Why have a clickable image in your course?
Creating an image of yourself using the Bitmoji app on your phone is a fun way to humanize your course and let students know you are approachable.
By making the image clickable, it links students to the areas where you can see their questions more quickly and therefore, respond to them faster.
Whatever image you use (it doesn’t have to be a bitmoji!), be sure that you use it consistently so that students recognize that it’s a navigation shortcut they can use.
One area where you can use a clickable image is to direct students to a Q and A Forum where they can ask questions. Using an image like a question mark or a button that takes students directly to the Q and A Forum increases the likelihood that they will use that area for questions and makes it easier for instructors to find and respond to student inqueries in a timely manner.
To ensure accessibility, when giving the image an alternative description use a naming convention like “Question Mark Image Active Link to Q and A Forum.”
How to Make a Clickable Image in Your Course
- Create and publish your Student Q and A Forum first. You need a location to send students to before creating the clickable image.
- Choose your image, upload it to your Canvas “Files” area and give it an “Alternative text description.” This description will come up when students roll over the image with a mouse and can also be read by screen-reading software.
- When you are creating a new assignment or starting a new module and you want to direct students to the Q and A Forum if they have questions, upload the image into the directions area of the new assignment while you are in Edit mode.
- Click on the image to “highlight” it (it will change to have a blue box overlay) then click on “Links” from the menu on the right-hand side of the screen. Click on “Discussions” in the drop-down menu. Scroll down until you find the “Q and A” Forum you already created. Click on that!
The blue box overlaying the image will turn yellow then back to blue. That’s the way you will know you have created an active link. Now when a student sees that image, they will know it will take them to the Q and A Forum.
This tip maps to the following areas of the OEI Course Design Rubric:
A4: Course Navigation. Navigation and content flow are easily determined by the user.
A7: Effective Use of Course Management (CMS) Tools. CMS tools are used to reduce the labor-intensity of learning and streamline access to materials and activities for students.
A8: Effective Use of Multimedia. A variety of media, such as text, audio, video, images and/or graphics are used throughout.
B2: Regular Effective Contact. The course design includes regular instructor-initiated contact with students using CMS communication tools.
B3: Student-Initiated Contact. Students are encouraged to initiate contact with the instructor through easily accessed contact information that includes expected response times.
Your Tech Tip Team,
-Lynn Hawley and Jenn Azzaro
Engaging with the POCR process completely changed how I think about my hybrid and online courses. POCR allowed me to not only align course and module specific objectives, but to create non-disposable assignments and disregard student busy work assignments. I now follow the POCR process to align all of my courses. This process has enabled me to construct my courses in a stress-free, student friendly, constructive manner. I encourage all faculty to collaborate with POCR and the wonderful reviewers who oversee the process.
The Peer Online Course Review will help you create a dynamic and engaging course where all students can excel. Jenn and Marty offer excellent support for each step in this process. I highly recommend embarking on this challenging and rewarding journey! 
As a new faculty member and new to teaching online, I wanted to be sure my courses were structured in a way that made sense to students and offered the highest level of support. I was grateful that I had access to two POCR-approved courses from other instructors when I first started. When I was assigned PSYC 4 and found there was not a POCR-approved version, I saw it as a great opportunity to get feedback during development and ensure the course met the highest standards. I am truly appreciative of the guidance and support throughout the process, and I feel extremely confident in the quality of instruction I am providing to students. 
My experience with POCR has been rewarding and insightful. The review process has helped me evaluate my courses through the lens of student engagement, accessibility, and clarity. My POCR review team provided valuable feedback that allowed me to refine my content, ensure alignment with the standards, and create a more student-centered learning experience.
Engaging with the POCR process completely changed how I think about and my hybrid and online courses. POCR allowed me to not only align course and module specific objectives, but to create non-disposable assignments and disregard student busy work assignments. I now follow the POCR process to align all of my courses. This process has enabled me to construct my courses in a stress-free, student friendly, constructive manner. I encourage all faculty to collaborate with POCR and the wonderful reviewers who oversee the process.
Participating in POCR has been an incredibly valuable experience. Having taken almost all of my courses through the process, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the online learning experience from the student perspective. As instructors, our goal is always to design courses that are informative, well-organized, and supportive of student success, but without guidance this is difficult to achieve on our own.
The POCR process was incredibly helpful to improving accessibility, engagement, interaction, and assessment of my Art 3 class. The support team of Jennifer and Martin provided invaluable guidance throughout the project. I now feel more confident about the clarity and navigability of my course, and I look forward to applying the skills I’ve learned to my other art history courses!
POCR was an amazing experience! As an instructor, you want your class to be informative, organized, and accessible for students to maximize their learning. I feel like my students will get so much more out of my courses now that they are in alignment with better videos, graphics, assignments and overall organization.
“After being a reviewer for a long time, I decided to go through the process myself with my online history course. I have been working on this course for over a decade but felt it needed a complete overhaul. Getting through the POCR review was the incentive I needed to do the work and I felt that having knowledgeable people look over the course would help ensure that the updates made sense. POCR is worth every bit of the effort required because when you are finished, when all the updates have been completed, you know that the course works well, that students aren’t going to be confused or run into problems, and that the course is accessible. “
“I thought I had done a good job when I developed my online course during covid, but working through the POCR process made me realize that there were many areas that could be improved, especially in course navigation and design. The course is much better organized now, making it easier for students to keep track of assignments and communicate with me and their classmates. I was a bit apprehensive when asked to take my course though POCR, but the excellent guidance I received from Jenn and Marty made the process very straightforward.”
“I thought my online teaching was solid, but putting English 38 through the POCR process showed me how much more there could be. The course was fine before, but it’s so much better now. The teams are supportive, with lots of good ideas and suggestions without judgment. I’d recommend this course to everyone, whether you’ve been teaching online for 20 years or whether you just started.”
“Completing the POCR review process for my Psych 02 (Statistics for the Social Sciences) course was a challenging and rewarding experience. The process made me view my course through a new equity lens to make sure all students had the accessibility to be successful in the course. I learned a lot from the process and my skills on CANVAS were sharpened. I am able to use the information I learned from the POCR review and apply it to other courses that I teach.”
“I would highly recommend the POCR process for any instructors seeking to take their online course to the next level. Having gone through the process twice, I can say with confidence that my online courses are more organized and student-centered than ever. This process really allows you to dive deeply into online learning and provides you with the opportunity to develop a course that takes into consideration the varying learning styles of students.”
“Moving my Eng 1B through POCR made me rethink every choice I make in my online teaching. Is this the most effective way to structure a lecture? Is this the most impactful and relatable assignment? Have I taken enough steps to ensure that no student gets lost? Looking at my class with fresh eyes has made my class more organized, accessible, and engaging for my students.”
“At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic required faculty to become proficient at executing virtual instruction, I found the POCR process to be invaluable to my goal of designing effective hybrid and asynchronous courses that supported my students’ success. I frequently receive positive feedback from students describing their appreciation for varied elements of our courses spanning content presentation, interaction, assessment, and accessibility which I attribute largely to the professional development that I have received through the POCR process.”
“By going through the POCR review process, my class is more accessible, presentable, and organized. Students liked accessing this class which was organized and manageable.”
“I thought my classes were pretty well organized and dialed in until I went through the POCR process. I was able to raise my online course to a much higher standard. The process is very structured and clear and for me it revealed several areas that needed improvement. The support team were all amazing and very well organized and more importantly, they understand how challenging it is to design a class while teaching. I would encourage every instructor who teaches online to consider the POCR process.”