Stuff we learned during the 2024 conference season

Session Information: Why your site may still not be accessible | Chris Sabatinos, Web Accessibility Specialist (AODA), Division of People Strategy, Equity and Culture | IT at UofT Conference

Reflection by: Irina Belaya

Session Description: This session focused on the ongoing challenges and successes in creating inclusive digital spaces at U of T. Key points covered the importance of following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), avoiding common mistakes such as relying too heavily on automated tools and trendy but inaccessible design elements, and the need for ongoing education and better practices among developers and content editors. Chris highlighted significant progress, such as increased community engagement and improved basic accessibility, while also addressing areas where human error and inconsistent practices still create challenges.

Takeaways: I will prioritize following WCAG guidelines to ensure our digital resources are accessible to all users and make sure to inform others to avoid common mistakes.

For more information: For information on website compliance, advice, or an audit, you can send inquiries to Chris Sabatinos, Web Accessibility Specialist: chris.sabatinos@utoronto.ca.

Session Information: Leveraging Crowdmark to improve assessment practices from individual courses to the entire university | Adam Finkelstein, Associate Director, Learning Environments, Teaching and Learning Services, McGill University | Crowdmark Community Conference 2024

Reflection by: Anna Limanni

Session Description: "The 'sweet spot' for planning and creating assessment involves considering a balance of 4 components:

1. Sound pedagogy: includes aligning assessment to learning outcomes, and allowing multiple, varied opportunities to demonstrate learning,
2. Wellness: includes making choices that support well-being for both instructor and students (e.g., consideration of workload required)
3. Academic integrity: includes commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness,
4. Respect, responsibility, and courage; for instructors and administrators this also includes consideration of what factors promote breaches of academic integrity (e.g., heavily weighted assessments such as exams worth 50%, and short turn-around times such as several assessments due in a short period of time)
5. Assessment security: includes identity verification and policy enforcement"

Key Takeaways: Even though the presentation focused on how Crowdmark could be used to create 'sweet spot' assessments that balance those 4 components (including fully MCQ exams, MCQ to open response assessments, weekly reflections between readings and lecture content, two-stage exams with group stage and individual component), the lessons shared can apply to other tools in our Academic Toolbox (including Quercus Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions or other tools such as peerScholar. The key is to consider the assessment design components first, rather than the tool. This has always been a guiding principle for our team's Academic Toolbox consultations with staff and faculty and this session provided validation that we are on the right track with our support strategy.

For more information: Instructors can review content from some of our previous webinars:

1. Select your online assessment tool
2. Learn more about integrating online assessment into your on campus course
3. View CTSI webinar recordings on Assessment and Feedback

Session Information: Discovering the "Lost Elements" of Learner Engagement | Karl Kapp | Adobe Learning World 2024

Reflection by: Inga Breede

Session Description: We can draw inspiration from game design by incorporating meaningful activity into online learning experiences, to promote engagement and support long-term retention and transfer.

Key Takeaways: It would be interesting to practice some of the concepts of supporting learning engagement in the online learning module that the ETO builds (such as MIMP or future projects similar in scope to our Sharps Safety module). Three concepts that stood out for me/Inga include:

1. Space Practice: Vary the conditions of learning to make learning more resilient.
2. Action-First Learning: Let the learner take action right away before introducing walls of text/content.
3. Storytelling: Build in a narrative around facts rather that listing them as bullet points.

For more information: Karl Kapp has a website with additional resources, online templates, and links to his published books. His next book, "Action-First Learning," is planned for release in 2025. All the sessions from Adobe Learning World were recorded and are available online (if you have an Adobe account).

Session Information: Leveraging Crowdmark to improve assessment practices from individual courses to the entire university | Adam Finkelstein, Associate Director, Learning Environments, Teaching and Learning Services, McGill University | Crowdmark Community Conference 2024

Reflection by: Allison Van Beek

Session Description: In this session, Adam reviewed some assumptions of assessment and assessment design (including how grading is different than assessment), how Crowdmark (it is a Crowdmark conference!) supports expanded assessments (especially in large classes) and shared McGill's experience transitioning to a centralized support model for Crowdmark (something FASE has not done...yet). More though, he engaged the audience thoughtfully in a discussion about assessments and how they are used.

Key Takeaways: This quote lives rent free in my head: “In the minds of our students, what we test and how we test says more about our educational goals, values, and philosophy than anything else we do or say during the term” (Whetten, 2007). It makes me think about how often our best intentions to align learning outcomes to assessments go awry because the tools (and time) that are needed to assess are lacking and the message sent to students about what they should takeaway from their class is so different from the teaching teams' intentions. Yet, it remains exceedingly difficult to create that alignment (even with a lot of support) and so change remains slow and challenging. Crowdmark doesn't have all the answers, but the discussion is provacative.