# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Higher education's overnight switch to online course delivery made it challenging for faculty members to replicate active learning remotely. For instructors who had little experience using in-class technology at scale, this was even more pronounced.

A 2019 Harvard study found that while students perceived traditional 'sage-on-stage' lecturing to be effective, their test scores were higher when active learning was woven into class. Ultimately, helping students see the value of their online learning materials means interspersing class with active learning strategies. Classrooms this fall will look different from campus to campus-some online classes will be self-paced, others will be in real-time; there will even be some physically distanced face-to-face offerings. Regardless of the learning environment, here's how you can implement these active learning activities at scale.

1. Think-pair-share

In this active learning activity, students are given a statement or real-world case study to reflect upon. After a short period of time, students partner up and compare their findings and observations with one another. Pairs then present their results to the class. This exercise is ideal for encouraging collaborative learning.

Synchronous online course

Asynchronous online course

Face-to-face classroom

In Slate, Top Hat's course communication and community tool, students can instant message or video conference in pairs. Top Hat's Virtual Classroom feature can then be used to 'share the stage' with students when presenting to the class.

In Slate, students can reflect individually and then share their findings with their partner in a private channel. Consider setting up a channel for this specific lecture or week so that students can share their results with the larger group.

Share the case study or question with students and allow five minutes for individual reflection. Next, encourage partners to jot down their thoughts and connections either using pen and paper or using an online document. After ten minutes, have students present their findings in front of the class. Try to ensure a microphone is present so all students can hear one another.

2. Muddiest point

In this active learning activity, students note the most confusing part of the lecture or lesson, otherwise known as their 'muddiest point.' Instructors then use these insights to guide teaching decisions on how much time to spend on related topics. This exercise is ideal for monitoring and assessing understanding through online discussions.

Synchronous online course

Asynchronous online course

Face-to-face classroom

Mid-way through class, encourage students to share what was unclear in the material you just covered. Have students submit their answers using Top Hat's live chat. Students can upvote their peers' responses making it easy for you to see what topics proved difficult. Top Hat discussion questions are equally effective-students can post their response and upvote other threads under the question.

Video assignments allow students to record and submit video submissions in Top Hat from their computer. When grading assignments, you can provide personalized feedback. This method should be optional to keep the learning experience equitable for everyone.

For classes of 30 or less, have students write their response on a Post-it note. While practicing physical distancing, ask students to stick their note on a wall or blackboard where themes or anticipated answers have been indicated by you in advance. This also provides a visual representation of how many students need support in a certain area.

3. Concept maps

Using flowcharts, students visually represent course information using lines and arrows. Students indicate how material relates to other concepts and how ideas are linked to one another. This learning activity is ideal for strengthening understanding and critical thinking.

Synchronous online course

Asynchronous online course

Face-to-face classroom

Using Top Hat's Virtual Classroom and whiteboard features, draw directly on blank slides to show how ideas link together. Students can 'raise their hands' via live chat and by sharing the stage with them, they can contribute thoughts on how concepts are related. Note that only you will have access to the annotation tool. Once you've guided students through one example, consider assigning this as homework and having students submit a more detailed map asynchronously via Top Hat or your LMS.

An LMS like WizIQ offers interactive whiteboard software for students to draw, highlight and annotate files on their own time. Students can then download their files and submit via the LMS or via Top Hat's new file submission question.

Have students split into groups of three or four. Assign a designated person to take on the role of scribe, while all members contribute ideas from a safe distance. This exercise works best when large chart paper or a whiteboard is present in the room.

4. Four corners

In this active learning activity, faculty members share a provocative question or statement related to the course material with students. Students can answer in four possible ways including 'agree,' 'neutral,' 'disagree,' or 'not sure.' After the statement is presented, students select one of four options and engage in a group discussion with others who chose the same answer. Four corners works best with small groups or in tutorials. This learning activity is ideal for strengthening listening and decision making. Students also have a chance to hear different perspectives through collaborative learning.

Synchronous online course

Asynchronous online course

Face-to-face classroom

In Top Hat's Virtual Classroom, present a statement verbally or via the chat feature. Give students a minute to form their opinions and then ask a multiple choice question and have them vote between the four options. From here, encourage groups to video conference in Slate according to their chosen response. Allow five minutes of discussion before reconvening as a class.

Create a discussion question in Top Hat and ask students to respond accordingly. Multiple choice and click on target question types are also suitable here. Should you choose to tie this to a course reading or larger lesson, consider integrating one of these question types into homework assignments.

Pose the statement or question in class. Designate each corner of the room as one of the categories set out. Give students a minute to settle on an answer. While practicing physical distancing, students can go to the corner of the room that reflects their answer and discuss with others why they thought a certain way.

5. Exit ticket

In this active learning activity, faculty members pose a question to students minutes before the end of class. In order to leave class, students must submit their answer to the assigned question. Exit tickets are a low-stakes way for instructors to refine course content based on what students do and don't know. This learning technique is ideal for strengthening understanding.

Synchronous online course

Asynchronous online course

Face-to-face classroom

Create a discussion question prior to class. In your live class using Top Hat's Virtual Classroom tool, give students the last five to 10 minutes to formulate their answers to your assigned question. Responses to the discussion question will be tracked and stored in the Top Hat gradebook.

Create a discussion question in Top Hat. Have students submit their responses at their convenience. With discussions, you can comment directly under the thread to give students input on where they excelled or struggled.

In small class sessions, have students write their response on a Post-it note. Depending on the size of your classroom, have 2-5 students at a time stick their note on a wall or blackboard to maintain physical distancing.

The fall semester will look different from professor to professor-Top Hat is here to help in any in-person or online environment. Learn how three professors used Top Hat's active learning functionality in various modalities in our Preparing for Multiple Teaching Scenarios with Top Hat Pro webinar recording.

Harleen Dhami is a Marketing Coordinator for Top Hat.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Active Learning while Physical Distancing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Higher education's overnight switch to online course delivery made it challenging for faculty members to replicate active learning remotely. For instructors who had little experience using in-class technology at scale, this was even more pronounced. A 2019 Harvard study found that while students perceived traditional 'sage-on-stage' lecturing to be effective, their test scores were higher when active learning was woven into class.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Finding Open and Creative Commons Content

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
All contents of the 3D Atlas of Human Embryology are licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license by Creative Commons.

For further information on the use or distribution of our materials,

please visit the Creative Commons website through this .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All contents of the 3D Atlas of Human Embryology are licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license by Creative Commons. For further information on the use or distribution of our materials, please visit the Creative Commons website through this .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Active Learning for the Medical Sciences

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Master the medical sciences faster through our active learning approach to anatomy, biochemistry, biology, neuroanatomy, neuroscience, and physiology. Draw it to Know it is the ideal resource for the flipped classroom: learn from the best tutorials and rapid-fire quiz questions for any basic science or pre-clinical medicine education!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The world's most advanced 3D anatomy platform

Used in
over 350
top universities

We've got you covered

Join a community of over 1,000,000 anatomy professionals, educators and students improving their productivity.

Get the most out of Complete Anatomy

Complete Anatomy is built to take you through each stage of your professional journey.

