Transcript
00:00:17 Camie
Welcome to the pedagogy toolkit.
00:00:19 Camie
In this episode, Alex and Camie talk about the different types of learning gaps and ways to address them.
00:00:24 Camie
So I've.
00:00:24 Camie
Reading, think again by Adam Grant recently and.
00:00:30 Camie
This sentence jumped out to me when I was reading in the pages. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.
00:00:42 Camie
And it got me thinking about our students and how they come to us with.
00:00:50 Camie
Gaps, sometimes in their knowledge or skills or even other areas, and one sometimes they don't know about their learning apps.
00:00:59 Camie
Two, we don't.
00:01:00 Camie
And I think sometimes that is the difference for students between.
00:01:06 Camie
Success both in our class and moving forward and.
00:01:12 Camie
And maybe I won't say failure, but at least like.
00:01:18 Camie
Not not understanding what's happening.
00:01:21 Speaker 2
So applying that in Grant quote into that would be the wisdom needs to be applied both on the instructor side to see that those gaps exist and we have a means to help them close those gaps and then also.
00:01:36 Speaker 2
So articulating or framing it in a way that the students are aware that they're going to have gaps that need to be closed as well and create in them the willingness to be an active.
00:01:46 Speaker 2
Right.
00:01:46 Speaker 2
To then get to knowledge to then have the power.
00:01:50 Camie
And also in online learning which you know we primarily deal with.
00:01:56 Camie
We see these gaps.
00:01:56
Then.
00:01:59 Camie
Less often because we're not seeing our students in person, right, so we don't.
00:02:02 Speaker 2
They're still there.
00:02:04 Speaker 2
We just don't recognize them.
00:02:05
Yeah.
00:02:05 Camie
We don't see.
00:02:07 Camie
That immediate feedback loop with us, because we can't say, oh, that kids face looks confused, right?
00:02:14 Camie
Because we're not seeing their face.
00:02:16 Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:17 Camie
Even if we're talking to them.
00:02:19 Camie
There are no raised hands or talks after class in online education.
00:02:26 Camie
But I do think that there are definitely ways to address those issues. And the other thing we need to be mindful of our wisdom is setting up our course so that we don't cause learning gaps during our semifter.
00:02:40 Speaker 2
Right, because the system itself or the structure itself, could just create those spaces, and we don't even realize it.
00:02:46 Speaker 2
It might be good too to also talk about as we get started.
00:02:50 Speaker 2
Are the types of gaps that exist in the first place.
00:02:54 Speaker 2
They're not all the same.
00:02:56 Speaker 2
So.
00:02:56 Camie
There are.
00:02:58 Speaker 2
For those.
00:02:59 Camie
There are 5.
00:03:01 Camie
Major categories, I'll say that in learning gaps because within each of these categories there are subcategories of learning gaps.
00:03:08 Camie
Are not going to talk about those. We are just talking about.
00:03:10 Speaker 2
Subcategories of subcategories.
00:03:12 Camie
What it feels like it's very meta.
00:03:16 Camie
We're just talking with these 5 categories.
00:03:18 Camie
We have knowledge gaps, skill gaps, motivation gaps, environment gaps and communication gaps.
00:03:27 Camie
And when I was really digging into this, there were so many things that I hadn't thought of.
00:03:34 Camie
Even within these, in terms of examples, but knowledge gaps are the difference between what someone knows and what they should know in order to complete a certain task or make decisions.
00:03:39
Run.
00:03:46
Yeah.
00:03:47 Speaker 2
I think it's important to clarify that doesn't just relate to the subject matter at hand in the course. It's not the knowledge of the actual content. It can be the knowledge of the procedures or the practices in higher education or online learning to begin with.
00:04:03 Speaker 2
A key example that I always go to when it comes to knowledge gaps that I've heard was.
00:04:09 Speaker 2
Students not understanding on the syllabus.
00:04:11 Speaker 2
Syllabus. What office hours were, yes. And they communicated to instructor when the instructor said, hey, none of you all come to my office hours and.
00:04:19 Speaker 2
The student.
00:04:20 Speaker 2
Well, we thought those are the times that you aren't to be disturbed.
00:04:23 Speaker 2
You put those on your, so that's when you're in your office. You put those on your Silva.
00:04:27 Speaker 2
You we know not to come and bother you during.
00:04:29 Speaker 2
Time there's a gap there.
00:04:31 Speaker 2
Very much just didn't understand.
00:04:33 Speaker 2
The exact.
00:04:34 Speaker 2
And that knowledge wasn't clarified.
00:04:36 Camie
We want you to come Father us during office hours.
00:04:38
It's.
00:04:39 Speaker 2
So it could be the content, the course content, but it could just be the nature of how the course is set.
00:04:43 Speaker 2
In the first place.
00:04:44 Camie
Alright.
00:04:45 Camie
So there's a lot of knowledge and it can be content also like students can go through an entire module and still have a lot of lack of understanding about concepts that are crucial to your course.
00:05:00 Camie
Mm.
00:05:00 Camie
They can complete the assignment.
00:05:02 Camie
Still not fully understand those things and you may not realize because again online education.
00:05:10 Camie
It can be tricky and so we build things in to kind of.
00:05:15 Camie
Help identify when students have knowledge gaps, but also for them to test.
00:05:20
Replay.
00:05:21 Camie
We've talked about low stakes testing here before and that's one of the things that you can do to help.
00:05:27 Camie
Knowledge gap but also.
00:05:30 Camie
No states or low states.
