Mockup - Engagement Guide as Blog

Building a Community of Inquiry, Live Micro-lectures, Office Hours, or Ask Me Anything (AMA) Discord is a free platform for creating an online community. Like Zoom, Discord allows for live audiovisual meetings and screen sharing. Unlike Zoom, however, created channels or “rooms” are always open and chat contents are never deleted. And while there is no ability to record meetings themselves, instructors and students can record short “voice memos” or “video memos” to leave behind in the chat channel. This allows for asynchronous audiovisual conversations, which is something Zoom can’t do. Furthermore, Discord allows for instant and persistent file sharing: all you do is post the file or link to the chat stream.  Here is a screenshot of the general Discord interface. The various chat and audio channels are on the left side, the channel’s chat stream is in the center, and a list of members currently logged in is on the right side. In the stream itself, comments as well as a shared link...

  Live Micro-lectures, Office Hours, or Ask Me Anything (AMA) Being ASU faculty, we have free access to Zoom Workplace, a powerful yet easy to use platform for hosting live audiovisual meetings. Zoom comes with many features like closed captioning, polls and surveys, a built-in whiteboard, screen sharing, and recording–all of which can be leveraged for effective presentations and discussions. While many instructors use Zoom for virtual office hours, it can also be used to host and record mini-lectures to help students through difficult content, and to hold less formal Q&A sessions about course content. Zoom also has built-in security features like a waiting room, so that hosts can regulate who is allowed to participate in meetings. (This is in contrast to other platforms like Discord.)  Here is a screenshot of the whiteboard feature in use. In this meeting, an instructor has students use the notecard feature to organize ideas into categories.  During a mini-lecture, y...

  Video Review or Re-Teach Recent trends show students want, and respond better to, video interactions from online instructors. This is because being able to see instructors and hear their supportive, encouraging responses not only augments the sense of instructor presence, but also lends personality and compassion to an otherwise tone-dead space. While some instructors use short “vlogs” to relay feedback on essays–which is a great practice, especially on drafts–short instructional videos can also help clarify misunderstood content. These brief “vidcasts” can be a great way to loop in pop culture to drive student engagement and investment. Below is a screenshot from a vidcast I made to help students with rhetorical elements. In this part of the video, I used Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai to help draw attention to rhetorical context.  One thing to keep in mind is that we currently live in the era of TikTok, and students will typically not tolerate videos longer than five to ten m...

Bi-Weekly Newsletter A personalized bi-weekly newsletter can be a good way to let students know, in your own voice and style, how the course is going from your perspective. It can be not only a place to celebrate successes and address concerns, but a place to do so with a touch of humor. Here’s a selection from an older version of one such newsletter, titled “The Campfire.” It has five sections, and in one of the sections I used a short meme to help illustrate a student’s concern about writing.  Welcome Welcome to the first issue of "Campfire," our newsletter for First Year Composition. This issue is divided into the following five sections:  Instructor's Corner is where I reflect on topics that drew a lot of student response and highlight ideas that didn't get enough emphasis in the forums. Burning Embers . Here I include selections from one or two posts, or from one or two assignments, interjecting my own comments. Two Cents is where I provide some tips for the u...

Before Session Start activity day/date done Check if you have access to Canvas and your course(s) 1-2 weeks prior to students added Ensure your course’s syllabus is uploaded to the Schedule of Courses – you can download a PDF from within your Canvas course or reach out to your Course Coordinator if you’re unsure of how to proceed. Prior to students added In Canvas, update and personalize “Meet Your Instructional Team” page content Prior to students added Link your Top Hat shell to your Canvas course shell – view the Writers’ Studio Instructor Technology Guide for instructions on how to complete this step varies Check for any emails from SAILS about students with accommodations this session, and reach out to students if applicable. While these can come at any time during the term, most of them come prior to the course start or within the first week.  varies Wait for e-mail from Writing Mentor Coordinator to see pairings; add Writing Mentor to your course once pairings have be...