Liam, I really enjoyed reading your Blog Post #2. Your experiences and insights made me think about these issues in new ways.
In particular, I was interested to read about how online learning in 2020 evolved your learning and helped you gain tools in open learning platforms and online conversation. I, too, learned a great deal by connecting with peers online, at first through email forums and then, when social media came into existence, through online groups. I agree that the added perspectives and resource networks are incredibly valuable.
I’m curious what you mean by Network Pedagogy becoming something you need to search for yourself. Are you saying that each student needs to find the online tools that work best for them?
Your view of the role of the instructor as one who “send(s) the students down the path of success” also piqued my interest, and I liked the way you articulated that. Often as teachers, we are focused on helping students learn and the different ways we might enhance their learning, but from a student perspective, instructor appreciation of what they have learned is an important motivating factor. Paying attention to detail and transparency in expectations and being flexible in how we see accomplishment in an online setting not only supports students to be fairly graded but supports a successful social exchange in which the student meets the teacher’s expectations and is rewarded with approval.
Thank you for your thoughts. I look forward to reading future blog posts!
Students with exceptionalities: Students with uncommon ways of learning or behaving whose needs cannot be met through typical instructional approaches. (Filiatrault-Veilleux, 2022)
Disability: Disability is a term used to describe a functional limitation that hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society. (Legislative Services Branch of Canada, 2025)
Accessibility: In an educational setting, accessibility refers to having equal opportunity to gain knowledge, receive services, and participate in learning or community experiences. (University of Virginia, n.d.)
Digital Accessibility: Digital accessibility of education means that technology to be used is designed for all users, regardless of disability. (University of Virginia, n.d.)
Accommodations: Students with exceptionalities may require adjustments to course or class expectations or delivery modes in order to access learning. These adjustments are known as accommodations.
EdTech: EdTech is short for education technology and refers to modern technology used to support or enhance learning.
FIPPA: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of British Columbia, Canada
Accessibility
In any course designed for a group of people (as opposed to self-directed schooling), we need to consider the wide variety of needs presented by students. In my experience, as instructors we tend to feel successful if we have met the learning needs of a majority of students. However, this tends to leave out students who are less typical, in particular students with exceptionalities. To ensure we reach exceptional students also, we must consider the accessibility of our course design, instruction, and assessment.
UDL
One way to create accessibility is through the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework constructed to address a diversity of student needs based on what is known about the human brain (CAST, n.d.). The main concept behind UDL is that a learner characteristic is a disability only because of its interaction with the learning environment (Rose et al., 2014). For example, a student who is dyslexic has trouble reading, which impacts their ability to learn Science if the information is relayed only through textbook readings; however, if the student has the option of hearing a lecture or watching a video to access the same information, the dyslexia is no longer a barrier. Therefore, by changing the learning environment, we can remove barriers to full participation in education. By offering students multiple options for understanding and engaging with content, accessibility is increased for a wider range of learning needs. By offering multiple options for demonstration of learning, barriers to assessment equity are reduced.
UDL addresses diversity in three main categories: engagement, representation, and action & expression, by increasing access, supporting the learning process, and supporting executive function. (CAST, n.d.)
Engagement
Representation
Action & expression
Increase access by designing options for…
Welcoming interests and identities
Perception
Interaction
Support the learning process by designing options for…
Sustaining effort and persistence
Language & symbols
Expression and communication
Support executive function by designing options for…
For example, when I design a course in Math, I build in opportunities for retesting to allow students to continue persisting in their growth towards learning outcomes. This increases access by supporting greater engagement. As well, students who struggle with tests due to anxiety may show their learning by engaging in a one-on-one conversation about the topic, again a way to support their learning process through multiple options for expression and communication and support their executive function of emotional capacity. Students have opportunities to engage with a concept through lecture, group work, use of manipulatives, engaging with technology, or watching videos, increasing access to learning by providing multiple means of representation. Collaborative activity in which students communicate as part of problem solving creates opportunity for multiple means of building knowledge (listening, watching, talking, negotiating), representing and communicating (writing, speaking, using models), and welcoming identities (seeking to reduce barriers of cultural bias by decreasing the amount of teacher-centred education).
