Pesky PDFs! Three Strategies for Addressing Inaccessible PDFs

As we’ve begun rolling out the Accessible Temple workshops and resources, one of the questions we most frequently receive is what to do about PDFs. There is undoubtedly work involved in the process of ensuring accessibility of PDFs but if the work of remediating a PDF is turning into hours and hours of excruciating labor, it’s time to look for help.

Suggestion 1: Consider Alternative Formats

PDFs are notoriously inaccessible and difficult to remediate. Often, the best first step is to consider alternative formats.

Use a Word document version for documents. (Note: If links to Microsoft webpages below do not open, delete browsing data for your web browser and try opening again.) 

      • If the PDF was initially a Word document, go back to the original document. Check for and correct accessibility issues. Word’s Accessibility Checker is helpful but will not catch all accessibility issues (this guide on making Word documents accessible has a helpful checklist). Consider sharing as a Word document or read-only Google Doc/Word 365 link rather than a PDF. Word documents can be encrypted to reduce editing if they are shared as a downloadable file.
      • If you do not have a version of the document in Word, you can export from the PDF to Word, use the Accessibility Checker to fix issues and share as a Word doc. Note that for poorly scanned or complex PDFs, exporting to Word may add rather than solve accessibility issues, in which case, you will have to try suggestions 2 and 3 below.

Link directly to the library resource.

      • If Temple Libraries or the publisher has a permalink for the journal article, case, book chapter, etc., consider posting the link rather than a PDF of the item. This guide has additional information on best practices for using Temple Libraries content accessibly.

Post PowerPoint slides rather than PDFs of slides.

      • Use the accessibility checker in PowerPoint to fix any issues and share through Google Slides or PowerPoint 365 in view-only mode.

See the University of Michigan’s PDF Alternatives guide for additional alternatives.

Suggestion 2: Use Course Reserves

Temple Libraries’ course reserves program allows instructors to request that their course materials be made available to students via the library. Instructors build a “reading list” of all their course materials in Canvas, and the library steps in where needed to provide the materials for your class. The library will ensure that PDFs delivered through course reserves can be read via screen reader but faculty must also review the PDF to confirm full accessibility (e.g., elements such as alt text are not addressed by Temple Libraries). The course reserves may be especially useful if you have content such as a textbook chapter or journal article that was not scanned in such a way as to be accessible and requires remediation.

Using electronic course reserves can be helpful to:

      1. Acquire texts not currently among the library’s holdings. Use the Manual Entry option to add these texts to your reading list.
      2. Request texts in a different format (e.g., a scan of a chapter from a print book). Use the Request Digitization option to add these texts to your reading list. 

If you have questions or require additional support, contact Temple Libraries staff at asktulibrary@temple.edu. Your message will go into the library’s email ticketing system and be routed to the best person to answer your questions.

Suggestion 3: Remediate the PDF

While we strongly recommend finding alternatives to PDFs whenever possible, there will no doubt be times when that is not an option. In those instances when you absolutely must use a particular file, you will want to remediate the PDF using the Panorama accessibility checker in Canvas. 

We’ve created a How-to Guide on Remediating PDFs Using Panorama. This guide will walk you through the process of opening the PDF accessibility report and making the necessary changes to ensure your PDF is truly and functionally accessible. Keep in mind that all PDFs require a manual review to confirm correct reading order as part of any accessibility check with Panorama. 

In the coming weeks, we will also be sharing a PDF remediation video via our CAT YouTube channel. We are continuously updating our Accessibility Resources to support you as you update and create your materials. 

While Panorama is a helpful tool, there are instances when it is unable to address each issue, or when its attempts to address one accessibility issue create new accessibility issues that make the new version less accessible than the original. In these instances, you can undo the remediation by opening the Accessibility Report, scrolling down to “Update Document,” and clicking the three dots “More Actions” menu. Select “Version History” to see all previous versions of the document and revert to your preferred version. For more information on what PDFs are, what makes a PDF inaccessible, and considerations for ensuring accessibility, see The Equidox Guide to PDF Accessibility.

