Embedded Tutoring

(Submitted by Tyson Huffman)

Community college instructors support students in their classrooms in a variety of ways: supplemental study materials, student-contact hours, links to learning support services on campus, or by directing students to the college website in hopes that they will seek out resources as they are needed. Students often struggle to utilize the resources their college offers for fear of being viewed as a struggling student, or accessing the service takes more time than they have, or it is challenging to complete a web form by phone in between classes. The goal of the embedded tutoring program is to simplify the connection by providing students with an easily accessible, direct contact to learning support services in their classroom. 

The embedded tutor is a professor-selected student who is hired and trained as a peer tutor and receives additional guidance for interacting in the classroom in their new role. I like to think of embedded tutors as a guide or companion for courses, someone who can provide remediation where it is necessary, direct students to the aspects of their work that demand the most attention, and assist students in utilizing resources they otherwise might not have.

Why do we need tutors in the classroom? The word "tutor" carries a stigma - students often perceive those who utilize tutoring services to be sub-par or struggling students. This couldn't be further from the truth - at most schools, learning support services are reported as being utilized by those who do not necessarily need the services and not accessed by those who do. By positioning a peer tutor in the classroom (online or traditional), the tutor is able to connect on a personal level with many more students of varying levels, washing away the stigma. On average, the Learning Assistance Center connects with a handful of students from an English or math section throughout a semester; however, in courses with an embedded tutor, the tutor has connected with over 50% of the students outside of class in most sections. With excellent communication tools (Pronto and Zoom) in our Canvas course shells, tutors have a direct connection to students and can provide guidance from their preferred device without exchanging email addresses or personal phone numbers. Tutors in the classroom can check in with students they haven't heard from in a while and host workshop sessions that are easily accessible to all students, ensuring everyone has access to support that is intended to help students reach their potential.

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Spotlight on Embedded Librarian: Scaffolding Research Skills in an Online Child Development Capstone Course

(Submitted by Julie Cornett)

In Lisa Fuller’s CHDV C203 Capstone class, students are required to develop, implement, and evaluate an Action Research Project in the preschool centers where they are interns. To complete this high-stakes project, students must develop manageable topics, research extensively, and build an APA annotated bibliography. For several years, Lisa has had Julie Cornett join her class as an Embedded Librarian to provide support to students as they embark on this time-intensive project. Julie works with students in several weekly forums to scaffold research activities that lead up to the final project. In reflecting on the collaboration, Lisa had this to say: 

“When I first assigned the Action Research Project, students did not seem to understand the research component of the assignment and often saved the project until the last few weeks of the course, which meant they did not have the time to complete a thoughtful, reflective project over time. Now that the research forums are built into the course structure starting in week 5, everyone who completes the final assignment has been successful. I attribute this to the embedded librarian who helps students develop a research question, find appropriate resources, and develop the annotated bibliography.” 

Julie finds that students are very appreciative of the support, especially as they learn to differentiate between various information formats and to search our vast yet complex databases for valuable articles. She has been able to more intentionally curate collections specific to the course topics as a result of her deep exposure to the course content. The newly acquired SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Childhood Education and the Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood are two new purchases that have been highly utilized.  

According to Fuller, the embedded librarian support that Julie provides has been crucial and she is in discussion with her department about incorporating the Embedded Librarian program in courses students take earlier in the program.  

If you’re interested in having a librarian join your online class, contact Julie Cornett (jcornett@cerrocoso.edu) or Sharlene Paxton (sharlene.paxton@cerrocoso.edu)! 

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OEI Rubric Tip: Course Navigation

By Gary Enns, English Professor, OEI Rubric Fan and POCR Team Member

Section A4 of the OEI Rubric focuses on the navigability of an online class. To align, a course must exhibit navigation and content flow that are “easily determined by the user,” meaning that when a student first lands on the course homepage, they know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it because the designer has built an intuitive learning environment.

To score additional exemplary elements for this component, the course must also include “clearly labelled tutorial materials explaining how to navigate the specific course.”

Here are two simple elements you can integrate now to make your course easier to navigate and receive that high checkmark for additional exemplary elements.

1. Add a “To Get Started” Statement

The Cerro Coso Canvas shell is unique in that we have the ability to add a front page element to the top of the Canvas homepage so that students see a general message and/or images—whatever we want them to see—as soon as they open the class. (For a quick front page how-to, scroll to the “Bonus” section at the end of this article.) Adding front page content is a nice way to customize the learning environment, and it’s also a great place to share initial instructions.

To boost navigability at the beginning of the semester, consider adding a “To Get Started” statement on the front page. Here’s mine, which I have placed below a course description and image:

To Get Started

Simply scroll down from here and click "Orientation (Start Here)" to begin the orientation module.

I look forward to seeing you (virtually) in class.

Enjoy!

Simple! As soon as they log in, students see this message and know, right away, where they are supposed to go and what they are supposed to do. Of course, the orientation material they go to must also be easily navigable, but this decisive first message of instruction is a great step toward showing them the way forward.