Learn more about UDL in this video created by CAST.
Accessibility in an Online Setting
In an online setting, designing for accessible education includes also ensuring digital accessibility. Learning platforms with simple designs which are easy to navigate and use are more inclusive of those who have less experience with technology (Hotchin, 2025). Likewise, straight-forward language and highlighted definitions increase accessibility for those who have language impairments (Edmunds & Edmunds, 2018). Websites which are navigable by screen readers and alt text on images allow those with visual impairments to access content, while transcripts and captions help those with auditory impairments or struggle with understanding the language of the content. Standards and guidelines such as WCAG are useful tools to ensure learning platforms and materials are maximizing their accessibility (Hotchin, 2025).
Ethical Considerations
One way of addressing accessibility for those with learning differences is to offer computer-aided personalized learning. For example, programs such as IXL, a Math program that assesses student levels and difficulties in order to offer targeted tips, explanations, and challenges, are used in many schools to supplement regular classroom activity. While educational technology (EdTech) can enhance learning experiences by making practicable the creation of very flexible and responsive materials and environments, we also must take into account ethical considerations. In Ethics and Information Technology, Regan & Jesse (2018) discuss how EdTech is able to create learning that is personalized to the interests, preferred learning styles, and skill levels of students. Not only is personal information gathered, but students’ digital behaviour, such as the choices they make or the time it takes to click on a button, is tracked and analyzed to offer future experiences selected by the software. Regan & Jesse question whether this type of tracking and sorting is discriminatory and make associations with classrooms segregated based on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
On a broader scale, use of digital technology raises ethical considerations about information privacy, anonymity, surveillance, autonomy, discrimination, and information ownership (Regan & Jesse, 2018).
Information privacy – Information about an individual should only be collected with their knowledge and consent, and should be used only for the stated purposes for which it is collected. [Privacy of information collected by public bodies in B.C. is protected by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).]
Anonymity – An individual should have the right to choose to be anonymous in a digital environment. This anonymity is protected if information about the individual is not allowed to be analyzed with public records in order to identify them.
Surveillance or tracking – This is the monitoring of student information and online behaviour to make predictions about future behaviour.
Autonomy – An individual should have the ability to freely make choices. Autonomy is impacted when computer algorithms pre-select options to offer.
Non-discrimination – While we currently have laws protecting people from being discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or disability, sorting people in order to personalize learning creates dangers of discrimination based on computer system and machine bias.
Ownership of information – When digital services collect information about an individual, does that individual or does the digital service company own the information?
When we bring EdTech into the classroom, we bring these ethical considerations also. Since the technology is recommended by a school, district, or teacher, students and parents trust that learners will be protected against any unethical behaviour of companies. These companies’ motivations are not necessarily the well-being of students, but the success of their own product and operation. Are we giving companies a captive audience for their advertisement, research, or brand loyalty development? Where is students’ personal information being stored and who has access to it? For what purpose do they use this information? As well, in our attempts to create more accessible learning through technology, are we creating barriers for those who have less access to computers and Internet?
One way of taking advantage of the benefits of technology in an online course while minimizing interaction with the ethical considerations outlined above could be to have students use programs that do not require accounts. For example, Desmos Classroom activities can be accessed without signing on. The student would then need to take screenshots of their work and email it to the instructor. Another way is to allow students to use pseudonyms to protect their anonymity and share the pseudonym only with the instructor. Being aware of the ways in which student information can be exposed to misuse helps us as instructors to protect learners.
We also must manage the digital behaviour of the learning community. Similar to a classroom, in order to build a community that is supportive, productive, and safe, we need to set standards of behaviour. Treating one another with respect is a foundational expectation. Teachers and students are expected to respect one another’s privacy, ideas, choices, and identity. Just as bullying can be overt, such as when someone threatens, shames, or verbally abuses another, bullying in an online class can also be covert, such as when a student is excluded from a conversation or meeting. Such expectations and the consequences of bullying and harrassment should be made clear at the beginning of a course. Teachers can also model respectful behaviour through the use of inclusive language, employing preferred names and pronouns, and acknowledgement of differing viewpoints. Finally, as Hotchin (2025) reminds us, teachers should urge students to maintain academic integrity, meaning that students should avoid cheating, plagarism, and misrepresenting their work; they should cite sources and credit any use of others’ work.