Emojis Explained: A welcome message from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Emojis Explains a welcome message from the CAT

Dear Colleagues, 

Welcome to the fall 2025 semester! Over the past weeks, as you created and launched your Canvas courses, you likely noticed the addition of emoji icons beside item titles in Canvas modules. This is not the universe judging your course content. As part of the Accessible Temple initiative, Temple has adopted Yuja’s Panorama, a tool that assesses whether items within Canvas meet digital accessibility best practices and offers suggestions for remediation. While thinking about digital accessibility may be new to many of us, providing access to students is in Temple’s DNA. Since the founding of this institution, Temple faculty members have been in the business of opening doors for our Owls. Through the classes you teach, the mentorship you provide, the relationships you build and the connections you forge, you create possibilities for your students. You help them accomplish their goals but also to access new conceptual and professional horizons. 

Accessible Temple challenges us to extend that same dedication and care to addressing the accessibility of our digital course materials. When a student can’t use the assistive technologies they rely upon to access course materials, when our Canvas courses are confusing or hard to navigate or when students have to spend more time interpreting the assignment instructions than they spend accomplishing the assignment, their experience of Temple as a space that truly honors diversity is diminished. In preparing programming for the Accessible Temple initiative, we here at the CAT realized how much we ourselves had to learn about accessibility. As we have educated ourselves, we have built new habits and ways of thinking about how we create digital materials, and we strive to support you in doing the same. 

We invite you to take advantage of our Accessible Temple resources and programming, and for those seeking information and support on other teaching-related topics, we continue to offer workshops, consultations and other services to all Temple faculty and teaching assistants.

Accessible Temple

      • Accessibility Series and All-Day Academies– These sessions will provide all the information and tools necessary to make your courses accessible. The three-part accessibility series presents the same information as is covered in the all-day academies. Using the POUR framework for accessibility (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust), the CAT team will lead you through all of the new requirements for accessibility that will make our campus more inclusive. Included will be training on using Panorama.
      • Drop-In Clinics– The CAT is offering dedicated drop-in clinics for those who have completed an accessibility intensive or the accessibility series. You will receive hands-on assistance without requiring an appointment.
      • Yuja’s Panorama– Panorama is an accessibility checker that is enabled in your Canvas course. It provides guidance in identifying inaccessible materials and assists in remediating materials that are not accessible but misses some accessibility features. Complete our accessibility series to learn the “why” behind what Panorama flags and to build habits that will allow you to create accessible digital materials in the first place. 
      • Accessible Temple website– Learn more about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and stay up-to-date with new resources the CAT is offering.
      • CAT Tips– Subscribe to the CAT’s YouTube channel so you don’t miss our fall series of CAT Tip videos focusing on accessibility.
      • Micro-credentials– By completing an accessibility intensive or the accessibility series, you will earn the Digital Accessibility Micro-Credential, a micro-credential that demonstrates your newfound knowledge and skills. The enhanced Digital Accessibility Champion Micro-Credential includes the requirements for the Digital Accessibility Badge as well as additional faculty development on Universal Design for Learning.
      • Blog posts– Edvice Exchange posts that break down key concepts and introduce practical tools. New posts will be added throughout the semester.

Receiving Our Emails

The CAT shares information on our programs and services regularly using Constant Contact. If you have not been receiving emails from us, check your spam folder for emails from the sender “cat+temple.edu@ccsend.com” and select “Not junk” to redirect emails back to your inbox. If you are not receiving any emails from us, please use our email list sign-up form to be added to the list. You can, of course, unsubscribe from the Constant Contact emails via the “unsubscribe” link available on each email.

CAT Services and Resources

We offer free services to full- and part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants across all of Temple’s campuses. These services include:

CAT Locations and Hours of Operation:

Main Campus CAT: TECH Center (Bell Building), Suite 112

      • Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM
      • EdTech Lab Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM-4:30 PM

Health Science Campus CAT: Student/Faculty Technology Center, Room 200

      • Office & EdTech Lab Hours: Mondays and Thursdays: 8:00 AM-4:30 PM

Ambler Campus CAT EdTech Lab & Workspace: Ambler Learning Center, Room 301 

      • Hours: Monday through Thursday: 8:30 AM-10:00 PM; Friday: 8:30 AM-5:00 PM 

(Note: This space is for faculty use only. There are no CAT consultants on site.)

Virtual EdTech Lab: held via Zoom

      • Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM-4:30 PM

 

Workshops, Webinars, Institutes, Book Groups and Events 

There are many exciting workshops, webinars, institutes, book groups and events coming up! 