Choose your plan

Try out our 3 day risk free trial, no payment details required.

TRY IT FOR FREE

Gross 3D Anatomy Atlas

Microscopic Anatomy

Access On All Devices

Access On All Devices

All Videos

All Videos

1,500+

1,500+

1,500+

All Courses

All Courses

150+ hrs

150+ hrs

150+ hrs

Dynamic Cross Sections

Interactive Radiology Images

Presentation License

Presentation License

Patient Education License

Patient Education License

Send Curriculum Content

Send Curriculum Content

Curriculum Resources

Curriculum Resources

4,100+

Curriculum Manager

Curriculum Manager

Content Sharing with Deep Links

Content Sharing with Deep Links

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

*Payment returns to full price after discounted year. Prices listed in USD.*

COMPARE MORE

Start today!

Available for download on iOS, macOS, Windows 10 and Android.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Complete Anatomy | advanced 3D anatomy platform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Used in over 350 top universities Join a community of over 1,000,000 anatomy professionals, educators and students improving their productivity. Complete Anatomy is built to take you through each stage of your professional journey. Try out our 3 day risk free trial, no payment details required.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Rice University Center for Teaching Excellence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A blog post that describes the genesis of this estimator, as well as some of its potential uses, can be read here. You can also find a stand-alone version of the estimator that can be embedded into your site here.
Somewhat surprisingly, there is very little research about the amount of time it takes the average college student to complete common academic tasks. We have self-reported estimates of how much total time they spend on academic work outside of class (12-15 hours), but we don't know much about the quality and quantity of the work that is produced in that time frame (let alone how the time is allocated to different tasks). We also know quite a bit about how students tackle common academic tasks, but those studies rarely ask students to report on how long it takes them to complete the task (whether reading a book, writing a paper, or studying for an exam). The testing literature provides some clues (because valid instrument design depends on data about the average speed of test takers), but it's tough to generalize from the experience of taking high-stakes, timed tests to the experience of working on an assignment in the comfort of your dorm. And while there is a sizable literature on reading, the nature and purpose of the reading tasks in these experiments are also quite different from what students typically encounter in college.

All of which is to say the estimates above are just that: estimates.

To arrive at our estimates, we began with what we knew from the literature and then filled in the gaps by making a few key assumptions. The details of our calculations are below. If you still find our assumptions unreasonable, however, the estimator allows you to manually adjust our estimated rates. We also welcome those who have knowledge of research about which we are unaware to suggest improvements.

Reading Rates

Of all the work students might do outside of class, we know the most about their reading. Educators, cognitive psychologists, and linguists have been studying how human beings read for more than a century. One of the best summaries of this extensive literature is the the late Keith Rayner's recently published " So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help?" A central insight of this piece (along with the literature it summarizes) is that none of us read at a constant rate. Instead, we use varying rates that depend on the difficulty and purpose of the reading task (Rayner et al., 2016; Love, 2012; Aronson, 1983; Carver, 1983, 1992; Jay and Dahl, 1975; Parker, 1962; Carrillo and Sheldon, 1952; Robinson, 1941). Another obvious (but rarely acknowledged) insight is that a page-based reading rate is going to vary by the number of words on the page. As a result, our estimator assumes that reading rate will be a function of three factors: 1) page density, 2) text difficulty, and 3) reading purpose. For the sake of simplicity, we limited the variation within each factor to three levels.
Page Density*

450 words: Typical of paperback pages, as well as the 6" x 9" pages of academic journal articles

600 words: Typical of academic monograph pages

750 words: Typical of textbook pages that are 25% images, as well as the full-size pages of two-column academic journal articles

* estimates were determined by direct sampling of texts in our personal collection
Text Difficulty

No New Concepts: The reader knows the meaning of each word and has enough background knowledge to immediately understand the ideas expressed

Some New Concepts: The reader is unfamiliar with the meaning of some words and doesn't have enough background knowledge to immediately understand some of the ideas expressed.

Many New Concepts: The reader is unfamiliar with the meaning of many words and doesn't have enough background knowledge to immediately understand most of the ideas expressed

Reading Purpose

Survey: Reading to survey main ideas; OK to skip entire portions of text

Understand: Reading to understand the meaning of each sentence

Engage: Reading while also working problems, drawing inferences, questioning, and evaluating

What we know from the research:

The optimal reading rate of the skilled adult reader (including college students) is around 300 words per minute. This assumes a "normal" reading environment in which there are no new words or concepts in the text and the purpose of the reading is to understand the meaning of each sentence (Rayner et al., 2016; Carver, 1982).

Adults can read faster than 300 words per minute, but if the goal is to understand the meaning of sentences, rates beyond 300 words per minute reduce comprehension in a near linear fashion (Zacks and Treiman, 2016; Love, 2012; Carver, 1982).

The default reading rates of college students under these normal conditions can range from 100-400 words per minute (Rayner et al., 2016; Siegenthaler et al., 2011; Acheson et al., 2008; Carver, 1982, 1983, 1992; Underwood et al., 1990; Hausfeld, 1981; Just and Carpenter, 1980; Jay and Dahl, 1975; Grob, 1970; McLaughlin, 1969; Robinson and Hall, 1941).

There is no real upper limit on skimming speeds, but the average college student skims for main ideas at rates between 450 and 600 words per minute (Rayner et al., 2016; Carver 1992; Just and Carpenter, 1980; Jay and Dahl, 1975)

In conditions where the material is more difficult (i.e., with some new words and concepts), the optimal reading rate slows to 200 words per minute (Carver, 1992).

In conditions where the purpose is to memorize the text for later recall, the optimal reading rate slows even further to 138 words per minute or lower (Carver, 1992).

Although this has not been measured (to our knowledge), reading experts have argued that it is perfectly reasonable to slow down to rates below 50 words per minute if the goal is to engage a text (Parker, 1962).

What we don't know, but deduce and/or stipulate:

Given that the rates above were discovered in laboratory conditions, when subjects are asked to perform in short, time-constrained intervals, we assume that the reading rates in actual conditions, when students read for longer periods with periodic breaks, will be slightly slower.

Because there is no research on the time it takes students to engage texts, we assume that the rates would be similar to the rates found when students are asked to memorize a text for later recall. Although these are incredibly different tasks, both require attention to details alongside additional processing. If anything, we imagine equating these two rates significantly underestimates the time it takes to read for engagement (for an example of the sort of reading that is likely to take more time than it takes to memorize, see the appendix of Perry et al., 2015).

If the reading purpose remains the same, the change in reading rates across text difficulty levels is linear.

The rate of change in reading rates across text difficulty levels is the same across reading purposes.

Combining what we know with what we assume allows us to construct the following table of estimated reading rates (with rates about which we are most confident in yellow):

Writing Rates

Sadly, we know much less about student writing rates than we do about reading rates. This is no doubt because writing rates vary even more widely than reading rates. Nevertheless, we've found at least one study that can give us a place to begin. In " Individual Differences in Undergraduate Essay-Writing Strategies," Mark Torrance and his colleagues find (among other things) that 493 students reported spending anywhere between 9 to 15 hours on 1500-word essays. In these essays, students were asked to produce a "critical description and discussion of psychological themes" using at least one outside source. Torrance and his colleagues also show that students who spent the least time reported no drafting, while those who spent the most time reported multiple drafts, along with detailed outlining and planning. And the students who spent the most time received higher marks than those who spent the least (Torrance et al., 2000).

