Creating interactive course directories

Abstract

Many learning management systems (LMS) enable displaying a public course roster. However, such rosters are limited in several ways. First, they typically contain only basic institutional details about people (e.g., their name and email) and often include generic identification photos, which limits the inclusion of course-specific details and stifles student self-expression. Second, they are often static, with limited ability for users to interact via searching and filtering. This teaching tip describes a method for creating an interactive Course Directory and embedding it within an LMS. Beginning in Fall 2019, variations of this technique have been employed by the authors in an introductory undergraduate course, two upper-level undergraduate courses, and a graduate-level course in Animal and Dairy Sciences. The basic mechanism for creating the Course Directory includes 1) a survey and its responses, 2) a data platform, and 3) an embedded element in an LMS webpage. This method is adaptable to a wide range of survey systems, data platforms, and LMS systems. The present teaching tip describes an example in which we connected a Google Form to Google Looker Studio to embed an inline frame within a Canvas webpage.