It seemed like a simple explanation at the time. By the time I was almost done, I realized that I had almost undermined my entire ungrading system. This fall, I have a few hard deadlines. Most work has a grace…
Category: Teaching
Transparent Feedback Strategies
My assessment this term focuses on feedback, as a part of the #ungrading approach I have adopted. Since I do not put A’s and B’s on student work, feedback is critical. Understandably, some students are a bit nervous about this…
Decoding Racist Language in Technical Writing
Yesterday’s Marketplace broadcast included a story that demonstrates the power of racist coding in less than 2.5 minutes. “Can changing home appraisal language help close the wealth gap?” examines how the word choice in home appraisals, which are essentially technical…
Making Outlines Work in Tech Writing
I am not a fan of outlines. I never could figure out how someone was supposed to know all the bits of their document before they wrote it. Sure you can make a working sketch of what you want to…
Midterm Course Progress Report Assignment
It feels like just yesterday I was setting up my course for the summer session–and now, suddenly, midterm is upon us as we begin the third week of this six-week course. By the end of the week, students will turn…
Rethinking the Structure of My Online Assignments
Full of specific and practical suggestions, Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (Jossey-Bass, 2019), by Flower Darby with James M. Lang, is a book I wish I had had when I first started teaching online. I’ve read…
White Paper Assignment Series
I just updated a series of assignments related to writing a white paper, in response to a colleague’s request. The series includes a series of four assignments, which are listed and linked at the bottom of the Overview page. Students…
Do You Know Where To Find The Answers?
Students are accustomed to the campus classroom, where the teacher is available regularly to remind them how to find the resources that they need to complete activities in a course. Instructure’s Trenton Goble suggests the five questions on this infographic…
How to Restore Deleted Files in Canvas
My favorite hidden feature in Canvas is the ability to restore files and other resources that you have deleted. Warnings: The tool is not 100% effective, so be cautious when you remove information from your course. The tool only restores…
Weekly Work Logs
Background and Goals To support the anti-racist assessment system in my course, I am using Weekly Work Logs, where students track the work that they have done. The idea for these logs as they are used in anti-racist assessment comes…