Although the sample of this study is sizable, we should not read too much into a single result of student self-reports about a single assignment from a single institution. But to arrive at our estimates, we must. Users should simply be aware that the table below is far more speculative than our reading rate estimates. And that the time your students spend on these tasks is likely to vary from these estimates in significant ways.

As with reading rates, we assume that writing rates will be a function of a variety of factors. The three we take into account are 1) page density, 2) text genre, 3) degree of drafting and revision.
Page Density

250 words: Double-Spaced, Times New Roman, 12-Point Font, 1" Margins

500 words: Single-Spaced, Times New Roman, 12-Point Font, 1" Margins

Text Genre

Reflection/Narrative: Essays that require very little planning or critical engagement with content

Argument: Essays that require critical engagement with content and detailed planning, but no outside research

Research: Essays that require detailed planning, outside research, and crtical engagement

Drafting and Revision

No Drafting: Students submit essays that were never revised

Minimal Drafting: Students submit essays that were revised at least once

Extensive Drafting: Students submit essays that were revised multiple times

What we assume to arrive at our estimates:

The results of the Torrance study are reasonably accurate.

The assignment in the study falls within the "argument" genre. It's hard to tell without more details, but "critical description and discussion" seems to imply more than reflection. And while an outside source was required, finding and using a single source falls well below the expectations of a traditional research paper.

Students write at a constant rate. That is, we assume that a student writing the same sort of essay will take exactly twice as much time to write a 12 page paper as she takes to write a 6 page paper. There are good reasons to think this assumption is unrealistic, but because we have no way of knowing how much rate might shift over the course of a paper, we assume constancy.

Students will spend less time writing a reflective or narrative essay than they spend constructing an argumentative essay (assuming the same degree of drafting and revision). For simplicity's sake, we assume they will spend exactly half the time. It's highly unlikely to be this linear, but we don't know enough to make a more accurate assumption.

Students will spend more time writing a research paper than they spend on their argumentative essays. Again, for simplicity's sake, we assume they will spend exactly twice the amount of time. It's not only unlikely to be this linear, it's also likely to vary greatly by the amount of outside reading a student does and the difficulty of the sources he or she tackles.

These assumptions allow us to construct the following table of estimated writing rates (with rates about which we are most confident in yellow):

Aaronson, Doris, and Steven Ferres. "Lexical Categories and Reading Tasks." Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 9, no. 5 (1983): 675-99. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.9.5.675.

Acheson, Daniel J., Justine B. Wells, and Maryellen C. MacDonald. "New and Updated Tests of Print Exposure and Reading Abilities in College Students." Behavior Research Methods 40, no. 1 (2008): 278-89. doi:10.3758/BRM.40.1.278.

Carrillo, Lawrence W., and William D. Sheldon. "The Flexibility of Reading Rate." Journal of Educational Psychology 43, no. 5 (1952): 299-305. doi:10.1037/h0054161.

Carver, Ronald P. "Is Reading Rate Constant or Flexible?" Reading Research Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1983): 190-215. doi:10.2307/747517.

---. "Optimal Rate of Reading Prose." Reading Research Quarterly 18, no. 1 (1982): 56-88. doi:10.2307/747538.

---. "Reading Rate: Theory, Research, and Practical Implications." Journal of Reading 36, no. 2 (1992): 84-95.

Dehaene, Stanislas. Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read. Reprint edition. New York: Penguin Books, 2010.

Grob, James A. "Reading Rate and Study-Time Demands on Secondary Students." Journal of Reading 13, no. 4 (1970): 285-88.

Hausfeld, Steven. "Speeded Reading and Listening Comprehension for Easy and Difficult Materials." Journal of Educational Psychology 73, no. 3 (1981): 312-19. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.73.3.312.

Jay, S., and Patricia R. Dahl. "Establishing Appropriate Purpose for Reading and Its Effect on Flexibility of Reading Rate." Journal of Educational Psychology 67, no. 1 (1975): 38-43. doi:10.1037/h0078669.

Just, Marcel A., and Patricia A. Carpenter. "A Theory of Reading: From Eye Fixations to Comprehension." Psychological Review 87, no. 4 (1980): 329-54. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.87.4.329.

Love, Jessica. " Reading Fast and Slow." The American Scholar, March 1, 2012.

McLaughlin, G. Harry. "Reading at 'Impossible' Speeds." Journal of Reading 12, no. 6 (1969): 449-510.

Parker, Don H. "Reading Rate Is Multilevel." The Clearing House 36, no. 8 (1962): 451-55.

Perry, John, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer. " Appendix: Reading Philosophy." In Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 7 edition. New York City, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Rayner, Keith, Elizabeth R. Schotter, Michael E. J. Masson, Mary C. Potter, and Rebecca Treiman. "So Much to Read, So Little Time How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help?" Psychological Science in the Public Interest 17, no. 1 (May 1, 2016): 4-34. doi:10.1177/1529100615623267.

Robinson, F., and P. Hall. "Studies of Higher-Level Reading Abilities." Journal of Educational Psychology 32, no. 4 (1941): 241-52. doi:10.1037/h0062111.

Siegenthaler, Eva, Pascal Wurtz, Per Bergamin, and Rudolf Groner. "Comparing Reading Processes on E-Ink Displays and Print." Displays 32, no. 5 (December 2011): 268-73. doi:10.1016/j.displa.2011.05.005.

Torrance, Mark, Glyn V. Thomas, and Elizabeth J. Robinson. "Individual Differences in Undergraduate Essay-Writing Strategies: A Longitudinal Study." Higher Education 39, no. 2 (2000): 181-200.

Underwood, Geoffrey, Alison Hubbard, and Howard Wilkinson. "Eye Fixations Predict Reading Comprehension: The Relationships between Reading Skill, Reading Speed, and Visual Inspection." Language and Speech 33, no. 1 (January 1, 1990): 69-81.

Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Reprint edition. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.

Zacks, Jeffrey M., and Rebecca Treiman. " Sorry, You Can't Speed Read." The New York Times, April 15, 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Course Workload Estimator - Rice University Center for Teaching Excellence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A blog post that describes the genesis of this estimator, as well as some of its potential uses, can be read here. You can also find a stand-alone version of the estimator that can be embedded into your site here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Add quizzes, polls, and surveys to your embedded videos

# data[].attributes.headline
Certificate and Credentialing - Parchment

# data[].attributes.subject
Certificate and Credentialing - Parchment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Get Started

VERIFY APPLICANT TRANSCRIPTS

End-to-end security and an encrypted database makes for tamper-proof credentials. With one-click, know the transcript you're looking at is verified.

Learn More

ISSUE BADGES & DIGITAL CERTIFICATES

Expiration dates, revocable functionality and most importantly, social sharing to extend your brand reach. These capabilities can be your reality.

