Last year, we challenged ourselves to take our commitment outside of institutions and into communities where students may face structural and financial barriers to pursuing — and persisting in — their higher education. In Canada, we know that only 13 percent of Indigenous people aged 25-64 have a post-secondary certificate, diploma, or degree¹, compared to 64 percent of non-Indigenous people in the same age range.² This needs to change.

We reached out to the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, an organization doing incredible work to support First Nations children, young people, and families by delivering reconciliation-based public education initiatives, policy campaigns, and quality resources to support communities. Our partnership enabled us to support the Shannen’s Dream Scholarship, an annual award founded by the Collure family in memory of Shannen Koostachin to help a First Nations student with the costs of higher education, by extending its impact to a total of four $10,000 scholarships. What makes these scholarships particularly special is a pay-it-forward component that requires recipients to make a measurable contribution to their community.

This year, we’re excited to share that we have extended our partnership to once again recognize four outstanding students who have demonstrated impressive academic achievements and dedication to giving back. 

Read on to meet this year’s recipients and get an update on last year’s awardees and their pay-it-forward campaigns.

Introducing the 2023 Shannen’s Dream Scholarship recipients

Darian Lonechild, White Bear First Nation

Darian is pursuing her JD at the University of Saskatchewan and is driven by a desire to advocate for First Nations and contribute to bettering her community. She has held multiple leadership positions in various First Nations organizations to help represent the voices and interests of First Nations youth, including by being elected as a youth representative of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, and co-chair of the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council from 2018-2019. Her dedication extends to her work on the Indigenous Women’s Advisory Circle, where she provides policy-level advice to the Chief of Police in Saskatoon. Her plan to pay it forward as a scholarship recipient include collaborating with her First Nation to write a letter to the Government of Canada calling on it to honour Treaty Agreements and improve funding for on-reserve education to First Nations youth; submitting a column to a First Nations newspaper regarding Shannen’s Dream and the underfunding of education on reserve; and volunteering at the Friendship Centre in Calgary, Alberta throughout the year.

Dawson Trimper, Bear River First Nation

With the support of his community, Dawson has become the first person in his family to pursue post-secondary education. Recognizing the importance of giving back, he actively volunteers with the Christmas Crew, a local charity that supports families with groceries and toys during the holiday season. Dawson also established the Future Ready Youth Group, which supports and empowers youth to get involved in their communities through fundraising, outreach, and mentorship. His pay-it-forward campaign aims to break down financial barriers that many Indigenous youth face when pursuing higher education. He plans to create an online scholarship database for Indigenous students to learn about higher ed scholarship and bursary opportunities available to them. He will also work with the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Economic Benefits Office to host in-person and online seminars where he can share his knowledge of scholarships and bursaries with other students.

Jordan Bryant, Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation

Jordan is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree at Algoma University to support his dream of working with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities to improve reconciliation and heal intergenerational trauma. Having served as a medical technician in the Canadian Armed Forces, his goal is to return to the Forces as a Social Work Officer to support men who are experiencing mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles. Jordan’s commitment to community service is evident through various projects, including the establishment of two medicine gardens at the university and the construction of a sweat lodge and a teaching lodge. For his pay-it-forward campaign, Jordan aims to provide one $2,000 bursary for a post-secondary student from his band pursuing a degree in the field of health services.

Amber Nakogee, Fort Albany First Nation

Amber is pursuing a BA in Psychology from Laurentian University, and is passionate about creating opportunities for First Nations youth to get involved in organized sports. In February, 2023, Amber founded a hockey team for children aged 4-7 who belong to her home community of Fort Albany First Nation, to enable them to attend an Indigenous hockey tournament called Mushkegowuk Cup. She then secured nearly $20,000 through fundraising and sponsorships to cover travel expenses and accommodation for players and their families. As an advocate for children’s extracurricular activities, she will focus her thesis for her last year of studies on demonstrating that youth involvement in sports contributes to overall success in other areas of their lives, with the hope that her research will spur opportunities for funding on-reserve sports activities. She is currently finalising details for her pay-it-forward campaign.

An update from the 2022 Shannen’s Dream Scholarship recipients

Chett Monague, Beausoleil First Nation

As an active contributor to his community, Chett is involved in a number of initiatives designed to improve the lives of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples through accessible healthcare and equitable education. He volunteers with the Beausoleil Education Advisory Volunteer Committee, which advises on all education policies for Beausoleil First Nation, and he provides support for the Truth and Reconciliation initiatives at his school, the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. As an Additional Qualifications instructor with Queens University, he teaches the course First Nation, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) Histories and Cultures to educators for the purpose of integration into Canadian curricula. With a specific interest in empowering youth, Chett is also producing Mno-Bimaadziwin (living the good life) Activities for the Right-to-Play youth group of Beausoleil First Nation.

Greg Meconse, Pinaymootang First Nation

Since being recognized as a Shannen’s Dream Scholarship recipient, Greg has focused on being a role model for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit youth, especially those whose mental and physical health has been impacted by Covid-19. He has worked with the Wiichii Wakanak Learning Center at the University of Winnipeg to provide STEAM summer programming for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis youth aged 6-12. The program focused on helping youth to be active and stay healthy through traditional games, teachings, foods, smudging, and physical activities.

Jorden Hendry, Lax Kw’alaams Band

As a Ph.D. student at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) within the University of British Columbia (UBC), Jorden is dedicated to fostering conversations around health and inclusion. She founded a club called the “Unlearning Club,” which meets monthly to discuss health equity and anti-racism pedagogy. The goal of the club is to create a safe space and build a network around dialogue and self-directed unlearning related to Indigenous rights, anti-racism, anti-white supremacy, and cultural safety.

Janine Rattlesnake, Ermineskin Cree Nation

Since receiving the scholarship, Janine has done one presentation about the story of Shannen’s activism for other students to encourage them to apply for the scholarship.

References

1. Statistics Canada. (2022). Highest level of education by Indigenous identity, Indigenous geography and labour force status: Canada, provinces and territories. Table 98-10-0423-01. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810042301.
2. Ibid.

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Most Innovative Educator Award

Affordability, interactivity and relevancy are so much more than buzzwords. We applaud the educators who use Top Hat in innovative ways to strike a balance between all three. While we were privileged to announce the following finalists for this award, Caitlin Shea-Vantine took home this prestigious honor.

• Caitlin Shea-Vantine, Florida Atlantic University 
• Amanda Haage, University of North Dakota 
• Savita Arya, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Amber McEachern, East Carolina University

Shea-Vantine serves as Biology Laboratory Coordinator and oversees the lab experience for more than 1,500 students. It’s why she’s taken it upon herself to reduce barriers to learning where possible. Her colleagues are particularly in awe of her efforts to do so. “She’s been working on streamlining the cost to undergraduate students, making sure that students are not kept out of activities by the cost of a lab manual,” shares Dr. Sarah Milton, Professor and Chair of Biology at Florida Atlantic University. Hear how Shea-Vantine has tailored the structure of her curriculum to best serve students.

Student Impact Award

Connection comes in all forms: Connection to the material. Connection to peers. Connection to you. Our Student Impact Award honors the professor who has fostered a vibrant and inclusive learning community in and out of class. While we were privileged to announce three finalists for this award, Sravanti Kantheti came out on top.

• Sravanti Kantheti, Lanier Technical College
• Vanessa Arnaud, California State University, Sacramento 
• Chernoh Wurie, Virginia State University 

Kantheti, who serves as the Program Director for Anatomy and Physiology, brings a humanity-first approach to campus every day. “She is one of the most caring people I have ever met. All of her students know that they can come to her anytime they need help,” says Noah Baker, an aspiring Dental Hygiene student at Lanier Technical College. Watch the video below to see how Kantheti puts herself in the shoes of her students.

Top Author Award

A dynamic student body calls for dynamic course materials. It’s why educators have turned to Top Hat’s authoring tools to create interactive and outcome-driven educational resources. While we’re pleased to announce four finalists for this award, Ninetta Papadomichelaki and Lash Keith Vance received this accolade.