00:05:32
Yeah.
00:05:32 Camie
Assessment for students.
00:05:35 Camie
So building in self-assessment tools so they can test themselves, see whether or not they know the content they need to know to move forward.
00:05:44 Camie
OK.
00:05:44 Speaker 2
These are the.
00:05:46 Speaker 2
Examples. If you've ever been in any kind of online learning space where you watch a video or you read something, and then there's the immediate.
00:05:54 Speaker 2
Question as you scroll right afterwards and for those University of Arkansas instructors, you may have noticed there's the feature in Blackboard now called.
00:06:02 Speaker 2
Knowledge check.
00:06:03 Speaker 2
I've actually built this quite a bit in this recent round of.
00:06:06 Speaker 2
With some of my instructors in finance and accounting where they create their lecture video.
00:06:11 Speaker 2
And what I did was I created some knowledge check questions that the students could go to after lecture video and I built in their the instructions that clearly say these are not points.
00:06:21 Speaker 2
These are specifically just for you to test yourself, to make sure you understood and were tracking with the content that was just being discussed. And if you take these little three to five question knowledge checks and you see some gaps there, go back and watch the video again.
00:06:36 Speaker 2
Go back and watch just that one section.
00:06:38 Speaker 2
You can search in the the transcripts and find exactly what you need to look at again.
00:06:42 Speaker 2
And that is really hitting on the concept of retrieval practice, the ability for students to.
00:06:49 Speaker 2
Not just rereading something, but it's when you put them in an environment to do a knowledge check right after listening or reading something, you're forcing them to. Then OK, pull into my brain.
00:06:58 Speaker 2
What did I just?
00:06:59 Speaker 2
What I just learned, and that reinforces the information and the knowledge which concretizes it more in their mind.
00:07:06 Speaker 2
And then ideally you can do that multiple times.
00:07:09 Speaker 2
Route a module.
00:07:11 Speaker 2
Or multiple times throughout a semester with the same content.
00:07:14 Speaker 2
And we do.
00:07:15 Speaker 2
That's kind of what mid term is doing at a high stakes environment, but doing it in a low stakes environment repeatedly will build that and close that knowledge gap much more effectively.
00:07:26 Speaker 2
Data shows rather than just a mid term.
00:07:28
Yes.
00:07:29 Speaker 2
Final.
00:07:30 Camie
Well, and we you mentioned retrieval practice.
00:07:33 Camie
Is a big.
00:07:34 Camie
Also kind of spacing within retrieval practice matters.
00:07:35
Yeah.
00:07:41 Camie
Also work with your instructional designer if you want to know more about these concepts.
00:07:45 Camie
How to how to help your students remember?
00:07:49 Camie
There are things better.
00:07:51 Camie
Also, so having some kind of.
00:07:54 Camie
Interactive content that requires students to demonstrate their knowledge before you allow them to progress.
00:08:01 Camie
So we have something called release conditions and platform.
00:08:01
Right.
00:08:05 Camie
This means that you can say hey module 2 is not going to open until you score an 80% or higher on this quiz, or it doesn't have to be a quiz.
00:08:16 Camie
Could be a mind map, it could be.
00:08:19 Camie
Some other visual organizer.
00:08:20 Camie
Can.
00:08:21 Camie
I don't think it can be knowledge check but it.
00:08:23 Camie
Be.
00:08:24 Speaker 2
Yeah, it could be down the road.
00:08:26 Speaker 2
Not right now.
00:08:27 Speaker 2
I.
00:08:27 Speaker 2
I will clarify if they have to submit anything that requires additional grading that is then dependent on the instructor.
00:08:34
To.
00:08:35 Speaker 2
Grade that and submit that.
00:08:35 Camie
Grade.
00:08:36
Yes.
00:08:37 Speaker 2
This does have some drawbacks, but it also.
00:08:40 Speaker 2
You're essentially then allowing the pacing of the modules for each student to move in an appropriate level. Now that could frustrate some.
00:08:49 Speaker 2
Gonna.
00:08:50 Speaker 2
Probably the advanced learners a little bit more because they're gonna burn through things quick.
00:08:53 Speaker 2
If they're waiting on you to grade a buying map.
00:08:56 Speaker 2
Right. So that's where you have to.
00:08:58 Speaker 2
Maybe that's maybe in some instances it's a quiz.
00:09:01 Speaker 2
In some instances it's a.
00:09:03 Speaker 2
Performance based on.
00:09:06 Speaker 2
Just submitting something and you can mark it zero and then.
00:09:08 Speaker 2
Go back and grade it later.
00:09:09 Speaker 2
Well, there's ways to.
00:09:10 Speaker 2
Ways around that.
00:09:11 Speaker 2
Again, talk to your instructional designer.
00:09:12 Camie
Automated feedback systems are great for this as well, so you can combine these strategies as well and implement all of them. And one thing that we recently opened up in Blackboard are not we, but Blackboard is the AI convers.
00:09:26
Yeah.
00:09:30 Camie
And that can be graded or not graded.
00:09:32 Camie
Can make it a super low.
00:09:33 Camie
No stakes testing.
00:09:35 Camie
But it can be based on that even.
00:09:39 Camie
But I mentioned a quiz first because it's automated.
00:09:42 Camie
So the grading, unless you're doing short answer or something like that.
00:09:47 Camie
It's an automated grade, and once that grade is there, the next module will open.
00:09:54 Camie
Depending on date as well so.