Learn More

ENGAGE & RETAIN EMPLOYEES

Happy employees work harder and attract more talent to your organization. Increase retention by recognizing your employees' achievements with digital badges.

Learn More

WOULD YOU LIKE A PRODUCT DEMO?

We would love to show you our products in action and talk to you about how our solutions are right for you.

Start The Conversation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get Started End-to-end security and an encrypted database makes for tamper-proof credentials. With one-click, know the transcript you're looking at is verified. Learn More Expiration dates, revocable functionality and most importantly, social sharing to extend your brand reach. These capabilities can be your reality.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Infographic Maker - 700+ Beautiful Templates | Visme

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use our free online infographic maker to create beautiful infographics, reports and charts. Choose from hundreds of pre-made templates. Get started for free.

# data[].attributes.body
ThingLink is an award-winning education technology platform that makes it easy to augment images, videos, and virtual tours with additional information and links. Over 4 million teachers and students use ThingLink for creating accessible, visual learning experiences in the cloud.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ThingLink:  ThingLink for teachers and schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create personalized learning experiences, access to real-world environments virtually. Share to LMS, access to advanced learning analytics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn faster with Chegg. Search millions of Flashcards or create your own online Flashcards for Free. Quiz yourself online or through our mobile app.

# data[].attributes.body
live polling with immediate results.

# data[].attributes.body
Create cool Digitial newsletter simply

# data[].attributes.body
Chrome browser plugin to easily capture screen for teaching videos

# data[].attributes.body
screen recording for teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Gamifying the Quizzes

# data[].attributes.body
Connecting people with shared interests through Quizzing.

# data[].attributes.body
Make animated videos for introductions and presentations

# data[].attributes.body
PHIL provides access to public health images, many of which are in the public domain and free from copyright restrictions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Home - Public Health Image Library(PHIL)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CDC - Public Health Image Library (PHIL)

# data[].attributes.body
This is a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations, and videos. The images and videos in this gallery are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations, and videos. The images and videos in this gallery are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0. This license lets you remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as you credit and license your new creations under identical terms.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations, and videos. The images and videos in this gallery are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0.

# data[].attributes.body
Digital Whiteboard for explaining a topic or idea

# data[].attributes.body
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are educational materials that are free to use, openly licensed and publicly accessible.  They have preassigned licenses which grant special permissions, these licenses allow you to use the resources without requiring you to ask the creator for direct permission.  OERs are available to everyone with little or no restrictions and they contain many different types of materials including: textbooks, articles, videos, lesson plans, syllabi and many other educational materials.

# data[].attributes.body
Powerful infographics made simply.

# data[].attributes.body
smart flash cards, can be used as assignment for your leaners to make flashcards to share.

# data[].attributes.body
Simple text and pictures in video clips as introductions or advertising (promotions)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Animoto is a free classroom tool for educators, students, and administrators. Easily create and share videos with your class, with parents, and beyond. No software downloads required.

Fast creation for teachers

Quickly create introductions, recaps, educational videos, and more with our fast and easy video maker.

Easy & engaging for students

Students can create unlimited videos on their free accounts. Assign projects and promote higher-order thinking in your classroom.

Effective marketing for administrators

School administrators can create and share marketing videos for social media, email lists, and school fundraising events in a matter of minutes.

Upgrade to Animoto Professional to remove the Animoto branding, and gain access to additional fonts, colors and songs. You'll also find premium features like customizable branded watermarks, and 1080p downloads.

Create and share videos for free. Upgrade anytime for more customization.

Have a question? We've got answers! Visit our Help Center and find FAQs and tutorials that'll help you make better videos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Classroom Video Maker | Make Videos for School Free

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers, students, and administrators can easily create and share teaching videos with Animoto's classroom video maker. Get started for free!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Get Kitted with the Animaker Brand Kit

A one-stop place to store your brand essentials.

Animaker's Brand Kit lets you store your brand colors, font, logos and more for easy access.

Set up your brand kit to supplement your designs and to ensure that your colors are used for your projects by your teams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A one-stop place to store your brand essentials. Animaker's Brand Kit lets you store your brand colors, font, logos and more for easy access. Set up your brand kit to supplement your designs and to ensure that your colors are used for your projects by your teams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4.5 million+ Stunning Free Images to Use Anywhere - Pixabay - Pixabay

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find your perfect royalty-free image or video to download and use. ✓ Royalty-free ✓ No attribution required ✓ High quality images.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether you are a beginner, superuser, or prospective Canvas user, you're invited to join us for our fourth Nebraska Canvas Conference! We think it is more important now than ever to connect and collaborate. This year, the NE Canvas Users Event will be going virtual! The virtual event will take place on Friday, August 7th. The theme of the event this year is "Remote Learning Best Practices."

Call for Proposals

We are no longer accepting presentation proposals. Please be on the lookout for next year's signup!

Metropolitan Community College © 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether you are a beginner, superuser, or prospective Canvas user, you're invited to join us for our fourth Nebraska Canvas Conference! We think it is more important now than ever to connect and collaborate. This year, the NE Canvas Users Event will be going virtual! The virtual event will take place on Friday, August 7th.

# data[].attributes.headline
Using Office Sway for Introduction to your Online Module

# data[].attributes.subject
Using Office Sway for Introduction to your Online Module

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Credit for Title Poster: Serag Kamel MD (www.seragmd.com)

# data[].attributes.body
A Good Book Suggestion.

# data[].attributes.body
A Good Book Suggestion

# data[].attributes.headline
Virtual Escape Rooming as tool for teaching

# data[].attributes.subject
Virtual Escape Rooming as tool for teaching

# data[].attributes.body
One of the best videos I have seen explaining how to make simple engaging teaching videos and why you should do it and why its not as hard as you think it might be.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Make Super Simple Videos for Teaching Online

# data[].attributes.headline
Student Infographics are powerful learning tool

# data[].attributes.subject
Student Infographics are powerful learning tool

# data[].attributes.body
An example of assignment submission from our online mini-fellowship in Movement Disorders

# data[].attributes.headline
Communicate with your whole self Not just your words

# data[].attributes.subject
Communicate with your whole self Not just your words

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Imagine if tomorrow - like literally tomorrow, the day after today - there was some kind of global disaster, and suddenly humans could interact only through computers. It's unclear when - or if - face-to-face contact will be possible again. It might be a while. Maybe that disaster is a zombie apocalypse, or a sudden change in the atmosphere, or something else."

Something. Else. This was just supposed to be an exercise called "Virtual Humanity," which I use in my classes.

I never thought about what might be the most likely scenario - a global pandemic. As I write this, it's March 2020, the world is facing the coronavirus. Stanford has cancelled all in-person classes for the remainder of Winter quarter and is going online for the start of Spring quarter. San Francisco, where I live, has been under a state of emergency for three weeks.

I believe we can make virtual more human by noticing needs.

These days are like Staying Alive and Virtual Insanity mashed up

It's funny-not-funny when your exercise becomes too real. People are scrambling to quickly make virtual *work* in schools, businesses, nonprofits, governments, and communities. Virtual collaboration was an emerging topic in "future of work" discussions, but now is a pressing topic in "present of work" conversations.