• Ninetta Papadomichelaki & Lash Keith Vance, University of California, Riverside
• Matthew Barry, University of Pittsburgh 
• Naomi Latini Wolfe, Troy University 
• Anne Tapp, Saginaw Valley State University

As faculty members in the University Writing Program, the duo recognized that students arrived to class with one pervasive misconception: “good” writing should look a certain way. It’s why they chose to author their own dynamic text with Top Hat, A Reader’s Guide to Writing, that would let them customize topics, discussions and instructional resources to hone writing skills for a variety of contexts. “They are doing what good writing programs should do, which is use technology not as a crutch, not as something to replace instruction in the classroom, but as a distinct and different supplement,” says Wallace Cleaves, Associate Director of the University Writing Program at the University of California, Riverside. Watch the below video to see why 92 percent of students consider themselves to be better critical thinkers since using Vance’s and Papadomichelaki’s text.

Aktiv All-Star Award

It’s one thing to deliver a lecture. It’s another to weave hands-on activities, discussions and group exercises into lessons. Our inaugural Aktiv All-Star award recognizes the professor who uses Aktiv Learning—the intuitive chemistry platform that was recently acquired by Top Hat—to help students visualize complex chemical structures and mechanisms. While we’re thrilled to unveil three finalists, Beverly Meinzer took home this exciting award.

• Beverly Meinzer, University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville
• Kerry McFarland, Colorado State University
• Heidi McMahon, College of the Canyons

One of Meinzer’s teaching goals? Help students apply chemistry concepts to the real world. Aktiv has played a big role in this process, especially with targeted instructional feedback that shores up learning gaps in the moment. “Ms. Meinzer would nudge us in person as well as Aktiv nudging us online and having the two together was much easier for a lot of the students in the class to easily comprehend the material,” shares Biology student Cathy Shonk at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. Watch our video to see how Meinzer turned passive learners into confident participants with the help of Aktiv.

Congratulations to all finalists and winners of our 2023 Top Hat Educator Awards! Watch our on-demand talk for a reminder of the life-changing role educators play in the student journey. Plus, hear more about each winner’s inspiring impact on campus.

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The National Communication Association (NCA) brought together more than 4,000 Communication scholars, teachers and practitioners at their annual convention held in New Orleans from November 17–20, 2022. Attendees enjoyed three days of programming designed around Honoring PLACE: People, Liberation, Advocacy, Community and Environment. 

At the convention, four authors of Top Hat’s dynamic textbooks were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the basic course and broader Communication field. Made clear by their collaboration and teaching expertise, all authors are passionate about creating learning experiences that are personalized, inclusive and designed to prepare students for their careers. Get to know them below.

What is the Basic Course Division?

The Basic Course Division of the NCA promotes the teaching, study, research, assessment and administration of communication in basic course settings. Further, institutions adopt one of two models that make up what’s known as the “basic course.” The first is a public speaking model that equips students with the skills to deliver effective presentations. The second is a hybrid course model that offers an overview of communication subjects such as interpersonal communication, small group communication and public speaking. Almost all first year college students are required to enroll in the basic course to apply general principles of inclusive, positive and effective communication in a variety of contexts. 

At the Basic Course Division Business Meeting—a space where those who oversee the delivery of their institution’s basic communication course convene—Top Hat authors Melissa Broeckelman-Post, George Griffin, Kristina Ruiz-Mesa and Joe Valenzano took home awards for their contributions and dedication to the Communication field.

Top Paper Award: Melissa Broeckelman-Post

The Top Paper Award recognizes one outstanding published scholarly article that contributes significantly to the administrative, delivery or curricular aspects of the basic course. Melissa Broeckelman-Post took home this award for two peer-reviewed, co-authored articles (titled Improving Well-Being in the Basic Course: The Impact of Interpersonal Communication Anxiety and Public Speaking Anxiety on Loneliness, Belongingness, and Flourishing¹ and What Communication Skills Do Other Disciplines Value Most? A Communication Across the Curriculum Needs Analysis).² Broeckelman-Post is a Professor and the Basic Course Director in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. She also currently serves as Chair of the Faculty Senate. “It’s really important for Basic Course Directors and instructors to do research that informs our practices in introductory communication courses, and I’m so proud of our research teams for doing scholarship that impacts our teaching and learning every day,” shares Broeckelman-Post.

About her Top Hat titles: Broeckelman-Post is co-author of three dynamic Top Hat texts, including Inclusive Public Speaking, Communication Pathways and The Speaker’s Primer. Inclusive Public Speaking weaves diversity, equity and inclusion through chapters that invite students to reflect on their intersectional identities. Communication Pathways unpacks the role of dialogue in helping students debate ideas civilly and disagree without being disagreeable. The Speaker’s Primer is an essential  guide that offers an ethical focus on public speaking as it occurs in academic, professional, and personal situations.

Textbook of Distinction: George Griffin

The Textbook of Distinction Award recognizes a basic course textbook in public speaking, interpersonal, hybrid or custom content areas. The award acknowledges a Basic Course Division member and the efficacy of their textbook within the basic communication course at their institution. George Griffin is the winner of this prestigious award. Griffin, Adjunct Professor in the Humanities and Communication department at Stetson University and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, was recognized as lead author of Effective Public Speaking, a dynamic Top Hat text. “We created a tool that works across the board—a book that a seasoned professor can use as well as a beginning speech teacher. But more importantly, we accomplished the goal of developing a student-friendly, non-intimidating guide for developing competence and confidence as students become effective speakers,” says Griffin.

About his Top Hat title: In partnership with several Communication scholars, Griffin’s Top Hat text tackles the single biggest challenge students face when delivering public speaking engagements: stage fright and speech anxiety. Taking a practical approach and conversational tone, Griffin’s text gives students an opportunity to learn about speech concepts in the form of short videos and ‘read, watch, do’ vignettes.

Basic Course Division 2022 Program of Distinction: Kristina Ruiz-Mesa

This award recognizes the distinctive excellence of basic communication course programs and to identify programs that can serve as best practice models for other programs nationwide. Kristina Ruiz-Mesa is the recipient of this honorary award. Ruiz-Mesa is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and the Basic Course Director for COMM 1100: Oral Communication at California State University, Los Angeles. “Being a Basic Course Director for a large program that teaches up to 4,000 students annually is incredibly rewarding. I am proud of my team and the work we have done over the last 9+ years to design a program grounded in student needs, reflective of diverse student experiences, and that builds oral communication skills to support personal and professional growth,” Ruiz-Mesa says.

About her Top Hat title: In addition to her role overseeing the basic course structure at California State, Ruiz-Mesa is co-author of Inclusive Public Speaking with Melissa Broeckelman-Post. The textbook uses a diversity and inclusion framework to ground communication theories and models. Students are invited to reflect on their intersectional identities and experiences, and to explore how their social positions inform their communication decisions and interactions. 

Don Yoder Distinguished Faculty Award: Joe Valenzano

The Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes a current or former basic course instructor or director who has demonstrated a commitment to the basic course in any format. This individual is recognized for their research, training or assessment, in addition to teaching excellence in the basic course for more than 15 years at minimum. Joe Valenzano, Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Dayton, is the recipient of this esteemed award. “The award truly holds special meaning for me. It doesn’t just recognize me, but all the folks whom I worked alongside with as Basic Course Director at UNLV and then UD. They deserve a ton of credit for all we did together, and I am proud to see their work recognized in this award as well,” shares Valenzano.

About his Top Hat titles: Valenzano is the co-author of three dynamic Top Hat textbooks including The Speaker, The Speaker’s Primer and Communication Pathways. In The Speaker: The Tradition and Practice of Public Speaking, Valenzano and co-authors Jim A. Kuypers and Stephen W. Braden emphasize the historical significance of speech communication as social action in conjunction with skill-centered pedagogy, helping students understand the “why” and “how” of their craft. In partnership with Melissa Broeckelman-Post and Braden, The Speaker’s Primer offers an ethical focus on public speaking as it occurs in academic, professional and personal situations. For courses using a hybrid approach, Communication Pathways emphasizes communication theory in the context of meaningful dialogue. The text was authored again in collaboration with Broeckelman-Post and with support from Erin S. Parcell.

