Lessons Learned from the Pandemic

There are four main categories that feedback (from surveys, focus groups, meetings, and anecdotal story sharing) tends to fall into:

1. Academic Experience and Course Delivery (including Assessments)
2. Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
3. Student Mental Health and Wellness
4. Communications and Engagement

Since this is an EdTech blog, this post will focus on how technologies available as part of the UofT Academic Toolbox can support your activities within the above categories. In a similar style to EngSci's Top 10 Recommendations for Online Learning, we will share the recommendations and then link to practical ways that you can implement those suggestions.

Academic Experience and Course Delivery

• Rethink how much to cover (this Vanderbilt resource introduces you to Backwards Design, working from what you want students to know and do by the end of the course and using those priorities to determine the content and activities in your course)
• Rethink the necessity and extent of micro-assignments (see case studies and examples on Rethinking Assessment)
  • Build assignments from one to the next to support academic intregrity
  • Balance is key: avoid too many small assignments as well as too large summative assessments
  • Design for flexibility into assessment (and create a contingency plan for when things go wrong)
• Fixed timed assessments are very stressful (see how you can add time to your quiz)
• Keep the weekly workload for your course at 10 (or less) hours (see the E-CORE Quick Guide to Ensuring Appropriate Student Workload in Online Courses)