    • Workshops on a wide variety of topics related to instruction and course design. See the attached Fall 2025 workshops calendar for a full list of programs for the upcoming semester.
    • Special events such as the Annual Faculty Conference in January. Keep an eye out for our call for AFC poster, breakout session, and lightning talk proposals in September!
    • Programs such as Faculty Learning Communities and the Provost’s Teaching Academy.
    • Weekly tips and updates on CAT’s social media (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube).

If you have questions about the CAT or our services, please don’t hesitate to:

We hope to see you at the CAT!

What Does Inaccessibility Look Like? See for yourself

by Jennifer Zaylea

What does inaccessibility look like

Designing accessible course materials starts with empathy—but building empathy requires awareness. 

For those who don’t regularly face digital barriers, it can be difficult to recognize just how inaccessible some experiences can be. For an individual with a vision impairment, using a screen reader to scan through a document that does not meet accessibility guidelines would be at best time-consuming and irritating, at worst incomprehensible. An individual relying on captions may miss critical information in a video if non-spoken sounds aren’t captioned correctly.  

This video will give you a taste of what that inaccessibility looks like.  

 Try it with your course materials! We recommend using accessibility tools to examine your course content through a different lens. 

These activities are not meant to replicate or equate to the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. Instead, they offer a starting point for understanding how digital content design choices can create—or remove—barriers for many learners.

Try a Native Screen Reader 

Now it’s your turn!  

Use your device’s built-in screen reader to navigate one of your course pages in Canvas. Navigate to the page and access the screen reader: 

Mac (VoiceOver):  

      • Command + F5 System
      • Settings ->  Accessibility -> VoiceOver 

Windows (Narrator): Ctrl + Windows + Enter  

IOS (VoiceOver)/Android (TalkBack): Turn on in Accessibility Settings 

Can you follow the content? Are buttons and images described clearly? 

Now use your screen reader in these ways: 

      • Skim a dense wall of text while searching for a specific term. 
      • Open a PDF and see if the screen reader can read it without throwing errors such as “document unavailable.” 

How quickly can you find the information? Was it clear or overwhelming? 

Go Mobile—with Accessibility Settings 

Open your content on your phone with larger text or grayscale settings enabled. How does the layout adapt? Is everything still easy to navigate? 

These simple activities reveal how difficult it can be for your students to navigate inaccessible content. But here’s the good news: even small design changes can make a big difference for your students! 

Register for our Accessibility Workshops to gain a fuller understanding of why accessibility is important for our digital content. Explore these tools hands-on and learn how to create more accessible content. Lean into accessibility as the best way to ensure an inclusive environment for learning! 

 

Your Accessibility Helper: All About Yuja’s Panorama

By Dana Dawson

If you’re relatively new to digital accessibility considerations (as many of us at the CAT were at the beginning of this initiative), learning about the many ways in which your digital course materials may be inaccessible can feel overwhelming. The first step towards understanding the core principles of digital accessibility will be engaging with CAT’s training on how to make your digital materials accessible. But even after training, you may not remember everything you need to check before posting documents, PowerPoint slides, videos, etc. Will all the steps to making a PowerPoint or video accessible stay with you until the moment you need to create or remediate that new slidedeck or lecture recording? This is where YuJa’s Panorama comes in! 

Panorama is a tool that integrates with Canvas and helps identify and sometimes fix digital materials that are inaccessible so that you can ensure all of your students can readily access your course content. Panorama assesses each item created in, or uploaded to your Canvas course and offers an accessibility report and rating. In CAT’s accessibility training, we will provide an opportunity for you to understand and practice how to use Panorama, but here is an explanation of the basic implementations of this useful tool.

In your course Modules, Panorama will place an icon next to each item that indicates its level of accessibility. Here’s an example from one of the CAT’s Canvas sites:

Accessibility is a spectrum; because every individual has their own particular needs, digital items will be more or less accessible, and Panorama can help us ensure that our materials are the most accessible they can be according to current standards and practices. In the above image, a green smiley face icon signals that the item is most likely to be fully accessible (though PDF’s often have accessibility issues that are not flagged by Panorama and so must be manually checked), a yellow “meh” face icon signals some accessibility issues that require attention, and a red sad face icon signals that the item requires significant remediation. Items outside of Canvas that you provide links to cannot be assessed by Panorama and will not have an accessibility report.

In Modules, clicking the smiley green, “meh” yellow, or sad red icon will allow you to access the Panorama tools for items built in Canvas such as Assignments, Discussions, and Pages. If an item such as a PDF or PowerPoint file is uploaded to Canvas, clicking the icon opens an accessibility report and alternate formats menu. From there, by clicking on the Accessibility Report box, you will be able to review the full accessibility report which identifies specific issues, provides information on how to remediate those issues, and sometimes allows you to fix the identified problems within Panorama’s interface.

