Candice McPherson, Paula McDougald, and Kirsten Wilson from VirtualArkansas.org presented in October a Quality Matters (QM) session that I have been meaning to watch: “30 Going on 13: Thinking Like a Student for Course Design.” Wilson started by explaining how they wanted to incorporate student voice in the course design process and improve the learner experience.
McPherson used a Google Slide deck with different character names, background, attributes, and school views. This activity was really well designed to encourage the audience to think like a 13-year-old student! I also like the character images they used because they were diverse cartoon-like images. When they demonstrated how the interactive slides were going to be used, McPherson showed how the images can be dragged to reveal many more options! This online co-creation activity was also very timely since today Dr. Samsa’s “Divide and Conquer” Tips and Tools was published in JMBE! McPherson played Halloween music while participants edited their slides. Next, breakout rooms were used to have groups of participants introduce their characters and discuss the students. McPherson provided a prompt on a Halloween-themed slide with ‘role play’ scenarios. The first one was about Cassie from rural southwestern North Carolina with recently divorced parents and has come out as gender non-binary. Using a random number generator, McPherson provided a course website that was not very easy to navigate. McPherson polled the group to learn about what they would have done next. The mock course page was full of animations, low-contrast text, and lots of scrolling that would make new users uneasy about what to do next, especially students struggling with home and life challenges that increase their cognitive load. This first scenario was aptly named “A Frightful Orientation” and really emphasized the need for welcoming and intuitive course design.
The second scenario was about a character named Tad with “average grit, low energy level, and ‘+’ intelligence”… after a setback, Tad doesn’t even log in to the course webpage! Another participant played Diego a thirteen year old living with mom and stepbrother whose dad was deported. Diego enjoys schools, mows grass for extra cash, and is not very organized. Diego was able to log in and receives an announcement video that scares him. Diego logs in, and the announcement includes a video by the instructor talking about “abysmal assignment scores” and an opportunity for bonus points. The tone of the instructor in the video message was… disappointment and, while well-intentioned, was “missing the point of their students.” McPherson played the teacher in the video beautifully, and all slides were very well designed! Overall, the entire session was an example of interaction and graphic design that I wish we could replicate!
To wrap up, McPherson mentioned several concepts I try to summarize below based on a slide they displayed:
- The Curse of Knowledge: a cognitive bias when you assume others have the background knowledge.
- Cultural Bias: excluding others from learning by leaving out cultural references or misrepresenting cultures isolates participants.
- Cognitive Load: too much information and the brain power required to decode the message effectively leads to blurred messages.
- Voice and Choice: providing students the opportunity to choose and design their learning experience.
For “Voice and Choice” McPherson mentioned that stepping into a student perspective can be done using a question and adapt your design, train like a student, and give voice & choice.
To question and adapt your design, McPherson recommended creating a checklist to challenge and avoid common assumptions, beta testing your course with small groups of students before releasing, using surveys to learn about students and their perceptions, and allowing active teachers to participate in the curriculum change process. Wilson added information about how often they gathered feedback at two points. McDougald discussed how to train like a student by practicing what students will experience. The Virtual Arkansas teacher professional development curriculum includes modeling of the student perspective and training to experience and act on it. Wilson described ways to give student voice and choice by:
- recognizing inflexible objectives and providing more flexible learning that gives students more ownership
- considering executive function skills to scaffold them so that students can participate.
- “moving from engagement to empowerment”
- creating opportunities capture ongoing learning through digital portfolios, blogs…
- using rubrics as a student resource for self-assessments instead of a checklist. I love how this is phrased and hope to keep this in mind!
- providing choice with models and flexibility of responses. McDougald explained how sometimes giving choice to learners experiencing options for the first time in a course setting can cause panic. Thus, supporting students and providing examples can help students step out and create.
This session was great! While it was aimed at K-12 educators, the advice, particularly for adding opportunities for voice and choice, was wonderful and actionable! The clear explanations and rationale that all three presenters shared will help me implement and sustain these strategies.
