Polls (e.g., videoconference polling tool, Poll Everywhere): Read out the prompt and answer options when you launch a poll, and read the results when you close it. Let asynchronous students know how they can participate in the same poll or an equivalent data collection activity.
  • Annotation: Be sure to provide an audio description of any annotations you or your students make. For example, “In this diagram of the heart I’m circling the aorta which passes over the heart from the left ventricle and runs down in front of the backbone. I’m circling it because today we’re discussing aortic stenosis—when the heart’s aortic valve narrows—which is the most common form of valvular heart disease in the elderly population.”

Managing audio

You know the commercial where the guy says, “Can you hear me now?” Well, when you increase flexibility in your course, something as simple as talking can involve problem-solving. Let’s look at different audio-related scenarios and how to manage them in flexible environments.

• Surround sound – Some campuses have put a lot of work into building flexible classroom environments. The most tricked-out rooms have microphones suspended from the ceiling to capture students’ questions and comments, and speakers for in-person students to hear comments from remote, real-time students. The teacher has a microphone, too, such as a lavalier mic, a wireless handheld mic or a podium mic.
• Talk show or town hall with a live audience – Some daytime talk shows (and many conference plenary sessions) engage in-person audience members by walking to them with a handheld microphone so the TV viewers can hear. In other cases, like televised or livestreamed town hall meetings, people with questions walk up to a microphone on a stand. You may be able to use one of these strategies to capture student comments or questions. Check your campus’ most recent safety protocols to determine how close you can get to students.
• Echo chamber – In-person students may bring a laptop or smartphone to the classroom. If they log into the videoconference, they can hear the remote students, but that can cause a distraction for other students around them. If any in-person students turn on their videoconference microphones, they may combine to create an echo or worse, a horrible, audio feedback loop.
• Single point of contact – Another scenario is that the teacher has the only microphone in the room. If it’s a lavalier or wireless handheld mic, then you can move around the classroom. If your laptop is your microphone and you have wireless earbuds like airpods, then test your range to see how far away from the laptop you can walk before your sound cuts out. Remember that you must repeat every in-person question or comment for the remote and asynchronous learners. Similarly, if there is no speaker system, then you must repeat every remote question for the in-person learners.
• Tethered teacher – In some cases, a fixed podium mic, your laptop or your laptop with wired earbuds may the only microphone. That means you will be tethered to one location whenever you lecture or facilitate engagement.
• The Masked Teacher – Unlike the game show where judges guess who is singing from inside a giant school mascot costume, you may have to wear a face mask while teaching. That can make it hard for many students to hear or understand you.
  • Studies have shown that surgical masks hinder speech recognition the least
  • Consider a mask with a see-through panel for your mouth, especially if you teach languages or have students who are deaf or hard of hearing
  • Reduce background noise by closing doors to loud hallways

Accessibility

There are a variety of ways to check your course materials and your course environments for accessibility. Tools like Adobe Reader Pro have Accessibility tools that check your document for you. Tools like Blackboard Ally allow you to check all of your course materials at once. Even if you don’t have Ally, there is a pretty consistent set of accessibility items to look for. The following considerations apply equally to Microsoft Word files, Google docs, and content pages in your learning management system:

• Text formatting: Use heading styles for headings and subheadings as you chunk your content. Use list functionality for bulleted or numbered lists rather than typing dashes or numbers on your own.
• Descriptive text: Provide alternative text descriptions for each image you include. Use descriptive links that tell your students where they are going or what the link will do.
• Color: Make sure the text contrast is strong enough against the background color of the page. Use non-color formatting like bold or italics so color is not the only way you show something is different or important.
• Table formatting: Use header rows for each table you create. This supports students who use screen readers.

Activity 4.3

Purpose (WHY): Finding and creating instructional materials that can be used and reused across different course modalities entails a) checking existing materials for accessibility, b) making sure that students in any modality can use all course materials, and c) producing live and recorded lectures that consider all possible content review pathways and challenges.

Task (WHAT): For this activity, you get a choice! Pick the highest priority for you right now. You can come back again later to complete all three:

• Consider the content that you typically share throughout your course. Identify reusable content that you can provide to students at different times and in different environments. Make sure that the content will be consistent or equivalent in each scenario.
• List strategies for recording or delivering lectures in flexible environments. Include ideas about how to support students in any modality.
• If accessibility is your priority, use this time to conduct an accessibility check and determine where there are challenges for students with disabilities.

How this activity will work:

• If you’re joining me in real-time, either in the room or online, I’ll create three breakout rooms – one for discussing feedback plans, one for discussing how to collect student feedback and one for discussing strategies that support accessibility. You can join any of them or jump from one to another. Each room will assign a scribe to type up the group’s ideas in the Google docs I will share in the chat. Individuals are welcome to create a row for themselves as well.
  • Clicking each link below will allow you to edit the collaborative document. Add your name or breakout room number in an empty row, so the others know you are working there. Please do not erase other people's work! This document will act as a shared resource for the entire cohort. 
    • Activity 4.3 – Reusable content ideas Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wpvt93G87ztfAUHvTmOINDJSZFlGfcMS7CgLRDSke4g/edit?usp=sharing Links to an external site.
    • Activity 4.3 – Delivering lectures in flexible environments Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FX8KLbBo5094GKoZk9LS1RfjXZQDpb8Tf4yRITEdjDw/edit?usp=sharing Links to an external site.
    • Activity 4.3 – Accessibility checklist Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1np0IjqhetGD4j3qxx0_oaavJMCFSlofPEZnX1Kz28tI/edit?usp=sharing Links to an external site.
  • You are welcome do these activities on your own as well. Clicking each link below will allow you to create a copy for yourself.
    • Activity 4.3 – Reusable content ideas - blank copy Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l1MMuTBxekT13yh5CdbhYeKcUDuMhOq_mULw2MRxq7Y/copy
    • Activity 4.3 – Delivering lectures in flexible environments - blank copy Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mrut2IBgPt8Em_HSJBVAVhBjNPNPgIAY4y_gE3RekrU/copy
    • Activity 4.3 – Accessibility Checklist - blank copy Links to an external site. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ew1hBh3vVnUrKpcwntVTv4-yoh0xyUnmzdpzEbmmvfM/copy
• If you’re working on your own time, directly above you will find the link to the Activity 4.3 Google doc associated with each activity you want to complete. If you choose to work on a collaborative document, add to the thinking that the real-time group began and use the comment feature to ask questions. If you choose to work on your own copy, please share your thoughts and questions in Slack!