How to Achieve Your Goals Using the SMART Method 🎓

The start of a new school year is the perfect time to set new goals, but it can be hard to know where to begin. The SMART framework is a simple, effective tool to help you set yourself up for a successful year.

Please watch the video: https://youtu.be/xav8p6ZpGYI?si=DkBspvmj6DCfIiiG  

What Does SMART Mean?

• S - Specific: Be specific and clear about what you want to achieve. Instead of a general goal like "I want to get more exercise," a specific goal would be "I will walk for 45 minutes every day."

• M - Measurable: Your goal should be measurable so you can track your progress. For example, the 45 minutes of walking is a measurable unit of time.

• A - Achievable: Make sure your goal is something you can realistically accomplish. If 45 minutes seems like too much, you can break it down into smaller, more manageable segments throughout your day.

• R - Relevant: Your goal should be relevant to your life and aspirations. In this example, walking is relevant because it has positive physical and emotional health benefits, which will help you succeed in school.

• T - Time-bound: Set a timeframe for your goal. This could be a deadline, or, in the case of daily walking, a clear start date, like "I will start walking 45 minutes a day, starting tomorrow."

By using the SMART framework, you can transform a vague idea into a concrete plan for success. What are your SMART goals for the new school year? Share them in the comments!

Problems formatting your articles using APA or MLA? Watch this video: https://youtu.be/dipEba5hTW4?si=CHPh23lDFj0qP1FU 

Does Trupeer Live Up to the Hype? Rapidly Converting a Basic Video into Polished Product with Guides, AI Voice, and Avatars

Please join me as I try out Trupeer in real time, using a video I just made (which you can check out here) on leveraging situated learning for writing courses. I had a lot of fun generating a script for my 2-minute video, then adding effects, substituting my voice for an AI voice, adding background music, and then, translating everything to Spanish and then Russian!

Trupeer, a start-up, just successfully attracted $3million in seed funding, so I expect that there will be additional features in the future. 

I am demonstrating the different voices and avatar selections. 

The only drawback is that I was using ScreenPal to create the video, and it did not pick up the voice generated by the video.  That was probably a settings issue. I would try again, but then you would not get a chance to see me actually try out TruPeer for the first time in real-time to get a sense of the ease of use and the overall UX. 

This is a follow-up to my first "discovery" video (https://youtu.be/2n8rwbOG9qY) where I tried out TruPeer (https://www.trupeer.ai/) for the first time and found the experience to be extremely intuitive, engaging, and something that sparks creativity and self-confidence. 

For this video, I went back to the 2-minute video I uploaded to show the results of trying out the AI voice-over, transcripts, AI avatar, and translation, along with other features.  You'll see how easily I was able to produce a professional end-result.  

This is my "live" first plunge into the program; unfortunately, I did not record the voices - check out the video I made after this one for a demonstration of the voices. 

I was a bit disappointed by the selection of voices and avatars, and was surprised that the avatars did not sync along with the voice. 

I was very impressed with the transcript and the ease of use.  I played around with my original video, filmed in English, then translated the transcript to Spanish and Russian. The transcript and AI voice were both in the target language. It was fun, and a great way to practice your languages! 

Let me know your thoughts.  What's the best application for TruPeer?

Text-to-Video in AI-Enhanced Training and Marketing Modules: Testing Synthesia's Platform

Synthesia https://www.synthesia.io/ is a platform that generates video from text to create product promotion videos, narrated training videos, corporate onboarding and more.  

My first reaction was “wow!” and imagined an AI-powered app that would read a short story or training storyboard and create a full animation based on it.  So, my expectations were really high, and I was envisioning creating videos that could change the world – or at least generate serviceable learning and training videos, and perhaps even creative work. 

Here's a video I made, where I walk through the platform and also play the brief video I made: https://youtu.be/AMJDR67IaXA?si=gx2NXDfmxyATazi1 

I misunderstood the capabilities of the platform, but still, when I experimented with it, I was impressed with what could be done. Basically, Synthesia centers itself around a cast of avatars which are based on real actors, and they can be used to narrate the text in training and promotional videos.  The images and voices are generated from AI.  To deploy the avatars in productive ways, Synthesia has developed templates, which are professionally designed and which have built in some basics of instructional design and marketing.  On the instructional design side of things, they are not as rigorous as they could be, and it’s clear that these templates are points of departure, but not the end product. 

What I liked most about Synthesia:

·      I love the name!  It could be a goddess in ancient Greek mythology, especially if you pronounce it Sin-TAY-zee-a. 

·      Ease of use is a major “plus” – fit for purpose templates reduce the time of content development, and the fact they are modifiable is a huge “plus.”

·      Excellent selection of avatars – they are amazing. The voices are nice, too. That said, the platform allows you to represent yourself or any other person who upload their own videos. 

·      Templates – whether they be for training or product marketing, the templates feature branching scenarios for adaptive learning, corporate training (compliance, etc.), softskill training, product marketing

·      Collaborative capabilities: the platform allows multiple collaborators, and in the case of boo-boos, version history for recovery of work

·      The platform claims to have the ability to translate into 145 languages. It does not say how well, accurately, or idiomatically such a task would be performed.  My personal feeling is, “Don’t hold your breath” and my second thought was “Caution! Never release unchecked and unreviewed from AI into the wild!!!!”

What I liked less about Synthesia:

·      The first thing I noticed when I tried out the program was that Synthesia must review the script and if there is anything that aligns with the program’s “trigger” words, the whole project will be shut down. I experienced that myself.  I thought it would be fun to see how Synthesia tackled the idea of marketing / promoting a novel, Todos Santos, which is both sci-fi and horror, with some zombie elements along with scary technology and a deranged scientist. Welp. Synthesia said “NO” and would not stomach such project. I get it. A rogue scientist creating zombies is not a universally appealing premise. That said, what happens if you are doing medical training or launching a medical product? Will you be censored? 