For 12 years, I've been a practitioner of virtual collaboration, working with people and organizations across the globe engaged in social impact work. I specialize in teaching classes and workshops on how to collaborate virtually, such as Design Across Borders at the d.school. We've had students work together from different corners of the world, including Stanford, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, London, and Vienna. We explore how we can be creative together when far apart.

I continue to learn how thoughtful virtual collaboration can help us feel closer across long distances. I'd like to share the deeper points I've learned so far that might help us feel closer in our moment of social distancing.

Many of us are feeling anxious now. The uncertainty is putting many of us into a mode of "What do we do? What do we do?? What do we do???" We don't know how long this might be the new normal, where many of us can't see each other in-person as often, and we have to lean on virtual interactions with people.

So I invite you to consider: What if we could design our virtual lives to feel more human?

I believe we can make virtual more human by noticing needs. Needs are the bedrock on which we build foundation. Mix in some beginner's mindset and rapid experimentation, and we may find ways we can design our own virtual lives to feel more human. We'll explore ways you can frame and reframe how you use existing technology tools that are available now.

In this article we'll deep dive into:

Why virtual work can feel awkward (and how to make it feel more natural)

How to enable multiple ways to interact and activate different styles of learning

How "virtual is voluntary" can help us design more engaging online experiences

Let's dig in!

Have you ever been on a one-on-one video call that felt kind of.... awkward? (*Ding, ding, ding - a palpable feeling - alert, there might be a need here!)

It's like you are just...looking...at...each...other's...face. Yet, when we meet in-person, we are also looking at each other's faces, but it doesn't feel particularly weird. Why?

We can learn something about this weirdness from an adjacent space - film editing. Have you ever wondered why film editing works? Film editing takes advantage of how we perceive things every day - editing in many ways emulates how our attention constantly shifts while maintaining continuity across those shifts.

Think about your most recent in-person meeting. Most likely, you were not staring at one person's face for 30 minutes straight. (I dare you to try doing that!) Now think about what many webinars look like: A disembodied voice talking over a bunch of slides. It also does not allow you to shift your attention.

If we don't have ways to shift our attention, we can feel trapped and monotonous.

Building on this insight, we can start to frame this into a challenge: "How might we structure our real-time virtual interactions to allow us to shift our attention in desirable and natural ways?"

To be able to shift our attention, we need to have different things to give our attention to. Taking time to think about how humans interact with each other can support that.

(: Understanding why virtual work can feel awkward allows us to avoid feeling trapped and monotonous and we can begin designing the structure of our virtual interactions for human needs.)

I find it funny when people ask me, "What toolshould I use for virtual collaboration?"

Imagine if we asked the same question for in-person interactions:

"Hey, what tool are we going to use for our meeting in Room 169?"

"Whiteboard?"

"No, let's use the tool called 'talking' this time."

"Great, I'm glad we made a decision on a tool. Maybe we can use 'talking' as the go-to tool for in-person collaboration on an enterprise level."

It's not really about the tool per se. It's about finding how we can support ways we interact. And as in-person, it's probably going to make sense to use multiple tools to do this.

There are multiple ways we interact in person. We talk and listen. We react to facial expression and body language. We gesture. We sketch and visualize. We write words. Whether we are in a school context or not, we are activating different styles of learning in each other.

Support multiple ways of interacting online

How might we support multiple ways of interacting in our virtual lives?

I recommend starting with this: Try two tools in combination with each other, and find multiple ways to interact within those two tools. The two tools I'd start with are: 1) a video call, and 2) an "everyone edit digital space."
Tool 1, the video call, is so you can hear and see each other. Take time to notice the different human interactions possible within that video call.
To enable noticing, try these logistics:

Remind everyone to be in a place with a solid internet connection. (This nudge helps!)

Ask everyone to be in a reasonably quiet place where they can be clearly heard. Encourage use of headphones.

Make it a norm to be on mute when one is not actively talking.

Require everyone to turn their camera on. Explain that our interactions are richer when we see each other.

Make sure everyone has their webcams positioned so everyone can see their face. Avoid backlighting and other heavy shadows.

Have everyone on their own device. It's more democratic when each person is visually represented equally, and you can see each person's expressions.

Continually notice facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. (Hands and shoulders can tell you a lot!) Consider writing down random things you notice about people at different times, to build your noticing muscles. (For example, "When we got to the third item of the meeting, Kelly's face and voice suddenly lit up!")

Develop a habit of "looking around the room." Try switching your view every so often between "speaker view" and "gallery view." (Sidenote: To me, "speaker view" in a lot of video call software works in an unnatural way. It constantly spotlights the person talking, which is not really how we direct our attention. We might mostly look at the person talking, but we're also glancing around the room to see others' listening reactions.)

Experiment with body motion, with kinesthetic ways to interact on camera. For example, you can designate body motions for "cheering," "I'm confused," or "that's interesting!" Body motion can be a great way to be expressive without having to interrupt. See if you might even get some kinesthetic back-and-forth going.

Body motion: in the d.school's Design Across Borders class, we DAB!

See what it's like to change the size of the video call window. Try arranging things so that you see both the video call and the everyone-edit-digital-space at the same time. How does being able to see both simultaneously affect your perceptions? How does it feel to see people's reactions while working on something together? How does it feel to focus entirely on one or the other?

Notice how "eye contact" is experienced. How do you come across to the other person when you are looking at someone's face on your screen vs when you are looking directly at your camera?

Give tours of each other's physical spaces. See if you can get a sense of each other in three dimensions.
Tool 2, the "everyone edit digital space," is a place where all participants can edit stuff together in real-time, preferably a tool that makes it easier to get visual.
I strongly recommend using a digital whiteboard tool, one in which many people can collaborate in real-time. (I use MURAL, which has discounted options for education use.) A digital whiteboard makes it so much easier to get visual, rearrange things, zoom in and out, and find and follow other participants in the space. If you can't get access to a digital whiteboard tool, you can also use something like Google Docs or Google Slides, with all participants having edit access. It's not as smooth, but I've done it before - it's workable.

The key is to have something you can look at and shape together. I'm not talking about screen sharing here. Think of some of the deep conversations you might have had while on a road trip or the emotional highs and lows while watching sports together.

There's something powerful about the experience of looking at something together, and being able to share our reactions with each other. Participants need to be able to edit and participate, and move around autonomously in the space. We'll get into why in the next section.

You might be wondering, what about chat / messaging? As you start exploring new ways to interact virtually, put chat on hold. Set it aside at the beginning, and focus your attention on exploring the video call and "everyone edit digital space" in combination. You will be able to layer chat in later if you'd like - it has its uses. But I agree that chat makes less sense as the primary, default method of communication. Chat is like fries: tasty, addictive, and can ruin your appetite for a more substantial main dish. It can be a fine side when prepared well, but I wouldn't build a meal around it.

Focus on the core. This includes video calling, which enables us to "look at each other," and the everyone-edit-digital-space, which enables us to "look at together."