Many of our Canvas sites include a large number and wide variety of materials, so remediating our digital artifacts may be daunting. Consider getting started by reviewing what your students will use first and most frequently throughout your course and then move on to the materials flagged as having the most issues. Tackle the items marked by red, unhappy icons first before moving onto other items.

While Panorama will be a helpful tool in identifying and helping to fix inaccessible digital materials in your courses, it is not perfect and cannot replace having a grasp of best practices for creating digital materials that won’t require remediation. Our recommended approach is to join our workshop series to fully understand how to create accessible digital course materials and to learn how to use Panorama as a supplement to your own knowledge and understanding. 

Ready to get started? Check out our Accessible Temple web page or sign up for an upcoming workshop. Have questions? Email us. We’re here to help!

What is the POUR Framework?

by Jeff Rients

Accessible Temple What is the POUR Framework with accessibility icons

As we begin the Accessible Temple initiative, it is important to remember that accessibility isn’t just about meeting the legal requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s about honoring the diversity of your students, creating equitable learning environments, and practicing the kind of teaching that anticipates and celebrates differences instead of reacting to them. Rather than seeing accessibility as a set of compliance checkboxes or technical challenges, we invite you to see it for what it really is—an essential part of good teaching.

At the heart of the Accessible Temple push to bring our materials up to ADA standards is a simple, powerful framework known as POUR. POUR stands for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust—four principles that guide how we can create content that works for everyone, not just students with formal accommodations.

The POUR Framework Perceivable Operable Understandable Robust

Let’s break this down:

P: Perceivable

Students must be able to perceive the information presented. What we have in the past provided in just one format (e.g. text) needs to be available in others. This includes providing text alternatives for images (a.k.a. alt text), captions for videos, and sufficient color contrast between text and background.

 

Why it matters for all learners: Good contrast helps students working in bright light or on old monitors. Captions help English language learners, students studying in noisy environments, or anyone reviewing material on mute.

O: Operable

Students must be able to interact with your materials beyond a traditional keyboard and mouse/trackpad setup. We all too often assume that students will navigate our courses with the exact same tools and methods that we use to build them, and that is not always the case. That means your course should be navigable by keyboard, links should be clearly labeled, and nothing should rely solely on hover or click effects.

Why it matters for all learners: Students with motor disabilities or repetitive stress injuries aren’t the only ones who benefit. Keyboard navigation helps mobile users and even power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts.

U: Understandable

Content must be presented in ways that are clear and predictable. All too often the structure of our course and the purpose of our assignments is clear to us but not fully articulated to students. This includes using consistent layouts (such as Canvas modules), plain language, and providing instructions that are easy to follow.

Why it matters for all learners: Students are balancing a lot. If your syllabus is confusing or your assignment instructions are vague, you’ll lose time answering repeat questions—and students may lose confidence or motivation.

R: Robust

Materials must be compatible with current and future technologies. We can’t predict the tools our students will use to interact with our course content. This means using formats that work across browsers and screen readers and avoiding broken links or outdated plugins.

Why it matters for all learners: Everyone benefits when course materials just work—especially students accessing materials from older devices, slower connections, or assistive technologies.

What This Means for You

Here’s the good news: many of the things that make your course accessible are the same things that make your teaching more effective, your students more confident, and your time better spent. And you don’t have to overhaul everything at once. Small, intentional changes—like using built-in heading styles in Word or uploading videos in Panopto to allow for auto-captioning—can make a huge difference.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out tools, workshops, and one-on-one support to help you align your course materials with the POUR Framework. Whether you teach online, hybrid, or face-to-face, these practices apply. 

We’re not asking for perfection—we’re building a culture of care and continuous improvement. When we design with POUR in mind, we’re not just complying with a set of guidelines—we’re investing in pedagogy that works for everyone.

Ready to get started? Check out our Accessible Temple web page or sign up for an upcoming workshop. Have questions? Email us. We’re here to help!

Jeff Rients, Ph.D, serves as Associate Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation at Temple University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Accessible Temple: What Faculty Need to Know

What is Accessible Temple and what does it mean for faculty at Temple? I’m sure these questions are on your mind if you read the recent announcement about this university-wide initiative, which will ensure that all digital materials and websites at Temple meet new requirements for accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We at the CAT are here to answer your questions! 

