A6 - Page Chunking - Anchor Links (semi-advanced)

Anchor links allow students to "jump" directly to the sections of a long page (your Syllabus, for example) they would like to read and refer back to, without having to scroll through your entire document.

By using anchor links, you're able to keep all related content on a single page, as shown in the example below. This method isn't hard but it does require attention to detail in the HTML area.

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• Chat
• Conferences
• Groups
• Peer Review
• Other Ideas

Chat

The Chat tool in Canvas allows students and teachers to interact in real time.

Read the "What Is Chat? Links to an external site." Canvas Guide to get you started.

 

Conferences

The Conferences tool lets you broadcast real-time audio, video, demo applications on your desktop, share presentation slides, or demo any online resources.

You can use them for virtual lectures, virtual office hours, and student groups.

The Canvas Guide "What Are Conferences? Links to an external site." will give more details.

 

Groups

Collaboration is a powerful tool to create engagement and community in an online environment.

Plus, group work can be a great way to give those who tend to get lost in a crowd a place to be heard.

Check out "What Are Collaborations? Links to an external site." to learn more.

 

Peer Review

Setting up structured peer reviews allows communication between students and can help them learn from each other to master the concepts of a course. (You don't have to do all the teaching!)

These reviews can be set up to display the reviewer's name or anonymously. Here is the Guide on "What Is a Peer Review Assignment?" to help you.

 

Other Fun Ideas

Overwhelmingly, the data shows that online students' primary complaint is a sense of isolation and a lack of adequate feedback and interaction. Try these quick ideas for counteracting that.

Personalize your Home page by creating a welcome video.

The growing simplicity of web cam technology makes it easy to develop your "virtual presence."

• Keep it short; less than 3 minutes
• Relate your course content to students' past experiences or anticipated future experiences.

Create an "icebreaker" activity

This gives students a structured way to build a sense of community. 

EXAMPLES -

1. Create a word cloud to describe themselves
2. Research their birth date in history and share the highlights
3. Introduce themselves in a 30-second podcast or video

Begin with a self-rating survey or pre-test

You'll gain valuable understanding of what concepts your students may already understand and where to put your focus. 

• Use questions that give a mini-preview of your content and whet their appetite for the answers. (It's a sly way of introducing your course objectives via the questions you pose!)

Get creative with your discussion prompts

Discussions can add a vibrancy to your class community. We actually learn better when we like the people we're learning with.

• Develop opportunities for connection and application by using discussions that integrate your course content into real-life experiences.

Ask them to collaborate on Wiki pages

Basically, wikis can be used to support any type of collaborative student project. Have your students use wikis as platforms for collaborative problem solving; group laboratory reports; "WebEssays" (essays that combine images, text, and hyperlinks); group writing projects; or the creation of a class "textbook." 

• Keep in mind the focus is on content, not format; let your students define the structure
• Develop a curated set of resource links related to your course content
• Read "The Wiki as a Collaborative Tool: Why and How to Use It Links to an external site."

Create a “simple, deep” course

• Simple means the learning materials are clearly divided into chunks that are easy to discern and navigate
• Deep means frequent and consistent use of features like discussion forums, visually appealing content pages, and well-constructed assignments and quizzes

 

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 Directions for Creating Anchor Tags

1. Identify section headings for each section of your page. (In the example above: Chat, Conferences, etc.)
2. At the top of your page (or wherever you want the "menu" to be placed) type a bulleted list of the section titles.
3. Click "HTML Editor" to toggle to the HTML editing area.
    
   
4. For each section title, add HTML code (shown in maroon bold) to make it to an "href" link.
   For example, the Chat section would look like this: <li> <a href="#Chat"> Chat</a></li>
   Every character of the code is important so type it EXACTLY as shown, simply replacing your section name between the quotation marks. You may find it easiest to paste, rather than type, the long string of code (e.g., <a href="#Chat">) in front of each section title, change the title name between the quotation marks and type the </a> at the end. That way you won't forget a " or # by accident. ;-)
   
5. Scroll down through the page code to your first section header.
6. Add the following code on the line above each section title, replacing "Chat" with whatever the section title is:
   <p><a id="Chat"></a></p>
7. Click Save.
8. Go to the top of your page and click to make sure your links work properly.

HINT: You might want to do Step 6 for just one section and then save and test to make sure you've done it correctly before proceeding on to the other sections.