·      I was really disappointed in the voice-over and the awkward phrasings and pronunciations.  I don’t know how easily one can train the voice, but it’s important. Since the main area of competitive advantage for this product is the idea that you can use an AI avatar instead of voice talent or actors, this is an important point. I guess it depends on what you want your ultimate level of quality to be. 

·      A final little quibble is that the learning templates did not have assessments built in, and I would have hoped for multiple choice quizzes at the very least. 

Final Thoughts

It is fascinating to see how products are being developed that utilize AI in various products.  They test assumptions about how people learn best online, and also encourage engagement.  

As in the case of all AI products, there are ethical issues – for example, in recording and training your own avatar, there could be potential for abuse. Where does the new content reside?  Is your image now in the Synthesia cloud and not actually owned or controlled by you?  Just wondering… 

Teaching Technical Subjects Online? Tap Into the Brain’s Design Creativity Engine

Designing effective online courses—especially for technical disciplines like engineering, data science, and computer programming—requires more than organizing lectures, videos, and assignments. It demands creativity at every level, from course structure to learner engagement. But what kind of creativity are we talking about?

A fascinating 2018 paper by Leslee Lazar, "The Cognitive Neuroscience of Design Creativity," provides a roadmap. According to Lazar, design creativity is distinct from both artistic and scientific creativity. It’s uniquely tied to how humans solve complex, ambiguous, and evolving problems—what the paper calls “ill-structured tasks.” For instructional designers in the digital space, especially those working with technical subjects, this insight is profound. To truly prepare learners for the real world, our courses must engage their "design brains."

Embrace Ill-Structured Problems

In traditional education, especially in technical fields, we often rely on "well-structured" problems—those with clear parameters, predictable outcomes, and established solution paths. Think of solving an algebraic equation or calculating the flow rate through a pipe. While these tasks are useful for teaching fundamentals, they fall short of preparing students for the ambiguity and complexity of real-world challenges.

Lazar emphasizes the power of “ill-structured” problems—open-ended scenarios where both the problem and the solution evolve during the process. These are the kinds of problems that designers and engineers face daily: how to reduce waste in a city, optimize a software interface, or create a sustainable energy model. In online technical education, embracing this approach means offering scenarios that encourage learners to frame the problem themselves. Instead of handing students a tightly defined task, present them with a realistic challenge and ask, “Where would you begin?” This not only cultivates critical thinking but activates deeper brain networks associated with creativity and real-world problem solving.

Foster Divergent Thinking

One of the hallmarks of design creativity is the ability to generate many possible solutions to a problem. This process, known as divergent thinking, involves connecting seemingly unrelated ideas, drawing analogies, and pushing past conventional answers. It’s also associated with right-brain activation—particularly in the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal regions tied to memory and mental imagery.

To foster divergent thinking in an online technical course, instructors can build in brainstorming activities and reflection prompts that go beyond “what’s right?” to ask “what else could work?” For instance, in a course on systems design, pose a challenge like “design a water filtration system for a desert environment,” and invite students to submit five distinct conceptual sketches or approaches. Tools like digital whiteboards, collaboration platforms, and creative forums can provide the space for learners to explore without judgment. Emphasizing breadth before depth in the early stages of learning taps into this essential phase of the creative process and helps learners become flexible, innovative thinkers.

Balance with Convergent Thinking

While divergent thinking opens up possibilities, convergent thinking brings clarity. It is the process of narrowing down options, analyzing trade-offs, and making decisions. According to Lazar, this phase activates more analytical regions of the brain—primarily the executive control networks in the prefrontal cortex. Together, these processes form what researchers now view as a “dual-process model” of creativity: oscillating between the expansive and the focused, the imaginative and the evaluative.

In online learning, this means we shouldn’t stop at brainstorming. Learners also need structured opportunities to analyze and refine their ideas. For example, after generating a set of potential designs for a circuit or a software interface, students can be asked to evaluate each against a rubric that considers feasibility, efficiency, and user experience. Peer reviews, instructor feedback, and self-assessment tools can support this critical convergence stage, helping students internalize the skills needed to assess and refine their own solutions. Building this evaluative loop into course design teaches not only technical accuracy but the judgment needed for innovation.

Integrate Emotion and Intuition

An especially intriguing insight from Lazar’s review is the role of emotion in design decisions. During evaluation and final decision-making, brain areas like the medial prefrontal cortex and default mode network become active. These regions are associated with emotion, intuition, and personal preference—what designers often describe as a “gut feeling.”

This has profound implications for online learning. While we often focus on cognitive load and performance metrics, we shouldn’t overlook the emotional and intuitive dimensions of learning. Giving students space to reflect—through design journals, voice notes, or video reflections—can deepen their engagement. When students articulate why they chose a specific solution or how they felt about their learning process, they begin to integrate their analytical and emotional selves. This not only mirrors how real designers work but helps learners develop self-awareness and intrinsic motivation.

Use the “Design Brain” to Train Technical Brains

The neuroscience evidence is clear: expert designers think differently than novices. Their brains activate differently, especially in regions responsible for hypothesis generation, analogical reasoning, and mental imagery. Importantly, these skills can be taught—but not through lectures alone.

To help online learners move from novice to expert, instructors must model their thinking processes. Use screen recordings, narrated walkthroughs, or “design thinking in action” videos where experts tackle real problems. Make your own reasoning visible: how you define a problem, discard options, draw analogies, and iterate. This transparency helps learners build mental models of expert thought. Scaffold assignments with opportunities for learners to practice these same steps—first with support, then independently. Over time, learners will internalize the cognitive habits of expert designers, which are essential for mastering technical fields in the real world.