00:09:56 Speaker 2
And you can think of it as this is an iterative practice, so maybe you start with auto graded across the board in some of these release conditioned checks that help close those knowledge gaps. But over time you.
00:10:03
Mm.
00:10:09 Speaker 2
In certain modules or in certain lessons, it might be more appropriate to ask a more well-rounded question, or ask for more well-rounded product.
00:10:17 Speaker 2
In in the form of an assessment or.
00:10:18 Speaker 2
Assignment that.
00:10:20 Speaker 2
Helps them understand the concepts.
00:10:22 Speaker 2
Oh.
00:10:22
And.
00:10:22 Speaker 2
Then they can move on from there you find.
00:10:25 Speaker 2
Find those tipping points where maybe I can get through 3 or 4 modules of cuisine and then I really need them to put something together.
00:10:32 Speaker 2
Before I open them up into module 6 and module 5 is where they have to present a mini project or a mini presentation or a mini assignment that really.
00:10:42 Speaker 2
Cumulatively, measures what was going on in the previous ones. That's where the repetition and the spacing can can come into play.
00:10:46 Camie
Yes.
00:10:49 Camie
And with the AI conversations that I mentioned, Socratic questioning is one of the options.
00:10:55 Camie
And that's where the AI ask questions to deepen students understanding of a topic, and then they can reflect on what they learned at the bottom of this questioning.
00:11:06 Camie
Yeah.
00:11:07 Camie
And you get to see not only the entire conversation, but also the reflection when you're going to grade.
00:11:13 Camie
So it's.
00:11:16 Camie
I really like this a credit questioning I haven't played around with the role play option on a conversations yet, but I'm looking forward to diving into that a little more.
00:11:24 Speaker 2
I've I've played with the role play actually a little bit more than the Socratic because from my.
00:11:30 Speaker 2
Content that I work in a little bit more often, the role plays actually a little more valuable and it's decent.
00:11:37 Speaker 2
Can.
00:11:37 Speaker 2
It depends on how you basically set the attributes that you want the role to assume. So the more clear and thorough.
00:11:46 Speaker 2
Your description of your bot that you want to develop is the better it'll iterate with your students in conversation if you just say.
00:11:53
Yes.
00:11:57 Speaker 2
A supportive instructor, you know it'll give, and then it assumes that role.
00:12:01 Speaker 2
Great. But if you put.
00:12:04 Speaker 2
Supportive instructor who?
00:12:07 Speaker 2
Likes to play devil's advocate and will only ever reply with another question and will seek to point out the flaw in logic and reasoning.
00:12:17 Speaker 2
Yet still be kind when doing so.
00:12:20 Speaker 2
There's a lot more nuance to that.
00:12:21 Speaker 2
At.
00:12:23 Speaker 2
Bought identity that it's going to assume.
00:12:27 Speaker 2
Then just supportive or.
00:12:28 Speaker 2
Questioning, you know?
00:12:29 Speaker 2
So that's part of the prompt engineering component that has to be considered and you can you can scale.
00:12:35 Speaker 2
It's got a scaling feature in the role play to make it a super complex type of response or very simplistic type of response.
00:12:43 Camie
So a crowded question also has that.
00:12:45 Camie
Yeah.
00:12:46 Camie
Option on making it more complex or less complex, but the reason I like it is because it.
00:12:52 Camie
With a question.
00:12:53 Speaker 2
Right. And that is where?
00:12:56 Speaker 2
Some of you may be already playing with this or doing this to an extended ChatGPT.
00:12:59 Speaker 2
That's.
00:13:00 Speaker 2
What we're just highlighting here is that the fact this is now an integrated feature within the learning management system that can actually be directly just seamless.
00:13:08 Speaker 2
Is it as good as tragedy depending on its use cases, it's going to it's going to continue to grow and develop and it's a lot of.
00:13:16 Speaker 2
Using the same GP foundations in the first place.
00:13:19 Camie
I don't know which.
00:13:21 Camie
You know where it's coming from, but I do know that it's knowledge base only goes to October 2023 because I found this out yesterday when we were previewing this in an interview studies course that I've been working on.
00:13:24 Speaker 2
I don't either look into it.
00:13:35 Camie
We were asking.
00:13:36 Camie
The bot, about a 2024 Supreme Court case.
00:13:41 Camie
And it it said, oh, we only have information up to October 2023, but here's this.
00:13:50 Speaker 2
Right now.
00:13:51 Camie
Actually did an OK job with like the context of it. It's not great with the dates. Yeah, but we tried it to see if it would correct a date on a court case.
00:14:00
Right.
00:14:01 Camie
Pre 2023 and.
00:14:02 Camie
Did OK.
00:14:03
I.
00:14:04 Camie
Intentionally did a 2022 case as 2019 instead.
00:14:08 Camie
Well, this case argued in 2022.
00:14:10
I can.
00:14:13 Camie
And it corrected me.
00:14:13 Camie
That was interesting.
00:14:15
Yeah.
00:14:16 Camie
All right, so skill gaps are next and that is the difference between what students.
00:14:22 Camie
Can do and what they should be able to do to complete an assignment.
00:14:27 Camie
So for example, a student might fully grasp the theory behind peer review.
00:14:33 Camie
But they might struggle to provide constructive feedback to another student in an asynchronous discussion board or in a peer review assignment.
00:14:43 Camie
Or they could understand the principles of academic.
00:14:45 Camie
But they have difficulty in adapting their tone to different scenarios.
00:14:50
Yeah.
00:14:52 Camie
Like a formal assignment submission versus a wiki contribution versus a discussion board.
