Course Template

  Below I outline how I implement and continue to grow in my understanding of the learning, pedagogy, and androgogy literature in my teaching. Building the Foundation My courses are structured and carried out differently than most students have encountered. While I believe all teachers should share with their students the philosophy underlying their teaching decisions this is perhaps most important in courses where they will encounter new modalities. Thus, the first week of class is dedicated, primarily, to this endeavor. Empirical research shows that a growth mindset, the belief that intellectual abilities are not fixed but are capable of growth, has profound positive impacts on student performance 1 , is particularly impactful in students coming from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds 2 , and that mindset can be powerfully influenced by short interventions educating students about the growth mindset 1 . Further, in traditionally underrepresented populations, specifying to

How I build a streamlined canvas course to reduce student cognitive overload and release attention for course content.  Basic Canvas Course Structure  Prune Navigation Links  Include only necessary links in the navigation bar (to the left of the homepage screen).  Go to Settings (at the bottom of the navigation bar) -> Navigation    Drag everything but:  Home  Modules  Syllabus  Grades  STW LASSO (tutoring info)  Course Evaluations  Zoom  Library Resources   To the bottom section titled Drag items here to hide them from students.   This removes the items you dragged down from the student’s view.  Set Up Modules   Create a module called Important Links and one called Weekly Objectives and Tasks   In Important Links   Click the ‘+’ at the top right.   Select ‘Add Page’  Name your page (e.g. Texbook link, Course Syllabus Website)  Click on the newly added page  Click ‘edit’ on the top right to add content to the page  Repeat for all of the important links/pages students will use rep

If you've imported my course template (rather than building from scratch), please see How to replace my blog with your course blog . Go to 'Pages' on your left <- Click 'View All Pages' Click '+ Page' Title your page 'Homepage' Hover over the more icon (three vertical dots). Then click the embed icon (a cloud). Paste the following code into the embed window: <iframe src="URL" width="100%" height="1000"></iframe> Replace URL with your website address, e.g.: You can play with the height value (1000) to adjust how the blog displays. Save the changes Make this page your Canvas homepage Click 'Pages' again on the left <- Click 'View all Pages' On the more icon (three vertical dots) next to 'Homepage' select 'Make front page' Click back to 'Home' On the far right or at the bottom (depending on your window size) click 'Choose Home Page' Select 'Pages Front Pa

If you've imported my course example.  These instructions guide you through replacing my blog with your own. If you are creating the course by following my instructions (not importing it) please see How to make your Canvas home page a blog. Go to pages on your left <- Click 'View All Pages' Click 'Homepage' At the top of the page hover over the 'more symbol' and click the 'embed' icon Copy - Paste:  <iframe src=" URL " width="100%" height="1000"></iframe> into the Embed Code window Replace " URL " with your blog/website URL (e.g.) Save the changes