Implementing Digital Learning Tools in College Courses: 8 Evidence-Based Approaches

While most faculty development on digital learning begins with a solid foundation in the theory and vocabulary of its topic, busy faculty understandably are eager to discuss what tools to use and how to use them. Survey responses from a recent community of practice on digital learning give a peek at those daily course-level concerns. They show how faculty are connecting the science of teaching and learning to the practical work of selecting and implementing digital learning tools in their lessons.

Here we’ve assembled what participants shared during a recent community of practice on implementing digitally enabled, evidence-based teaching practices (DE-EBTs). Over eight weeks, faculty in the community of practice learned about teaching practices that evidence shows support student success and explored how technology can make those moves easier to implement. Each week they completed short surveys about what they were learning from one another and, especially interesting, how they were using what they learned in the flow of their actual courses.

Those survey responses, anonymized and lightly edited for clarity in this format, show two broad modes: how faculty use digital tools to extend a familiar activity or to enable something new that wasn’t possible before. For example, digital tools can make a familiar peer group activity more inclusive of students who have difficulty participating, and they can give faculty deeper data-driven insights about students’ prior knowledge.

The survey responses also show faculty using digital tools to make expectations clearer and build connections with and between students. Ultimately, these responses show how participants in the community of practice use technology to extend effective teaching in both in-person and online learning environments.

Active learning

Several responses describe using digital tools to get students doing, testing, graphing, comparing, interpreting, and discussing. Faculty use software that simulates experiments, build interactive activities within spreadsheet programs, and assign case studies with real-world data.

“One of my favorite ongoing strategies is assigning weekly ‘exploratory quests.’ Here, students collect real-world data, such as daily steps, hours of sleep, or local weather patterns, and analyze it. These quests connect abstract statistical concepts to their lived experiences, and I use shared documents or discussion threads so students can compare results and discuss patterns. It sparks genuine curiosity and peer interaction.”

“I use pre-recorded lectures that allow me to use more class time having students interact with each other and work on problems, rather than listen to me lecture to them.” 

“One way I support active learning is to use a software program to generate [unique versions of a math problem]. This way, each student is responsible for figuring out their correct answer (with help, if needed). I use this to break up the class time so that it is not just a traditional lecture the entire time.”

Assess and activate prior knowledge

Some faculty ask students to create semi-structured introductory videos that help faculty learn what students need to help them succeed. Another common practice is to use survey tools to discover students’ goals and experiences. Low-stakes quizzes allow students to demonstrate the knowledge they arrive with. These techniques are not limited to the beginning of the term but can be effective if repeated at the start or completion of each unit.

“I include an early check-in survey through Canvas that asks students about their background in math, their goals for the course, and anything they’d like me to know to help them succeed. This helps me connect with students on a more individual level and adapt accordingly.”

“I regularly use [polls] to take attendance while also asking reflective or “get-to-know-you” questions, which gives me insights into student interests, challenges, and experiences.”

“I typically use [polls] at the beginning of each session to check comprehension of pre-class material, uncover common misconceptions, and prompt small-group discussions where students explain and justify their thinking.” 

Data-informed instruction

Faculty use analytics from their LMS, courseware, and specialized software from their discipline. Simple activity data — frequency of logging in and time on task — can help identify who is not engaging. Performance data — actual results on quizzes — can illuminate where students get stuck or what modules need redesign. One instructor described examining courseware data and realizing that one module was an outlier; students took longer to complete it, got lower scores, or didn’t complete it at all. Their solution was to split that module into two lessons.

“I currently use [analytics] to track student progress, engagement, and performance. These tools allow me to identify at-risk students and concepts that need reteaching.”

“Formative assessment tools [in the LMS] are essential to me. [They] let me see how many times students are going back and forth to resources that support assignments, as well as how often they are engaging with the discussion forums. The quiz analytics have helped me adjust time and options in quizzes because I can see which questions students are spending the most time on and which quizzes students are not spending enough time on.”

Formative practice and assessment

Faculty describe using the tools built into courseware and discipline-specific tools to speed up or automate grading on weekly quizzes. They connect individual solutions or sentences in student work to elements of a grading rubric, and they annotate that with written comments or with audio or video recording. Low-stakes quizzes can reveal where students are confused while instructors still have time to support them.

“MyOpenMath provides students with immediate feedback on their work. For some problems, there are links to videos and other materials to help them with the specific problem.”