References

1. Broeckelman-Post, M. A., Hingle Collier, A., & Huber, H. K. (in press). Improving well-being in the basic course: The impact of interpersonal communication competence and public speaking anxiety on loneliness, belongingness, and flourishing. Basic Communication Course Annual.
2. Broeckelman-Post, M. A., Norander, S., Ball, T. C., Quesenberry, B. A., Adebayo, A. L., Munson, S., Collier, A. H., Stewart, B. M., & Taylor-Heflin, S. M. (2022). What communication skills do other disciplines value most? A communication across the curriculum needs analysis. Communication Education, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2022.2136395

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Read the full article in the Harvard Business Review.

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Read the full article in Faculty Focus.

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On behalf of all employees at Top Hat, I am excited to announce that we are partnering with the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society to bolster the Shannen’s Dream Scholarship, an award that helps First Nations youth with the costs of post-secondary education. We will be providing $30,000 a year to ensure hardworking individuals can pursue their dreams of higher learning. 

The Scholarship is named in honor of Shannen Koostachin, a courageous young leader from Attawapiskat First Nation who sparked a national movement for safe and comfortable schools for First Nations students. Shannen and her classmates never had the chance to go to a real school. The only school in Attawapiskat was closed because of a diesel fuel leak in 1979 that poisoned the land under the school building. In 2007, after the government again canceled plans for a new school, Shannen and her friends started a movement on social media to tell people about the government’s broken promises. They asked kids across Canada to support them by writing letters to the government demanding good schools for First Nations children. Sadly, Shannen passed away in 2010 and never saw the new school that was finally built in Attawapiskat in 2014. The Shannen’s Dream campaign is about making sure First Nations students have schools that provide quality and culturally based education. In 2012, a Private Member’s motion in support of Shannen’s Dream passed unanimously in the House of Commons, but First Nations education is still underfunded by the federal government compared to provincial and territorial schools. 

Shannen Koostachin believed that your time spent in school should be a time for dreaming. The values of equity, opportunity, connection and community are an integral part of the scholarship and are shared by everyone at Top Hat. As a “pay-it-forward” scholarship, recipients are expected to make a measurable contribution to spreading awareness about the Shannen’s Dream campaign or a related First Nations initiative. This scholarship program offers a remarkable level of support for First Nations students in Canada, and we’re extremely excited to help Shannen’s mission live on with a new generation of young leaders. 

Helping more students enter higher ed on equal footing.

Shannen Koostachin was an inspiration to all of Canada, and now we’re hoping to elevate her legacy to new heights to inspire others to find ways to make education more accessible and more inclusive. As Shannen’s own efforts have shown, students can go so much further when the barriers they face are finally knocked down. We are committed to finding more ways to give back to students, and look forward to announcing more partnerships in the near future. 

Because the more people that benefit from a better education, the better our world will be.

—Joe Rohrlich, CEO of Top Hat

The winners of the 2022 Shannen’s Dream Scholarship are:

• Janine Rattlesnake, Indigenous Social Work Student, Maskwacìs Cultural College
• Gregory Meconse, After-Degree Education Program Student, University of Winnipeg
• Chett Monague, Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine Student, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
• Jorden Hendry, PhD in Indigenous Public Health Student, University of British Columbia

References

1. Advancing Reconciliation Through Postsecondary Education. (2018, November 19). Universities Canada. https://www.univcan.ca/media-room/media-releases/advancing-reconciliation-through-postsecondary-education/
2. Sarah, T. (2018, December 7). How Canadian universities are responding to the TRC’s Calls to Action. Maclean’s. https://www.macleans.ca/education/how-canadian-universities-are-responding-to-the-trcs-calls-to-action/

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At our annual Top Hat Engage user conference, we celebrate the incredible role post-secondary educators play in and out of their classrooms. We received countless submissions this year from faculty nationwide—but three professors, in particular, went the extra mile to promote a sense of engagement, belonging and value among their students. Below, we share your 2022 Top Hat Educator Award recipients and their stories.

What are the Top Hat Educator Awards?

The Top Hat Educator Awards are presented annually at our Top Hat Engage user conference, which brings together hundreds of higher ed faculty for interactive, educator-centric programming. We honor three educators who use Top Hat in novel ways to improve the learning experience for students before, during and after class. Read more about each award below.

Most Innovative Educator Award

A more innovative professor makes for a more innovative classroom. Top Hat was privileged to announce three finalists for this award: Christine Burton at the University of Toronto, Amanda Haage at the University of North Dakota and Lindsay Tan at Auburn University, the winner of this prestigious award. 

Tan was nominated by several of her colleagues at Auburn including Taneshia Albert, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, who wrote “she consistently uses tools to make her classroom more equitable and engaging for everyone, no matter their location or abilities.” Albert went on to describe Tan not just as an educator to students, but to faculty as well: “She teaches these tools to other faculty members so they, too, can be successful against all odds.”

Tan was honored for her ability to optimize her online learning environment in a way that allows for greater flexibility, equity and empathy than in the pre-pandemic classroom. An author of a dynamic Top Hat title, Introduction to Interior Design, Tan fully embodies her approach to course design: “keep content hard but make learning easy.” Her extensive use of Top Hat has empowered her to reduce accessibility and financial barriers, much to the delight of her students. “The pandemic highlighted existing injustices in our system. Addressing this doesn’t mean lowering the bar, but keeping the bar where it is and building flexibility into your course,” she says. Her students have also overwhelmingly approved of her teaching philosophy, as you’ll hear more about in the video below.

Student Impact Award

At its core, a student-centered mindset allows for additional equity and connection in and out of class. There were three awe-inspiring professors selected as finalists for this award: John Wiginton at the University of Mississippi, Ricardo Nogueira at Georgia State University and Elizabeth Sargent at Georgia Southern University, the winner of this year’s Student Impact Award.

Sargent was nominated by several of her students who commented on the steps she took to prioritize learner success in her course. Here’s what Rhea Patel, a student at Georgia Southern, had to say: “She changed my life in ways that she probably doesn’t know. Dr. Sargent truly takes the time out of her day to give feedback and will change her lesson plans based on her students’ needs.”

We’re celebrating Sargent’s efforts to get to know her students and to invest in their academic—and non-academic—success. Using community-building and flexibility as pillars of her course has ultimately led to more curious, engaged and active students. When asked about her recipe for student success, she said: “Students are responsible for their own learning, but they’re not on their own. I learn students’ names early on, which not only surprises them, but helps them recognize that they’re a person and not just a number on a page.”

Hear more about the role Professor Sargent has played in reducing barriers to learning and maintaining a sense of belonging.

Top Author Award

Using dynamic courseware, rich with media, assessments and discussion questions, is a key way to meet the needs of Generation Z in the classroom. Faculty who have created transformative custom course materials were selected as finalists for this award: Tamarah Adair, Amanda Bracey and Mindy Syharat at Baylor University, Jennifer Donovan at Arizona State University and Derek Weber at Raritan Valley Community College, the winner of this year’s Top Author Award.

Frustrated with the lack of support for digital lab materials, Weber chose to author his own manual in Top Hat, packed with simulations, discussions and poll questions. Since then, he’s noted unseen levels of student engagement and application—both in and out of the lab. Weber’s students have really embraced this practical approach to learning. “I’m in the nursing program and so being able to work with patients in the clinical setting and apply everything I learned from his lab makes me feel like I have an edge,” shares student Malik Hooks.

Weber, along with several faculty who have adopted his lab manual, have swapped static learning materials for ones that are as dynamic as today’s students. With that has come greater control over keeping learning fresh, interactive and engaging. “My lecture has been transformed by the manual. Grades have improved with case-based assessments and exams have, in fact, gotten harder but students are keeping up—and I think that’s been a wonderful outcome,” he shares.