00:14:58 Camie
And.
00:15:00 Camie
Digital literacy.
00:15:03 Camie
Can be a few different gaps, but it's definitely a skill gap, and that's one that we kind of.
00:15:09 Camie
Came close to earlier. When you're talking about knowledge gaps, but it's really, you know, I think a lot of times we think because kids are young and they've grown up with all this technology, they know how.
00:15:18 Camie
Do all the technology things.
00:15:19 Speaker 2
The digital native versus the digital immigrant fallacy.
00:15:20 Camie
Yeah.
00:15:22 Camie
And they they.
00:15:23 Camie
They don't know how to do the things, so we have to teach them how to navigate.
00:15:27 Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah.
00:15:27 Camie
You know Blackboard how to do these things.
00:15:29 Speaker 2
Knowledge and skills are very they're they're essentially tangential in in their application.
00:15:36 Speaker 2
And I think.
00:15:38 Speaker 2
This is where.
00:15:41 Speaker 2
As an instructor, sometimes I think our instructors might get annoyed with how much we hit balloons.
00:15:48 Speaker 2
Specification on them, but this is really where it could be useful.
00:15:52 Speaker 2
There is.
00:15:52 Speaker 2
There's a difference in you or even using it the the concept of understanding or just.
00:15:57 Speaker 2
Recognizing a skill versus actually implementing and adapting and utilizing a skill.
00:16:04 Speaker 2
So if that's something that you want them to be able to do for.
00:16:09 Speaker 2
Posting some kind of response. Have you really worked them through or do they have the prerequisite skill?
00:16:17 Speaker 2
Have you established that they have that already through that scaffold understanding of applying the the proper?
00:16:24 Speaker 2
Verb taxonomy, you know do.
00:16:25 Speaker 2
Do they grasp the the ability to identify and recognize and then define something before they try to create or apply it?
00:16:31 Camie
Right.
00:16:36 Camie
Yeah. Have you given them examples of what this thing you're asking them to produce should look like?
00:16:41
Yeah.
00:16:42 Camie
You know, and that's examples, of course, are one way you can also do those video demonstrations with step by step guides and how to do this thing.
00:16:51 Camie
Actually in that same interlea studies course, I just sent the instructors over a video on one of the assignments is writing a case brief in a certain using a certain method.
00:17:05 Camie
And I sent them over a YouTube video of.
00:17:09 Camie
Another instructor from somewhere else, you know, going through that and actually.
00:17:13 Camie
The case brief in real time.
00:17:15
Yeah.
00:17:17 Camie
That makes a really big difference.
00:17:19 Camie
You can also do practices.
00:17:22 Camie
Now this can be more.
00:17:25 Camie
You could have some kind of virtual practice room where people are practicing in real time, but it can just be that you've given them the practice activity.
00:17:28
Run.
00:17:33 Camie
That can look like a lot of different things.
00:17:37 Camie
We have all kinds of.
00:17:39 Camie
Ways to allow students to.
00:17:42 Camie
This can be, hey, why don't you submit your abstract here?
00:17:48 Camie
Give you feedback on that.
00:17:50 Camie
And then the abstract in your final paper is really.
00:17:52 Camie
So you've walked them through the components of a paper and let them have these.
00:17:57 Camie
Lower stakes assignments as a practice and the final assignment, which is a higher stakes assignment, they've been able to get feedback and grow in these areas before they've gotten there.
00:18:04
Right.
00:18:08 Speaker 2
Yeah, sequencing the component parts before you put it all together.
00:18:12 Speaker 2
My freshman business course walked through that in a mini unit for the last six weeks.
00:18:16 Speaker 2
Took them through a human centered design concept where they had to.
00:18:21 Speaker 2
In on a problem.
00:18:24 Speaker 2
That's basically applied to resourcing or facilities on campus and working groups, and but we broke it down where one week we're talking.
00:18:32 Speaker 2
How do you identify problems properly the next week? How do you qualitatively?
00:18:39 Speaker 2
Source data. You know what a fuller example would be? Qualitative and quantitative, and we dive deeper into.
00:18:44 Speaker 2
This is a mini unit, so only focus on qualitative. Well then how do you properly interview and surface or canvas? I should say folks to be a part of that qualifies them and then the next week was how do you then synthesize that data?
00:18:58 Speaker 2
And the feedback to more clearly identify the problem that you're then going to use to, then springboard into the ideation of a of a prototype that leads into. And I was giving them feedback at each week, and each submission, some weeks they had to submit their individual inter.
00:19:13 Speaker 2
Some weeks they had to submit a prototype as a group and by the end of it, it's this final pitch.
00:19:18 Speaker 2
Where they as.
00:19:19 Speaker 2
Team, get up and say here was our here's how we walked through that process and here's our final product that we created and even in that in a face to face it was it is.
00:19:27 Speaker 2
All about to say it's it's doable and it's, but it's challenging because.
00:19:31 Speaker 2
There was constant redirections of back to. You have to employ the principles of human centered design.
00:19:37 Speaker 2
Don't just because you think that this website would look.
00:19:39 Speaker 2
Like this?
00:19:40 Speaker 2
What is the? How are you meeting the goals of the empathetic learner the?
00:19:46 Speaker 2
Accessibility and usability.
00:19:49 Speaker 2
Protocols that need to be in place, so hitting and again it takes that reminder over and over and over again.
00:19:55 Speaker 2
They come away, hopefully with a better.