Accommodations
While careful online course design can reduce the risks that come with EdTech and increase the accessibility of learning materials, content, and fair assessment, universal approaches may not ensure accessibility for students with more exceptional needs. As a teacher, I have encountered students who need personalized support for tests and assignments, those who require scribes to document their work, ones who need reduced abstraction, and ones who need substantially more challenge. In my experience, these students benefit from personalized learning assessments with specialists who can recommend specific accommodations needed.
To learn more about accommodations in a UDL context, view this panel discussion hosted by the University of Windsor.
Accessibility Principles
UDL aims not only to reduce learning barriers, but to eliminate them (CAST, n.d.). However, the materials, instructional strategies, and learning environments informed by UDL literature can only change so much for learners. Learners still face barriers on a systemic level, such as standardized curricula (Rose et al., 2014) and student sorting based on chronological age.
In every year that I have taught, I have encountered one or more students who have been placed into an inappropriate class and cannot be relocated due to school, district, or provincial rules. As much as I can include these students in the learning experience by (to name a few examples) sourcing content for them, helping them to find roles within the classroom community, and/or making connections to areas of interest, the students do not experience an equal opportunity to fully engage in learning. I am not sure what improvements can ensure that all learners are supported effectively. However, I am curious about the effects of multi-year programming and placement based on readiness rather than age; teachers staying with the same students for multiple years (provided there is a reasonably good fit) to increase the benefits of established relationships and teacher understanding of students; increasing student-driven learning while giving executive functioning support and options for structured coursework; flexible scheduling; and decreasing the length of secondary school courses to allow for increased choice and program mobility.
In whatever learning environments become the norm, I think that it is important to continue to make accommodations for students whose needs are outside the targets of the system as it works for most. Recognizing that equality is not the same as equity, I think that these accommodations can sometimes be special programming in which the design is targeted towards meeting common needs of a subset of students with exceptionalities. As far reaching as UDL is in increasing accessibility for students, I believe we should remember to keep our focus on the needs of students and view UDL as just one tool.
Edmunds, A. L., & Edmunds, G. (2018). Special Education in Canada (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Filiatrault-Veilleux, P. (2022) Teaching children and youth with special needs (4). [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from lecture notes.
Hotchin, J. (2025, February 2). Module 3: Designing Accessible and Inclusive Online Learning Environments. University of Victoria – EdTech: EDCI 339 – Distributed and Open Learning. https://edtechuvic.ca/edci339/
Regan, P. M., & Jesse, J. (2018). Ethical challenges of edtech, Big Data and personalized learning: Twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics and Information Technology, 21(3), 167–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2
Rose, D. H., Meyer, A., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning – theory and practice (1st ed.). CAST Professional Publishing.
Chase, thank you for sharing your thoughts about digital identity, online presence, and personalized learning!
I enjoyed reading about the very practical ways of creating, differentiating, and protecting one’s professional and personal digital identities. Your digital visitor and resident map caught my attention as I haven’t seen a tool like this before. I can see how useful it would be to learn about our online habits this way, particularly since we often have a skewed sense of how we spend our time. I wonder how many people underestimate the time they spend on social media. When we spend an evening with friends or pass an hour in an engaging lecture, time seems to slip away quickly, with the event over before we are ready to move on. No wonder online social connection is so hard to let go of, even if we want to.
I appreciated, as well, your tips on caution around our digital footprints. I do find it hard to keep up with privacy settings and app permissions. They frequently change without notice, and it is time consuming to constantly read through policies and check on permissions. In light of concerns around privacy and security, it really is important to stay on top of what information about ourselves we share.