We want to emphasize that, first and foremost, committing to accessibility is the right thing to do! Designing our courses with accessibility in mind lowers barriers for our students with disabilities, ensuring that they can access their educational experience fully. And, importantly, the benefits of accessible course design extend further, improving all students’ ability to navigate their learning journey more productively. Put simply, accessibility is not an ‘added bonus’ but a fundamental best practice for teaching. Think for a minute about captions on video content. While students with hearing impairments rely on captions to understand what they are watching, captions may also support focus in distracting environments, assist with vocabulary acquisition, help overcome poor audio quality, and improve comprehension for those who speak English as a second language. As an institution, designing intentionally for accessibility will be an important step in providing a more inclusive learning experience that benefits all students. 

In the coming weeks and months, we at the CAT will be clarifying what it means to make the materials you use for teaching and learning accessible and what actions you must take to ensure their accessibility. You’re not alone in this — we will provide the training, resources, and information you need to support you in realizing the goal of an accessible campus.

Get started today by reviewing the information on our Accessible Temple webpage. There you’ll find information about the new guidelines and about the training the CAT will be providing. You’ll also find information about the Digital Accessibility Micro-Credential you will earn by completing the training CAT is offering. 

Remember, Access is the Key. Learning is the Destination.

End-of-Semester Reflection as a Tool for Growth

Jeff Rients and Stephanie Fiore

The end of the semester is the perfect time to take stock of what worked in our classes this year and also explore thoughts we might have about any challenges we may have faced. 

A fruitful area to reflect on is how we can use assessments and grading to grow student learning. Our guest speaker for the CAT’s annual STEM Educators’ Lecture on April 8 provided some ideas for thinking about this exact topic. Dr. Robert Talbert, professor of mathematics at Grand Valley State University and one of the authors of Grading For Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices That Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education helped faculty think deeply about the sometimes fraught relationship between grading and assessment.

Dr. Robert Talbert lecturing

Dr. Talbert’s talk began with an overview of the history of grading in higher education, focusing on its relative newness to higher education and its role primarily as an administrative/ bureaucratic tool, as opposed to a mechanism for improving student learning. In short, the grading scheme we are all familiar with–certain student behaviors earn them grades which in term yield a final grade for purposes of calculating a grade point average–developed during the 19th century movement of settlers into America’s West as a way of allowing students to transfer credits from one school to another in a growing United States.  

Assessment, on the other hand, focuses on observing student performance in comparison to some goal or standard and providing the student with the feedback needed to improve the performance. Dr. Talbert’s work argues that we need to do less grading and more assessment in our classrooms. Grading for Growth outlines multiple strategies to achieve this goal, and Dr. Talbert walked us through his own specific approach that he uses with his mathematics students.

Ultimately, a work like Grading for Growth and a lecture like Dr. Talbert’s is never going to provide us with all the answers we need to improve our course so that more of our students succeed. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in higher education, as the context of the individual course, the individual instructor, and the individual student will always be requisite pieces of the puzzle. As much as we at the CAT love the “alternate assessment” framework Talbert uses, every instructor is ultimately responsible for making an assessment plan that fits their specific situation.

Grading for Growth strikes us as the kind of book that will do a lot of good in a lot of classrooms. But what matters more is that whatever assessment plan we use should be developed and deployed with thoughtful intentionality. This approach works equally well for every aspect of our teaching. If we want to be the best instructors we can be, then it’s wise to stop and consider questions such as

        • Is my assessment plan measuring student progress towards the learning goals of the course?
        • Am I providing students with the feedback they need to improve?
        • Am I providing the students with sufficient opportunities to practice tasks and receive feedback?
        • Do my course materials and lectures give students the context and background needed to approach the required tasks thoughtfully?
        • Do my in-class activities provide practice for the tasks they will perform for assessment purposes?
        • Do the students have the resources they need when they get stuck, and do they know how to access them?

The end of the semester is the perfect time to take a few minutes to reflect on these questions. Jot your thoughts down as to what worked and what didn’t work. Outline what you might change going forward or what about the course you need to discuss with a colleague (or a CAT staffer!). Make sure you record these important thoughts somewhere you can easily find them. That way, when you find yourself at the end of the summer and ready to start prepping for fall, you will thank your past self for helping you make next fall your best semester yet.