00:19:56 Speaker 2
Better understanding and a better application than if they just did that all on their own in the background for 3-4 weeks while I was teaching other stuff. And then I asked them to submit that at the end of.
00:20:08 Speaker 2
Semester and then give them all their feed.
00:20:09 Speaker 2
The very end.
00:20:10 Camie
Alright.
00:20:12 Speaker 2
It takes a lot more intentionality, and then it takes an even further degree of intentionality.
00:20:16 Speaker 2
Not mine, only space.
00:20:18 Speaker 2
Good luck.
00:20:19 Camie
Yes.
00:20:22 Speaker 2
I say that physically because you you do if you're a New York instructor, you.
00:20:25 Speaker 2
Resources and you have.
00:20:26 Camie
Folks. Resources.
00:20:26
You have.
00:20:26 Speaker 2
Punched that one.
00:20:29 Camie
Yes.
00:20:31 Camie
And again, instructional designers are here for our online folks.
00:20:36 Camie
And I know that even some face to face have people within their department so.
00:20:42 Camie
Don't keep it to yourself.
00:20:45 Speaker 2
Stay motivated. You see what I did there?
00:20:45 Camie
So.
00:20:48 Camie
Yes, yes, I do because I said.
00:20:50 Camie
Gap is a motivation gap.
00:20:53 Camie
And those occur when someone has the knowledge and skills to do something, but they lack the motivation.
00:20:58 Camie
Now I want a caveat here and.
00:20:59 Camie
Say that.
00:21:01 Camie
Lacking the motivation, I'm not talking about.
00:21:06 Camie
Oh my gosh, these people are so lazy. They just won't do anything right.
00:21:09 Camie
I am talking about.
00:21:12 Camie
There's a reason there's not a.
00:21:14 Camie
It could be something like a lack of engagement, which we'll talk a little bit more about in a minute, but it also could be.
00:21:23 Camie
Something going on with?
00:21:26 Camie
You know their mental health. It could be something going on with not being able to see the goal that.
00:21:35 Camie
That this course is getting them to.
00:21:37 Camie
There are.
00:21:38 Camie
Lot of reasons that people struggle with motivation so.
00:21:42 Camie
We're not gonna dive deep into the reasons why they do, but I did wanna mention it.
00:21:48 Camie
But basically in online without that face to face accountability, then students can struggle to stay engaged.
00:21:57 Camie
One of the biggest things specifically.
00:22:00 Camie
For online education with motivation.
00:22:03 Camie
So that's we're going to really focus on it goes beyond self-discipline.
00:22:08 Camie
I'm not talking about laziness here or anything like that, right?
00:22:11 Speaker 2
Yeah, a personality trait.
00:22:13 Camie
I'm talking about.
00:22:16 Camie
Connecting to other learners in the community despite a physical distance.
00:22:20 Speaker 2
And the data shows that the more.
00:22:23 Speaker 2
They presume or can assume the instructor first and foremost, setting the tone is present within the course and active, not just switched it on and checks out.
00:22:34 Speaker 2
Only pops in like once a week or you know the end of the semester.
00:22:41 Speaker 2
The more likely the students are going to be to engage.
00:22:45 Speaker 2
This can be part of jumping into discussion boards, not just being the.
00:22:50 Speaker 2
The eagle eye over the top of it, but pushing them along in the discussion, not answering for them, but prompting further questions like recognizing components that have been mentioned, that helped spur the conversation further and giving them that nudge the same way you might do in.
00:22:51 Camie
Mm.
00:22:57 Camie
Questioning yes.
00:23:06 Speaker 2
In a face to face, where if there's a student led discussion and but you want to provide 1 little nugget that leads them all in a little bit further to discuss more.
00:23:14 Camie
And we do have another podcast episode on questioning.
00:23:19 Camie
If you need help with that.
00:23:23 Speaker 2
We do.
00:23:25 Speaker 2
I wasn't sure if I needed to add anymore to that.
00:23:28 Speaker 2
About it and I decided, no, we do.
00:23:32 Camie
I.
00:23:32 Camie
But yeah, you can also try.
00:23:35 Camie
And I don't mean game based learning. When I say gamification.
00:23:38 Speaker 2
I was.
00:23:38 Speaker 2
Say what's what do you mean by that?
00:23:40 Speaker 2
I can just put games in my class and.
00:23:42 Camie
That counts the things.
00:23:43 Camie
No, I'm talking trick you into doing things.
00:23:47 Camie
Like Duolingo streak and sorry, that's that's what keeps me coming back to Duolingo every day is keeping up my streak.
00:23:53 Speaker 2
Not your intrinsic love for Welsh or Scottish Gaelic.
00:23:58 Camie
Yes, yes.
00:23:58
Yeah, just trying.
00:24:00 Speaker 2
To remember what language.
00:24:01 Camie
Scottish Gaelic but.
00:24:02 Camie
I've I've included math and music now with.
00:24:05 Camie
That I do.
00:24:07 Camie
The Gallic everyday, but the math and music.
00:24:10 Speaker 2
Sporadically this is where I'm like Duolingo.
00:24:13 Speaker 2
State stay true.
00:24:16
Now.
00:24:16 Camie
It is.
00:24:17 Camie
The music is not like yes, you have a little keyboard and you do play the notes, but I think it's really teaching you the language of reading music more than.
00:24:27 Speaker 2
Yeah, how to play.
00:24:29 Camie
Right. Not like you're doing formal hand structure or anything like that, you know?
00:24:34 Camie
It's.