Finally, thank you for sharing your perspective on learning approaches. It sounds like you enjoy having room to freely grow in your areas of interest and benefit from self-created structure when you need to learn things that aren’t intrinsically motivating.
Conrad, thank you for sharing your thoughts and findings on Inquiry-Based Learning. I agree that inquiry-based learning promotes a deeper understanding since learners are actively engaged in seeking and evaluating answers to their questions, taking information apart, and putting back together into something new. Thank you for sharing external sources to explore as well – so that we can do our own inquiry based learning!
The topic of health and wellness does present an opportunity for students to explore the wealth of misinformation available. Open-ended investigation of diet myths and social media trends, compared with evidence from trustworthy sources, might surprise quite a few learners. This is especially powerful when we think back to the video from a few weeks ago where learners had trouble learning new information about force directions just from being told and really needed to wrestle with the misconceptions they had.
Thank you for sharing your investigation into the Inquiry Approach of instruction. It seems that the process of inquiry as you outline it encourages students to learn deeply whatever their interests may be and share what they learn with others. Since you have chosen the topic of your Learning Design Blueprint and provided resources and structured tests, would you say that your alignment is with early-stage inquiry-based learning? It is an intriguing approach to teaching and bound to motivate students to follow their curiosity to learn more!
Design Thinking is a human-centred approach to problem solving, meaning that it revolves around meeting the needs of the people who require solutions. The process consists of five phases (Dam & Teo, 2024):
Empathize – At this stage, the designer collects quantitative and qualitative data and considers both to gain a robust understanding of target users’ needs.
Define – Once user needs are established, the designer can define the problem. In real life, problems are not always well-defined. For this reason, this stage may be revisited at any time, as user needs are better understood, to revise the problem.
Ideate – The designer generates ideas to solve the problem.
Prototype – A solution is fleshed out.
Test – The prototype is tested for efficacy.
This process is non-linear and iterative. Rather than follow the steps sequentially, any phase can be revisited to improve upon the solution (Dam & Teo, 2024). However, the intent is to create working protypes early so that they can be tested and learned from (Belling, 2020). The approach encourages the designer to understand users, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems with the end goal of improving products (Dam & Teo, 2024).
Alignment
The Big Ideas of our Design unit are “variety and balance are vital to healthy eating” and “fad diets can negatively impact physical and mental health.” In Health Promot J Austral, Romero & Donaldson (2024) include many examples of design thinking in public health education, which suggests that design thinking would align with our health topic as well. We currently have planned an activity in which students learn to evaluate the healthfulness of a meal and create healthy meals to apply the understanding of healthful eating to make personal choices. We could alter this assignment to involve design thinking by asking students to help a fellow student make improvements to their diet.
First, they would interview the other student in order to understand their current diet. Next, they would define the problem by choosing something in the diet to improve. They would then ideate by coming up with some ideas of changes to make in order to improve the diet, and prototype by creating a plan to make those changes. They would propose the plan and seek feedback from the other student to test the prototype. Is this a plan that the other student could realistically follow? Does it seem consistent with food guidelines as they understand it? The student would use this feedback to improve their suggested plan.
This process would require the learner to understand both the target user and guidelines around healthy food choices, addressing the first Big Idea of the unit.
Romero, V. and Donaldson H. Human-centred design thinking and public health education: A scoping review. Health Promot J Austral. 2024; 35(3): 688–700. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.802
Elena, I enjoyed reading your first blog post. It was well-organized and easy to folllow, and I liked having the photograph to dress up the text and make the post more appealing.
Your insight about the accessibility of distributed learning I think is an important one. People who can’t attend classes, whether because of transportation or time constraints, can access education that is online and asynchronous. At the same time, I agree that there is nothing like meeting in person to foster human connection and build friendships. I think of all of the non-verbal and proximity cues we unconciously give which can’t be seen or felt when we are sitting in front of a camera, and the connections we make when we make conversation as we wait for a class to begin. These are very difficult to replicate online. Perhaps the difficulty connecting in natural ways is the reason that, during the Covid years, people got “Zoomed out,” feeling stress with greater time in online connections even though in-person social connection generally tends to reduce stress.
