This week, I would like to echo what I found most interesting in the last part of Small Teaching Online book. One thing that resonated with me is offering students more choices to increase their engagement. To be consistent with the premises of Universal Design for Learning, the design of the course should be in a way that ensures that students with different backgrounds, abilities, interests, and cultures can relate themselves to the topics of the course.

This can be implemented in online courses, as it was mentioned in the book, by providing students with multiple topics and questions in the discussions/projects. Letting students sign up for the discussions/projects that are most interested in motives students to take part and carry on the conversation with one another without a loss of interest. As an instructor, the effort should be made to ensure that the topics are serving both the students and the objectives of the course.

On Canvas, this approach can be easily implemented by having students sign up for different groups based on their interests and participate in the group’s discussion forum. As part of this effort, the instructors need to provide multiple options for students for discussion/project and offer students their feedback in a timely manner.

Another thing that stood out to me is specifications grading. As part of the specifications grading, the instructors are holding students accountable for providing their highest quality of work. Instead of having students worrying over whether they get over 90 to get an A or below 90 to get a B, instructors should encourage students to concentrate on their quality of work. If their work doesn’t meet certain requirements, simply they don’t get a satisfactory grade. But in this case, instructors needs to make sure that students have clear instructions regarding the requirements and expectations.

One way to implement this on canvas is by using rubrics. Rubrics can provide detailed expectations for each part of the assignment and guide students to meet the requirements. They also make grading simple and clear. Leaving comments in rubrics for each criterion refers students to specific issues and as a result they can have a good understanding of what needs to be fixed. Rubrics can be used for the overall grade in the course as well. If some students are not meeting the satisfactory level based on the certain criteria that have been communicated to the students, the instructor can reach out to them on Canvas and help them reach the satisfactory point.