00:24:34 Camie
I mean, it's on your phone.
00:24:35 Speaker 2
All right, Guitar Hero on your phone.
00:24:38
So.
00:24:39 Camie
So yeah.
00:24:41 Camie
But you can gamify your class with with different things that motivate students to continue, right? We're not.
00:24:51 Camie
Again, we're not talking about.
00:24:51
Like.
00:24:53 Camie
Playing turning your class into a game.
00:24:55 Speaker 2
Like I have an instructor who gives $2000 to the winning project at the end of the semester.
00:25:01 Speaker 2
Across all of his courses.
00:25:03 Camie
Wait, I just want to say that is a.
00:25:05 Camie
And I wish we could all do that.
00:25:07 Camie
We can't.
00:25:08 Speaker 2
Right.
00:25:10 Camie
But yes, that that is definitely a.
00:25:10
Run.
00:25:12 Camie
That's a very big extrinsic motivator, but I'm not sure that's gamification.
00:25:13
Yes.
00:25:19 Camie
I would say more like I think of it with budgeting software the most and I used to use YNAB.
00:25:25
Yeah.
00:25:26 Camie
Not using it anymore.
00:25:29 Camie
Ironically, to save money.
00:25:31
It's.
00:25:33
But.
00:25:36 Camie
But you know when you had filled your budget categories, they turned green. If you overspent, they turned red.
00:25:41 Camie
Did not want a red budget category.
00:25:45 Camie
And so.
00:25:47 Camie
Things like that, if you can motivate students to stay engaged.
00:25:52 Camie
Some things.
00:25:53 Camie
Blackboard are already set up for this.
00:25:55 Camie
We have progress tracking.
00:25:56 Speaker 2
That's. I was gonna say for some students they are Nat like to make sure that switched on because they're naturally going to want to check that box screen and see that 11 out of 11 completed for this module just by their nature or it will push those hand.
00:26:06
Yes.
00:26:08
Yeah.
00:26:10 Speaker 2
Of it.
00:26:12 Speaker 2
Wouldn't have.
00:26:13 Speaker 2
But then they see.
00:26:14 Speaker 2
Oh, that's gonna that's gonna compel me to see that 'cause we we like the sense of completion.
00:26:20 Camie
Yes.
00:26:22 Camie
Also you can look at progress tracking and of course that does go with our tracking tool we just talked about.
00:26:28 Camie
But you can do that.
00:26:30 Camie
Other ways as.
00:26:30 Camie
Within your course, you can build something if you like that, and then you can use Microsoft forms to do automated check insurance regularly with your students.
00:26:31
Yeah.
00:26:41 Camie
That.
00:26:42 Camie
That helps you know students have a way to access you.
00:26:45 Camie
We also we don't talk about this a lot, but there are some instructors who have started to require students come to their office hours like twice in a semester within a certain two week period or.
00:26:57 Speaker 2
Right, right.
00:27:00 Camie
Something like that, so that they're actually getting a basic.
00:27:04 Camie
Virtual face to face touch.
00:27:04
Yeah.
00:27:06
Yeah.
00:27:06 Camie
With their students and the students, if they can't come to office, hours of course, have the option to schedule a different appointment.
00:27:13 Camie
It's it's flexible within that.
00:27:16 Speaker 2
Uh.
00:27:17 Camie
Asynchronous environment keeping true to the asynchronousness of it.
00:27:20 Speaker 2
Yeah, you can't force them into a particular time and set, but.
00:27:24 Camie
Right. But you can't say.
00:27:25 Speaker 2
Given the options.
00:27:26 Camie
Hey, you do have to meet with me.
00:27:29 Camie
We can be flexible on the times and to me that also that's kind of speaking to that instructor presence that you were talking about earlier.
00:27:31
Yeah.
00:27:37 Camie
And that makes a difference that way.
00:27:40 Speaker 2
I thought of one other example of the gamification component.
00:27:43 Speaker 2
I wasn't able to unfortunately this go around in development. Build it with the instructor but it for future iterations it's on our on our wish list for real estate course. The end of each module we were going to work with the media team and it's still my plan.
00:27:57 Speaker 2
To work with the media team to develop.
00:28:00 Speaker 2
A component piece of essentially like a puzzle that builds a home, and so at the end of that module they get the foundation and then.
00:28:03 Camie
Mm.
00:28:07 Speaker 2
The next.
00:28:08 Speaker 2
They get the scatter scaffolds that.
00:28:10 Speaker 2
Up and then it continues to stack and.
00:28:12 Speaker 2
So by the end of the semester, you have built the property.
00:28:16 Camie
That makes me happy.
00:28:17 Speaker 2
And then you know, you get to see this completed project that you basically by knowing and working through module by module, you collected a new piece.
00:28:24 Speaker 2
That allowed.
00:28:25 Speaker 2
To see a finished product that's a little bit like a Kudo center, look at what I built over the.
00:28:30 Speaker 2
Of the.
00:28:30 Speaker 2
By working on this.
00:28:32 Camie
Yes. See, I love that.
00:28:34 Camie
Love that so much.
00:28:35 Speaker 2
So another fun example.
00:28:38 Camie
Low environment are our 4th gap and they occur when a students environment or surrounding make it difficult for them to learn. This can be from a lack of resources, distractions, and adequate support at home.
00:28:52 Camie
No quiet place to study.
00:28:54 Camie
Reliable Internet or should they? Unreliable Internet.
00:28:59 Camie
And digital literacy, that's kind of another, because that means you're not able to navigate the online environment, right?