Discover the role that Professor Weber’s lab manual Focusing on Health: Laboratory Exercises in Microbiology has played in connecting course material to the real world.

Congratulations to this year’s Top Hat Educator Award finalists and recipients. These three inspiring individuals are figures whom we can turn to and learn from as higher ed slowly settles into the next normal.

→ Get Dr. Chris Emdin’s tips on authentic and vulnerable teaching [Webinar on Demand]

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As an educator, you should have full autonomy over how, and what, your students read in your textbook. And that’s where Top Hat’s dynamic courseware comes in: We let you make any textbook your own. Want to swap out or alter images, assessment questions, or sections of a chapter? No problem! With Top Hat’s dynamic courseware, you can personalize course materials any way you want—down to the individual words, photos or videos that appear in the text.

Not only does this completely disrupt the slow-to-change textbook market—offering functionality no publisher allows—but it helps you create learning experiences that are personalized, inclusive and designed to prepare students for their careers. 

Here’s how we can help you bring your dream courseware to life and meet the needs of a digital-first generation.

→ Browse the Top Hat Catalog for hundreds of dynamic textbooks

Top Hat’s dynamic content responds to how students learn best

Top Hat’s dynamic courseware has completely flipped the traditional textbook model on its head—much to the delight of Generation Z. Students who use Top Hat have become increasingly aware that dynamic and digital aren’t synonymous. In a survey of 2,000 undergraduate students, 85 percent stated that content in Top Hat was more engaging than that found in a traditional textbook.¹

We’ve redefined customization by letting you add, remove or alter multimedia, sentences, case studies, assessments and more for any title. You can reflect real-time events and milestones from your industry and give students the experience of engaging with up-to-date content that they’re used to in their personal lives. 

Better yet, students can access their textbook, lectures, discussions and more in the same platform, making it easy to retrieve all materials. And when you assess students from anywhere—with in-class polls and quizzes, and on their own time with homework readings—the results are captured in one single place, providing insights into how students are performing at the individual and class level.

Below are just three ways our dynamic courseware is changing the game for educators and students alike—and disrupting the legacy textbook model in the process.

1. Keep learning current and relevant

Top Hat ensures your students are always learning from the most up-to-date material. We regularly provide in-app content updates that you can automatically deploy to your students at any time throughout the semester, making sure the material in your book is never stale.

We also make it easy for you to increase student engagement with course material that reflects what’s happening in the world. Edit any aspect of a book from the Top Hat Catalog any way you like. You can add in the latest developments related to COVID-19, political policies, or the stock market. That’s exactly what Vanderbilt University economics lecturer Stephen Buckles did. By offering timely case studies and news stories related to the January 2021 GameStop stock phenomenon, Buckles’ book is uniquely positioned to pique his students’ interests.

You can also give students a greater sense of connection with the material they’re reading about, like Nicole McNichols, psychology professor at the University of Washington, did. When co-authoring her Top Hat title A Critical Introduction to Human Sexuality, she was able to embed videos, podcasts and news stories—bite-sized formats that appeal to today’s learners. Christina Nguyen, one of McNichols’ students, appreciated the additional relevancy that came with this approach: “Course concepts are that much more real when you can hear from someone who has lived experience with what you’re learning about,” she shared.

2. Represent all students in your course materials

When students see themselves and their unique lived experiences in your material, they’re more likely to be invested in your course. Top Hat’s robust customization capabilities make it possible to represent the diversity of your students, letting you substitute or re-write examples that are specific to your class. Further reflect the experiences of your cohort by embedding questions throughout and using trends to tailor your material accordingly. Here are just a few examples of how Top Hat’s dynamic courseware helps make all students feel seen.

• Edit content at the chapter, section, or sentence level: Customize content in your courseware to reflect diverse student names or experiences. For instance, within case studies, you may swap out any overused names and instead add in names that resonate with your students.
• Promote equity by adding in relevant media and case studies: Use students’ comfort level and familiarity with certain concepts to your advantage. Customize and swap out interactive components (videos, simulations, diagrams and more) in your text based on student strengths and challenges. For example, you might add in a case study on a human sexuality topic previously seen as taboo in order to facilitate an open dialogue.
• Customize the assessment experience: Assign homework questions within your textbook to certain students who may need a refresher. Custom start and end dates can be provided based on student needs and concerns beyond your course. Plus, you can offer multiple attempts per question, giving students several opportunities to apply their knowledge without penalty.

3. Prepare students for the workforce

A college degree is still largely thought of as a stepping stone to landing a professional career post-graduation—though students don’t often feel that their learnings make them job-ready. Bridge the gap between your class and the workplace. Top Hat’s dynamic courseware is designed with application and skill-based learning in mind.

Top Hat’s dynamic courseware allows you to reflect students’ career paths and the skills they’ll need through discussion questions and case studies. Matthew Badtke, Science Department Chair and Professor of Biology and Chemistry at Jackson College, did just that by authoring his own Top Hat textbook, 19-COVID Questions. Badtke is able to tailor his content to meet the needs of future front-line workers—helping every student get comfortable with today’s evolving health landscape. “Many of the students in my public health course are interested in a career in health care. I’m able to ask them about how they would interact with patients using the information on COVID-19 presented in the textbook,” he shares. As the pandemic continues to evolve, so does Badtke’s textbook. “I’ve been able to update the textbook as new information is reported on COVID-19—which is really important for a changing pandemic.”

Let Top Hat Content Services help you create your dream content

No two courses are the same. That’s why we’re dedicated to helping you create dynamic content that addresses your teaching needs and responds to the unique experiences of your students. At Top Hat, we’ve introduced new Content Services to give you the personalized, one-on-one support you need to get there.

Top Hat’s Content Services offer flexible authoring tools as well as access to instructional designers throughout the courseware creation and conversion process. Our team can help convert your print textbook to an engaging, interactive format or assist in the creation of all-original material and custom textbooks. Instructors in the sciences can also take advantage of custom lab authoring support.

Offered as part of our Content Services, our new Co-Development Partner Model will ensure your courseware is affordable, engaging and diverse. Here’s how.

• A collaborative effort: You’ll meet with Top Hat partners to develop a project plan and share desired learning outcomes and content requirements for your specific title. We’ll use these specifications to make sure we deliver on your goals.
• A cost-saving process: We offer access to instructional designers and resources to help you create your dream courseware. The best part? We’ll cover all associated costs, making sure finances aren’t a barrier to student success.
• An emphasis on access and equity: We’ll support you in developing accessible courseware built on a foundation of equity and inclusivity. You’ll also be given the chance to review and provide feedback regularly, making sure your voice and background are adequately represented.

Join the thousands of professors who have made the transition to Top Hat’s dynamic courseware. Get started by exploring our new Top Hat Catalog, filled with interactive, customizable titles that you can make your own in minutes.

References

1. Fall 2021 Top Hat Student User Survey. (2021). Top Hat.

The post Digital Doesn’t Mean Dynamic: How College Textbooks Have Evolved appeared first on Top Hat.

Read the full article in Faculty Focus.

The post Create Meaningful Learning Experiences with an Interactive Customizable Textbook appeared first on Top Hat.

Click here to download a PDF version of the slideshow.

Resources:
Fall 2021 Student Survey: Uncertainty and Opportunity in Higher Ed

The post Setting the Table for Student Success in Another Year of Uncertainty and Opportunity appeared first on Top Hat.

Read the full article in the Harvard Business Review.

The post Undergraduates Need Extra Support This Year—Here’s How to Help appeared first on Top Hat.

Both Jones and Smith are mathematics educators who teach introductory college-level courses to diverse groups of students pursuing careers in STEM. What they’ve consistently found is that non-traditional students and students of color are more likely to experience challenges with academic success due to a lack of a sense of belonging and the ability to stay engaged with their courses. 