We at the CAT want to remind you that we are here all summer to assist you and that you can find an electronic copy of Dr. Talbert’s book in the Temple library. But if we don’t see you until August, we wish you a wonderfully restful and restorative summer and look forward to seeing you in the new academic year.

Jeff Rients, Ph.D., is Associate Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation at Temple University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Ph.D., is Associate Vice Provost and Senior Direct of Temple University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Crafting Space for Student Belonging Part IX: Student Belonging and the Community Beyond the Classroom

Linda Hasunuma and Deanne Decrescenzo

Our series on Student Belonging has focused on how intentional course design and teaching practices can foster connections and community in the classroom, but this post explores how faculty can help students feel connected to our greater Temple community at the personal, departmental, and university levels. Faculty can serve as valuable hubs of information and direct students to the multitude of groups, services, and opportunities at Temple that can help our students feel like they belong and are an integral part of our greater campus community. By being proactive and learning about valuable opportunities and resources for students, faculty can play an important role in helping students gain their footing and develop a greater sense of belonging and community at Temple.

Research shows that the relationship students have with faculty matters for how students feel about their sense of belonging, their ability to persist, and their overall college experience. Additionally, students who join clubs and teams, especially when they begin college, report having a better sense of belonging and community as they become integrated into those close-knit communities upon entry (Bentrim & Henning, 2022). This greater sense of belonging and community can also positively impact student learning outcomes and retention in a major or field. 

Yet, for students who may be shy, feel less comfortable with the prospect of meeting new peers, or who may not have built-in social groups or teams upon entry into college, they have reported that the relationship they have with faculty had the greatest impact on their sense of belonging and how they think about their college experience. This is especially true for our transfer students, commuters, or students who may have had non-traditional pathways into college. Faculty can be a vital resource for helping students find meaningful connections and networks of support.

At the department or major level, faculty can facilitate connections with peers, advisors, student groups, and alumni networks. Students can learn more about major based student organizations or societies, graduate school, internships, fellowship opportunities, and more. Beyond the classroom, it is helpful to have a broad sense of the many opportunities our students have to build relationships and communities that can enrich them during their time in college and after as alumni.

With the countless opportunities at Temple, sometimes the hardest part for students to get involved is knowing where to start. Below are resources you can direct students towards to make connections, find support, and develop as a leader.  

For students new to Temple, they will start their journey at orientation. At the start of the semester, all new students are invited to participate in Weeks of Welcome, a series of events designed to support the academic and personal transition of students to the university. Depending on the student’s school or college, they may be enrolled in a First-year Seminar with opportunities to build community and connect with a peer mentor. Ask them more about this! 

Encourage your students to seek out some smaller communities. Temple is home to over 400 student organizations focused on a variety of areas including arts and entertainment, culturally-based, major-related, and service. Students can join groups throughout the year by searching Owl Connect or start a new organization at the beginning of each semester! Similarly, Temple University’s fraternity and sorority community has 34 chapters designed to support students in identity development, community engagement, and personal growth. 

Among these smaller communities, Temple is proud to have many based around shared cultures and identities. Any student interested in exploring their own identities or who wants to learn about the experiences of others, may want to explore participating in identity-based or cultural groups. This includes joining a student organization, a multicultural or historically African-American fraternity or sorority, or engaging in the variety of student programming and dialogues hosted by IDEAL. These spaces not only help our students build meaningful social connections and develop their leadership skills, but they can help our students find belonging and connection within our greater Temple community. 

Want to know what opportunities are out there for your students? Reach out to studentactivities@temple.edu to request a presentation in class from an Ambassador or stay informed with key social media accounts and share updates with your students!

Bentrim, E., & Henning, G.W. (Eds.). (2022). The Impact of a Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003447870

Linda Hasunuma, PhD,  is Associate Director at Temple University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Deanne Decrescenzo,  EdD, is Associate Dean of Students at Temple University.

Crafting Space for Student Belonging Part VIII: “So, make the friendship bracelets”: Fostering student belonging in large lectures 

Elizabeth Cerkez, Associate Professor of Instruction, Chemistry, College of Science and Technology

Scrolling through social media, I saw a post from a colleague at the University of Delaware. He was making chemistry plus Taylor Swift lyric friendship bracelets for his students in organic chemistry.  

My mind raced: I love this idea. I could do this.  

I already had some beads, so I started crafting.  

