Examples of Multiple Means of Engagement

Examples of Multiple Means of Engagement

Overview

Offering multiple means of engagement honors learner variability by optimizing individual autonomy and collective learning. Each guideline shares considerations for tapping into learners’ interests, fostering collaboration, and nurturing learners’ confidence. 

Resources

  1. Multiple Means of Action & Expression Guidelines & Considerations
    1. CAST UDL Guidelines website that provides guidance on how to incorporate each guideline and the corresponding considerations
  2. Some of the examples on this page align with AACN New Essentials competencies within the following domains: 
    1. Domain 1: Knowledge for Nursing Practice
    2. Domain 2: Person-Centered Care
    3. Domain 6: Interprofessional Partnerships
    4. Domain 9: Professionalism
    5. Domain 10: Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development

Examples

Guideline 7: Design Options for Welcoming Interests & Identities

7.1 Optimize choice and autonomy.
  1. Provide course content and announcements in a variety of formats (e.g., text, audio, video, multimedia, websites) and allow students to choose the format(s) that sparks their interest. 
  2. Offer a variety of assignment deliverable types within individual assignments (e.g., text-based, podcast, video, multimedia presentation, infographic, blog, website) to optimize student autonomy to choose how to demonstrate their learning. (Note: Be sure the rubric criteria is flexible enough to be used for any type of submission format.) 
  3. Include assignments that allow students to choose topics that interest them to enhance their engagement.  
  4. For multimedia assignments, unless there is a reason to use/learn a specific software tool, allow students to choose which software tool (either from a list of options or their own choosing) they prefer to use to complete the assignment. 
7.2 Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity.
  1. Design activities and learning outcomes that are authentic to the learner's experience and reflective of a clear purpose. (ID Tip: Consider using the TILT template. Not sure what the TILT template is? Check out the Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education website.) 
  2. Design discussions and assignments around socially relevant topics for authentic learning opportunities. 
  3. Create active learning guides to facilitate active participation and exploration of content that pertains to the learning objectives.  
  4. Write assignment overviews that emphasize relevance and value of the assignment by incorporating real-world context.  
  5. Create assignments that offer student autonomy and invite self-evaluation/reflection to heighten the relevancy of the assignment.  
  6. Create case studies that have realistic patient examples to provide an authentic learning experience.
7.3 Nurture joy and play.
  1. Craft assignments around a scenario, e.g., create a science show episode, to invite imagination. 
  2. Offer unique media options to give students the opportunity to creatively express their learning. 
7.4 Address biases, threats, and distractions. 
  1. Create a welcoming and safe online environment. For example, if you are discussing a topic that may be sensitive, include a content warning statement and a note about where to seek help on campus for learners. 
  2. Reduce sensory information such as gifs, background noise when video recording, or other items that may confuse or distract learners.
  3. Build courses that have a predictable format and layout with clear instructions to minimize distractions and reduce potential confusion.
  4. Organize important quick links and instructor contact information on the Home page of the LMS to maximize efficiency of navigation to key resources.
  5. Use a course schedule and reminders within module pages to enhance the predictability of activities and assessments. 

Guideline 8: Design Options for Sustaining Effort & Persistence

8.1 Clarify the meaning and purpose of goals.
  1. Share the alignment of module outcomes to course outcomes with students to clarify which module outcomes support their progress towards the related course outcomes. 
  2. Organize module outcomes in a consistent layout and placement throughout the course to increase saliency of goals. 
  3. Use assignment overviews to clarify the purpose of assignments. 
  4. Create unique rubrics for each assignment and discussion that describe clear goals so students can monitor their progress.
8.2 Optimize challenge and support.
  1. Create a course welcome video that sets the tone for high expectations and a collaborative, supportive learning environment.  
  2. For ungraded practice activities (e.g., learning objects), incorporate instructions in active learning guides to record mistakes and provide self-corrections, which emphasizes the value of the learning process and how mistakes can contribute to success. 
  3. Incorporate a searchable glossary to provide a support resource while promoting learner agency for linguistically diverse students. 
8.3 Foster collaboration, interdependence, and collective learning.
  1. Foster a collaborative learning community through discussion boards and group projects. 
  2. State the communication expectations in the Start Here module and course syllabus to establish a respectful, collaborative learning community.  
  3. Use the Ask Your Instructor discussion forum to create a space for collective learning and to foster the online learning community.  
  4. State expectations for group discussions and projects to foster a collaborative learning community. 
8.4 Foster belonging and community.
  1. Create opportunities to share individual perspectives and ideas through group discussions and assignments to prepare students for effective engagement with interprofessional partnerships. (AACN New Essentials 6.1 & 6.4) 
8.5 Offer action-oriented feedback.
  1. Encourage faculty to provide mastery-oriented feedback that emphasizes effort, improvement, and achieving a standard rather than on a specific performance on the specific licensure test. 
  2. Use rubrics to facilitate the opportunity for specific feedback that focuses on product quality and completeness instead of learner ability.  

Guideline 9: Design Options for Emotional Capacity

9.1 Recognize expectations, beliefs, and motivations.
  1. Ensure students know how to contact their Academic Success Coach for support with their learning process. 
  2. Support activities that foster a culture of lifelong learning to develop the student nurse’s professional identity. (AACN New Essentials 10.2)  
9.2 Develop awareness of self and others.
  1. Work with your Academic Success Coach on a module about self-care, especially since most of our programs are accelerated; include information about proper goal setting, managing frustration, seeking emotional support, coping skills, and helpful information about "natural" aptitude (e.g., "how can I improve in XX class?"). 
  2. Provide resources on self-care and adaptive coping strategies to prepare students for the demands of the clinical setting. (AACN New Essentials 10.1) 
  3. Choose content that delves into cultural and individual perspectives to prepare students to provide person-centered care. (AACN New Essentials 2.5g, 9.2c, 9.2d, 9.2e) 
  4. Develop assignments related to patient education of self-care strategies to prepare the student nurse to promote self-care management in practice. (AACN New Essentials 2.8) 
  5. Embed clinical practice diary prompts for students to self-monitor their progress with establishing caring relationships and communicating effectively in the clinical setting. (AACN New Essentials 2.1 & 2.2) 
9.3 Promote individual and collective reflection. 
  1. Incorporate self-reflection through metacognitive questions in activities like journaling or discussions throughout the program to heighten students’ awareness of their individual and collective progress. 
  2. Integrate discussions that accompany clinical experiences throughout the program to scaffold collective reflection of core nursing values and to foster the professional nursing identity. (AACN New Essentials 9.5 & 9.6) 
  3. Require rationale for SOAP notes within discussions or assignments to strengthen students’ clinical judgment. (AACN New Essentials 1.3, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, & 2.7)   
9.4 Cultivate empathy and restorative practices.
  1. Include discussions that allow students to share their study tips and coping strategies for excelling in an accelerated program.  
  2. Integrate opportunities to develop communication skills with people who hold diverse perspectives to prepare the student nurse to provide person-centered care and engage in interprofessional partnerships. (AACN New Essentials 2.2 & 6.1) 
  3. Prompt students to reflect on the impact of their actions to support the development of their professional nurse identity. (AACN New Essentials 9.1) 
  4. Investigate conscious and unconscious bias with healthcare settings to foster accountability. (AACN New Essentials 9.3)


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