Most times, you do not have hours to entirely overhaul your course's design. With that in mind, we developed microcourses. Microcourses are a deep dive on a relevant pedagogical or technological topic and were created to be completed in 2 hours.
Digital accessibility strives for inclusive design that allows anyone to use, engage with, and enjoy digital content regardless of the level of ability, condition, or circumstances. We want all students, including those with visual, cognitive, physical, and auditory disabilities to have access to materials, so they can fully engage and thrive in our courses. This microcourse will familiarize you with using the Pope Tech tools to check the overall accessibility of your course and address common accessibility issues in one module of your course.
The Copyright in Education microcourse introduces the basics of copyright in education, including key topics such as Fair Use, licensing, public domain, and SMCCCD institutional policies. You will determine how to adequately share a sample of instructional materials in your course or project, applying Fair Use factors and best practices for sharing.
Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on student learning and achievement. Giving students feedback during the learning process has been proven to increase engagement and improve student learning outcomes. During this microcourse, explore strategic choices that influence the effectiveness of delivering informational feedback in support of student learning.
The Easy Button: Recording with Zoom and Panopto microcourse helps you leverage your Zoom skills to record lectures and other instructional videos, and easily deploy them to Panopto right inside your Canvas shell. You will learn how to use Panopto to share Zoom recordings in Canvas, add a video thumbnail image to your video, and embed it into a Canvas course of your choice.
The high cost of textbooks can bring up significant barriers for students' learning and success, disproportionately impacting those who are experiencing food and/or housing insecurity. Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) paves a path toward social justice, providing flexibility and contributing to a more equitable and inclusive experience for students. This microcourse will familiarize you with key criteria of the ZTC course designation, and will help you identify ZTC materials for your classes.
The Reimagining the Syllabus microcourse invites you to approach and assess your syllabi from an equity-minded and student-centered perspective. Ultimately, the syllabus is more than just a document; it can be a powerful tool for empowerment, inclusion, connection, and liberation.
This Revamping Your Course Introduction Video microcourse invites you to create or revamp your course introduction video, as a way to humanize the learning experience, welcome all students, and plan the seed for a positive social presence in your course. You will reflect on the potential of course introduction videos from a student-centered perspective, and create/revamp a course introduction video for a course of your choice.
The #Ungrading microcourse aims to rethink the history of grading systems and how they impact students, through an equity lens. You will begin to explore and evaluate small steps towards more equitable grading that you may use.
Please access the microcourses through the Faculty Gateway. Microcourses are reviewed only a few times per semester (after each Flex Day and at the end of the semester).You can expect to receive your badge a week or so after each time period.