Overview of Tools

APA Tutor

This site provides a tutorial of the rules of APA Writing Style for use by students and others learning to use this writing style. The APA Tutor was created by Bonnie Korn, MS, RN and Sarah Swart, MM, MLIS in support of the Nursing program at University of Detroit Mercy. The tutorial can be accessed by clicking the APA Tutor link at the top of this page. The APA Tutor includes learning games to aid in mastery of the concepts presented.

CADE Design

This is a series of six worksheets to develop course content beginning with the learning outcome. The concept was developed by Jay McTigue and Grant Wiggins in their book titled Understanding By Design (available at amazon.com). The worksheets are used at University of Detroit Mercy through the AJCU Jesuitnet organization.

Digital Collections

Digital photography is another area of resource that has become increasingly important as course content is moved to an internet-based environment. Collections of photos are provided here which I have taken to use in various educational settings. You may use the photos as long as you provide credit to Sarah L Swart, MM, MLIS. Other resources for digital photos without restriction include: Stock XChange. Their site is keyword searchable or you may browse by category. A small number of the photos have restrictions, but most are free for use as you choose. You may also purchase rights to photography across the web, but be sure to examine their copyright policies. Ideally, taking your own photography enables you to use the material as you see fit.

Instructional Design Tips

Instructional Design is more than only about technology. Technology is a tool that aids in teaching. It should be used as is appropriate to the pedagogical principles.
Bloom's Taxonomy was developed many years ago and is still appropriate today for teaching development. It is categorized into six main areas: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The principles are reviewed in the Overview link below. The Bloom's Taxonomy system uses outcome exhibiting verbs with specific types of activities for each outcome advised. The links below provide more information on these concepts.
- Overview of Bloom's Taxonomy from University of Victoria
- Outcome Illustrating Verbs for Bloom's Taxonomy
  [Washington State University]
- Course Activities corresponding to Bloom's Taxonomy
  [Dalhouse University, Halifax, Nova Scotia]
Use of rubrics provides a useful way to communicate to students what is expected and at what level of performance. A teacher's role is to facilitate instruction, not to try to make learning more challenging that needed for students. Rubrics aid faculty in grading fairly across their student population and aid students in being more successful in their learning experience.
- Rubistar is a web-based tool for creating clear and concise rubrics. It is recommended that you share the rubrics you create with your student population. By creating your account there, you can store and share your rubrics with other professionals.
Learning Styles are important to take into consideration as you design course content. Since you will naturally design for your own learning preference, it is important to provide learning experiences for all types of learners. In the Presentations section of this site I have provided information about the VARK Assessment as well as background on other learning styles theorists.