Overall, I felt that your descriptions of different educational options and digital literacy were clear and detailed. It sounds like you have a good handle on the digital world and manage your online presence in a way which allows you to show your professional side while being safe with personal information.
Blog prompt: Reflect on the role of the instructor in an online course. What qualities do you think are essential for an instructor to be effective in a digital space? How have instructors you’ve had in the past successfully (or unsuccessfully) fulfilled this role?
In any course, the instructor is central to learning, not necessarily because the instructor is the centre of attention or knowledge, but because it is he/she/they who leads the class, plans the activities, sets the tone, and evaluates learning. To maximize the value of a course for learners, the instructor must put thought and effort into their work. They must employ a consistently effective pedagogy.
Pedagogy – The study of teaching and its methods. This includes strategies teachers use to create a learning environment, instructional activities, learner engagement, and assessment. (Hotchin, 2025)
Pedagogy
What does it mean to employ an effective pedagogy? Beginning with the end in mind, let us first consider what the instructor brings to the job before students enter the picture.
In my experience, first, an instructor must be knowledgeable in the content area of the course. Without this foundation of expertise, the teacher is not so much a guide as a project manager, helpful with getting things done, but not so much in furthering understanding. Not only do they need to know the course content, but they must know how to help students learn it.
Perhaps they have studied learning theories, or maybe their understanding comes purely from experience and intuition. Either way, a successful instructor has designed the course and lessons with intention.
I have also found effective teachers to be interested in cultivating relationships with and between students, creating a safe and welcoming environment in which to learn. As well, they employ strong communication skills, clear in their verbal and written expression, transparent with expectations, and good listeners and observers. Finally, and particularly with online courses, I have found effective instructors to be organized, able to create a navigable learning environment and lesson or course structure, and offer timely feedback.
Behaviourism – Teaching based on behaviourist theories focus on helping students change their behaviour based on what they are taught. For example, a behaviourist would consider a student to be successful at learning 3 x 8 if the student can consistently respond to the question with 24.
Cognitivism – Cognitivist teaching is concerned less with what students can observably do and more concerned with students’ thinking processes. A teacher using cognitivist strategies strives to help students develop skills for problem solving, reasoning, language, and mathematical thinking. For example, knowing that 3 x 8 is 3 groups of 8 or 8 groups of 3, and being able use that idea to solve problems is more important than simply knowing the result, 24.
Constructivism – Constructivism considers that learners make their own meaning from personal experience and reasoning. A teacher using a constructivist lens attempts to create authentic situations, similar to those in which the learners will apply the new knowledge, and guides learners to construct meaning and check themselves for accuracy, as in an apprenticeship.
Social Learning Theory – Social learning theory emphasizes external motivators in learning, namely observation of others’ behaviour and its consequences. For example, a student who sees another get praised for participating in a discussion may be more likely to participate in discussion themself.
Connectivism – Connectivism focuses on learning as connecting information sources to form networks. For example, a student who has learned about chess at home, from some websites, and in a local club connects with other players in an online forum, expanding their learning by increasing their network.
Major Learning Theories (Ertmer and Newby, 2018), (Bandura, 1971), and (Hotchin, 2025)
Pedagogy in an Online Context
In an online space, the learning theories and aims underlying the pedagogy are much the same, though the strategies may differ. Teachers still need to design courses and lessons thoughtfully, with learners in mind, whether they are teaching facts with behaviourist stimulus-response-style lessons, helping students learn problem solving strategies using cognitivist approaches, or planning group activities that will support constructivist learning. Additionally, teachers can use Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1971) to effectively take charge of the social environment in order to ensure students are learning desired beliefs and behaviours from one another.
If teaching strategies are different in an online environment, what do essential teaching qualities look like?
Expertise
In an online course, I have found teachers to create access to their knowledge and understanding less in real-time lecture and conversation, and more through the resources they curate and questions they pose. Their expertise is essential to design and facilitation, described in Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s Community of Inquiry (CoI) as key functions of teaching presence, an essential component to teaching (Garrison & Archer, 2000).