Conclusion: Teach Like a Designer

Teaching technical subjects online is a challenge—but also an opportunity. By drawing on insights from neuroscience and design cognition, we can create courses that mirror how real problem-solving happens. Instead of just transmitting content, we can build learning environments that activate the same brain systems used by innovative designers, engineers, and thinkers.

When we do this, our courses don't just inform—they transform. They help students become agile, creative, and confident problem solvers, ready to tackle the complex challenges of tomorrow.

So the next time you open your LMS or course builder, pause and ask: am I laying out a lecture... or designing an experience?

Reference

Lazar, L. (2018). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Design Creativity. Journal of Experimental Neuroscience, 12, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/1179069518809664

Building Fortress-Level Assessment Security: What 591 Accounting Faculty Taught Us About Online Assessment Integrity

 Picture this: You've just finished designing what you think is a bulletproof online course, complete with engaging content and thoughtful assessments. But then that nagging voice in the back of your head whispers, "How do I know students aren't just Googling or ChatGPTing their way through my carefully crafted exams?"

If you're an instructional designer who's ever lost sleep over assessment security, you're not alone. A comprehensive study by researchers Nas Ahadiat and Mohamed I. Gomaa surveyed 591 accounting faculty across 921 U.S. universities to understand perceptions of security and integrity in online assessments. While their focus was accounting education, their findings offer a treasure trove of insights for any of us designing secure online assessments.

🔍 The Security Hierarchy: What Faculty Really Think

The research revealed a clear "trust hierarchy" when it comes to assessment security, and the results might surprise you with how stark the differences are.

🥇 Face-to-Face Assessments: The Trusted Champion Traditional classroom assessments remain the undisputed favorite among faculty for security. An impressive 54% of faculty rated face-to-face delivery as "most secured," while only 1% considered it "most unsecured." This overwhelming confidence speaks to the power of physical presence and direct supervision that many of us take for granted when designing in-person experiences.

🥈 Hybrid Courses: The Strategic Middle Ground Here's where things get interesting for us as instructional designers. Hybrid delivery emerged as a compelling compromise, with 35% of faculty rating it as "secured" or "most secured." What makes this approach so appealing is that it offers significantly more security than fully online options while maintaining much of the convenience that makes online education attractive. It's a thoughtful balance that doesn't force educators to choose between accessibility and integrity.

🥉 Synchronous Online: The Power of Presence When faculty had to choose between online delivery methods, synchronous options won decisively. The research showed that real-time, live online assessments were perceived as significantly more secure than their asynchronous counterparts. There's something about the immediacy and live monitoring capability that creates accountability and reassurance for faculty. It captures some of the supervisory benefits of face-to-face delivery, even when mediated through technology.

📱 Asynchronous Online: The Trust Gap Challenge Asynchronous assessments faced the biggest credibility hurdle in the study. Only 12% of faculty rated this delivery mode as "secured" or "most secured," while a concerning 35% considered it "unsecured" or "most unsecured." For those of us designing online learning experiences, this represents our biggest challenge—and our biggest opportunity to innovate around security and integrity measures.

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

🎯 Beyond Accounting: Security Strategies for Every Subject

While this study focused on accounting, the principles apply beautifully across disciplines. Here's how to fortress-fy your assessments:

📊 Data-Heavy Subjects (Statistics, Economics, Analytics)

The Challenge: Easy to find formulas and solutions online 

The Solution:

• Use unique, real-world datasets for each assessment
• Require students to show their work process, not just final answers
• Implement timed assessments with randomized question pools
• Consider hybrid proctoring for high-stakes exams

🧬 STEM Fields (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)

The Challenge: Standard problems with readily available solutions 

The Solution:

• Create scenario-based problems using current events or local contexts
• Use virtual labs with unique parameters for each student
• Implement peer review components that require original thinking
• Design multi-step problems where each answer builds on the previous

📚 Literature and Writing Courses

The Challenge: AI writing tools and essay mills 

The Solution:

• Focus on personal reflection and analysis rather than summary
• Use discussion forums for peer interaction and idea development
• Implement portfolio-based assessment with draft iterations
• Require students to connect readings to personal or local experiences

🏛️ Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, Political Science)

The Challenge: Widely available information and opinions online 

The Solution:

• Use current events that post-date available study materials
• Require primary source analysis with specific citation requirements
• Implement case study analysis with local or regional focus
• Design collaborative projects that require real-world interaction

🛡️ The Arsenal: Top Security Tools Faculty Recommend

The study revealed faculty preferences for different security strategies:

• Live Proctoring: The Heavy Artillery
• 84% rated as "secured" or "most secured"
• Best for high-stakes assessments
• Implementation tip: Reserve for final exams or certification tests to manage costs

Remote Proctoring (ProctorU): The Smart Compromise

• 74% positive rating
• More scalable than live proctoring
• Implementation tip: Provide clear tech requirements and practice sessions

Plagiarism Detection (Turnitin): The Safety Net

• 78% positive rating for written work
• Implementation tip: Use as both detection and deterrent tool

Hybrid Delivery: The Goldilocks Solution

• Best of both worlds approach
• Implementation tip: Conduct major assessments on-campus, everything else online

💡 Smart Implementation Strategies

Start with Risk Assessment

• Not every quiz needs Fort Knox-level security. Categorize your assessments:
• Low stakes: Weekly quizzes, participation checks → Minimal security needed
• Medium stakes: Module exams, major assignments → Moderate security measures
• High stakes: Final exams, certification tests → Maximum security protocols

Build Security into Learning Design

Instead of bolting security onto existing assessments, weave it into your instructional design:

• Scaffolded assessments: Build knowledge progressively so cheating becomes harder
• Application-focused questions: Test understanding, not memorization
• Personalized content: Use student location, interests, or program focus in questions

The Transparency Approach

• Be upfront about security measures:
• Explain why academic integrity matters in their field
• Share consequences of dishonesty in professional practice
• Make security measures feel supportive rather than punitive

🔮 Looking Forward: Emerging Trends

The research highlighted some fascinating patterns:

• AACSB-accredited programs showed higher confidence in security measures
• Graduate programs were more concerned about asynchronous security than undergraduate programs
• Public institutions favored face-to-face assessments more than private institutions

These patterns suggest that institutional culture and student population significantly impact security needs and perceptions.

