Research in Action Podcast

Last year, Oregon State University concluded the podcast series, Research In Action. The archives remain available for review. The podcast covers a wide variety of topics related to research, teaching, and/or higher education. Some specific titles include:

Each podcast comes with an instructor guide as well as resources connected to each segment of the podcast. The instructor guides include:

  • A brief abstract describing what is discussed in the podcast

  • The guest bio and segment topics

  • Learning outcomes for the episode

  • Time stamps for each segment

  • Link to the episode show notes and transcript

  • Guiding questions for listening to the episode

  • Potential classroom activities that could be paired with the episode

  • Links and/or citations related to content mentioned in each section

What podcast are you listening to that help inform your teaching and learning?

Pre-Course Survey

One way to improve engagement with your students is to learn more about them. A precourse survey is one way to help develop a connection with your students, and get to know them beyond what is shared in an introduction discussion.

What do you want to know about them?

Diligent student in college with classmates, taking notes of teacher lecture.

A survey can help you conduct a needs assessment about where your students are at in terms of prior knowledge, demographics, mindset, learning preferences, goals, content confidence level, preferred feedback style, and/or access to technology.  Because this takes place “behind the scenes” and is only shared with the instructor, rather than in a public discussion forum, you may be more likely to receive candid responses.

What strategies and skills will students need and/or develop in your course?

These kinds of questions can help students flex metacognitive skills and become more aware of their learning habits. As an instructor, this can help you provide more specific feedback on student work, suggesting similar strategies and stretch goals.

  • Reflection on Strategies: Metacognitive reflection questions ask how students get things done. Do you take marginal notes or highlight as you read? What conditions do you need to do your best work?

  • Planning Ahead: Beyond what has worked for students in the past, you might ask about strategies they will use specifically in this class. What times each week do you have earmarked to work on this course?

  • Setting Goals:You might ask them to review the learning objectives, asking what they will commit to accomplishing. And beyond the learning objectives for the course, are there other skills or competencies they plan to work on in the course? Do they have any suggestions for the instructor about strategies for helping meet those goals?

During the first week of your course

Providing students with an opportunity to quiz themselves not on the course topic but on the course itself–how to get started in the course, how to navigate the course, what the course should help students accomplish, and how the course is structured–can help instructors send fewer emails saying, “It’s in the syllabus!”

Given multiple choice or true/false question types, these kinds of pre-course surveys can be automatically scored. Don’t forget to compose feedback for incorrect responses and allow multiple attempts!

What tools are available?

IU supports the Qualtrics survey tool and Canvas includes a dashboard feature that allows instructors to create a type of quiz called ‘ungraded’ that can be used as a survey. In Canvas, once the survey, or ‘ungraded quiz,’ is published online, students can login to their Canvas course page and participate. IU also has access to Google Forms and Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Forms are Available in the Channel and Chat features) for quick survey and quiz creation.

If you’d like support implementing a pre-course survey or questionnaire in your online class, or in any other aspects of teaching and learning, please contact me at your earliest convenience with your availability.