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How do you currently use your subject site?
Subject sites are used for many different purposes. Tell us how you use your subject site currently, with the poll below.
A subject site often used to provide administrative and procedural information about the subject to students. It also provides information to support learning, as well as serving as a platform to provide students opportunities to learn interactively and collaboratively online.
The following table outlines the purposes of a subject site (Centre for the Study of Higher Education, 2008)
| Category | A subject site… |
| Administrative and procedural information | Provides students with description of subject, schedule of topics and activities, contact details of teaching team, outlines of assessment tasks and due dates, feedback of the subject from previous cohorts. Is a place for student to submit their assessment tasks. Is where students are able to access their marks and grades and monitor their progress. |
| Information to support learning | Outlines subject learning outcomes, requirements and expectations. Provides information on assessment criteria in relation to the subject learning outcomes. Is where students access readings, videos, notes, and other resources for the subject. Is where you provide regular and timely feedback to students on their progress and/or submitted assessment tasks. |
| Interactive and collaborative learning | Provides students with opportunities to discuss or debate topics with each other asynchronously. Enables students to collaborate on small group tasks provides opportunities for self-assessment. Allows the process of informal or formal peer review and feedback. Provides opportunities for reflections. |
What makes a subject site effective?
There are a number of elements, which contribute to an effective subject site. You may recognise some of these elements in the activity below, from your own experiences.
Drag and place each of the listed elements into the relevant categories.
What would students like to see in their subject sites?
Students have previously told us that they valued:
- A consistent navigation menu, preferably with their other subjects is important.
- Accessing everything they need for the week or for a module in one place, so they don’t accidentally miss vital information.
- A weekly announcement outlining what’s new, what’s happening in the subject that week.
- Quick access to the teaching team’s contact details would be helpful.
These are echoed in an analysis of the qualitative responses from student feedback surveys where students requested:
- Clear expectations for each week
- Easy to navigate Canvas subject sites
- Personal connections with teaching staff
- More engaging asynchronous activities
- More support for group work
- Effective Zoom breakout rooms
Check the Guiding Principles for Canvas for more guidance. While these were developed for Canvas, they can also be applied to UTSOnline.