Effective course design helps welcome and orient students

This article focuses on ways to leverage features in Ultra to ensure your course is designed to optimize student learning and ensure students feel welcome and prepared, especially at the start of the term. Part 2 will feature Ultra’s progress tracking tools and effective strategies for student identification, outreach, and support.

A student’s first impression of your course, and their learning opportunities throughout the course, are influenced initially by course design. A clutter-free environment helps students focus on the course and avoid confusion. In addition, students’ learning opportunities can be enhanced by using Blackboard Ultra design features to welcome and orient them within the first critical weeks of the semester and ensure they are on track and able to locate content, engage with one another, get help, and submit assignments.

During emergency-remote instruction in 2020, a survey of more than 500 UMBC courses taught by instructors who completed the PIVOT+ professional development program found students reported enjoying taking classes that were well organized and planned. More than 85% of students agreed or strongly agreed that PIVOT+ courses flowed in a logical format. About 90% of students agreed or strongly agreed that course requirements were clear, while 83% agreed or strongly agreed that assignment instructions were clear. 

Using the ‘Start Here’ Module 

Every Blackboard course shell at UMBC is created with a “Start Here” module already in place. Within this module are placeholders for the syllabus, instructor information, and eLearning and academic resources. This module can also contain critical orientation information to let students know what to expect in your course, how to navigate, help set the tone for the course, and provide opportunities to establish teaching and social presence (Quality Matters, 2024; Wengier, 2022).

Welcoming and Orienting Students

When it comes to designing the welcome experience for learners, Quality Matters General Standard 1: Course Overview & Introduction (HE Rubric, 7th ed.), offers researched-backed effective practices for orienting students to the course and instructor expectations for communication, feedback, grading, and use of Blackboard. 

In the QM-certified course AGNG 355, instructor Louise Murray (pictured above) includes a pre-recorded, narrated, and captioned PowerPoint to provide students with a visual tour of the course and communication expectations. This allows students to see and hear the instructor and complements the text Murray provides about email, phone, office hours, and response times. 

There are many ways to welcome and introduce students to your course, including steps you can take before the semester even starts, such as sending a welcome email or announcement. These messages can stay available for students through the duration of the course. 

Some instructors send a pre-survey to students before the semester starts to determine prior knowledge or experience. In addition, you may want to prepare a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) resource to address the most common student questions, share tips on time management, and remind students how to access technology and resources.

Consider that there are effective options to consider for welcoming and orienting students that create learning opportunities at the beginning of the course including:

• Accessing a welcome video or course tour (pre-recorded)
• Reading an instructor’s introduction
• Introducing themselves in a Discussion forum or VoiceThread 
• Using the “Ask the Professor” discussion forum to ask clarifying questions
• Completing a syllabus quiz

In the Quality Matters certified course SPAN 201 (pictured above) instructor Milvia Hernandez pre-records a brief video that complements text in Blackboard. More importantly, students can also see and hear Hernandez as she welcomes them in both Spanish and English and explains the course structure and cadence. 

About Quality Matters

Grounded in evidence-based practice research, peer review, and collegiality, Quality Matters (QM) is used by more than 40,000 educators and instructional designers worldwide to strengthen online and blended course design. 

At UMBC, 19 courses have earned QM certification for online course design and represent more than half of the QM-certified courses in the University System of Maryland.

References:

• Quality Matters. (2024, September 9). QM Rubrics & Standards. 
• Wengier, S. (2022). The start here module: Creating a first day impression in an online language class (EJ1346021). 
  

By Susan Biro and Peter Ariev