4.3 Online Learning Activities: Tools for Interactive Teaching and Learning

Active and Interactive Learning

It is tempting to fall into the habit of thinking that you have to use a lot of complicated online tools to provide opportunities for meaningful active learning. You can provide meaningful interaction with quite basic tools as long as they are well-structured and clearly support students in reaching learning outcomes.

Consider the Experience

While there are obviously arguments to be made in favor of some tools over others, it is more effective to first consider the experience you are trying to create for the student.

What do you want the student to know and be able to do at the end of this activity?
What is an appropriate and logical way to provide the student with an opportunity to practice this?
In what ways can you add dynamic elements to the experience?
Did you build in tools and activities that will allow all learners to participate and access the instructional material?

Consider leveraging the tools built into Canvas such as Discussions Links to an external site. (including recording video/audio directly into a discussion post), Group Spaces Links to an external site., Collaborations Links to an external site., or Conferences Links to an external site.. A great student learning experience can be designed within a simple environment and there is something to be said for not over-thinking or over-developing.

Other Interactive Tools

If you find that Canvas-native tools are not sufficient to create a robust active learning experience for your students, you can explore third-party tools. When considering adding tools, please remember that while bells and whistles can deliver a better learning experience, they don’t automatically deliver a better learning experience. Always ask yourself, how is this tool supporting the student's learning experience?

You'll see mention of lack of LTI support as a drawback on several tools listed. Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard that allows a sort of “plug-and-play” integration of learning tools with learning management systems. It provides standard ways of launching a 3rd-party learning tool from inside Canvas, providing information to the learning tool about which student from which course is accessing it, and, where appropriate, allowing the learning tool to send a grade back to the Canvas Gradebook. The main thing to remember is that tools without LTI support can't pass grades back to Canvas so if you want to count work your students did in that tool as part of their grade you'll need to add the grades to the Gradebook. If you have a larger class, these tools may be better suited to practice activities and other ungraded exploration.

Supported by IU

IU-supported tools are integrated with Canvas, documented in IU’s Knowledge Base, and IU Support Center staff can assist students and faculty 24/7 when they have questions. These tools have also been vetted by the IU Security Office and Data Stewards to ensure that they are securely storing and transmitting university and student data. See What external tools are available in Canvas? Links to an external site.

Zoom Links to an external site. (videoconferencing, video capture, and screen capture)

Pros – Integration with Canvas; HD quality video; allows up to 100 simultaneous video participants in normal mode, up to 1000 in webinar mode; full-featured apps for iOS and Android; ability to mix computers, mobile devices, and video conferencing rooms in one meeting; simple recording of sessions; full-featured collaborative whiteboards and screen sharing; breakout rooms.

Cons – Chat is not persistent and is not properly synced with video.

Accessibility – Still some issues with color contrast and video user interface

See the KB on Zoom Links to an external site.

Kaltura Links to an external site. (YouTube-like service for Academia)

Pros – Integration with Canvas; HD quality video; simple recording; allows minor editing; can upload PowerPoint presentations; unlimited video storage; all students have their own accounts; allows threaded discussions

Cons – Editing is limited

Accessibility – Player is accessible, automatic machine captioning, built-in work flow for professional captioning

See the KB on Kaltura Links to an external site.

VoiceThread Links to an external site.(Visual presentations with discussion)

Pros – Create discussions around many kinds of artifacts (videos, images, documents, powerpoints) using audio, video, or text commenting, Canvas integration, Kaltura integration, Google Drive integration, flexible commenting options, easy to use, mobile apps

Cons – Could be difficult to manage in large courses

Accessibility – VoiceThread Universal provides an accessible interface through which users with disabilities can create, view, and comment on voicethreads.

See the KB on VoiceThread Links to an external site.

Piazza Links to an external site. (Discussion and problem solving)

Pros – Wiki-like discussion forum that supports anonymous posts; excellent for STEM discipline problem-solving, lightweight Q&A; code support; equation editor; Canvas integration, free

Cons – Sometimes students don’t understand why they need to go to a different tool for discussion

Accessibility – Under determination

See the KB on Piazza Links to an external site.