For example, during a course in Investigations in Mathematics, our instructor taught a class from online. He provided carefully designed problems, gave background information, organized us into groups, and allowed us time to work, breaking in only briefly to lead discussions.
His understanding of how people learn allowed him to plan a lesson that accessed our prior knowledge, engaged us with well-paced problems, allowed us to learn from one another, and scaffolded our retention through review. He had familiarized himself with the technology platform we were to use (Google Jamboard), enabling him to support us with the use of space so we could focus on learning the content of the course. Meanwhile, his background in Mathematics allowed him to flexibly create more difficult problems when we needed more than had been planned.
Organization
Teaching online also increases the importance of organizational skills in an instructor. In order for students to be able to navigate the course, they need to understand the environment, including course structure and community, and have an ability to find resources (Hotchin, 2025). I have found digital organization to be very challenging as compared to organization of physical materials. No longer are we, as students, able to use memory based on place to find and organize our materials. Nor is visual memory as effective when content is published with the help of templates. We must also hold onto the thoughts of what we are seeking amidst the myriad distractions of websites and links that come to our attention as we hunt through notes, readings, and emails. In my experience, a well-organized virtual space is essential to support students effectively.
In an online French course that I supported my daughter through, the teacher designed a well-balanced course of open sourced readings and videos, learning activities, and formative assessments. All activities, assignments, and deadlines were laid out in a readily accessible course outline. Upon logging into the Learning Management System (LMS), the student could see what tasks had been completed, what percentage of the course was left to do, and suggested target dates of completion for each unit. This organization was very helpful, allowing my daughter to concentrate on improving their French.
Additionally, the instructor must themself be organized. The principles of CoI (Barnes, 2016) include giving prompt feedback and emphasizing time on task. This can be done if the instructor has managed their own time to regularly attend to their marking and planning tasks.
Communication
As Hotchin (2025) reminds us, effective communication is a crucial part of online teaching. This begins with frequent student-faculty contact, which is one of Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles of online teaching, as referenced in Barnes (2016). For example, in my EDCI 335 course, the class is set up in a social chat on the Mattermost platform, and the instructor is a participant in the whole-class channel. This allows her to connect with us both formally, such as when she posts the week’s tasks or answers questions, and informally, such as when she uses reactions or posts a quick welcome message. In this way, she encourages an active learning community in the class and maintains a strong teacher presence.
Another principle of online teaching is giving prompt feedback (Barnes, 2016), important to letting students know whether they are “on the right track” and give them a sense of being guided. This timely communication helps students feel engaged and know they are learning. Similarly, students benefit from effective communication of the course structure, expectations, and time parameters. In the previously discussed French course, my daughter was able to self-assess her progress and manage her time because she understood where she was in relation to the course structure and expectations. At the same time, the teacher sent emails if she was falling behind, helping her to keep on track when she was struggling. The teacher’s “checking in” when concerned about my daughter’s progress is similar to the initiative a classroom teacher takes when a student is idle in class and, in my teaching experience, a valuable way to offer support when it might be needed.
As well, an effective online instructor values relationships. Barnes (2016) points out the importance of a student’s ability to feel present in a learning community, supporting their sense of trust and belonging. Social Learning Theory also highlights the learning that students do by observing one another (Bandura, 1971). The stronger the connections between students, the more they can learn from one another. The instructor facilitates social presence by building strong relationships with students, modeling respectful social behaviour, and encouraging interdependence between students.
In my EDCI 335 course, this is demonstrated in both the course design, in which students complete group projects throughout the course, and in the Mattermost social chat room, where students discuss readings and videos, and ask and answer questions among one another. We are also expected to read and respond to blog posts from other students, allowing us to support and learn from others in the class.