🎯 Your Action Plan

Ready to level up your assessment security? Here's your starter toolkit:

This Week:

• Audit your current assessments using the risk categories above
• Identify which delivery mode best fits each assessment type
• Research institutional resources for proctoring and plagiarism detection

This Month:

• Pilot one hybrid assessment approach
• Create a question bank with randomizable elements
• Develop clear academic integrity policies for your courses

This Semester:

• Implement differentiated security based on assessment stakes
• Gather student feedback on security measures
• Analyze any integrity incidents to refine your approach

🐕 The Bottom Line

The research from these 591 accounting faculty confirms what many of us suspected: there's no one-size-fits-all solution to online assessment security. The key is matching your security strategy to your specific context—your subject matter, student population, institutional resources, and assessment stakes.

Remember, the goal isn't to create an adversarial relationship with students, but to design assessments so robust and engaging that cheating becomes both difficult and pointless. When students are genuinely learning and applying knowledge to meaningful problems, academic integrity often takes care of itself.

What security strategies have worked best in your online courses? Have you noticed differences between synchronous and asynchronous assessments? Share your experiences in the comments below!

________________________________________

About the Research: This post is based on "Online accounting education: How to improve security and integrity of students' performance assessments" by Nas Ahadiat and Mohamed I. Gomaa, published in the Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, Volume 24. The study surveyed 591 accounting faculty across 921 universities in the United States.

Tags: #OnlineAssessment #AcademicIntegrity #InstructionalDesign #ELearning #AssessmentSecurity #OnlineEducation #Proctoring

Posted to E-Learning Corgi by Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. 

Why Neuroscience Matters in Website and eLearning Design

When it comes to designing websites and eLearning programs, it's easy to get caught up in tools and templates—but there’s something deeper that can really elevate your work: understanding how the brain responds to design. Neuroscience isn’t just for labs and textbooks. It offers practical, powerful insights into how users take in information, stay engaged, and remember what they learn. And when we apply those insights, we can create learning experiences that are not just functional, but impactful.

Keeping those neurons firing! (recorded on Juneteenth by Susan Nash)

Take something as simple as color and shape. A recent study by Nissen and colleagues (2024) used brain imaging to explore how people respond to different website designs. They found that blue-colored designs and rounded buttons made people feel more relaxed, less skeptical, and more likely to engage. Why? Because our brains evolved to associate blue with safe, calming environments like the sky and water, and to view rounded shapes as approachable and non-threatening. On the other hand, sharp corners and lots of red can trigger the opposite: alertness, caution, even discomfort.

Here's an example: an online learning platform revamped their interface, swapping out harsh red accents and boxy buttons for soft blue tones and rounded shapes. The result? Learner engagement and satisfaction scores climbed significantly. People stayed on the site longer and completed more modules. It wasn’t just about making things look nice—it was about tapping into how the brain naturally processes visual cues.

Another real-world example: a global logistics company redesigned its compliance training. They color-coded content so users could instantly recognize urgency—red for critical warnings, green for safe actions, and blue for instructions. These visual signals aligned with how the brain reacts to color in high-stakes settings. The results were clear: learners performed better on scenario-based tasks and made fewer errors. Neuroscience explains this: when cognitive load is reduced through intuitive design, people can focus more on the content and less on figuring out what to do next.

Verbal processing matters too. Research on language areas of the brain (Amunts et al., 2004) shows that when information is structured in logical, semantic categories, people are better at remembering and using it. This has huge implications for how we write eLearning content. Organizing lessons into clearly defined themes, using consistent language, and providing visual anchors (like icons or mind maps) can support the brain’s natural way of retrieving meaning.

Why is the dog wearing a black sock? (sketch by Susan Nash) 

Now, imagine a virtual high school biology course that uses subtle attention cues—like pulsing highlights or animated arrows—to bring learners’ eyes back to key information when they start to drift. These cues could be timed to match typical attention cycles (about 10–12 minutes). While hypothetical, this kind of design could increase quiz scores and completion rates by keeping learners mentally “in the room.” It’s a simple, neuroscience-informed strategy with a big potential payoff.

One caution: just because something sounds scientific doesn’t mean it is. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), for example, often uses fancy terms like “neuro” and “programming,” but as Roderique-Davies (2009) points out, it lacks real scientific backing. That’s why it’s important to focus on design practices supported by solid, peer-reviewed research.

In the end, understanding a little neuroscience goes a long way. It helps us create websites and learning experiences that feel intuitive, engaging, and even enjoyable. And best of all, it helps learners get what they need faster—and retain it longer. For anyone involved in design or training, that’s a win.

References

Amunts, K., Weiss, P. H., Mohlberg, H., Pieperhoff, P., Eickhoff, S., Gurd, J. M., ... & Zilles, K. (2004). Analysis of neural mechanisms underlying verbal fluency in cytoarchitectonically defined stereotaxic space—The roles of Brodmann areas 44 and 45. NeuroImage, 22(1), 42–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.12.031

Nissen, A., Riedl, R., & Schütte, R. (2024). Users’ reactions to website designs: A neuroimaging study based on evolutionary psychology with a focus on color and button shape. Computers in Human Behavior, 155, 108168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108168

Roderique-Davies, G. (2009). Neuro-linguistic programming: Cargo cult psychology? Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 1(2), 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1108/17581184200900014

Unsung Hero: Susan LaFlesche Picotte (1865 - 1915)

 In July 2024, I had the chance to participate in an event at the National Academies of Science in Washington, D. C.   The topic was how best to clean up the orphan oil and gas wells that can pollute the air and groundwater, and thus improve the living conditions for many people, especially those who suffer from socio-economic hardship.