To adopt and amplify student-centered teaching practices and advance equity and persistence in STEM, Jones and Smith applied for Top Hat’s inaugural Black Educator Grant. Both applications demonstrated an incredible passion for and commitment to supporting student success. 

They will receive a combined $15,000 in grants, as well as free access to Top Hat’s active learning courseware platform for their students. And in March 2022, we will spotlight details of the learning environments they created to build confidence, forge community, and support student success. 

“What if we designed every class so that every student succeeds?”

Lakeshia Legette Jones is an Associate Professor who teaches Introduction to Statistical Methods at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her study will focus on leveraging Top Hat’s platform to level the playing field and create opportunities for students from all backgrounds to participate and succeed in her class. 

At the most basic level, this means improving accessibility for students by streamlining the course delivery experience. Instead of relying on several different teaching tools that aren’t designed to work together, she will consolidate all of her course materials on Top Hat’s platform to make it easy for students to access everything they need in one place.

According to research conducted by Top Hat, students believe that community and connection with their peers is critical to realizing the value of their learning experience. When students feel like they belong in the classroom, they are significantly more motivated and engaged with their learning. And when this sense of belonging is created within learning environments that encourage students to be active participants in their education, students are more likely to feel supported to succeed.

To create a sense of community, Jones will make belonging a critical component of her course design. “I want my students to understand that they belong, they have a place here, and they can be successful,” she says. “But sometimes, that’s the biggest hurdle. If students feel like they don’t belong, it holds them back.”

In practice, Jones will actively prioritize getting to know her students and engaging them in hands-on activities designed to facilitate connections among peers and with faculty. This means creating opportunities for students to learn from each other. And beyond that, it means ensuring students can provide her with feedback so that she always has a pulse on how they’re feeling and how she can improve the course experience to better support them. She will conduct regular attitude surveys to gather feedback from students on what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change right away. 

Top Hat’s platform enables Jones to replace high-stakes assessments with equitable low-stakes assessments run throughout the semester to generate real-time performance data. These actionable insights will allow her to easily identify what course concepts are proving difficult and which students may be struggling, so she can offer reinforcement and additional support.

Jones says, “What if we designed every class so that every student succeeds? I no longer accept the idea that there is a third of students that will do well, a third that will do okay, and a third that will fail.” By leveraging actionable insights on how her class is doing and how individual students are performing, she can make just-in-time accommodations that will allow her to support individual student success at scale.

“Leading with compassion is the biggest factor in helping students to be successful”

Donna M. Smith is a math instructor teaching College Algebra at Sierra College in Rocklin, California. Smith believes that by infusing a healthy dose of empathy into her course design, she will be able to push students to complete 90 percent of their course work (Smith’s requirement to take the final exam). 

“Leading with compassion is the biggest factor in helping students to be successful,” she says. “I want to make students feel like they belong, and I can use Top Hat to demonstrate that I care by recognizing them for every win and building their confidence. When students are confident in their mathematical ability, they will soar in STEM.” She believes that by leveraging Top Hat to create a framework for developing critical thinking and soft skills like time management, teamwork, and adaptability, students’ rate of success can dramatically improve. 

Smith wants her class to understand the habits of a successful student and the importance of having a strong work ethic. By providing a Weekly Accomplishments Tracker (WAT) report through Top Hat’s platform, Smith will break down the components of her course that students need to do before, during, and after class to give themselves the best chance of performing well. 

Before each class, students will watch assigned videos with embedded questions and guided notes that are interactive and engaging. During class, Smith will reinforce the skills that are needed for effective class participation such as preparation, punctuality, and presence by encouraging students not to leave class early. Students will also complete weekly activities and answer questions to apply their learning and engage in higher-order thinking during class time. After class, students are expected to maintain a portfolio of their written work that they can reference throughout the semester. 

Smith believes that critical thinking must be deliberately developed rather than assumed. She will provide students with practice opportunities that require them to take specific actions to aid their learning. Using a wide range of assessment tools and formats to encourage greater retrieval effort, she will gauge student comprehension by assigning activities that cast a wide net over all six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a framework commonly used to classify ‘lower order’ and ‘higher order’ thinking. For example, Smith will ask students to create their own graphs, explain how they came to a conclusion with long-answer questions, and demonstrate a deep understanding of concepts, connections, and relationships. 

Through her study, Smith aims to prove that this structured approach will result in a positive correlation between WAT completion and exam scores. And students will be able to use the foundational skill of critical thinking for any courses and disciplines they pursue in the future.

While the results of these studies will be particularly meaningful to instructors who teach diverse students, instructors and institutions will be able to consider how to adopt the foundational elements of these studies to build relationships and retain students throughout their higher education journey. As we put an unprecedented and challenging academic year behind us, we have an opportunity to reimagine the classroom experience and the vital importance of belonging in addressing inequalities in higher education. 

Learn more about Top Hat’s Black Educator Grant program at https://tophat.com/grant-program/ 

The post Introducing the Recipients of Top Hat’s Black Educator Grant appeared first on Top Hat.

Read the full article in BBC News.

The post The Tech Promising To Bring Lectures Alive appeared first on Top Hat.

The last year has been both incredibly challenging and immensely inspiring for Top Hat and the higher education industry we serve. The challenges came, of course, at the hands of a global pandemic that suddenly and dramatically upended the way we live, work, teach, and learn. The inspiration came from seeing firsthand how our people, our customers, and our industry confronted adversity, working together to ensure millions of students could continue their education.

As we begin the Spring term, I want to take a moment to thank all the educators and institutions that have been working under unprecedented circumstances. As the founder and CEO of an edtech company dedicated to the mission of “empowering educators to engage students and unleash their potential,” I have been energized to see our customers find new and innovative ways to keep their students engaged and motivated in the learning process.

I am also incredibly proud of the 500 Top Hatters who have worked tirelessly in support of our customers. When we made the decision last April to rebuild our active learning courseware platform to better support students in remote and hybrid courses — even as our own company was transitioning to remote work — our people immediately immersed themselves in building new features and functionality for the Fall academic term, and then worked hand-in-hand with customers to incorporate these capabilities into their courses.

At the same time, we successfully completed acquisitions of three higher ed publishing companies — bluedoor, Fountainhead Press, and Nelson’s Canadian higher education business — transforming their high-quality print textbooks into interactive, digital course materials and expanding the portfolio of content available on our active learning courseware platform. 

At Top Hat, we have big plans to help educators transform the world of higher ed. The pandemic has put a premium on teaching while demonstrating to the current generation of educators the potential of technology to reshape the learning experience. Static one-way lectures and outdated print textbooks and PDFs are not sufficient to engage and motivate today’s learners. We want to work closely with educators to reimagine the learner experience for both online and in-person instruction to one that is engaging, active, and experiential. With today’s announcement that we have raised an additional USD $130 million in Series E funding, we are well-equipped to drive the change we want to see. 

And so it is with great excitement that I announce that I have hand-picked a new CEO to take Top Hat forward on our next phase of growth: Joe Rohrlich. 

Our mission at Top Hat hasn’t changed since I co-founded the company from my dorm room at the University of Waterloo. Since that time, I’m proud to have led an edtech company that helps thousands of educators deliver a more engaging learning experience to millions of students. It has become clear to me that the most effective way to accelerate our mission is to bring on someone with the relevant experience to propel our growth. Now that we have successfully put into place a strategic and profitable business strategy, rounded out a full and distinguished executive bench, and raised a significant Series E funding round, I felt that the timing was right to bring in a successor with the experience, skills, and track record to take Top Hat forward.

With the full support of Top Hat’s board of directors and executive team, Joe has begun transitioning into the role of CEO and will officially take on this position on March 1, 2021. Joe previously held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at Bazaarvoice, where he led the global Sales, Marketing, and Client Success teams and helped grow the company from a startup to a global business generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. He will be a strong, strategic, and customer-centric CEO for Top Hat as we push forward with an ambitious growth strategy. 