Phew! We've covered a lot in this section, so let's recap:

Humans interact in multiple ways.

In virtual, we can use tools in combination with each other, and find multiple ways to interact within those tools.

Video calls can enable all kinds of human interactions - talking, facial expressions, body motion - which allows us to share thoughts and feel each other's reactions. We can "look at each other."

An "everyone-edit-digital-space" allows us to shape ideas together in ways that we can see, rearrange, and evolve. This allows us to "look at together." And if we use a digital whiteboard for this, we can get super visual while collaborating.

But to craft virtual experiences that feel more human, there's one more thing we need to understand about the context of virtual.

I've been asked many times, "How do I make people pay attention in a virtual meeting / class / workshop?" If you frame the problem like that, you're swimming against a very strong current.

If there's one thing I've learned about the context of virtual, it's this:

Virtual is voluntary.

People choose whether or not they opt-in, mentally and emotionally. Participants have greater power of exit than they do in-person. It's much easier to be off in a different world - on social media, chats with friends, online shopping - while pretending to be "present" in a virtual meeting. Intrinsic motivation is not new to learning, whether it's in person or in virtual, but it's even more critical in virtual.

You could choose to find this frustrating. Or you could embrace "virtual is voluntary" as a beautiful constraint. I think it's beautiful that we practically have to foster everyone's intrinsic motivation to make virtual... work.

According to self-determination theory, if we would like to foster intrinsic motivation, we need to support people's three overarching psychological needs:

Autonomy - having some control over their choices

Competence - experiencing progression and growth

Relatedness - being in relationship with others

We can use those three as guideposts as we notice more specific needs. For example: "I want to be able to look around at other people's ideas." or "I want to feel like we're moving the needle." or "I want to have a sense of people's reactions to different things."

So we are not going to try to "make people pay attention." Instead, we are going to help people make something together that they want to give attention to. When I say "make something," it could be anything from "make sense" to "make a plan" to "make a thing."

Most of this making will take place in small groups, where the conversations can be more intimate, where each person can express more, and feel heard and seen. (For example, if our whole group was 16 people, we might split up into small teams of 4 through breakout rooms in Zoom for some activities, with each team working in different parts of a digital whiteboard for the whole group.)

Creating engages us. It's something we can feel a sense of ownership and self-expression. It's something that can help grow intrinsic motivation. And we contribute more profoundly.
(: "Virtual is voluntary" adds an extra challenge, but if we can embrace it, it's an opportunity to foster everyone's intrinsic motivation to make virtual...work. One way is to help people make something together that they want to give attention to.)

What an idea flare could look like in MURAL

Check out this companion piece, where I walk through a sample virtual class with 16 people, using Zoom as our video call and a MURAL digital whiteboard as our "everyone edit digital space." You'll find examples of how to get people warmed up, dive them into immediate activity, play around with ideas, bubble up key points, and reflect to capture key learnings.

I've observed many people approach virtual collaboration with a deficit mindset where "it's never as good as in-person," and they end up with sad, second-rate copies of in-person experiences. To me, this makes no sense. Think about it in the opposite direction - would you try to do Twitter in real life?

...there's a lot we can learn from the context of in-person that we can apply to virtual. But it requires deconstructing and remixing...

If we think like designers, we learn from different people and contexts, and there's a lot we can learn from the context of in-person that we can apply to virtual. But it requires deconstructing and remixing... and getting curious about the context of virtual.

Humans have been interacting in-person for 200,000 years. The world's first popular web browser was released in 1993. So I think we can be gentle on ourselves for not yet having virtual fully figured out. We can all be explorers and experimenters with tools available today if we notice needs, have a beginner's mindset, and experiment rapidly.

Virtually more human? Love it!

We can discover some ways in which virtual can be even better than in-person, begin to see how virtual and in-person have different strengths and weaknesses, and start to think about how virtual and in-person can harmonize and complement each other. We learn how to be profoundly human with each other, wherever we are.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Imagine if tomorrow - like literally tomorrow, the day after today - there was some kind of global disaster, and suddenly humans could interact only through computers. It's unclear when - or if - face-to-face contact will be possible again. It might be a while.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Amy Cuddy, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, describes a simple way to raise confidence and reduce stress.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy

# data[].attributes.headline
10 Must Read Article for Medical Education

# data[].attributes.subject
10 Must Read Article for Medical Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As a medical student and former teacher wishing to delve into the field of medical education, I sifted through the many stellar articles highlighted in the Key Literature in Medical Education (KeyLIME) weekly podcasts. Here is my 'must-read' list of articles for students interested in medical education, distributed across some of the most foundational and hot topics in the field.

I suggest the following process:

Review my 'Top 10' list and commentaries below

Read the published articles

Listen to the corresponding KeyLIME podcasts

Ask your mentor to answer any questions that arise

Then decide: Did Linda, Lara, Jason, and Jon get it right?

Learning Theory
#1. Learning Science as a Potential New Source of Understanding and Improvement for Continuing Education and Continuing Professional Development.
Van Hoof TJ, Doyle TJ. Med Teach. 2018 Sep;40(9):880-885.
KeyLIME [175]

This article is a great place to start for those wanting to enter the field of medical education. Just because someone has been a student for almost two decades does not necessarily make them an expert on learning. Van Hoof and Doyle lay out a clear foundation of the four key aspects that a student can control to improve their own education: distributed learning, retrieval, interleaving, and elaboration-all supplemented with deliberate practice. While the article uses continuing medical education studies as examples, the concepts can be applied more broadly. This is valuable to readers for their own learning and when considering curriculum design for their future classrooms.

Mentorship
#2. Where Philosophy Meets Culture: Exploring How Coaches Conceptualize their Roles.
Watling CJ, LaDonna KA. Med Educ. 2019 May;53(5):467-76.
KeyLIME [217]

While many current papers discuss the benefits of coaching, this paper seeks to eliminate some of the "definitional fuzziness" around coaching. Is it mentoring? A fancy word for feedback? This paper explores three distinct groups: clinician coaches, physicians who coach other activities, and traditional coaches who are not physicians. They found three shared philosophies among these groups, influenced by organizational culture: mutual engagement with a shared orientation towards growth and development, ongoing reflection involving both learners and coaches, and an embrace of failure as a catalyst for learning. Being cognizant of these strategies may help foster a coaching relationship between mentor and mentees.

Instructional Method: Preclinical Classrooms
#3. A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Flipped Classrooms in Medical Education.
Chen F, Lui AM, Martinelli SM. Med Educ. 2017. 51(6):585-597.
KeyLIME [148]

The 'flipped classroom' methodology continues to be popular in medical education, but what is the data behind it? This systematic review takes a deep dive into flipped classroom research to determine its effectiveness. This article contends that while learner engagement may increase with a flipped classroom, the knowledge and skills learned may not differ from traditional methods. More research is required: how are flipped classrooms best implemented, how much instructor effort is required, etc. This article (and its extensive bibliography) is a great resource if you're interested in exploring flipped classrooms.

