FORMATS & MODALITIES

Design Forward

An emergent exploration of critical instructional design.

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Do you feel like you would benefit from talking to someone about the topics, resources, and activities of this module? Do you want to start thinking about how to apply what you’re learning in an upcoming course? 

Feel free to make an appointment with Martha in the CoLab or Megan in ET&S for one-on-one support! 

Meet with Martha

Choose this appointment if you have a quick question or problem you want to talk to through–or if you need help navigating some part of the module!

30 Minute Virtual
30 Minute In Person

Choose this appointment if you need a longer conversation about your teaching, courses, projects, etc.

60 Minute Virtual
60 Minute In Person

Meet with Megan

Consult with Megan on academic technology questions related to the module. 

Schedule Consultation

Weekly Dispatch: October 31, 2022

Each week, the Dispatch provides suggestions about what to focus your attention on. You may use it as a kind of weekly syllabus, with a suggested topic to explore, resource to read and annotate, questions to answer, and activities to complete. However, you should also feel free to deviate as you like from the suggestions; we want your participation in this module to reflect your own goals and interests.

We encourage you to choose at least one “engagement” a day:  join a conversation by responding to a question, complete an activity and share it in your portfolio, or choose a resource to read and annotate

Welcome to Week One of Formats and Modalities! As you get started, feel free to use this dispatch to help guide your work for the week.

As Robin mentions in the video, to receive your stipend, by the end of the module you should aim to have engaged once a day and annotated the two group readings and one choice reading you decide on.

Finally, make sure you’re logged in when you’re working on the DF website–and when you get a chance today make sure you’ve updated your profile with your avatar and Hypothesis name. You can find the “Update Your Profile” button in your Portfolio.

Topic in Focus

We will start this week thinking about the reasons why course modality matters to us, both practically and pedagogically. As we consider the topic more deeply, we encourage you to grapple with your own unspoken biases and sit with the tensions at the heart of this topic.

Suggested Resources

The group reading this week (for everyone to read and annotate), by Valerie Irvine, is a great introduction to the history and current state of modality in higher education.

We encourage you to also pick one of the other resources to annotate for your personal choice reading. Or, feel free to explore all of the resources from the module to find your choice reading.

  • Choice

Our hyflex experiment: What’s worked and what hasn’t

Gannon Kevin
If you are off-campus, you will need to create/login to a Chronicle account in order to view this piece. If you use your plymouth.edu email address, a free account will provide you the access you need!

Suggested Questions

We’ve selected a few questions to get us thinking about our past and current perceptions of modality. We also encourage you to share a bit about yourself on the DF introduction thread.

Why do you think modality matters?

Latest Comment from Raj (November 15, 2022): “Modality matters because students will, especially into the future, choose the mode in which they will learn (whether their own choice or not) and we…” More >>

Picture of Martha

Suggested Activities

The activities for this week will help you set your goals for the module while also revealing some of your unspoken biases and assumptions about course modalitities.

Setting Your Goals

Take some time to think about your goals for yourself as you explore and experience this DF module. What are you hoping to learn more

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February 2, 2022 No Comments

Starting with Assumptions

Examine any of your existing biases about face-to-face vs online teaching. What are you bringing to this work that may be impacting your ability to

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October 25, 2022 No Comments

Imagining Classrooms

Take a moment to visually represent (literally or abstractly) an ideal face-to-face and online classroom. Consider the differences/similarities between what you drew; what do they

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October 26, 2022 No Comments
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