“Currently, in my Intro to Statistics course, I use Canvas SpeedGrader to leave targeted written comments on students’ Excel activities and group projects so they receive clear, actionable feedback on what they did well and how they can improve. I also rely on RealizeIt’s automated feedback for practice problems and module quizzes, which allows students to see immediately where they made mistakes and learn from them while concepts are still fresh.”

“My students turn in their assignments online, via the LMS and I grade and provide feedback on there, too. The comments on this tool give me a lot of flexibility: I can write a text comment, record an audio or video comment. I can also annotate their assignment directly”

Fostering a sense of belonging through an inclusive learning environment

Faculty describe welcome videos, daily announcements, “Meet Your Classmates” forums, Q&A boards, anonymous discussion boards, virtual drop-in hours, personalized replies to introductions, “check-in” surveys, video or audio responses that make the instructor feel more present, and outreach to students flagged as isolated or disengaged. Several respondents also foster belonging by using relevant datasets, real-world issues, and examples students can recognize from their own lives and communities.

“The Canvas LMS enables me to create various types of discussion forums, including the “Meet Your Classmates” forum, the “Q&A” forum, and content-related forums.”

“I use daily Canvas announcements to guide students through the course while encouraging them with positive, growth-mindset reminders. These announcements not only clarify what to focus on each day but also help students feel that someone is walking alongside them in their learning journey.”

“I use welcome videos, anonymous discussion boards, and first-week discussion boards where students share their prior experiences with math and data. These small digital gestures help students feel seen and reduce the intimidation factor that often comes with statistics. I also frame many of my examples and datasets around diverse, real-world issues. This is something students can relate to and discuss asynchronously.”

“Features like video and audio feedback allow me to communicate in a way that’s not only clearer—but more personal and human.”

Instructional transparency

Faculty help make the “why” and “how” of a course clearer to students by posting learning goals, assignment sequences, weekly announcements that preview topics and due dates, and videos with explicit explanations of course structure that show students what to do, when, and why. They often describe the LMS as the “backbone” or “roadmap” that helps communicate expectations to students.

“My course is organized on Canvas with weekly modules that clearly outline learning goals, resources, and assignments, so students always know what’s expected and when.”

“I use a clear weekly module structure that always includes Pre-class videos and guided notes, RealizeIt adaptive practice, and an Excel-based application or group activity. This predictable layout helps students know exactly what to expect and when.”

Metacognition and self-regulated learning

Faculty mention reflection prompts, progress trackers, exam wrapper activities, digital journals, and self-assessment activities that help students identify and adjust their own learning strategies. Faculty also describe using adaptive learning courseware to help students see where they are in a mastery-based learning journey.

“To promote metacognition and self-regulated learning, I’ve embedded reflection prompts and progress trackers into the course design. Students use these to assess their own learning strategies and make adjustments.”

“I use the discussion platform of Canvas to guide students through a series of metacognitive concepts. This is a small portion of their grade (in the 3-5 percent range) and requires low effort on their side, but I think it’s good to keep the big picture in front of the students”

“Each week students take a survey where they need to describe what math topics we have covered were difficult and on what topics they need help.”

“I am also developing an activity that uses ChatGPT as a study tool before exams. . . . (e.g., ‘Quiz me on interpreting mean, median, mode, and standard deviation in context of a dataset about exam scores’). Students will then respond to the AI’s questions, receive instant feedback, and take a screenshot of the exchange. To receive credit, students will submit the screenshot along with a brief reflection on what they learned or clarified. This activity aims to deepen review, provide immediate personalized feedback, and promote metacognitive skills before high-stakes assessments.”

Peer collaboration

Faculty describe using digital tools for collaborative writing, group brainstorming, group interpretation of data, student-to-student video responses, peer feedback, and discussion activities. In several responses, peer collaboration overlaps directly with active learning and belonging.

“The Canvas LMS allows me to create groups and assign cooperative and collaborative tasks and projects. The use of group-based assignments and projects helps students develop core competencies and foster a sense of belonging and a community of learners that sustains itself with mutual respect and shared responsibilities for learning.”

“I also integrate tools for collaborative brainstorming, real-time group writing, and polling apps to check understanding and spark engagement.”

“Short student-to-student video discussion boards could allow students to respond to each other with warmth and curiosity—not just text-based logic.”