Networked Pedagogy
In my experience over the years, local educational practice has evolved to better appreciate the unique knowledge and life experiences brought to a learning community by each student. This is especially true in an online context. In The Manifesto for Teaching Online, Bayne et al. (2020) point out the vastly different lives that may be being lived by students who might come from all over the world. Not only does a teacher need to consider the geographic distances students traverse by accessing a course online, but also the different political, educational, and cultural backgrounds they bring to the community (Bayne et al., 2020). Networked pedagogy mines the richness of this diversity by emphasizing the connections between people and the resources and ideas they bring using technology (Hotchin, 2025).
Networked Pedagogy – An approach to teaching that conceptualizes learners, resources, and ideas as nodes in a digital network and emphasizes the connections between them. (Hotchin, 2025)
One example of this approach is in EDCI 339, in which we use blogs to write about our learning and its connections with our personal knowledge and experiences, and then read and respond to one another’s blog posts. This allows us to connect to other ideas and see from other perspectives. We are expected to meet with people in groups to discuss readings and work on projects using whatever digital spaces work for us.
In our group, because we all have good digital literacy skills, we are able to interact effectively, making and changing plans, contributing ideas, and responding to one another. We quickly chose a social media platform for communication and a different one for collaboration. Had we had trouble, we knew we could reach out to our instructor for help.
Digitally Literate
Finally, all of an instructor’s teaching skills and understanding of student perspectives will not help in running an online course if the teacher is not digitally literate. Not only must the instructor be familiar with relevant technology – LMS’s, social media, collaboration software, etc. – but they must have a good understanding of the social space in a digital environment. They must understand privacy and security issues when asking students to put information online, and indeed, when posting their own information online. And, they need to have enough experience to be able to guide students when they have trouble.
Read more thoughts about digital literacy and digital identity in my Blog Post #1!
Conclusion
The role of the instructor in an online space is not different than their role in a physical space. An effective instructor still attempts to leverage all of the tools at their disposal to maximize learning. They bring expertise, organization, and leadership to the community, and they bring people together to allow students to benefit socially and educationally from one another. The difference in an online space is the strategies we must use to achieve these goals. Because the digital world is relatively new and evolving quickly, teachers today cannot bring to bear the benefit of thousands of years of human experience in communicating with groups and building community. Instead, online teachers today must thoughtfully consider how to organize materials usefully, connect effectively, and read students’ needs. Additionally, we must consider how much broader is the world encompassed by “the classroom” when teaching online. When we understand this, we find ways to embrace and celebrate diversity, be sensitive to differing environments, and encourage students to learn from one another.
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. (2018). Chapter 11 Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism. In Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology West, R. E. (Ed.). EdTech Books.
Concise Description and citing of at least 2 academic articles:
Health education is vital to everyone’s success. Education on what an appropriate diet consists of is necessary to see an overall growth of healthy relationships with food. Through social media and scientifically unsupported sources, there has been an unprecedented amount of encouragement towards dangerous dieting and fads. Oklahoma State University (Cena, H., & Calder, P. C., 2020) explains how fad diets contribute to increased body dissatisfaction, lower self-esteem, and lead to an increased risk of mortality, the development of eating disorders, impaired bone health, and infertility. Healthy food habits refer to well-balanced food intake and creating meals that emphasize proper diet, a comprehension of what you’re eating, and adaptability. These habits show massive health benefits. Research done by Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020) helps link these dietary patterns to health “Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity, and cognitive impairment are among the leading causes of death; indeed, the marked rise in chronic NCDs has a causal link to global dietary patterns.” The increased prevalence surrounding fad diets highlights the need for a balanced, evidence based approach to educating the population about nutrition. Lot’s of individuals are falling into this trap Canada’s Food Guide (2024) explains that a proper diet is not about eliminating specific foods but rather focusing on variety, balance, and moderation. By focusing on nourishment and not repression, individuals can create lifelong healthy habits that support both physical and mental health, reducing the risks with non-communicable diseases and disordered eating patterns.
This learning plan will equip students with the knowledge to make informed dietary choices, be able to debunk fad diets, and understand the nutritional benefits for long term health – understanding that is grounded in academic research and Canada’s food guides. This plan combines quizzes, meal plans, and a media presentation to reinforce learning. By fostering critical thinking and practical application, this resource promotes lifelong healthy habits and combats misinformation.