 

The building was a majestic example of intricate Art Nouveau with stained glass, wrought iron, and lovely nooks and hidden galleries where tributes to the nation’s most visionary scientists could be found.

 

I was excited and inspired to happen upon a tribute to women scientists.  I was deeply moved.  One of the first to really catch my eye was Susan La Flesche Picotte.  La Flesche was the first Native American woman to earn a degree as a medical doctor, returned home to build a system to provide medical care for the people of the Omaha nation, and to institute practices that would dramatically reduce communicable diseases.  

 

She was born in June 1865 on the Omaha Reservation in what is now Nebraska.  Her father, Joseph La Flesche (Iron Eyes) was chief of the Omaha tribe and her mother, Mary Gale (One Woman), encouraged their daughters to get an education. So Susan studied at a missionary school on the reservation before being accepted to study at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in New Jersey.  From there, she matriculated at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she graduated as valedictorian in 1889.

 

After returning to the Omaha Reservation, La Flesche instituted a number of changes:  She advocated the construction of a hospital and European-style frame houses to provide more ways to keep the patients in as sterile facilities as possible. She was a huge advocate of public health and encouraged families to install screens on doors and windows to keep disease-spreading flies and mosquitoes from entering. She discouraged the use of shared drinking cups at village wells, and was a dedicated physician, traveling great distances to see patients.  She was able to achieve her great dream of having a hospital built in Walthill, Nebraska, on reservation land.

La Flesche often spoke out against the great physical and mental toll that contact with European settlers and the Office of Indian Affairs had taken on the health of indigenous peoples.

 

To me, La Flesche is an inspiring figure for many reasons. The most obvious is that of overcoming the odds to become a doctor and go back home to fight for better conditions and treatment for her people. She never gave up, even when her own poor health made it difficult.

 

While Susan La Flesche Picotte has had the great fortune to have been remembered for her efforts, it is very important to keep in mind that there are many unsung heroes, especially within communities that are under-represented, isolated, and historically under-served.  It is a good idea to take a moment to think about those who made contributions, no matter how large or small, and to thank them.

How to Effectively Design Good Generative AI-Using Student Assignments: Steps, Strategy, and an Example

If it were not bad enough to combat essays purchased from Course Hero, GradeSaver, or one of the other paper mills that purchase student essays, now one has to worry about papers generated by large language models such as ChatGPT, Scribe, Google Gemini, CoPilot or others.  Generative AI tools are being developed for specific topics or domains, and the assumption is, at least from a student’s perspective, that the product will be well written and accurate, or at least well written and accurate enough to merit a passing grade. 

As an instructor who develops, teaches, and grades courses and coursework for online courses hosted on Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, or even Google Classroom, this is a challenge you can’t afford to ignore, and an opportunity that can transform your entire teaching philosophy. 

https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X 

WHAT INFORMATION IS USED TO TRAIN THE AI LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL?

What data sets are used to train the generative AI algorithms?  Let’s take the case of American literature. I would automatically assume that the first repositories to be ingested would be open access repositories such as Project Gutenberg and Archive.com.  Those would be primary texts for the most part. Then, secondary texts would be incorporated, which would consist of journal articles. Tertiary texts would also be used, which would include encyclopedias. While there may be some question about intellectual property and the right to use the materials, there would be few questions about the integrity of such materials, gleaned as it were, from peer-reviewed and quality assured primary sources, peer-reviewed journals and monographs, and peer-reviewed encyclopedias. 

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to materials about American literature that one can access through the Internet. There are blog posts, online magazines, repositories of articles from study guide providers such as Study.com, Sophia Learning, Shmoop.com, and many more. These resources may be a bit repetitive and not particularly original, but perhaps harmless in the overall scheme of things.  If anything, they may skew the results to bland and formulaic papers. 

LOTS OF BAD APPLES

What happens, however, when these AI bots ingest the massive repositories of essays which have been compiled by companies such as Course Hero, Grade Saver, and others?  Is there any quality control at all? Some of the sites encourage students to sell their term papers for $5 each. Is there any quality control?  Would the evaluator or screener check for accuracy, bias, originality, and innovative thinking? Would the screener be able to differentiate between a tired, flat, biased, inaccurate paper and a fresh, innovative, and accurate one? 

It is quite possible that the sheer volume of low-quality term papers, biased or error-riddled blog posts, student-shared material, unrefereed conference proceedings and “gray” literature could exceed the high-quality, peer-reviewed material by many orders of magnitude. 

REQUIRING STUDENTS TO USE CHAT GPT, KNOWING THE RESULTS COULD BE ROTTEN? 

Learning how to use generative AI as a helpful tool and understanding its limitations and pitfalls is probably a more pragmatic and useful approach than trying to ban it altogether. Further, if students learn how to use AI tools in their coursework where they receive feedback and guidance, it is likely that they will be able to more effectively use the tool in their professional lives. 

Instructional designers and instructors who understand how results are likely to be generated can design assignments that require students to incorporate their own unique vantage points, prior knowledge, experience, and insights rather than simply producing a bland summary or compendium of the blandest, least thought-provoking or original material that responds to the prompt. 

FERRETING OUT THE FLAWS WHILE ASKING, “WHAT’S GOOD IN HERE?”

Instructors can develop assignments that actually require students to use a generative AI tool, and then they can ask them to critique the response.  

Here’s a sample assignment: 

Please write an essay that identifies the possible themes in Emerson’s essay, “Circles,” and explains how they relate to American Transcendentalism. 

When I fed the prompt to ChatGPT, it churned out a six-paragraph essay in about 3 seconds. It sported a nice, clear thesis statement, a clear definition of American Transcendentalism, and then proposed several themes, and provided evidence, including quotes. On first glance, it seemed to be a very serviceable essay. 