00:29:07 Camie
So.
00:29:10 Camie
We have a lot of parents in online education as as our students.
00:29:15 Camie
No quiet place to.
00:29:16 Camie
Yes, they can relate to that.
00:29:17 Speaker 2
I.
00:29:17 Speaker 2
I was that for a while.
00:29:20 Speaker 2
I'm still. I'm a.
00:29:21 Speaker 2
I was an online learning yes.
00:29:26 Camie
You cannot do anything about a physical space.
00:29:29 Camie
You can do something about the digital literacy, and that's putting in those tutorials for videos, making sure you put instructions in how to submit or how to download things that students need.
00:29:43 Camie
You can make your course mobile friendly content delivery because that means people who don't have a lot of bandwidth or physical space, they have another option here.
00:29:54 Speaker 2
And maybe.
00:29:56 Speaker 2
Online learners, they're only quiet spaces if they're working. Professionals with families is their lunch hour at their at their work?
00:30:04 Speaker 2
And so maybe it's too cumbersome to hold their laptop every single day to work.
00:30:08 Speaker 2
You.
00:30:08 Speaker 2
Kind of, in a way, mitigate that space factor in an indirect way.
00:30:13 Speaker 2
By building your course, and luckily Ultra lends itself to that a bit more naturally already in its design.
00:30:19 Speaker 2
But if you can at least facilitate your learning materials in a way or those low stakes quizzes, or those nostakes quizzes and assessments in a way that they can spend 45 minutes over their lunch hour every day and knock that out where they read some of the.
00:30:35 Speaker 2
Material you've posted or watch one of your lecture videos and complete that that low stakes quiz, and then they can.
00:30:40 Speaker 2
Out later then, when they have to go, once the kids are down at 10.
00:30:43 Speaker 2
You.
00:30:44 Speaker 2
Then start to work on the other stuff. You've at least given them some flexibility.
00:30:49 Speaker 2
They could do some of that on mobile and then jump and do some more of that on a desktop or a laptop, and it mitigates the need to have to be bound to a particular space at a particular time to to maximize.
00:30:59 Camie
Yes.
00:31:00 Speaker 2
Ability to get the work.
00:31:02 Camie
This, and we do also have.
00:31:06 Camie
Technical Support.
00:31:07 Camie
Yes.
00:31:08 Camie
So our blackboard help for students is open, not 24/7 but extended hours.
00:31:14 Speaker 2
Pretty close.
00:31:16 Camie
Yeah, they they go.
00:31:17 Camie
The wee hours sometimes, so they are available for students who are working.
00:31:22 Camie
That's a big help, I think if you can't get things done 8:00 to 5:00 and also having offline access options for key materials that can be a big.
00:31:33 Camie
As well.
00:31:34 Camie
OK, 5th and final gap communication gaps.
00:31:37 Camie
They occur when students have unclear communication about expectations or knowledge.
00:31:42 Camie
These can occur from language and cultural barriers, or a learning difference.
00:31:47 Camie
Not just always about your communication style, right?
00:31:51 Camie
Can be.
00:31:52 Camie
But not always.
00:31:56 Camie
Without a way to quickly clarify those misunderstandings, they can become.
00:32:02 Camie
The big till because they're persisting longer and they're impacting more assignments.
00:32:06 Camie
I call that not just a gap, but a Canyon.
00:32:09 Camie
A learning.
00:32:10
Yeah.
00:32:10 Camie
We don't want to learn in Canyon.
00:32:12 Speaker 2
Yeah, that for those students understanding too, if you're one of those who are feeling that gap in communication, you're likely not alone in that.
00:32:19 Speaker 2
So if there are any students that listen, this is just my plea to like, don't.
00:32:25 Camie
Don't wait.
00:32:25 Speaker 2
That be a bubble that you're you're in isolation and use. If the instructor has created those avenues, like a, you know, I think we call them cyber cafes for a while there where it was just kind of that open discussion board forum to post those general.
00:32:39
Google.
00:32:40 Speaker 2
Is anyone else having questions or issues with XYZ?
00:32:43 Speaker 2
Put that out.
00:32:44 Speaker 2
Or if the instructor says, you know, e-mail me or I have these virtual office hours set up those times and go into them.
00:32:49 Speaker 2
But the.
00:32:50 Speaker 2
That's also where instructor presence again.
00:32:54 Speaker 2
Because if you've established that norm and that.
00:32:58 Speaker 2
Visibility there. I mean students are going to feel much more empowered to.
00:33:04 Speaker 2
Reach across that Canyon, or at least shout that they need help within the Canyon to to get that assistance.
00:33:06 Camie
Right.
00:33:12 Speaker 2
One of the the great experiences.
00:33:17 Speaker 2
I saw an instructor do and maybe this fits in a different category, but it was. It was an Ave. of communication was it was her first version of the course that she was delivering and she put a form that live near the top of the course I would.
00:33:29 Speaker 2
If you find any mistakes in my course 'cause, I have a lot of content here.
00:33:34 Speaker 2
You find any information that just seems off or I've.
00:33:38 Speaker 2
Typoed or put in incorrectly, like fill out this form and let me know where it's at.
00:33:43 Speaker 2
Go in and correct.
00:33:44 Speaker 2
I'll give you bonus points for it too.
00:33:46 Speaker 2
I just made the students feel much more.
00:33:50 Speaker 2
Comfortable. The fact that the instructor isn't presenting.
00:33:53 Speaker 2
Walled off.