1-2 misconceptions about your topic. What do people usually misunderstand about it? What mistakes do they often make?:
One of the most prevalent misconceptions about living a healthy lifestyle is that fad diets offer a quick fix to health issues such as obesity, acne, and mood problems (Kumar & Docter, 2023). These claims are often not supported by research and generally have an extremist approach, meaning they tend to involve eating plenty of one thing or restricting too much of another. The issues with these approaches are that they are often not sustainable because they cut too many calories to support daily activities, create weight loss and weight gain cycles, and may create too much focus on food which interferes with enjoyment of other activities (Dixon & Doctor, 2023). Additionally, fad diets pose many potential health risks such as energy deprivation, inadequate nutrients, and a poor relationship with food. Another common misconception about achieving a healthy diet is eliminating ‘unhealthy’ foods entirely. Unfortunately, this often leads to many adverse health effects and cycles of guilt, overeating, and general stress about food. Again, this extreme approach does not promote long-term health or sustainability (Kumar & Docter, 2023).
Rather than these restrictive and extreme methods for creating a healthy lifestyle, Canada’s Food Guide (2024) recommends striving for balance and aiming to prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods. An important consideration is that there is no “one-size-fits-all”; and rather, individuals have different goals, preferences, and lifestyles. Therefore, one should focus on enjoying their food, forming good habits, and maintaining overall health to achieve what works for them.
A rationale for developing your learning resource based on this topic. What is it about this topic in particular that is of interest to you?:
The rise of fad diets, often promoted through social media and other non-expert sources, has become a significant concern in today’s society. These diets claim to provide quick fixes for weight loss or health improvement but are rarely sustainable and can even be harmful (Sciarrillo et al., 2020). Many individuals, particularly younger people who are more engaged with social media, struggle to critically assess dietary information, making them vulnerable to these misleading claims. This is why the development of this learning resource is essential. It addresses a critical gap in nutritional literacy, equipping learners with the skills to recognize the dangers of fad diets and make evidence-based decisions about their diet.
The topic is particularly important because unqualified sources often promote restrictive eating practices that prioritize short-term results over long-term health. Inadequate understanding of nutrition can lead to unhealthy relationships with food and increase the risk of chronic health conditions. By promoting the importance of balanced and sustainable eating habits, this resource aims to counter these harmful trends and encourage a more mindful approach to food. Canada’s Food Guide (2024) underscores the importance of eating habits that are not only nutritious but also enjoyable and sustainable. It challenges the notion of careless restriction, emphasizing that long-term well-being is best supported through balanced eating. This learning resource aligns with that approach, helping learners apply credible knowledge in practical ways, such as through meal planning activities. By teaching critical thinking and providing tools to assess nutritional information, it empowers individuals to make decisions that foster long-term health and well-being.
Learning Design
Time to complete: 2 hours
Format: asynchronous online, with synchronous group activities
Target Learner: general public
Big Ideas
Variety and balance are vital to healthy eating.
Fad diets can negatively impact physical and mental health.
Essential questions:
1) How should one eat to attain optimal health?
2) Why should one be concerned about what we eat?
3) How can we change from unhealthy eating habits to healthy ones?
4) How can I recognize diet messages that are harmful to me?
Guidelines for meal correction assignment, meal planning, and presentation assignment
Access to Internet
Moodle
Zoom Meetings or other online meeting software
Optional: Video capture technology, such as a smart phone.
References
Canada’s Food Guide. (2024, January 4). Diets and food trends. https://food- guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/diets-food-trends/
Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020). Defining a healthy diet: Evidence for the role of contemporary dietary patterns in health and disease. Nutrients, 12(2), 334. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12020334
Kumar, M. M., & Dixon Docter, A. (Eds.). (2023). Fad diets and adolescents: A guide for clinicians, educators, coaches and trainers. Springer Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10565-4
Sciarrillo, C., Joyce, J., Hildebrand, D., & Emerson, S. (2020, November). The health risks of fad diets. Oklahoma State University Extension. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/the-health-risk-of-fad-diets.html
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