The more educators can treat students as professional learners by providing them with reliable, timely, and accurate information about their progress in a course, the more likely it is that students will persist, thrive, and ultimately succeed in their educational journey.
The typical learning experience in American high schools is an in-person experience that is infused with online tools. Students are regularly required to engage with learning content in online platforms, and they have constant access to their grades, class announcements, and course materials via online and mobile platforms. Given that this is the most common learning experience students have prior to beginning at MSU, it follows that establishing a digital learning environment that mirrors the students’ known processes will create a more seamless transition into the MSU learning ecosystem.
An effective way to support student learning is for educators to use the learning management system as a student-centered academic hub for their course. At MSU, that means using D2L in specific, targeted ways that are intentionally geared toward meeting most students’ needs. In addition to optimizing the students’ experience, this intentional deployment of the learning management system serves to streamline much of the administrative load that is inherent in teaching, thereby simplifying many of the time-consuming tasks that often dominate educator’s lives. Accomplishing this need not require a comprehensive deployment of D2L in your course. In fact, using the LMS in four or five critical ways, and perhaps modifying your practices slightly to facilitate that use, can make a significant difference in students’ perceptions of your course.
1) Use the Grade Book
2) Post a syllabus and a clear schedule
3) Use the announcements tool
4) Distribute materials via D2L
5) (optionally) Use the digital drop box
Click the PDF below for more context on how these five simple steps can maximize the students’ experience in your class, and streamline your teaching workflow at the same time.