In Top Hat, Joe sees a unique opportunity to help transform an industry that does not adequately serve the modern learner, and significant opportunities to improve the quality and accessibility of the higher ed learning experience. Equally important is that Joe is a values-driven leader who places his people first. I have no doubt that employee experiences at Top Hat will continue to surpass expectations. 

I will continue to support Joe and provide counsel on big ideas and milestones as a member of our board of directors. I am excited about what’s in store for Top Hat’s future under Joe’s leadership and look forward to continuing to play a part in empowering educators to engage students and unleash their potential. 

The post The Next Chapter in Top Hat’s Mission to Improve the Higher Ed Learning Experience appeared first on Top Hat.

The deal adds more than 500 titles to Top Hat’s roster of textbooks and represents a key milestone in reshaping higher learning. “In the same way Tesla reimagined what the driving experience can be, Top Hat is enabling educators in higher ed to transform the learning experience for students into one that is more engaging and motivating and that drives better outcomes,” said Top Hat CEO Mike Silagadze. 

Fountainhead Press textbooks, which are currently used at 400 universities throughout the United States, are being converted to interactive, digital titles that will be seamlessly integrated with Top Hat’s active learning platform. “When textbooks are brought to life with Top Hat’s intuitive and easy-to-use technology, they become much more than just the vehicle for educators to deliver information to their students,” adds Silagadze. “Instead, they enable a world where all students are fully equipped and motivated to engage with their learning and come to class prepared.”

Delivering rewarding learning experiences

Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, Fountainhead Press has been laser-focused on creating textbooks with professors and students in mind. A nimble, author-centered approach—combined with a publishing timeline half that of other publishers—means Fountainhead textbooks are able to represent emerging theories and pedagogies well ahead of the competition. Textbooks are customizable, created in collaboration with professors to provide content that matches up directly with their learning objectives. It’s a student-first approach that offers value and engagement at an affordable price.

More than 250 authors have worked with Fountainhead to create titles in disciplines like communication, composition, science, and psychology. All have benefitted from unparalleled editorial and design support to meet the goals of their program. In Top Hat, Fountainhead has found a like-minded partner. 

With the acquisition, individual professors will enjoy even greater customization opportunities to produce textbooks that align closely with the needs of their class, giving students relevant content that motivates them to learn asynchronously. What’s more, powered by the Top Hat platform, professors will now get insights into where students are succeeding and struggling, allowing them to intervene early. “We have witnessed firsthand Fountainhead Press’ unwavering  focus on delivering excellence for their customers,” said Silagadze. “As we come together as one team, I’m excited about combining our passion to support educators to deliver rewarding learning experiences, both during the pandemic and beyond.”

The best solution for your program or course

The Fountainhead Press deal marks the third publisher acquisition for Top Hat. Last year, it added to its catalog textbooks from bluedoor, a science publisher with 500 customizable labs and additional course materials, and Nelson, Canada’s largest publisher with titles used at 80 percent of the country’s universities. It’s all in the service of fundamentally improving the value of higher ed, with interactive textbooks powered by active learning technology.

Top Hat interactive textbooks support student comprehension by including engaging, media-rich learning materials, assessment questions and activities. The titles are fully customizable and professors can adjust content to suit the needs of their curriculum and learning objectives. They can add, move or delete sentences, paragraphs or even whole chapters to make the textbook their own. Plus, they get real-time insights into student understanding as they go through the textbook. Everything is housed in the same place as Top Hat’s all-in-one active learning platform, giving professors and students a single place to access their course and learning materials. 

Going forward, Fountainhead Press titles will boast the same features and tools as they are converted into interactive textbooks. It represents an exciting future where great content and technology come together to engage and motivate students. In fact, the following titles have already been enhanced for interactive delivery on the Top Hat platform:

• Inclusive Public Speaking
• The Speaker
• The Speaker’s Primer
• Communication Pathways
• Engaging Communication
• Active Voices
• The Evolving Essay
• This Ain’t Yesterday’s Literacy: Culture and Education After George Floyd
• Psychology: The Science of Who We Are

It’s just the first step in giving educators even more ways to help students succeed in any modality. “This merging of our two companies makes content an integral part of Top Hat’s offerings,” says Scott Timian, co-founder and CEO of Fountainhead Press.” It will benefit our customers and authors with greater versatility and options for enhanced digital presentation. Our mission remains to provide the best solution for your program or course.”

Learn more about how you can adopt a Fountainhead Press textbook. Get in touch with one of our learning consultants or request a desk copy today.

The post Top Hat Expands Digital Textbook Offerings With Fountainhead Press Acquisition appeared first on Top Hat.

Diversity of thought is the foundation of higher education. At Top Hat, it has also been the source of incredible innovation. Unfortunately, when it comes to accessing funding grants, Black faculty members have faced an unlevel playing field. To begin addressing this challenge, and support the search for new ways to improve the impact of technology on student learning, we are launching our first ever Black Educator Grant.

How the grant program works

The purpose of this initiative is to examine the effects of Top Hat’s all-in-one active learning platform on teaching and learning in higher education. Since Top Hat is designed to support online, blended and face-to-face course delivery, there are a wide range of potential areas for study. This includes, but is not limited to, research around student engagement, community and inclusivity, as well as the impact of digital courseware and teaching practices on student performance, inside and outside the classroom.

The program is open to both existing users and non-users of Top Hat. The successful applicant will receive a research grant of up to $10,000, depending on the scope of work. They will also receive free access to the Top Hat Pro platform for up to 100 students for one semester or term of the study. In addition, Top Hat will provide guidance and hands-on support on the setup and use of our platform.

We believe technology offers exciting new opportunities. But to build the classroom of the future, we must better understand the role of technology in creating more effective educational experiences for all educators and students. With the launch of this Black Educator Grant, we are excited to take an important step in this direction.

To learn more about the Black Educator Grant criteria and application process, please click here.

The post Top Hat Launches Inaugural Black Educator Grant appeared first on Top Hat.

Top Hat will be converting all content from bluedoor into digital courseware, and adding in engaging elements, such as dynamic multimedia and interactive assessment questions. Professors using bluedoor content will now have access to these digital versions, as well as the full power of Top Hat’s active learning platform to ensure student success when teaching in online, blended or face-to-face classes. Students learning from bluedoor digital labs will benefit from a more modern, immersive experience—and will love the engagement they experience both in and out of class. Read on to learn more.

‘We can enable more educators to deliver their courses effectively’

For over a decade, Top Hat has been focused on making learning more active and engaging through real-time polls and quizzes, interactive assignments, and live chat and discussion tools—all on a single platform. Providing digital courseware that is every bit as engaging and dynamic as the classroom experience is an integral part of this effort.

Going forward, instructors will be able to use bluedoor content that is packed with high resolution images, engaging videos and assessment questions that are tied to Top Hat’s active learning platform. They will be able to track how well students are comprehending the course material by viewing which students have completed the readings and seeing how they performed on various embedded assessments. This valuable student data is all captured within the Top Hat platform, giving instructors insight into student comprehension and participation—and making it easy to reach out to those who may be struggling. This information can also easily be exported to your LMS. And with our recent launch of robust virtual classroom capabilities, educators can easily infuse active learning techniques in any online, in-person, or blended environment.

bluedoor’s expertise in the sciences encompasses the disciplines of Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Veterinary Technology and more. This content is the perfect complement to the Top Hat family, which already offers thousands of textbooks and learning materials in the Top Hat Catalog. “At bluedoor, our focus has always been on empowering educators with flexible high-quality content,” said bluedoor CEO Jon Earl. “By joining Top Hat and transforming our content into interactive digital courseware on its all-in-one platform, we can enable more educators to deliver their courses effectively and bring active learning to life for their students.”

‘A perfect fit for bluedoor to join Top Hat’

The labs and course materials produced by bluedoor have long created engaging learning experiences for students. Educators love bluedoor for its easily customizable course solutions and extensive online database of labs. By choosing bluedoor, instructors can select off-the-shelf national content or tailor-make their own solution from countless high-quality course materials that can be customized down to the letter.

With bluedoor content joining the Top Hat team, more professors will have better access to interactive science materials at a time when, due to the pandemic, so much learning is happening online or in blended environments. The resilience of interactive, digital textbooks and labs means students will be able to access their course materials on their own devices—anytime, anywhere.

Following the recent acquisition of the domestic higher ed textbook business from Nelson Education, Canada’s largest educational publisher, the bluedoor deal expands Top Hat’s repository of high-quality content to better support educators in this climate of uncertainty and beyond. “bluedoor has a stellar reputation as an expert in educational content for the sciences,” said Top Hat founder and CEO Mike Silagadze. “Our partnership has evolved into a perfect fit for bluedoor to join Top Hat.”

The post Top Hat Adds bluedoor Labs and Course Materials to Support Science Educators appeared first on Top Hat.

Is there a projected date that virtual classroom will be available?

We have started the progressive rollout for Virtual Classroom and are targeting to have it available in all Top Hat courses by the beginning of September.

How can I use Top Hat to facilitate group work in remote classes? Will I be able to host breakout rooms in Top Hat?

Top HatCommunity, our messaging app purpose-built for higher education, offers fun and easy ways for professors to facilitate group work for students in online, hybrid and face-to-face learning environments. Professors and students can easily access their course’s space in Community using their Top Hat credentials—to create their own channels to collaborate on activities, assignments and projects. Channels can be used to chat or start multi-participant video conferences, allowing students to collaborate and communicate online, both asynchronously and in real-time. While there is currently no “breakout room” functionality within the Top Hat platform, many professors using Top Hat have used Community to get students working together in other ways, both during and outside of class time.

How can I create group assignments on Top Hat Pro? Or create discussion threads where students can upload their work to share with their classmates?

At this time, it is not possible to create group assignments in Top Hat. As an instructor, you can ask open-ended questions that spark engaging in-class discussions—and help you get a sense of where students need help

Do you have campus-wide licenses? I am not comfortable asking my students to pay for technology or content.

Campus-wide site licenses are available via institution level partnership/agreement with Top Hat.

Can you briefly describe how the technology will work if I am in a face-to-face class with some students and want to have others join in remotely and have everything recorded to be available later?

For hybrid classes, students will be prompted with a question as they enter the virtual class session asking them if they are joining remotely or in person. If the student selects “in person,” the audio/video feed will be disconnected upon entry into the virtual class session—since they are physically present to see and hear the professor. They will still be able to participate in the live chat within the VC. Once lecture recordings are available as a feature, professors can record the live lecture and assign it to students to review after class as well.

Are the automatically created transcripts able to be edited?

The initial release doesn’t include this feature but it is on our roadmap to add this functionality.

Can students answer questions asked in recorded synchronous lectures if they are watching the recording asynchronously?

No, this will not be possible in the fall release. The professor will need to assign the questions to students who were not in attendance.

I teach a computer lab class. It would be helpful for me to be able to see the students’ screens to see that they are doing the lab activities correctly. Is that possible?

Using the moderation tools, a professor can invite a student to “share the stage” which will enable a student to participate using a webcam and/or microphone, as well as share their screen.

How do you monitor cheating for online testing?

Top Hat’s remote proctoring functionality uses artificial intelligence to run identity verification on students entering the test. A room scan can also be made a prerequisite for entry into the test. Once in the test, the remote proctoring tool can monitor students’ head and eye movements (via webcam), audio feed (via their microphone), web traffic, and web page navigation. Each of these monitoring attributes are configurable, meaning a professor can mix and match the restrictions that they wish to apply to the exam (e.g. monitoring screen and web traffic, but disable webcam monitoring). Instructors can also choose to enable a lockout feature, which forces students out of a test if they depart the proctoring window for a certain length of time.

Once a student hands in the test, a recording of the test taker is generated (which can include video, audio and screen recording, depending on the configuration set by the instructor). The proctoring tool uses artificial intelligence to flag instances throughout the recording where a suspicious behavior is observed (e.g. departure from the test, looking away from the screen) and aggregates these instances into a score for each recording. Recordings are then arranged from most to least suspicious to make it easy for instructors and adjudicators to review. When reviewing a recording of a student’s test, instructors can easily see where instances of suspicious behaviour were flagged.

Full details on Top Hat’s remote proctoring functionality can be found here.

The post Using Top Hat Pro to Raise Student Engagement in the Virtual Classroom appeared first on Top Hat.

Top Hat makes it possible to bring STEM labs to life online, giving students access to a collaborative, interactive learning experience with an in-person feel, no matter where they are. Here’s how to set up your virtual lab in Top Hat in six steps.

1. Form your in-app teaching community

To begin, you should create a Top Hat course specifically for your lab. If you have multiple sections, you should create a Top Hat course for each. To do this, navigate to the “Courses” tab in the course lobby and click “Create Course.” You’ll be prompted to enter your course name, start date, subject and course code in the pop-up box. We suggest including a section number at the end of the course code so you can keep track of each section. Repeat this process as many times as needed.

If you have teaching assistants (TAs) who run these labs, you can easily add them to the appropriate lab section by clicking on the downward arrow next to your name in the top right corner of your Top Hat course and select “Add Professor or TA.” From here, click “Add” and then “Teaching Assistant.” Input the email address for the TA you want to add and use commas for adding multiple TAs at once.

TAs added to your course will have access to course content such as slideshows, tests and interactive textbook materials. Note that TAs will not have access to Course Settings, the Gradebook or Student Manager. Granting TAs ‘professor status’ instead will provide full access to your course, allowing them to grade student submissions and more.

2. Start the learning before class

Pre-lab assessments are effective indicators of whether students have read the objectives and guidelines for an upcoming lab. Plus, students are given a chance to test their understanding of concepts before the lab begins—which may guide the questions they ask during the lab.

To create your assessment, start by creating a Page in Top Hat. The Pages editor will allow you to add a title and text to a page, much like a word processor. However, unlike Microsoft Word, it allows you to embed interactive elements such as questions, discussions, videos and iframes (external web pages) directly into your lab assignment. This can be handy in illustrating complicated topics. To do this, use the interactive toolbar on the page, click “Insert” and then “Video” or “iframe” and paste the URL or embed code into the pop-up box. PhET simulations, for example, are an open educational resource (OER) and housed on an external website that you can directly embed in the page. PhET simulations showcase STEM concepts in engaging and interactive ways. By embedding these as iframes into your Page, students can click through the simulation at their own pace and adjust the experiment settings to their liking.

Intersperse your pre-lab assessments with interactive questions to gauge comprehension and collect actionable student insights. Questions such as graded calculation and data graphing are designed to incorporate students’ measurements taken in the lab to formulate tables and graphs—perfect for your lab assignment. To create a new question in your page, navigate to the blue plus sign and select the question icon. Discussion questions are also a great addition for lab work as they allow for longer answers so students can explain their findings in detail. Embed a discussion question by clicking the discussion icon after selecting the blue plus sign. To maximize engagement, consider allocating one or two participation marks to the discussion question. You may also want to assign correctness points to understand how comfortable students are with the material.

3. Livestream your live lab

Top Hat’s virtual classroom capabilities allow you to seamlessly stream your lab from anywhere. To start your live steam, click on the “Create” menu and choose “Virtual Classroom.” A preview screen will allow you to see how you’ll appear in front of your students and ensure your computer’s microphone and webcam are working in advance of starting your video stream. In Virtual Classroom, attendance is recorded once per session, meaning students do not have to input a code on their devices. Top Hat Community, the messaging and collaboration app purpose-built for higher education, allows students to ‘raise their hands’ during the lab to verbally ask a complicated question using video conferencing. Top Hat Community also allows students to ask questions in a live chat and receive instant feedback from professors and TAs.

You can share your screen or slides in Top Hat during your lab to guide students through what you are doing. An in-app annotation, or whiteboard, feature allows for complex formulas and graphs to be sketched in real-time. In presenter view, click on the pen icon while your slides are open to draw directly onto the slides. This feature allows you to create new blank slides throughout your presentation as you proceed, ensuring you have space to draw diagrams and notes as needed.