2. Add a Navigation Tutorial to Your Orientation

All of our courses contain orientation materiel. You may have a traditional course description/syllabus document, for instance. In my course, I create an orientation module—a kind of one-stop a-la-carte module full of pages where students can find answers to course information and policies. In whatever form your orientation takes, create a section or page describing how to navigate your course, and make it really easy to find. In this material, consider explaining things such as

• How Canvas modules work (along with a link to the modules section of the Canvas student guide for more information)
• How and when students should move through modules (weekly, for instance)
• How to use the Previous and Next Buttons at the bottom of each Canvas page in order to move chronologically through a module’s contents
• How to use the module collapse arrows to hide completed modules from view
• How to use the syllabus page
• How to check comments and rubrics in assignments
• Anything else you can think of to make navigation simple

And that’s it—two very simple tips for the day. Nothing profound, but they do go a long way toward making our students feel comfortable within the Canvas course environment.

Bonus: How to Add a Front Page to Any Canvas Homepage

I promised this bonus earlier. To add a front page to your Canvas homepage, follow these steps

1. Go to “Pages”
2. Build or decide on the page you would like to feature on your homepage. (Best to keep it fairly short since it will appear above the modules. Consider a description of the course and maybe one suitable image.)
3. Once you’ve decided on the page, click the three vertical dots to the right of that page and select “Use as Front Page.”
4. Go back to your homepage.
5. Toward the top, click the “Add Front Page” button.

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Increase Student-to-Student Interaction

Matthew Hightower
Professor of Business and Information Technology

 (submitted by Matt Hightower)

As online instructors at Cerro Coso, we are bound to follow the Regular, Effective, and Documentable Contact (REDC) document. Among other things, this requires that we provide a learning environment that fosters regular instructor-to-student and student-to-student contact. In this article, I will present a technique that I have found to be effective for increasing student-to-student contact.

Student-to-student contact is typically addressed by having a weekly discussion forum that requires that students post a response to the discussion and reply to at least two other students. Usually, both are due by the end of the week. While this provides some student-to-student contact, it really does not require much interaction. Some students will post and reply at the beginning of the week and never return and some will post and reply at the end of the week. The problem is that they often reply to the early students who are not around to read and respond to them. Consequently, while there are posts and replies, there really is not interaction or discussion.

I have increased the student-student interaction in my online classes by changing the discussion timeline. The change was to require that the initial response to the topic be made by Thursday night and that the two replies be made between Friday and Sunday. This forces at least two accesses to the discussion during the week -- before Thursday and after Thursday. Knowing that everyone is required to be in the discussion after Thursday also allows me to perform my second weekly interaction with students (required by the REDC document) by using the discussion to post an announcement, a clarification of the assignment for the week, or a follow-up question to the discussion topic.

I teach a variety of courses; some allow for the typical debate or discuss type of discussion topic. But other courses, like computer programming are activity based. For these courses, I often use the discussions to require that students post their progress on their assignments or ask questions about the assignments by Thursday and then attempt to answer other student questions between Friday and Sunday. While it may seem rather innocuous, I have seen a 25 to 50 percent increase in weekly student posts. Additionally, the sense of community that is built is apparent. I regularly receive comments from students stating that they have enjoyed the interaction in the discussions and found it to be a very beneficial component of the class.

I encourage you to make this change too. To help, here is the verbiage that I add to my discussion instructions each week.

To receive credit, make sure that you post by Thursday at 11:55PM and fully reply to at least two other posts between Friday and Sunday at 11:55PM.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to send me an email (mhightow@cerrocoso.edu).

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Increase Instructor-to-Student Interaction

Matthew Hightower
Professor of Business and Information Technology

 (submitted by Matt Hightower)

As online instructors at Cerro Coso, we are bound to follow the Regular, Effective, and Documentable Contact (REDC) document. Among other things, this requires that we provide a learning environment that fosters regular instructor-to-student and student-to-student contact. I addressed one way to increase student-to-student interaction in my first article. In this article, I will present a technique that I have found to be effective for increasing instructor-to-student contact.

The REDC document outlines many instructor-to-student contact methods. Most of them require an active origination method – opening the Canvas inbox or an email program and then locating the appropriate contact address, etc.. While that extra step is easy enough, it is an extra step – one that may stop the process.

In my experience, students want to know three things:

1) what do I have to do,

2) when do I have to do it, and

3) what grade did I receive on it?

Consequently, students are watching for assignment grades. Canvas sends a message to students’ Inboxs notifying them of their grade on individual assignments. This message shows the student their grade and any comments that you made on the submission. The message also links to the assignment page where the comments box is. While you may think that your structured rubric and additional comments fully close the grading cycle, many students have additional questions or comments. They will use the comment box in the assignment to ask those questions – before and after grading. The problem is that, unless you make a change to your Notifications settings in Canvas, you may never see those comments and, consequently, will not respond to them.

Canvas allows you to reply to those comments without having to go to the assignment page to do it. You can do it via the inBox or via email but you have to make a couple of changes to your Notifications settings in Canvas. The notifications change is easy and it will increase the overall instructor-to-student interaction in your Canvas courses.

To make the change, click on your Account icon in Canvas and then choose Notifications (below). The two changes that you need to make are to “Submission Comment” and “Conversation Method”. Select the check mark in both and you will see the comments in your email inbox – complete with the student’s name, the course name, and the assignment name! You will not have to wonder which class or assignment the student is referring to. And, you can reply directly from email and Canvas will automatically put the response in the appropriate assignment comments chain.

Notification Preference

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to send me an email (mhightow@cerrocoso.edu).

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