Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Skye Nguyen. Skye completed an Instructional Designer internship at Ecampus in Fall 2024 and graduated with an Instructional Design certificate from OSU in Spring 2024.

Support for students is a key component in increasing the likelihood of student success. Students can encounter various types of barriers, such as technical issues or glitches and learning curves of these technologies when taking classes, and even more so when taking online classes. Educause highlights that the expectation of the learning environment is changing to Learning Spaces (Learning Spaces, n.d.). These Spaces not only hold space for traditional classrooms but are morphing to include more virtual presence. 

To ensure a smooth transition we should incorporate support for students into the course design. By bringing more awareness and consideration into more instances of these learning spaces we enhance students’ chances of accessing these support resources. This increases the likelihood of a student avoiding a barrier altogether or getting connected to the right institutional support that can directly aid them in overcoming barriers to their success. 

In my current role at Lane Community College, I work with instructors directly in a support capacity.  I frequently receive inquiries about how they can aid student success in online and blended (hybrid) courses. Many courses already include an institutional statement or guide about student support either in the course or on the syllabus, but because they are ubiquitous and separate from their coursework and learning experience, students may not think to access those resources. Here are four strategies for enhancing support in an online or blended course by increasing the visibility, context, and redundancy of resources.

Consider the Types of Barriers Your Students Might Face

The types of barriers vary between institutions, colleges, programs, and even between classes and generally fall under two major categories: internal and external barriers to the course.

External barriers, such as financial stress, food insecurity, homelessness, childcare, or mental health issues, while not directly tied to the action of partaking in and submitting online coursework, can affect the student’s overall ability to succeed in school. Usman & Banu (2019) highlight that some of the effects of financial stress specifically can lead to poorer academic performance. These barriers impact the students’ quality of life, and their ability to be successful students in all of their courses. Ensuring students have access to support resources they will utilize in the course, as well as support resources for barriers they may be experiencing outside of the course will increase the student’s likelihood of success.

The internal barriers to the course can cause unneeded stress and can be more easily addressed with a little bit of care and foresight. It is important to keep in mind that students taking online classes will have different levels of experience with taking online courses even at the specific institution. This is especially important to keep in mind when thinking about instructional technologies they will be required to utilize for coursework in addition to the LMS (e.g. Blackboard, Canvas). For example, not all institutions use OneDrive as their cloud-based storage. Students may have encountered Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox and be unfamiliar with OneDrive. At the course level, not all classes utilize discussion forums, or you might have a student for whom this is their first online course at this institution, and they might be unfamiliar with the way discussion boards work in this LMS compared to another. 

How this works in course design:  Pair resources together based on processes or types of resources when they are needed for a specific activity. For example, if an assignment requires a student to submit a video, it is important to make sure there are resources for every step of the process, from creation to submission. Pairing the instructions for the activity with tutorials on how to record a video, upload the video to the institution’s streaming platform (e.g. Kaltura, YouTube), and share the video link provides students with all the resources, right when they need them

Figure 1: A process shown with each step linking out to a tutorial.

Think about Multiple Formats

Support can be offered in various formats, each one useful in different ways. By providing multiple formats you can directly improve Universal Design for Learning (UDL) even more throughout the course. This can look like providing a how-to video but also adding a link to a help article with text instructions below that video.

Consider integrating the following common resources into your course to enhance student support:

• Help articles from the institution or platform (i.e. Canvas, Microsoft, Kaltura).
• Video tutorials from the institution, Microsoft, or user communities.
• Support Service contact information such as name of service, purpose, email, and phone. This could be student technology help desks or coaching and counseling services for example.

You can think of these types of resources when building your support framework throughout the course for students. 

How This Works in Course Design: Ideally, students should be provided resources for every situation in multiple formats. A help article might be suitable for a short process needed across a wide range of people or for use in multiple courses. In-page instructions might be beneficial for providing quick guidance on completing an assignment directly within a course. Consider the situation, available resources for creation or storage, and the context in which students will need support to determine the most effective format.

Figure 2: A help article linked to the top of support resources for video tips, and instructions directly on the assignment page in the support resources for using discussions.

Be Mindful of Visibility 

Students should not have to go digging to find the resources they need. Support should always be visible, easily accessible, and located where students will need them, when they need them. For instance, having support resources that students will need regularly or are more general should be included in the syllabus and at the top of the course. This will enable students to start the course with those resources in hand.

For resources that are connected to activities students may only need once, or require more in-depth instruction, place those resources where they are needed and when they are needed.  For example, if you want students to know how to share a document in a discussion forum activity, provide the information within the activity itself.

How This Works in Course Design:  Support resources need to be integrated seamlessly into both the course design and the course content. Avoid making support obtrusive to the activity, as it may distract from the content such as “Support” in red text at the top of the page. Instead, make it intentional and readily accessible. For instance, placing support information right before the first step of a process, such as at the end of assignment instructions but before the submit button, ensures it is conveniently located for students. This practice pulls on UDL guidelines where redundancy and providing information in multiple places improves the learning experience for these skills (UDL: The UDL Guidelines, n.d.).

Don’t forget the course instructor or facilitator! 

Sometimes instructional designers design courses with a developer who might not be teaching the course. The instructor may be unfamiliar with the support resources, why they are being included, and what they are expected to do with them. A well-supported instructor can create a more effective online learning experience. By establishing a resource space for course instructors, such as an Instructor Guide, you can provide instructors with a 1-stop shop for support even before they encounter difficulties. Faculty also have access to technical support options that students do not have, such as a Help Desk or faculty support team.  Ensuring faculty are aware of all of their support options enables instructors to focus on their tasks, knowing they have resources available when they need them.

How This Works in Course Design: An example of this is creating an instructor guide which not only gives them links to resources to support students but gives them an area to find resources for running the course or troubleshooting a common issue. This could be in a hidden page resource marked “For Instructor Only” at the top of the course.

Figure 3: Instructor guide example in the LMS course itself with links to important resources for instructors such as common student support resources,  how to communicate with students, how to grade, etc.

Figure 4: Instructor guide as a hidden page resource at the bottom of a start here section in an online course in Canvas.

That’s it! These are just a few ways to improve support, and there are many others. The key takeaway here is to always consider the specific course design needs  when designing the support framework during course development

Sources

Learning Spaces. (n.d.). EDUCAUSE. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/educating-net-generation/learning-spaces

UDL: The UDL Guidelines. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Usman, M., & Banu, A. (2019). A Study on Impact of Financial Stress on Students’ Academics. Journal of Business & Economic Policy, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.30845/jbep.v6n1p7