00:33:54 Speaker 2
I've got everything done and perfect and never question what I'm doing.
00:33:57 Speaker 2
No, I I'm a.
00:33:58 Speaker 2
I'm going to make mistakes and I need you to call me out.
00:34:01 Speaker 2
That.
00:34:01 Speaker 2
That I can improve and iterate this more and more.
00:34:05 Speaker 2
And I think that's just being.
00:34:06 Speaker 2
Relaxed, still being professional.
00:34:09 Speaker 2
Yet being relaxed.
00:34:12 Speaker 2
Can help in.
00:34:13 Speaker 2
It's not going to solve every problem in a communication gap or barrier, but it's a beginning. It's a starting point that continues to allow more opportunities to come.
00:34:24 Camie
I agree.
00:34:25 Camie
And you know, you mentioned having multiple avenues for asking questions and the cafe 411 or Cyber Cafe.
00:34:33 Camie
E-mail the virtual office.
00:34:35 Camie
I think a form is a great way to say hey, please let me know about things that are wrong.
00:34:42 Camie
We can't get through an episode without mentioning rubrics.
00:34:47 Camie
I have some really clear rubrics samples in your.
00:34:51 Camie
Was.
00:34:52 Speaker 2
Going to say this is where we can connect dots because a rubric helps ease the communication gap. But you also have to make sure that the skill gap.
00:35:00 Speaker 2
Has been covered so that they understand what a rubric is, how to read it, and how to apply it.
00:35:01 Camie
Yes.
00:35:05 Camie
Yes.
00:35:06 Speaker 2
Yes. So if they don't have the skill to navigate a rubric in the 1st place, the rubric is not going to help.
00:35:10 Camie
It's not gonna be helpful, right?
00:35:12 Camie
So make sure that you demonstrate how to read a rubric and apply it to an assignment.
00:35:19 Speaker 2
Thank you for coming to the Rubric podcast today.
00:35:21 Speaker 2
Be sure to check us.
00:35:21 Speaker 2
I know, sorry. This is the pedigo.
00:35:23 Speaker 2
Don't get rubric Tool Kit podcast.
00:35:25 Camie
You can also do video summaries addressing common confusions if you're seeing a lot of confusion, you know, let's say that a lot of students are posting in the Cyber Cafe about a particular.
00:35:36 Camie
Or you're getting a lot of emails about a particular problem that students are having with the assignment. Both a video and go through the confusion.
00:35:44 Camie
Walk them through, say, hey, I know you're having trouble with this. A lot of you are.
00:35:49 Camie
Emailed me.
00:35:50 Camie
Here is the answer.
00:35:52 Camie
And walk them through exactly what that means step by step.
00:35:55 Speaker 2
Yeah, and sometimes it's a video, sometimes it might just be an announcement. If you start to see that second e-mail come in or that third e-mail come in and you have 40 or 50 students.
00:36:03 Speaker 2
You want to stop another 15 emails coming in.
00:36:07 Speaker 2
Get ahead of that.
00:36:08 Speaker 2
And post that announcement or make that 5 minute video and post it.
00:36:13 Speaker 2
It will save.
00:36:13 Speaker 2
A lot of time in the long run and again part of that's the iteration process. You're not going to know before you're in it, but then once you're in it, you know and you build it and then you know, for next time how you.
00:36:24 Speaker 2
Free engineer that in your course or correct the issue.
00:36:26 Camie
You you make the video.
00:36:29 Camie
And put it in your assignment before students ask for the next term.
00:36:32
Yeah.
00:36:33 Speaker 2
Or yeah, or you make the corrections in the the actual content itself that gets ahead of the curve, or that video is. Yeah. This is another case to make your communication.
00:36:44 Speaker 2
Personalized but Evergreen in the sense that you don't necessarily.
00:36:47 Speaker 2
Always specify exact dates in a video.
00:36:51 Speaker 2
Or exact.
00:36:52 Camie
Right.
00:36:55 Speaker 2
Semesters.
00:36:57 Speaker 2
But you can then post that with the content in the video like in the description of the video or in the content underneath the video or in the heading of the videos posting.
00:37:07 Speaker 2
But then the video content itself.
00:37:10 Speaker 2
Is pretty well categorized.
00:37:12 Speaker 2
And not unique to a semester, but still hits the broad components that you need to hit.
00:37:16 Camie
It may be specific to the assignment, but it is not specific to the term what date anything.
00:37:20 Camie
Do.
00:37:22 Camie
Also, I would not even mention the course name in there, because course names and numbers change.
00:37:29 Camie
You may have a similar assignment in a different course, but has the same problem.
00:37:34 Camie
That you know, the the more you can Evergreen your resources, the less work you're doing in the longer.
00:37:41 Speaker 2
Don't even say your name Cammy, because your name might change.
00:37:46 Camie
I may want my version Cami would forever.
00:37:49 Speaker 2
Tammy, one tree.
00:37:53 Camie
Wood, not woods.
00:37:54 Camie
Tree.
00:37:54 Camie
The whole forest.
00:38:00 Camie
So the online asynchronous environment offers unique challenges to overcoming learning gaps, but it also offers unique opportunities to use technology to overcome learning gaps. As Adam Grant says, wisdom wise in recognizing what we don't know.
00:38:16 Camie
And in an online environment, it's incredibly important that we stay intentional about creating opportunities for students to overcome their learning gaps.
00:38:25 Camie
Thanks for joining us on the Pedagogy toolkit.
00:38:27 Camie
Don't forget to subscribe.