However, upon closer examination, it was clear that the essay was pretty facile, and felt very derivative. It did not provide citations for the quotes, and the explanations around each of the quotes and the themes did not go into any depth and tended to repeat each other. There was no deeper probing of American Transcendentalism, nor was there any historical context. 

One could argue that the prompt should have asked for historical context, and could even be interesting and ask for connections to a darker, more ominous underbelly of what seemed, on the face of it, to be an expansive, all-encompassing dream of harmony and unity. However, there is no investigation of the philosophical or ideological underpinnings, nor any sense of how American Transcendentalism was popular because it uniquely reinforced and even expanded the authority of those who already possessed it.  

The students could be asked to identify the weaknesses of the Chat GPT essay, and to explain when and how the responses were cliché, facile, or derivative of what one would expect to see in an encyclopedia or generic study guide, and they do not encourage critical thinking or a look at “Circles” through a new and innovative vantage point. 

It would be very nice for students to work on the critique in a collaborative workspace – for example, in a shared document, where each could highlight and comment on the ChatGPT-generated essay. 

AN INSTRUCTOR CHALLENGE: ASSIGNMENTS THAT DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND CREATIVITY

It is possible to write assignments and paper prompts that encourage students to incorporate their unique views, experiences, and prior knowledge.  While some may think that this subjectivity would make it difficult to assess the work, in reality, just the opposite is the case. 

For example, for an essay on American literature, a rubric would require the student to accurately describe what the text is about and also the main themes and characters as required by the prompt.  The prompt should also, however, require the student to think critically and ask questions that would relate to their own experiences and perceptions. They could also be asked to apply the concepts to a current situation. The students would be evaluated on their creativity and problem-solving skills as well as critical thinking. 

To apply this to the case of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Circles,” a prompt could look something like this: 

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Emerson’s ideas about agency as expressed in his essay, “Circles,” and describe how you’ve seen examples of the thinking expressed in your own life or the world at large.  Describe mid 19th-century American Transcendentalism and how it must have sounded to different groups of Americans: wealthy land owners, men wanting to move West for wealth and adventure, women in America, Native Americans, African-American slaves and freedmen, Irish indentured servants, Mexicans living in parts of Texas that were a part of Mexico before the War of 1848, and children. 

Granted, the new prompt is much, much more complex, but you probably get the picture, and can see how writing prompts to outwit the  AI bot is fun and engaging, while also encouraging collaborative activities and deeper learning. 

THE ROAD AHEAD

Colleges and universities are grappling with ChatGPT, Scribe, Google Gemini, CoPilot, and other generative AI platforms and tools.  While there is the chance of rampant violations of academic integrity, we are in the early stages of development and now is the time to envision new and productive pedagogical approaches that are ideal for adult learners and can help develop creativity, critical thinking skills and confidence.  

A 2024 Video Performance of Chucky’s Hunch by Rochelle Owens

May The Future be alive

Like apple seeds with the promise 

         Of The forbidden Fruit 

That Eve Mother of All Living ate--

        Thus, the world gained

 Knowledge and Frightful Liberty!

                           ---Rochelle Owens

In Your skull reigns anarchy... 

                           ---Rochelle Owens

When Rochelle Owens’s play, Chucky’s Hunch, was first performed Off-Broadway in 1981, critics lauded what they expressed as a tour-de-force performance by the actor playing Chucky, and they took the plot at face value.  The play, which is a long dramatic monologue by an aging man triggered by the news that the second of his three ex-wives has won the lottery, takes the audience into a fascinating psychological odyssey.  On the face of it, the play is simply about the embittered rantings of a failed Abstract Expressionist artist whose grandiose plans took him nowhere except into penury and bad health, as he lives with his 85-year-old mother somewhere in upstate New York.  He reads his letters to Elly, his ex-wife, to the audience, and in doing so, expresses a range of thoughts and feelings, ranging from rageful recriminations to sentimental recounting of the times that he and Elly spent together, and his observations of her behavior. The narrative is a straightforward epistolary one, punctuated by a framed tale (The Snake and the Porcupine).  

Chucky's Hunch is featured in this anthology.

However, when looking more closely at the structure of the play, and then relating it to her other works, particularly her long poems, it becomes clear that the structure is one of repetition and interweaving, just as she has done in her brilliant “Black Chalk,” “Patterns of Animus” and “The Aardvark Venus.”  As in those poems and others, there is an apocalyptic intensity that envelopes the reader with a sense of creeping horror at observing the protagonist’s existential nihilism that insists on destructive behavior and an ineluctable journey toward self-erasure. It is good to note that one can read the play for free via the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/wordplays200perf/mode/2up) although it is necessary to create an account and borrow it online.

The release of a video version in 2024, with Charles Berliner as Chucky, music by Marcia Kravis, video editing by Ellen Reynolds, and produced by Rochelle Owens, enables the audience to see a darker and more intimate version (https://youtu.be/OZdRLyXTNbI?si=F5wzMoBLzhhjwnYu).  As a narrator, Chucky could not possibly be more unreliable.  He flings words like the Abstract Expressionist flings paint, and it is necessary for the reader to find the patterns that make the deeper meaning, which is not really about Elly and her perceived slights to Chucky, but more about fatal “dances” (like the fabled Tarantella) of those who fall in love with each other, and in their dance of love, they toy with the parallels between love and death. Eros is held up as a life force in popular culture, but for Owens, Eros gives way to Thanatos, and the death-drive animates the various love dances / erotic tarantellas that weave in and out of the play. 

Love-Death Dance 1:  Chucky and Elly.  Chucky reminisces about his time with Elly and the items of clothing he purchased for her. Their life together was something he now views with a combination of sweetness and bitterness, a relatable pain for anyone reflecting on failed relationships of the past.  Images of a bright-white smile framed by carmine-red lipsticked lips further eroticize the narrative. 

Love-Death Dance 2:  Characterized as an impecunious and unmotivated bum, Chucky mooches off his 85-year-old mother, who horrifies him with the relations she has with Chester, her 82-year-old boyfriend.  Depicted in graphic terms, the discordant notion of a couple approaching death carrying on as though they were teenagers is deeply unsettling to Chucky. 

Love-Death Dance 3:  Mother and son have a close relationship, one fraught with contradictions. Chucky describes how he chews his mother’s food for her as an Eskimo mother would chew food for her baby, which may seem potentially kind-hearted except that she lost her teeth because he hit her. 

Love-Death Dance 4:  Chucky’s only friend is his dog.  The dog was killed, however, because it came between the amorous and deadly contortions of a porcupine and a snake.  Their passion killed not only Chucky’s only living friend, but also each other.  As a female voice narrates the frame-tale, images of a snake about to strike and a young porcupine fill the screen. 

Love-Death Dance 5:  Chucky’s tarantella with his own mind starts at the beginning of the play, and it weaves in and out of a kaleidoscope of emotions.  They take him around in colorful, expressive effusions of emotion and reminiscences, but ultimately, the audience sees him as on a path to madness.  When he disappears without a trace, the tarantella takes its final frenzied spin.  The impressions are emphasized by the juxtaposition of images of seagulls feeding on trash piles. 

Chucky complains that Elly never answers his letters, and he resents the fact that she is not only surviving, but is prospering, thanks to winning the lottery. She has gone on to live and thrive in the modern, changing world.  Chucky’s world is one that resonates with medieval times – with echoes of the earthiness of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the resignation of Boethius in The Consolation of Philosophy, and the aleatory movements of the Wheel of Fortune. The still photos and collages in the film form a backdrop behind the performer, and they resonate with the words, not so much depictions but visual metaphors. The soundtrack, featuring sombre music, seagull cries, and more. 

In the end, Chucky psychologically juxtaposes himself in a final dance with the memory of the successful Elly, and in that final dance, he generates more self-destructive energy and pathos, leaving the audience staring into the “filthy maw” of an oblivion of one’s own devising, forged from the dances of “love-death” which left him with little more than shame and regret about his life. And thus Chucky hits home.  Chucky is Everyman. 

---Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. 

Assessment in Moodle 4.0: So Much New Potential

Moodle allows you to bring together assessment, content, collaboration all in one place. In the video below, I discuss the kinds of popular assessments and assessment strategies in this brief video. This includes multiple choice quizzes to use with your smartphones, tablets, laptops; self-grading assessments, short answers, essays, and collaborative workshops. All are available with Moodle mobile. 

Check out the video 

The key is following good instructional design so that you are aligning the assessments with the content and learning objectives. Moodle assessments are perfect for the courses set up for self-registration, on-demand content and assessment with automatic generation of certificates and badges upon successful completion of the assessment. The following book shows you how to incorporate activities (resources) and also popular plugins. 

Moodle 4 E-Learning Course Development, 5th Edition / Packt Publishing

Link to the book: 

https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4IM6SMS4SNU&keywords=moodle+4+e-learning+course+development&qid=1663258878&sprefix=moodle+%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1 

Effective E-Learning with Virtual Learning Environments

 Virtual learning environments take advantage of all modalities of online instruction, ranging from listening to recorded lectures to interacting in real-time in a 3D immersive environment.  Perhaps the most flexible virtual learning environment now is Moodle, particularly with Moodle 4.0's new capabilities. Please check out Moodle 4.0 E-Learning Course Development. 

https://youtu.be/ft8003rMjag

There are a number of ways in which virtual learning environments are the most effective path forward for training, primarily when there are health, safety, logistics, and cost issues.

When cohorts and distributed teams must be trained together over a multi-week or month period, collaborative virtual learning is extremely effective. It's often good to couple the virtual learning environment with a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Canvas to integrate assessment and to provide calendars, student success apps such as check-ins and notices, and "did you know" and "check your knowledge" informal engagers. 

eLearnChat 396: Augmented Reality, back to the Cave? https://youtu.be/zaVosvdIco4

For pointers on how to develop and effective elearning course that follows instructional design principles, please check out the highly rated Moodle 4 E-Learning Course Development. 

Interview with Ian Wild on Effective E-learning: From 3D Immersive Training to Fearless Physics and Math

Welcome to an interview with Ian Wild, AVEVA, who shares his experiences with Moodle and discusses how to design effective, interactive learning experiences that are effective across the board -- from math and physics, to complex immersive 3D training environments. Some of his many publications can be found through his LinkedIn site: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandavidwild/

Ian and I have an interesting chat about what it takes to be effective when using a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) such as Moodle to work with all kinds of learners and their learning goals. Augmented Reality in Training: Ian specializes in developing plugins to create 3D learning environment that can be used to simulate real-world locations and thus provide authentic training experiences in ways that reduce risk and allow real-time collaboration and training.

There is a link on the "Unified Learning" platform that covers augmented learning (https://www.aveva.com/en/products/unified-learning/) In addition, here is a free plugin that will allow you to experiment with augmented reality in Moodle: Wavefront renderer plugin, https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_wavefront.

Fearless Physics and Math? Ian shows us how this is possible in a completely different type of training and tutoring. Here Ian uses Moodle and Moodle plugins to create an environment where young math students can gain confidence as they work through the levels and successfully pass through the competency frameworks.

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 Just released!! Moodle 4.0 Learning Course Development (Packt Publishing) -available via Packt (subscription) or via Amazon Author interview: Susan Smith Nash for Packt Publishing

Immersive History Takes You to the Plague of Athens: Interview with Spencer Striker, History Adventures

Spencer Striker is determined to make history come alive, and to put learners in the middle of scenarios that let them role play in ways that relate to their lives in ways they never imagined possible. The latest addition is "Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens," which plunges learners in the middle of a mysterious pandemic that occured in Ancient Greece. 

Dr. Striker, who is a Digital Media Design professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, earned his Ph.D. in Digital Media from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  

Here is an interview from May 13, 2022 about Global Pandemics.  https://youtu.be/o-oTOO2ahSg

At Life Edge, we had the privilege of interviewing Spencer in 2020 over his series featuring revolutions in history in History Adventures. Here is a link to the show: https://youtu.be/S5BNBD9INTk 

Spencer Striker on E-Learn Chat in 2020

Welcome to an interview with Spencer Striker, Ph.D., along with links to demos. 

1. Is the Global Pandemics  game ready now? 

Yes, absolutely! You can find the fully interactive web app available here: https://pandemics.historyadventures.app/

(It’s built for a desktop or laptop running in the Chrome browser, i.e. Chromebooks)

Please also find the full gameplay demo here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-HVOJvqSs&t=7s 

Also, please find a full Media Kit of product screenshots here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YL0fFQBSErBGqYXVueXuKQ_gCdWXSCRj?usp=sharing 

2. How much does it cost? 

It’s absolutely free!

3. What do people think was the main thing that caused the plague? Was it something unique, or was it a massive cholera outbreak or something like that? 

To this day, historians are not certain what was the cause of the Plague of Athens. In the product, we challenge students to think like historians/epidemiologists and examine the possible causes in a feature we call: What Was It? Please see the attached screenshot as a reference! The possible suspects include: smallpox, bubonic plague, ebola, typhus, and typhoid.

4.  Can students interact with the vectors? (for example, with rats and fleas? a first-person shooter game to kill the rats?  or run from the fleas in a maze?)

We have many amazing interactive features built into Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens. Please find a list here!

• 3D Motion Design to Recreate History
• Advanced Web Animation to Simulate Pathogens
• Immersive 360 Panoramas of Historical Locations
• Animated Historical Timeline & Maps
• Choice-based Narrative Design
• Interactive Original Historical Documents
• Media-Rich Adaptive Assessments

Moodle 4.0 Is Here! What's new?

Moodle 4.0 is here! I’m trying to determine just what the advantages are and how much of a step change it is from Moodle 3.11.  I don’t think that Moodle can change the basic architecture for a number of reasons. So, the changes have to come in things like user experience and efficiency.  

 If you've worked with Moodle for very long, you know that it can be a place of almost infinite complexity, but also almost Zen-like simplicity. It's also a veritable ant-hill of programming activity, as programmers develop productivity and design apps - some are available for free, others require a download fee.  Moodle and Moodle partners are likewise entrepreneurial, and you can quickly use pre-built templates and hosting and an integrated software-as-a-service solution.

 

Improved User Experience, with modules listed in an easy-to-follow design.

 

MoodleCloud is still in 3.11, so I can’t experiment with it as much as I’d like. However, the “sandbox” is still available, and one can select a role as student, teacher, or manager, to play around with it.  

Here are some of my initial thoughts:

PROS:

1.  Much improved user experience, in terms of navigation, layout, use of new thumbnails, and course construction (with drag and drop). 

2.  The default theme being used in the Sandbox (probably either Clean or Boost) is very attractive and easy to use.  

3.  Fully responsive interface that works well with tablets, laptops, and phones. 

4.  Improved navigation – you can tell where you are, and can go back to a previous screen very easily. There may be some AI-based plug-ins that can help refine "smart navigation."  

5.  One can use the calendar as a dashboard. The "My Courses" screen can display in a number of different options. The “Card” option makes the interface look a lot like the way Canvas displays available courses.

My Courses page

6.  The basic structure of the learning management system is the same, so the same names, arrangement, process and procedure works.

7.  Moodle 4.0 is available for download if you’d like to host courses on your own server. That PRO is also a CON if you’re not ready to be a Moodle Administrator. 

8.  Outside Apps more easily integrate with Moodle 4.0.  Integrating apps has always been fairly easy by means of a link or embedded log-in.  I don’t know to what extent single-sign on is facilitated, and if authentication is otherwise streamlined. 

9.  There is less content on each screen. Not only is it easier to see with your tablet or phone, it’s much easier to stay focused and avoid distractions due to a busy design.

10.  Moodle is open source, which means that there is an entire industry dedicated to building plug-ins and other features that are useful and needed.  I would not be surprised if there will be machine learning-based apps that can detect patterns in student performance and help administrators and even teachers, see student preferences, gaps in knowledge, and collaborative strengths.   

CONS:

1.  If you have not worked with Moodle before, you may feel a bit discouraged. Moodle is not a very intuitive LMS, and one may not know where everything is without going through a pretty thorough training course.

Courses and categories admin screen

2.  It’s not clear how much Universal Design for Learning was used with the new interface, dashboard, icons, etc.  I did not see multiple modes of content delivery on the sample classes in the sandbox site, but that does not mean that they are not available.

3.  Moodle 4.0 is not yet available in MoodleCloud, which is the most popular cloud-based Moodle.

4.  Moodle documentation is still at 3.11. 

An Initial Chat:

Relatecasts' Rick Zanotti and I had an informal conversation about Moodle 4.0, just hours after its release to the web on April 14.  Please click on the link to hear our conversation on E-Learn Chat.  I'm not as clear as I could be as I respond to Rick's questions -- I think my enthusiasm about the  arrival got the best of me :)  Please click and listen, then share your thoughts.

 

E-Learn Chat on the debut of Moodle 4.0 - speaking with Rick Zanotti

 Here's a link to the chat:

https://youtu.be/PqjHqLuWRqg

 Please note that an updated version of Packt Publishing's guide to Moodle course development will be published in July 2022, just in time to get courses and programs up and running. 

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Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.