Using my encyclopedic knowledge of Taylor Swift lyrics and chemistry, I came up with fun crossovers: 

      • “Calibration Problems” for “Champagne Problems,”  
      • “Electron Touch” for “Electric Touch,”  
      • “Miss Americium and the Half-Life Prince” for “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.”  

Bringing these to my next lecture, there was immediate excitement, “We can get a bracelet for answering a question?” And then the further excitement from the Swifties in the room, “That lyric! That chem concept!” When I posed the first question to the room of 200+ students, more than half of the hands went up. I could see students’ eyes widen with delight. Let’s just say that’s not a common experience as a faculty member teaching General Chemistry.  

I left that lecture and immediately ordered more beads. 

Creating belonging in a large classroom takes some effort. Unlike a small class, everyone cannot talk to everyone. Finding a way to help students feel belonging is as unique as each faculty member; we need to find what works for us. One of my colleagues plays music at the start of each class; another invites students to anonymously answer off-topic questions such as “Do you put Jelly or Peanut Butter on a sandwich first?”; and another has students introduce themselves by sharing the image on their phone’s lock screen.  

The phrase “to each their own” is apt here, and it takes trial and error to find something that clicks. What worked in one classroom may not work in another. The main goal is to help students see that their professor is a fellow human with interests outside of the topic at hand, and so are all their classmates. The goal is to create a community grounded in everything that makes us unique.   

But “belonging” in a large lecture is not just about feeling comfortable in the room with the professor and one’s classmates. It is about the feeling that, “maybe I’m not cut out for this” – the more figurative belonging. Friendship bracelets can make classrooms more jovial and more communal; they do not solve the problem of belonging-related uncertainty.  

The largest lectures are content-dense courses taken early in a college career. They are abrupt transitions from the small, personal classrooms of high school. Importantly, they can make students feel isolated because they think they are the only ones struggling and that perhaps they are not cut out for this major or–in the worst-case scenario–for college. This is particularly true for those from underrepresented groups in your field. Helping students realize that everyone struggles, and that this struggle is a component of the learning process, is a key item for faculty to demonstrate in the classroom. This can be done even in the largest of lectures. One of the most effective ways to do this is by sharing our own stories.  

Just like how the friendship bracelets humanize me, describing how I struggled with chemistry helps to show students an example of how a setback was overcome by an expert in the field. When to introduce this information is key – I usually do this after the first exam. This gives enough time for our large class to build community and for them to trust that I can offer them expertise as an instructor (something women and people of color are particularly cognizant of). Before releasing exam scores and feedback, I verbally acknowledge that many of them may find they did not earn the score they had aimed for but there is still time left in the semester. And then I ask them to guess what score I earned on the AP Chem exam in high school. Without a doubt, students guess 4s and 5s, a reasonable guess for someone who now holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and is their professor. However, when I reveal that I earned a 1 (the lowest possible score) students show those same faces of amazement they did when the friendship bracelets were announced.

I then invite students to answer an in-class poll question, submitting an activity outside of academics that they excel at, such as drawing, sports, music, etc. Then I ask them to describe how they were at the activity the first time they attempted it. Invariably, students respond “horrible” “disaster” “☠️”. Finally, they are asked to submit how they improved, and the majority of students say “practice.” This simple exercise, which takes 3-5 minutes during class, goes extremely far in helping students see that struggle is normal, even expected, and they do belong. Success with an activity or an academic subject is not defined by how well they did on the first try. 

The key to fostering belonging in large classrooms is that the two pieces go hand in hand – the friendship bracelets and the story of failure. Building community among classroom participants by excitement over a bracelet helps to set the stage to share the things that make us truly human – the struggles and the challenges. Building community gives our students confidence that they can overcome challenges because they do fundamentally belong in our classroom, in the major, and in college. Like Taylor says, “I’m making a comeback to where I belong.” 

 

For an introduction to research-based evaluations of belonging uncertainty, I recommend the following book chapter: 

Murdock-Perriera, L. A., Boucher, K. L., Carter, E. R., & Murphy, M. C. (2019). Places of Belonging: Person- and Place-Focused Interventions to Support Belonging in College. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research.

