Jessica Bishop, Instructional Designer

Meaningful Traditions: Reflecting on 2023

Christmas traditions vary from family to family and person to person. But whether it’s decorating with lights to brighten the long winter nights, hanging stockings on the mantel, or placing a manger in a prominent location for all to see, these traditions seek to fill the season with significance and cheer.

Each December, our team enjoys the tradition to pause and reflect on the research and resources we share on the website. And we hope this tradition of reflection brings meaning to our Model eLearning community. With 2024 only a couple weeks away, it’s time to for the traditional review of the highlights of 2023.

Unwrapping 2022: Supporting Learners

It’s that time of the year again. If you’ve been following Model eLearning for some time, you know we use our last post of the year to reflect on the past year. We enjoy the opportunity to look back at the themes of the year (and we hope you do too!).

Digital Content Curation Tools for Education

Digital content curation tools allow us to easily create, collaborate, share, and evaluate educational resources and collections. With “[…] advances in technology, enhanced tools allow researchers to preserve their work in new venues and formats to reach new audiences. (Deschaine & Sharma, 2015, p. 20). In Curating an Instructional Content Collection for Teaching and Learning, I shared how to use content curation in course design to provide accurate, relevant learning resources and model 21^st century information literacy skills. In this post, I’ll discuss digital tools for curating educational content.

Curating an Instructional Content Collection for Teaching and Learning

Content continues to be published at staggering rates—and it’s only likely to increase. With the proper equipment, time, and an internet connection, anyone can publish content with relatively low effort. The value and accuracy of this content might not go through vigorous quality checks (or may be outright fictitious and created for malicious purposes), which means we must become savvy to identify, evaluate, and share the best resources.

A Learner-Centered Focus: Reflecting on 2021

As with other years, we’re taking time this season to reflect on a year once again defined by uncertainty. In some ways, 2021 seemed like a blur—a continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic challenges we faced in 2020.

Despite these challenges, Model eLearning continues to be a creative outlet for our research, writing, and passion for meeting the needs of our learners. We’re thankful for you—our readers, community of practice, and colleagues. Your support makes our efforts on the blog meaningful as we approach two years of remote work. Our team’s focus—creating learner-centered experiences—remains our compass as we look to 2022 and beyond.

Small Steps to Make Your Class a More Accessible Experience

Have you wanted make your class more accessible and inclusive, but you just didn’t know where to start? Maybe you know you should add accessibility into your course, but it feels like you don’t have enough time to redesign the whole course.

Accessibility improves the learning experience for all learners. Not every student discloses their needs (whether physical or cognitive, permanent or situational), so it’s important to take a proactive approach to create an inclusive learning environment.

When you pick small, manageable elements to focus on, you can slowly infuse accessibility into your course each time it runs. With a few changes, you can start to make your course materials more accessible.

Just-in-Time Resources for Faculty

In 2020, the need for ongoing support became even more apparent as educators struggled with the uncertainties from the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent post about the importance of supporting faculty and adjuncts through ongoing training, Ann describes how “Providing more opportunities for faculty training and development is one of the first steps we must take in order to empower faculty to make the mission of higher education a reality.”

2020: A Year Redefined

It’s hard to believe we’re wrapping up our fourth year of blogging on Model eLearning. Most years, we take time to reflect on what we’ve written, review our discoveries and research, and celebrate our accomplishments for the year. These reflections resonate even deeper as we look at a year shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campus Collaborations: eLearning and the White Library

When Michigan went into a sudden lockdown due to COVID-19 during the Spring 20 semester, our university shifted personnel around to meet the needs caused by moving to remote learning and work. Our team gained additional staff to support the influx of requests, including dedicated help from the White Library. With the stronger ties between us, we’ve able to work together to creatively address these needs.

Develop Your Instructional Design Skills

Instructional design is often a career people fall into. When you scroll through comment sections online, you’ll see the same question from people interested in entering the field: Where do I learn instructional design skills?

While you might find a graduate degree or certificate useful (especially if you plan to work in higher education), it’ll depend on the industry you focus on. Even if you decide to hold off on the degree for now, there’s plenty of low-cost options to help you develop your skills.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: