Share your Getting Started Activities - Carolina Distance Learning Forum

Student orientation task: Do you have your lab kit?

Wendy Riggs — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 18:45:04 +0000

Hey everyone--

My human anatomy students purchase a lab kit so they can do 4 organ dissections over the semester. Our first dissection is the brain, and we don't do it until Week 7 (of 15). But in week 1, I have a lab assignment where they have to upload a selfie with their "proof of purchase," so I know they bought the kit. When it arrives, they have another assignment (in week 4) where they have to upload a selfie with the kit itself. The dissections are required to pass the class, so I want to make sure they get the kit before they get too far down the class rabbit hole!

I'm attaching an image of my Canvas assignment. I'd be happy to put the assignments into Canvas Commons if anyone else wants to borrow them.

(I was pumped to add HELP INFO to the assignment this semester! Thank you Nadina for sending the info with the cute icons and all!)

Riggs

Lab-1d-assignment.png

"I Wish My Teacher Knew..." and Introduce Yourself Activities

Bridgette West — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:15:40 +0000

I have several different "getting started" activities that students complete at the beginning of my online courses, but I really like using two assignments called "I Wish My Teacher Knew..." and Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates. The first simply asks each student to finish the sentence, "I wish my teacher knew...". They can tell me whatever is on their mind. Many responses are the typical "I'm really nervous about this class" or 'I'm really excited about this class", but then there are the other responses that really help me understand where a student is at mentally as well as academically. If I start noticing a student's grades start to slip, I can always go back to this assignment to begin gaining insight as to why. I learned about this technique from the book I wish my teacher knew by Kyle Schwartz.

I also have students post in a discussion board a favorite photo and tell the group a little bit about themselves. Some students post one photo, some post a whole collage. I am on the collage side of things as that is what I post for myself to introduce myself to my students (in addition to a welcome video).

FA22-Introduction-Slides-photo-collage.jpg

Syllabus Quiz with Gateway and Virtual Labs

Krista Bellis — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:26:24 +0000

I always start my courses with a quiz in the Icebreaker Module based on information in my syllabus. For my lab courses I add questions about using Gateway, including how students save their work and how they will turn in their labs for grading. They get their information from the links I provide in my syllabus to the Gateway FAQ page (Gateway STUDENT User Guide.) I find this to be a great way to help them feel more comfortable using the online lab manuals. The video is the most important piece to start with, so I supply a link directly to that: How to Use Gateway Lab Manuals (Video). Providing these links also guides students to a place where they can find information in the future.

Then, in the first module I assign some of the included Gateway virtual labs to get them even more comfortable with the platform before they receive their physical materials. It seems to be a great way to ease them into online labs and cover some important content in an interactive manner before tackling the hands-on investigations.

Intro Videos

Korey Byers — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:29:16 +0000

Hi, all,

I stole an idea from a colleague at a different community college.

I like my students to record a video introduction of themselves and then a fun fact or something they are worried about with the lab kit assignments.

This let's us all meet one another in a way that usually is not possible in an online setting. It also encourages students to open the kit and check the packing list the first week of the semester before we get into the denser lab topics.

Korey