Crafting Space for Student Belonging Part VII: Alone Together: Making Group Work Work in the Asynchronous Online Classroom

by Elizabeth White Vidarte

Collaborative group work offers rich opportunities for learning — but it can be challenging in asynchronous online settings. Unlike in-person courses, online groups must navigate different time zones, communication styles, and technological barriers. You might hesitate to assign group projects in these settings, concerned that students will struggle with coordination or that uneven participation will lead to frustration. However, with thoughtful planning and intentional structuring, asynchronous group work can be highly effective, fostering deep learning, engagement, and the development of essential collaboration skills.

This post lays out strategies for designing and facilitating successful asynchronous group projects. From setting clear expectations and communication norms to structuring collaboration and handling conflict, these approaches will help you create a supportive environment where students can thrive — together, even while apart.

Start by Planning

Before assigning a group project, consider a few key questions. If the first two questions give you pause, consider whether the project truly needs to be a group assignment. But if question #3 stumps you—good news! That’s exactly what we’re covering in this section.

      • What learning goal is the collaborative work addressing? Ensure this goal is reflected in your assessment criteria.
      • How will you assess the group’s work? Will you evaluate the final product, the process, or both?
      • How will you guide and support students through group work? Do you have strategies for setting expectations, facilitating communication, and managing conflict?

Lay the Groundwork: Self-Assessments & Group Agreements

Before students can collaborate effectively, they need to reflect on their own work styles and how those might impact a group dynamic.

      • Ask students to self-assess – Have students evaluate their strengths, communication preferences, and potential challenges when working with others. Students can share reflections in a document, discussion board, or via short video/audio messages.
      • Create group agreements – Once students understand their own working styles, they should develop a group agreement outlining:
        • Preferred communication methods (e.g., email, discussion boards, messaging apps)
        • Expected response times for messages
        • Decision-making processes
        • Conflict resolution strategies
        • How to support each other when life gets in the way

Establish Communication Norms

One of the biggest challenges of asynchronous group work is staying connected without real-time interactions. To prevent miscommunication and disengagement, students need clear communication channels and regular check-ins.

      • Help students choose the right tools – Some may prefer Canvas discussion boards, while others might use Slack, Microsoft Teams, or shared Google Docs. Ensure accessibility across different locations.
      • Encourage proactive communication – Students should check in regularly, not just when problems arise. A simple message like “Hey team, I’ve drafted my section—let me know if you have any feedback!” keeps things moving.
      • Require a team check-in – Assign a brief weekly discussion post where students update each other on progress. Alternatively, encourage brief Zoom meetings or an asynchronous video/audio update.
      • Set norms for tone and format – Written messages can be misinterpreted. Encourage clear, respectful communication and suggest using video or voice messages when needed.

Use Structured Collaboration & Documentation

Without a clear structure, asynchronous group work can quickly become chaotic. Encourage students to document their work to ensure accountability and streamline collaboration.

      • Use shared documents (Google Docs, Canvas Pages, or a wiki) to:
        • Keep meeting notes
        • Track deadlines
        • Assign tasks
      • Use margin comments – These allow students to ask questions or clarify ideas, mimicking organic discussion in in-person meetings.
      • Designate an “Action Items” section – At the end of each document, ask students to include a section that summarizes next steps and responsibilities. By documenting key decisions, groups minimize confusion and create a transparent workflow that all members can follow.

Have a Plan for Conflict Resolution

Even in well-structured groups, conflicts and challenges will arise. Help students assume positive intent and work through difficulties productively.

      • Remind students to assume best intentions – Emphasize that tone can be easily misread online and encourage clarifying questions before assuming bad intent.
      • Encourage compassion and flexibility – At any given time, students may be dealing with personal challenges that impact their ability to contribute.
      • Establish a “cooling-off period” for disagreements – Encourage students to step back and revisit issues with a fresh perspective.
      • If a team member is struggling – Coach students to reach out privately with a problem before escalating the issue within the group. Remind students that faculty support is available if they need help navigating group dynamics.

Final Thoughts

Effective group work in asynchronous courses doesn’t happen by chance — it requires intentional design, clear expectations, and structured support. By helping students reflect on their collaboration styles, establish strong communication norms, and document their work, you can create an environment where group projects lead to meaningful learning experiences rather than frustration. When done well, asynchronous group work not only strengthens students’ content mastery but also equips them with valuable teamwork and communication skills that they will carry into their professional lives.

By implementing these strategies, faculty can turn the challenges of asynchronous collaboration into opportunities for connection, growth, and deeper engagement. After all, learning is at its best when done together — even from a distance.

Elizabeth White Vidarte, Ph.D., works at Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching as the Online Learning Specialist.