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Educators run a student-eye findability test on a messy mock course, then tidy their own with consistent modules, one home for due dates, accessible files, and a check on any AI-generated materials.
When students can't find the assignment, the rubric, or the due date, the course has become a scavenger hunt, and the students who struggle most with organization, language, or access pay the highest price. In this session, participants play students trying to complete five everyday tasks in a deliberately messy mock course, counting clicks and dead ends. They then tidy it using a shared checklist: consistent module structure, predictable names, one place for due dates, accessible files, and fewer clicks. Finally they check an AI-generated course page before posting and plan a findability test with real students in their own course.
Hook
Ask everyone to stand. Say: "Think about the last time you logged into a course or site you didn't build, like a benefits portal or a conference app, and couldn't find what you needed. Sit down when you've remembered how it felt." Then: "That's what a disorganized course feels like to a student, every day." Hand out Handout A and say: "For the next 12 minutes, you're a student in Ms. Varga's ninth-grade biology course."
Facilitator noteHigher Ed faculty relate quickly to this. Swap "ninth-grade biology" for an intro course if your room is mostly faculty.
Explore
In pairs, one person is the Student and one is the Observer. The Student tries each of the five tasks on Handout B using only the course map on Handout A, tracing the path with a finger and saying each "click" aloud. The Observer counts clicks, notes where the Student looked first, and records any dead ends. Swap roles halfway. Pairs mark whether each task was found and how confident they are that it's the right item.
Facilitator noteThe ah-ha is usually Task 1: there are three different due dates for the same lab in three places. Listen for "Which one is right?"
Debrief
Collect click counts for each task on chart paper. Ask: "What patterns made tasks hard? Which students would struggle most with this course?" Draw out: inconsistent module names, files named "Document1," due dates in several places, scanned image-only files, videos with no captions, and important information buried in announcements. Connect it to inclusive teaching: a predictable structure helps everyone and is essential for some.
Facilitator noteName the students who are often left out: those who are new to the course or the country, those using a screen reader or a phone, and those with executive function challenges.
Model
Sketch a module template on chart paper while you think aloud. "Every week looks the same: 1. Start Here (a two-sentence overview and what's due), 2. Learn (readings and videos, each with captions or a transcript), 3. Do (assignments, each with its rubric attached), 4. Check (a quick self-check or exit ticket). Names follow one pattern: 'Week 3 · Lab: Cell Membranes.' Due dates live in the assignment itself, so they appear in the calendar and to-do list automatically. I never type a due date anywhere else." Show how that reduces Task 1 to two clicks.
Facilitator noteThe template matters less than the consistency. If a team already uses a different structure, keep theirs and make it predictable.
Practice
Read Page 6 on Handout A: a "Week 4 overview" Ms. Varga generated with an AI tool. Tables check it against three questions: Is it accurate? (dates, vocabulary, and claims match the course and the real content), Is it aligned? (it describes what students will actually do), and Is it accessible? (headings, readable language, descriptive links, alt text). Tables list every fix and decide: post as is, post after edits, or don't post.
Facilitator noteMost tables find a wrong due date, an assignment that doesn't exist, a vague "click here" link, and reading level that's higher than needed. The point: AI can speed up drafting, but the teacher is accountable for what students see.
Apply
Participants open their own course (or a sandbox) and use Handout C to tidy one module or one week: apply the template, rename items with the naming pattern, move all due dates into the assignments, fix one file for accessibility, and remove any duplicate or outdated item. Without devices, they sketch their current module on sticky notes and rearrange it on chart paper. Coaches circulate and ask: "How many clicks now? Where would a student look first?"
Facilitator noteCoaches: this is a co-planning moment. Note which teachers want a follow-up visit to finish the course, and schedule it before they leave.
Transfer
Each person fills in the bottom of Handout B: which two or three students they'll ask to try the five tasks next week (in student view, while the teacher watches without helping), what they'll measure (clicks, time, dead ends, confidence), and what they'll change based on what students do. Pairs share: "What will count as evidence that the tidy-up helped students?"
Facilitator noteThis is the ELE question: the evidence isn't a prettier course, it's students finding what they need and adapting to the platform on their own.
The whole findability test runs on the printed course map in Handout A: participants trace paths with a finger, count clicks aloud, and log results on Handout B. The redesign happens with sticky notes on chart paper, one note per course item, rearranged into the template. The AI review uses the printed page. Participants take Handout C back to their course later.
If you rebuild Handout A as a sandbox course, pairs run the findability test live in student-view mode and record real clicks. Participants then tidy one module of their own course, use the platform's calendar or to-do list to confirm due dates appear in one place, and run any built-in accessibility checker. The facilitator can generate a sample course page with an approved AI tool on the projector and have the room review it before "posting."
Does it need a screen? A live student-view test turns a vague sense that a course is "a little messy" into hard evidence: click counts, dead ends, and the moment a student gives up. That evidence, repeated with real students, is what shows whether the tidy-up improved learning, not how the course looks.
What you should be able to see or collect if it worked.
Educators run a findability test and reorganize a course so students can find due dates, directions, and accessible materials without extra help.
Next week, run the Findability Test with two or three students in student view and change one thing based on what you see. Share before-and-after click counts with your coach, team, or department, and agree on a shared module template if students move between your courses.
