Course Design

When CIC refers to "assessment" we are generally referring to any structured opportunity where students demonstrate what they've learned. An assessment is also a tool that educators and universities use to help monitor students' progress and learning outcomes. Understanding different types of assessments is crucial when designing a course to help pace the student learning experience, structure the course, and ensure students are meeting course and program outcomes

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment monitors student learning and provides ongoing feedback that students can use to improve their learning. In that sense, effective formative assessments allow students to demonstrate what they know and help them identify knowledge gaps, struggles, and misconceptions.

Formative assessments should start early, occur frequently, and be low(er) stakes, meaning they do not have a high point value and allow multiple attempts. Formative assessments should allow students to express their knowledge through multiple methods, not just writing. This could include infographics that ask students to diagram a concept or video responses to other students.

Examples of formative assessments include:

• Weekly assignments, particularly those that ask students to self-reflect or connect the concepts within a module to their own experiences
• Interactive labs
• Graded discussions, either online or in class, that ask students to reflect on their learning
• Quizzes with immediate corrective feedback and multiple attempts
• Short reflective writing assignments
• Low-stakes group work that doesn’t span across multiple modules or sections of a course

Instructor feedback on formative assessments should be provided frequently and should be detailed and actionable. This feedback allows students to identify their own knowledge gaps. When actionable, this feedback gives students a clear path to close knowledge gaps.

Best Practices for Formative Assessment Design

Focus on:

• What is in the Rubric
• Weighting their point values proportionately
• Your goals for the assignment and its purpose
• Module outcomes or learning objectives
• Using the Quicklink tool in My Courses
• Using the Rubric tool in My Courses

Less Focus on:

• Style & Format 
• Grammar
• Types of sources/source criteria

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments happen at the end of a module, course, term, or program. They are higher stakes and their purpose is to provide feedback about content, course outcome, or skill mastery. 

Examples of summative assessments include:

• Final or midterm exams
• Major/final papers, capstone projects, portfolios, or final presentations, particularly those that build on formative work students have already completed throughout the course

Summative assessments should always use a scoring rubric. A rubric not only helps instructors evaluate student work consistently and fairly, but when the rubric is shared with students, it clearly articulates what the students must complete to be successful.

Best Practices for Summative Assessment Design

Focus on:

• Scaffolding (breaking down a project into different parts for example) 
• What is in the Rubric
• Your goals for the assignment and its purpose
• Course outcomes 
• Where it fits in the context of a program or degree
• Using the Rubric tool in My Courses
• Style & format (if it’s a course learning objective)

Pacing Assessments

How many formative assessments should I give students before a summative assessment? When should I give them?

It depends on the frequency, point value, and length of the course. There is a lot more opportunity for formative assessment in a 16 week course for example. In general:

• If your course has 1-2 summative assessments, (a mid-term and a final) you can do 1-2 graded formative assessments per week.
• A week that has a summative assessment should have fewer formative assessments
• 3-4 graded assessments per week is generally too many. Students don’t have enough time to meaningfully engage with each one.

Creator+ and H5P are interactive content-creation tools available within My Courses to help instructors build engaging HTML course materials without needing to code.

• Creator+ is a D2L proprietary tool that provides built-in page elements and practice activities for creating visually rich, accessible content directly in the HTML editor toolbar.
• H5P is an open-source interactive content tool integrated into Brightspace that allows instructors to create media-rich learning objects such as branching scenarios, drag-and-drops, and interactive videos.

D2L offers a free self-paced course that introduces you to Creator+ and H5P and demonstrates effective design practices for using these tools in My Courses.

To get started:

1. Create a free account in the D2L Brightspace Community
2. Visit the Creator+ Instructional Design Best Practices training documentation.
3. Scroll to the middle of the page and click the blue “Access Course” link — or go directly to the course here.

Since accessibility, consistent formatting, and a smooth user experience is essential for effective online learning, CIC recommends avoiding the use of dynamic documents like Google Docs in course content.

Accessibility 

Build content in My Courses to ensure students can use screen readers and other assistive technologies effectively. Google Docs lacks some key accessibility functions that may interfere with these. Use CSP branded templates and the html accessibility checker to help ensure course content is accessible for students. 

User Experience

Many students use the My Courses app (Pulse). Clicking on a Google Doc in the app forces them out of Pulse and creates unnecessary complexities like having to download and login to Google Drive and Google Docs on their device. 

Access 

When the owner of a Google Doc is unavailable, the maintenance of (and access to) the doc can become difficult. If the doc is deleted by the owner, the content can be permanently lost. Additionally, if students need to be given access to a document that isn’t owned by the instructor, it can become difficult to reach the document owner to resolve the issue in a timely manner.

If permissions are not set correctly when the primary course is copied, a Google Doc may not work in the section it was copied into, causing confusion for students and instructors.

General tips

• Keep video lectures short, about 15 min maximum (larger lectures should ideally be split into smaller sections of 6-15 minutes)
• Use narrative and story telling if possible, providing real-world examples
• Minimize text in slides- use bullet points rather than complete sentences/paragraphs
• Utilize arrows, highlight or bold text to emphasize key moments
• Learning is improved when you use a mix of text & images
• Only include text & images that support the learning objectives of the lecture
• Address graphics/visuals as soon as they are introduced
• When getting started, use CSP slide templates rather than a blank presentation
• Offer complex graphics or other moments of lecture as handouts

Recording tips

• Use your real voice or voiceover professional - avoid obvious AI or robotic voices
• Provide an image or video of the faculty member to make lectures more engaging
• Keep the background simple
• Be prepared to speak to a camera with no audience and no non-verbal cues
• Extend the longevity of your recording- avoid references to specific classes, campus dates, events or the year
• External microphones greatly increase the quality of your audio (CSP Library has microphones to check out)
• The camera should be just below eye level - use books or computer stand under your laptop if necessary