Creating an Engaging Final Online Week
Key to having a successful final week is determining before the semester begins what your final event is going to be for your course: final exam or final project (or paper). We encourage you to use the Backward Design Process first to determine whether you want students to answer questions/solve problems (final exam) or create a researched product (final project).
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- If you decide the final exam track best suits your objectives, we recommend that you offer online quizzes throughout the semester so that students know what to expect in online testing.
- If you select the final project track, we recommend designing the assignment guide early so that students can be adequately prepared for creating well-designed digital projects.
To these ends, we have divided our ideas for engaging students during the final week into those that culminate in either a final exam or a final project.
Please visit each of the following links for additional information.
Final Exam Track
Final week activities before a final exam
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- Conduct class at established times via Zoom
- Record final lectures using VoiceThread or screen capturing software that are then posted on OAKS
- students watch by established dates and then discuss via discussion boards or Flipgrid OR
- students watch before a scheduled Zoom class in which you lead them through large or small group learning activities
- Create a collaborative study guide with Google Docs (probably best as a small group activity)
- Use discussion board/Flipgrid to enable students to share information and ask questions as they’re studying
- Provide a practice test that students can work on together
Ideas for creating a cheating-resilient final exam
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- Create an assessment divided into sections in an order clearly discernible to the student—e.g., by problem type (MC, T/F, etc.), chronology, course sections, etc.
- Use question pools for each section so that OAKS can generate the test randomly (can be applied to MC, TF, WR questions) and give each student a unique assessment
- Create higher order thinking questions
Final Project Track
Final week activities before a final project
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- Assign an early or rough draft of a project that allows you to give timely advice and students a chance to revise before submitting the final draft of their project
- For group final projects, assist students in establishing synchronous collaborative meetings or designating a Flipgrid for asynchronous collaboration so that you the instructor can provide feedback on their ongoing work
- Establish sufficient virtual office hours via Zoom that students can attend en masse or reserve for individual consultation
Ideas for creating a digital final project
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- (Easiest) Present a researched argument by screen capturing or VoiceThread-ing a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation
- Publish a digital portfolio
- Build a website using Wix or WordPress
- Make a multimedia webpage
- Design an infographic or series of infographics on a reflective or research-based topic
- Record a video essay (vlog)
- (Most difficult) Record an audio essay (podcast) or Podcast proposal with sample episode(s)