Instructional Method: Clinical Clerkships
#4. Would Socrates Have Actually Used the "Socratic Method" for Clinical Teaching?
Stoddard HA, O'Dell DV. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Sep;31(9):1092-6.
KeyLIME [128]

This paper outlines the important distinctions between 'pimping' and 'Socratic teaching.' The core difference between the two methods is the psychological safety of the learner. Pimping belittles the student for a lack of knowledge. The Socratic method utilizes the foundational educational theory of the "zone of proximal development": the teacher pushes the learner to the boundary of their knowledge so they can expand it and move forward, without pushing so far that they shut down. The act of questioning can be a useful tool to stimulate recall and engage the student in active learning; however, it must be carefully implemented as to not make the student feel as if they are being pimped. This article will make you think about how you question students and provides helpful examples of Socratic questions modified for clinical learning environments.

Assessment
#5. Validity Evidence for Programmatic Assessment in Competency-based Education.
Bok HG, de Jong LH, O'Neill T, Maxey C, Hecker KG. Perspect Med Educ. 2018 Dec;7(6):362-372.
KeyLIME [211]

If you haven't heard of programmatic assessment, you will be a convert after reading this paper. While the authors may focus on veterinary medicine, they provide strong evidence for how programmatic assessment fits into competency-based education. Traditional models of assessment that work well for other disciplines are failing medical trainees on the wards, as there are not enough different assessors, assessors change frequently over time, direct observation is limited, and the line between formative and summative assessments is blurred. When someone asks if programmatic assessment really makes a difference, forward them this paper.

Feedback
#6. When Assessment Data Are Words: Validity Evidence for Qualitative Educational Assessments.
Cook DA, Kuper A, Hatala R, Ginsburg S. Acad Med. 2016 Oct;91(10):1359-1369.
KeyLIME [122]

Qualitative feedback is helpful for learners, but many educators struggle to solicit valid qualitative feedback 'data'. In this commentary paper, the authors offer useful summary tables to help make connections between qualitative assessments and validation processes. Concrete examples allow the reader to understand how to implement qualitative assessment while retaining the validity of their previous quantitative assessments. The authors argue for a "methods-neutral" approach to assessment, in which the feedback method should match the purpose of the assessment. Read this paper for the clarity of the frameworks they offer.

Bias
#7. Comparison of Male vs Female Resident Milestone Evaluations by Faculty During Emergency Medicine Residency Training.
Dayal A, O'Connor DM, Qadri U, Arora VM. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 May 1;177(5):651-657.
KeyLIME [138]

Dayal et al.'s paper highlights a disturbing gender gap in residency evaluations, acknowledging the important issue of rater bias. The authors analyzed Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Next Accreditation System milestone evaluations over the course of three years at multiple different institutions. In short, there exists another ceiling for women. Keep this article as an example of the interplay between gender bias and rater bias.

Student Evaluations
#8. Meta-analysis of Faculty's Teaching Effectiveness: Student Evaluation of Teaching Ratings and Student Learning Are Not Related.
Uttl B, White CA, Gonzalez DW. Stud Educ Evaluation. 2017 Sep 1;54:22-42.
KeyLIME [125]

This article is a bit controversial, as it contradicts the conclusions of many studies of student evaluation of teaching (SET) ratings from the 1980's. While the long introduction may be tedious to some, I found it helpful in catching me up on what this controversy and debate are all about. The authors expose biases in the previous studies, affected primarily by small sample sizes. They review and reanalyze previous papers, provide a new meta-analysis with additional articles included, and focus on sample size. The KeyLIME podcast summarized my sentiments exactly when they stated, "we should stop calling these data 'teacher evaluations'...[and] start calling them learner satisfactions." While SET data is still useful for teacher reflection, they should not be viewed as measurements of learning. After reading this article, you will reconsider the importance of data collection and the quality of data analyses used in medical education.

Duty Hour Policies
#9. Education Outcomes in a Duty-Hour Flexibility Trial in Internal Medicine.
Desai SV, Asch DA, Bellini LM, Chaiyachati KH, Liu M, Sternberg AL, Tonascia J, Yeager AM, Asch JM, Katz JT, et al. N Engl J Med. 2018 Apr 19; 378(16):1494-1508.
KeyLIME [165]

The topic of duty hour restrictions has been debated for many years now. This study was a randomized control trial of flexible duty hours across 63 different internal medicine residency programs in the US. Programs were split into two groups: those adhering to 2011 ACGME duty-hour policies compared to those with flexibility in scheduling. Both groups had a maximum of 80 hours a week, 1 day off every seven days, and in-house call no more frequently than every third night. Differences between the two arms of the study were minimal, and no conclusions could be offered about the impact of duty hours on patient safety. So, these conclusions make me wonder: whose perspective is more important when determining duty hour policies, the educator who wants more time flexibility for their curriculum or the student who is concerned about personal time and well-being?

Becoming a Medical Educator
#10. 'It was Serendipity': A Qualitative Study of Academic Careers in Medical Education.
Wendy C. Y. Hu, Jill E. Thistlethwaite, Jennifer Weller, Gisselle Gallego, Joseph Monteith, Geoff J. McColl. Med Educ. 2015 Nov; 49(11): 1124-1136.

Finally, if you're still interested in becoming a medical educator, you probably want to know more about what that journey and lifestyle look like. This article leverages interviews from a wide sample of medical school educators. Bourdieu's Theory of Practice lends a unique perspective to analyze actions and different forms of power. While the KeyLIME hosts may disagree with me about whether this is a 'must read' article, I think the aspiring medical educator will be pleased to discover differing definitions of 'medical educator,' and the various paths physicians find to this field.

------
About the Author:
Georgia Toal, MA i s a medical student at Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. This post is the final assignment of a directed reading elective for her Scholarly Concentration in Medical Education.

This work was edited and formatted for International Clinician Educators Blog by her course instructor, Michael A. Gisondi, MD.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. For more details on our site disclaimers, please see our 'About' page

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Must-Read Articles for the Aspiring Medical Educator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Georgia Toal, MA As a medical student and former teacher wishing to delve into the field of medical education, I sifted through the many stellar articles highlighted in the Key Literature in Medical Education (KeyLIME) weekly podcasts. Here is my 'must-read' list of articles for students interested in medical education, distributed across some of the...

# data[].attributes.body
Make Great Presentations simply.

# data[].attributes.body
A great place for developing infographics.

# data[].attributes.body
A wonderful tool to create active content, presentations, learning graphics, infographics and so much more.

# data[].attributes.body
Wonderful resource on reviewing the Evidence behind Medical Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Episode length 29:38

Jason's chosen paper is on Authorship, which is a fundamental attribution for scholarly contribution, and is the basis of career advancement, global recognition, funding, wellness, professional identity, and even historical legacy. Unfortunately, it is mired in tomfoolery.

Voting on Methods...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Key Literature in Medical Education (KeyLIME) is a weekly podcast produced by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Bringing you the main points of a medical education article in just 20 minutes. Articles that are important, innovative, or will impact your educational practice are discussed.

# data[].attributes.body
Our New Podcast on Neurology.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A podcast brought to you by the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Neurological Sciences. Directed by Dr. Danish Bhatti.