Quick Check Links to an external site. (Embedded assessment)

Pros – Integration with Canvas; allows for immediate knowledge checks within content; allows unlimited practice to promote mastery; 6 question types; provides custom feedback; automatic grading with gradebook sync; question pools; provides analytics

Cons – Only auto-graded questions can be used; always allows unlimited responses

Accessibility – Fully accessible See the KB on Quick Check Links to an external site.

DropThought Links to an external site. (Instant feedback)

Pros – Provides an instant feedback platform that allows students to give real-time, anonymous feedback throughout the course on specific items, free, can be inserted as a module element

Cons – No LTI, Instructor interface is a bit awkward, DropThought assigns user id and password which can't be changed.

Accessibility – Accessible

See the KB on DropThought Links to an external site.

Unizin Engage Links to an external site. (etextbook)

Pros – Integration with Canvas; part of eText initiative; allows collaborative or individual note-taking and annotation; instructor can share highlights and annotation with students; provides analytics; materials remain available for students and instructors during entire tenure at IU

Cons – eTexts are basic

Accessibility – Under determination

See the KB on Unizin Engage Links to an external site.

Non-Supported Tools

Non-supported tools include "whitelisted tools" that can integrate with Canvas and other tools that instructors and students have found useful for online teaching and learning.

Whitelisted tools

These are apps that have been pre-approved for integration into Canvas courses at IU, but have not yet been installed. For more information, check out Adding External Apps KB doc Links to an external site. .

Quizlet Links to an external site.(Flash cards)

Pros – Make matching-style study aids; easy to make your own or search for pre-existing; integrates with Canvas through the rich text editor; mobile friendly, free basic account

Cons – Only one kind of question (presented multiple ways)

Accessibility – Not fully accessible

Other useful tools for building and teaching online courses

Camtasia by Techsmith Links to an external site. (Screen capture and video editing tool)

Pros – Powerful screen capture and editing, educational discount pricing <$200

Cons – No LTI, interactions are not accessible, no enterprise support, not free to IU

Accessibility – Interactions like quizzes must use the Camtasia player which is not accessible

LucidChart Links to an external site. (Diagramming/concept mapping)

Pros – Powerful cloud-based mind-mapping and diagram creation, free educational account, collaborative online creation and editing, integrates with Google Drive

Cons – No LTI

Accessibility – Not accessible

VideoAnt Links to an external site.(Video annotation)

Pros – Free, video annotation, simple interface

Cons – No LTI, limited to text annotation, does not integrate with Kaltura

Accessibility – Under determination

VideoScribe Links to an external site. (Animated presentations)

Pros – Easy to build hand-drawn whiteboard-style presentations with voiceover, good sized collection of pre-made assets, relatively inexpensive subscription provides cloud storage to access your work from any computer, has iPad Links to an external site. app

Cons – No LTI, if you want additional animatable images they must be .svg files (which can be made in Adobe Illustrator Links to an external site. which you can download free from IUWare), not free

Accessibility – Not accessible

Articulate Storyline 2.5 Links to an external site. (Interactive presentations)

Pros – Easy to create professional elearning assets, produces HTML5 output, total score on activity can be captured using Canvas SCORM tool

Cons – No LTI, PC only, no enterprise support, not free to IU, educational discount pricing still ~$700

Accessibility – Version 2.5 has enhanced accessibility; with careful development and instructions, presentations/activities can be made accessible

What about social media services?

Social media services such as Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter provide a wide array of tools that faculty can leverage for student activities and interactions. However, before you incorporate social media into your course, there are some things you need to consider.

Are you prepared to support students if they have technology issues?
If you want students to post publicly as part of an assignment, do you have a way for them to post under an alias or anonymously if they prefer? FERPA rules govern the release of student information to third parties, which include social media sites. For more information, see Is Your Use of Social Media FERPA Compliant? Links to an external site.
Copyright and intellectual property policies may also need to be considered depending on the content of the assignment.

Social Media: Legal and Privacy Concerns Links to an external site.from the IUB Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning provides additional, detailed information on using social media in teaching and learning.

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