Real-time lab quizzes allow you to test students on the fly. Before beginning your lab, create a folder for any in-class comprehension questions to be shown during the live lab. When in your folder, navigate to the “Create” menu to select from 14 question types including matching, sorting, and numeric answer among others and repeat the steps in the above section when inputting your questions. Once ready, simply click on the question or folder and select “Start Presentation.” After students respond in real-time, click “Correct” responses to show students what the correct answer was. This is also a good opportunity to facilitate discussion depending on the percentage of students who answered in a certain way.

At the end of your presentation, open the slide drawer in presenter view and click the downward arrow next to “End Presentation” and select “End and Assign Items to Review.” This step gives students a chance to review questions on their own while they study. It’s also beneficial for those who weren’t able to attend a synchronous lab due to different time zones and non-academic commitments, for example.

4. Create and grade file submissions for lab reports

The new file submission question allows students to draft and submit longer reports on their own time. Attach files to the question that students may download such as grading rubrics and in turn, students can submit PDFs, image files (PNG, JPEG and JPG) and Excel files (CSV and XLSX) up to 50MB. In your course shell, navigate to the “Create” menu and choose “Question” and then “File Submission.” Set your desired grade weight for participation and correctness. Note that manual grading is required for this question type to check for correctness. Assign the question by clicking the question in your Content Tree and click “Assign” as either homework or review. When submitting files, students may remove and re-submit lab reports as many times as desired before the due date.

Providing constructive feedback is a crucial part of student learning. Critical, prompt commentary keeps students engaged and positions you as a support system for them to turn to. When grading reports, navigate to the Content Tree, then click “Question” and “Grade Responses.” Once in a student’s document, you can provide comments at specific locations in the file as in-line feedback—similar to a Google Doc—or you may provide feedback to the file as a whole, known as summary comments. Once done commenting, click “Submit” to make the student’s grade and comments visible if the homework due date has already passed. You may also consider hiding the Gradebook from students while submitted files are being processed to prevent students from panicking over not receiving their grades yet. Instead, you may release all grades at once after all papers have been reviewed.

5. The Catalog brings lab manuals to life

The Top Hat Catalog is home to thousands of interactive question packs, textbooks and lab manuals created with our partners at Bluedoor Publishing. These lab manuals span various STEM fields, including anatomy and physiology, chemistry and biology. Adapt and choose from the manuals in the Catalog: the content you want to include in your course is up to you. When you find the right manual fit to your course’s learning objectives, you may select the entire manual to share with students or parts of it to be imported into your course. Customizable lab manuals are interspersed with exercises, PhET simulations and low-stakes questions that test understanding before, during and after your lab. Pre-existing manuals also help you concentrate your efforts on providing a memorable and meaningful in-class experience.

6. Maintain consistency across all lab sections

Ensure all students—regardless of which lab section they are enrolled in—have a similar experience with lab materials during and outside of class time. Your lab delivery and discussions should be aligned with student inquiries and individual needs; however, the bulk of your content should largely be identical across all sections. In your Content Tree, select the content that you want to copy to other lab sections and select “Copy.” From here, select the lab section(s) you would like to copy the content into and repeat for all necessary sections. It’s important to note that due dates don’t carry over into other lab sections, so ensure you re-assign homework within each individual lab section. For more details on how to set up your online lab in Top Hat, click here.

Top Hat makes it easy to engage and build community with STEM students before, during and after labs. Learn more about our interactive lab functionality here.

The post Elevate Your STEM Class with Top Hat’s Lab Functionality appeared first on Top Hat.

Imagine you are a college freshman starting classes this Fall. In all likelihood, your campus is closed and you are attending classes online. You can’t walk into a lecture hall and introduce yourself to the students sitting next to you. You can’t walk to the front of the room and exchange words with your professor. All of the activities we take for granted with an in-person higher ed experience—exchanging notes with fellow students, asking a question during class because you didn’t understand—now look completely different. And that leaves your students feeling alone. Isolated. Disconnected.

The success of every student is determined in large part by their sense of connection with the people who fill a classroom—virtual or otherwise. But with so much uncertainty surrounding the Fall semester, and institutions shifting to online and blended learning formats, having the tools to create meaningful connections, humanize the learning experience and build community inside and outside the classroom is more important than ever.

These are just a few of the reasons why we created Community. Integrated within the Top Hat online active learning platform, Community provides simple, easy to use community building and communication tools that empower students to get the most out of their academic experience—whether learning online or in a physical classroom. Community gives students and faculty a single destination to chat with one another, engage in video discussions, create groups for projects and collaboration, and share important resources. Our goal is to ensure every faculty member and every student feels part of a vibrant learning community, wherever learning takes place.

The best part? Community is included in Top Hat Pro and as part of Top Hat Basic, which is available to all instructors free of charge! In launching Community, our vision is to make life better for students and faculty in three important ways:

1. Building community: We want to enable students to have natural conversations, spark engaging discussions and help them create meaningful connections with faculty and one another.
2. Enabling collaboration: We want to improve the overall academic experience by making it easy for groups to come together inside and outside of class to collaborate on ideas, coursework and broader campus initiatives.
3. Improve social outcomes: Some of the most important aspects of college life happen between classes. We want to provide a secure, digital space for students to share and hear about important information, useful services, as well as activities and opportunities available to them outside of class.

We’ve been beta-testing Community with thousands of students these last few months, including at the California Polytechnic University where 93 percent of students said that it “improved the sense of community” in their course. This incredible response has a lot to do with the fact that Community is easy and natural for students to use, just like their favorite messaging apps. I’m excited to tell you that as part of Top Hat Basic and Top Hat Pro, each student enrolled in the Top Hat platform will have automatic access to the Top Hat Community environment!

Create a sense of belonging

Prior to class time, you can share announcements and updates through Top Hat Community, all within the same platform you use to deliver your course content. During class sessions, Community’s live chat feature enhances the learning experience by providing a space for students to share comments, ‘raise their hand’ to participate in class through live video and react using their favorite emojis. You can also use Community to host polls, contests and low-stakes assessments to understand where students are at and share the results with the entire class. Integration with the Top Hat Gradebook and Weekly Course Report also allows you to identify areas where students are struggling, and leverage these insights to dig more deeply into concepts that are proving difficult for students.

Enable collaboration outside the classroom

We’re making it easy for students to make the most of every learning opportunity. Students can create their own dedicated channels to engage with their peers for projects and study sessions using chat or by easily switching to video conferencing. Professors can be included in group channels, allowing you to check in on student progress, moderate discussions, provide guidance and answer questions on the fly. Our goal is to extend active learning outside of the classroom by supporting team-based activities that get students working together.

Enrich the overall student experience

Community offers a safe online environment for students to connect with you and their peers, and supports both Android and iOS devices. Students can engage with each other individually or in groups by creating their own dedicated channels—whether for projects or simply as a place to share interests and come together socially. You can also use Community to host virtual office hours through live video or respond to student questions using chat, allowing you to connect in real-time rather than suffering through the frustrating lag of email exchanges.

Perhaps most important of all, Top Hat Community adds a healthy dose of fun to the learning process. As Demian Hommel, a professor at Oregon State University told us, “we’ve done Giphy competitions, which encourages students to share their content creations. The ability for students to share together in a common space is profound.”

With so much learning destined to happen remotely this Fall, we cannot take for granted the sense of community that happens as a natural part of the traditional classroom experience. Regardless of how you teach, Community will help you bring people together to share, engage with one another and build the sense of community that is so important to today’s students. After all, the more engaging and more human we can make learning, the more students will see value in pursuing a higher ed degree.

Learn more about how you can create an engaged learning community this fall when you use Top Hat Community.

Book a 1:1 consultation today:

The post Introducing Top Hat Community: The Free Messaging App Purpose-Built for Higher Education appeared first on Top Hat.