A podcast brought to you by the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Neurological Sciences. Directed by Dr. Danish Bhatti.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
‎Case Files in Neurology on Apple Podcasts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A podcast brought to you by the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Neurological Sciences. Directed by Dr. Danish Bhatti. A podcast brought to you by the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Neurological Sciences. Directed by Dr. Danish Bhatti.

# data[].attributes.body
Really good tips to engage your learners to discuss actively online. I have stumbled upon many of these tips on my own over last 4 years of running online mini fellowship.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
These tips can help educators ensure that online discussions are engaging and beneficial for postsecondary students.

For many of today's students and more than a few educators, effective participation in online discussions in postsecondary education may not be second nature. In particular, graduate-level discussions present challenges quite different from their undergraduate counterparts, as master's degree candidates tend to be highly motivated. This may mean that they frequently exceed the minimum number of required posts and write longer entries. The recommendations below are based on my own experience teaching fully online graduate courses with fifteen to twenty students, although many of these points would benefit those teaching at the undergraduate level as well.

1. Convey Clear Expectations

It would be easy to hold online discussions to higher standards than discussions happening face-to-face. Yet not all students participate equally in a face-to-face seminar. In my courses, I require two answers to the initial questions and two additional replies to classmates by the end of each week.

Be careful what you wish for, however! Remember that you'll need to read everything your students write; therefore, if you have fifteen students and require two posts and two answers per student, you'll receive a minimum of sixty posts by the end of the week. In my experience, graduate students frequently post more than the minimum required, and I routinely wrap up the week with around eighty to ninety posts. For this reason, make it clear that every post needs to be meaningful.

Make sure to provide clear expectations regarding the number of posts, the number of replies, and the associated deadlines. I ask students to read and sign this Discussion Guidelines document prior to posting to the discussion board, and I provide a link to the document under each discussion question for easy reference.

2. Adjust to the Discussion Board

The first discussion assignment in my courses is deliberately low-stakes. Students must introduce themselves and are encouraged (but not required) to post a few photos. Students are then asked to read and reply to two or three of their classmates' introductions. This enables them to get to know each other and their instructors and to get accustomed to the discussion board.

Students-especially those who are new to online courses or new to the learning management system (LMS) you're using-will need some time to get familiar with the discussion board. I have worked extensively with three different types of LMSs; in my experience, their discussion boards are rarely intuitive. If yours is particularly clunky, be sure to provide instructions on how to submit posts and replies. You might think that your students are tech savvy, but very few may have experience with this type of asynchronous, semiformal mode of communication.

3. Clarify Your Role

The norms of online academic discussions are a lot less established than those that occur in person. Students might bring particular expectations to their online course. It is important to share with them how you envision your role in online discussions, which depends upon your pedagogical beliefs and teaching style. I let my students know that I read everything they post and that I respond when I think that I can make a significant contribution by providing useful information, answering a direct question, or clarifying a misunderstanding. Toward the end of the week, I do my best to reply to "orphan" posts (those that have not received any responses).

Keep in mind that your own contributions will set the tone for the discussion. I often copy and paste an excerpt of the post I am reacting to, and students quickly start doing the same. When referencing the readings, I provide a full quote with the corresponding page number, but I do not require a particular styling citation. Again, do not hold your online discussions to higher standards than your face-to-face exchanges. MLA or APA styling takes time; in my opinion, it's simply not necessary in online discussions.

4. Provide Feedback and Coaching

The first two weeks of an online course are critical because this is when students develop good habits. As you begin reading students' posts, kindly prompt them to provide the page number, quote, or the title of the article to which they are reacting (e.g., "Good point, Sam-what's the page number for this quote?"). Ask for clarifications if a post appears vague. Even at the graduate level, students will be students, and early in the course is when they are finding out what they can get away with and what lines they should not cross.

For the first two weeks of a course, I leave detailed feedback in the gradebook comment section. If a student didn't meet the discussion expectations, I deduct points and refer them to the discussion guidelines. This feedback process will take time, but I rarely have to do this beyond the first two weeks. I also promptly email students who miss the first deadline but I do not remove points for late work during the first week.

5. Track Participation

I use a simple Google spreadsheet to track my own participation and that of my students, checking that the required initial answers are posted by the first deadline. Some LMSs provide this information for you in the course's student analytics section. I also keep track of whom I responded to and make sure to provide one meaningful reply to each student by the end of the week. (If you don't keep track of your own posts, you might reply four times to one student and not at all to five others.) This can create resentment or insecurities, and an online course leaves little room to resolve such misunderstandings.

6. Offer Groups and Discussion Board Alternatives

If you have more than fifteen students, consider creating discussion groups or increasing the number of questions students may choose from. It will be easier for your students to stay on top of the discussion as they won't feel that they have to read everything everybody posts.

Consider offering live discussions. Students often take online courses because their schedule or personal life does not allow them to go to class twice a week. It does not mean that they can't attend live sessions.

Two years ago, I introduced live sessions in all my online courses. These are optional. I send a Doodle poll a week ahead to agree on a time, and I select the most popular times. To run a live session, I require at least four students in attendance. I rotate the times so that all who wish to participate can do so at least once. Students who take part in the live session can skip the discussion board, but the expectations are the same: they must prepare responses to two questions. Live sessions are recorded and posted to the LMS. In some courses we hold a live session every week, while others have just one or two throughout the course.

7. Create Questions You Care About

This might be obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me at first. I used to ask questions that I thought were important, but somehow, I dreaded reading the answers. Now, I ask questions that I am really interested in discussing. My questions are always open-ended; I make sure to provide five or six questions so that students can choose the ones they want to respond to, and I always include a general question that prompts students to react to an aspect of the readings that caught their attention.

8. Select Discussion Leaders

My students take turns leading the discussion every week. The discussion leaders are responsible for adding a discussion question and moderating the answers. Previously, I required students to write an end-of-week discussion summary, but I realized that I didn't want to read them-and I don't think students read them, either. I now ask discussion leaders to select three of their classmates' quotes and write a one-paragraph reflection on each, which has proven to be of greater value to all in support of the learning process.

9. Encourage Note-Taking

This might seem odd since the content of the discussion is archived on the LMS, but I encourage my students to take notes on weekly discussions. Courses ultimately close, and sooner or later students will lose access. Discussion posts don't export very well and are difficult to search. As students take notes on aspects of the conversation important to them, they further process the course information, which is a helpful activity in itself.

10. Know When It's Time to Stop Posting

Managing online discussions of any kind can be a time-consuming endeavor, but it is the heart of a distance education course. I noticed early that I didn't get the same sense of accomplishment out of my online discussion as I did from my on-campus classes. Those classes began and ended at specific times; when the bell rings, you know you're done. Online courses, however, are ongoing. It wasn't until I developed a system to manage my online discussions and began tracking my own contributions that I felt comfortable logging out of my LMS at the end of the week.

Edwige Simon is Director of the Graduate Certificate in Language Teaching with Technology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
10 tips for effective online discussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Tips for Effective Online Discussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
These tips can help educators ensure that online discussions are engaging and beneficial for postsecondary students.