“We learn best when we actively try to explain what we already know and to make it coherent to ourselves as well as to others.”
— Jerome Bruner (1961. The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31(1), 21–32.
Dear Colleagues,
As we continue our exploration of the 5E instructional model, this newsletter focuses on the Explain/Expand phase—a critical moment in the learning process when understanding is clarified and deepened.
After students have actively explored a concept, the Explain/Expand phase provides the space to process, articulate, and deepen their learning. During Explain/Expand, learners connect their hands-on experiences to formal definitions, theories, or frameworks. This often involves both student-led explanations, where learners describe what they discovered in their own words, and instructor-facilitated clarification that introduces or reinforces disciplinary vocabulary and key concepts. The benefits of this phase are significant. Students strengthen their conceptual understanding by verbalizing it, moving from intuition or observation toward more structured knowledge. Misconceptions surface and can be addressed directly. By connecting prior knowledge with disciplinary frameworks, students build confidence and transferability, skills they will apply in future coursework, professional contexts, and research settings.
During Explain/Expand, learners begin to make sense of the concepts they’ve encountered. Meaning emerges through discussion, instructor guidance, and opportunities to articulate thinking. It’s a powerful time for uncovering misconceptions and introducing precise academic language. Instructors can invite students to apply their learning in new contexts, extending their knowledge and promoting transfer across disciplines or real-world scenarios, challenging students to connect the dots and reinforce long-term retention.
In this newsletter, you’ll find strategies for designing effective explanations, facilitating rich academic discourse, and crafting activities that push learners to apply what they know in diverse and meaningful ways. Whether you teach large lectures or small seminars, in-person or online, we hope the insights shared here help you refine your instructional design and inspire new ways to engage your students in the learning journey.
Warmly,
Rachel & Mendy
Instructional Design Team
Office of Provost | Academic Affairs
“Understanding is constructed in the course of interaction, not transmitted intact from teacher to student.”
— Lev Vygotsky (1978. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Explain/Expand Activities and Assessments
You can support students during the Explain/Expand phase through low-stakes, high-impact activities that encourage learners to articulate and test their understanding. Some options include:
- Think–Pair–Share: Students explain their findings to a partner before refining their ideas in a whole-class discussion.
- Concept Mapping: Learners draw connections among key ideas, revealing gaps or areas of misunderstanding.
- Brief Written Reflections: Exit tickets, short summaries, or annotated diagrams enable students to articulate their understanding in words.
Discipline-Specific Applications:
- STEM: Solve a practice problem and explain the reasoning.
- Humanities: Write a paragraph connecting evidence from a text to a broader theme.
- Professional Programs: Role-play or case study analysis followed by a structured debrief.
These assessments emphasize explanation over “right answers,” making them particularly useful for gauging conceptual grasp.
Faculty Role: Moving from “Sage on the Stage” to “Guide on the Side”:
In the Explain/Expand phase, instructors play a crucial role in guiding the learning without dominating it. The focus shifts from lecturing to facilitating meaning-making. Instructors become co-investigators who ask probing questions, highlight student insights, and introduce critical concepts at the right moment to extend students’ thinking. This approach balances authority with collaboration, increasing student agency and fostering a climate of trust.
Leveraging Group Work:
Group work and team-based learning are natural fits for Explain/Expand. Whether in person, hybrid, or online, students can work together to co-construct knowledge. Practical strategies include assigning rotating roles (e.g., note-taker, facilitator, presenter), using collaborative technologies (e.g., discussion forums, Canvas Collaborations), and designing structured protocols such as jigsaw activities or peer teaching. By engaging in dialogue, learners clarify their own understanding while benefiting from multiple perspectives.
Discipline-specific examples of group activities:
- Biology: Students explain the results of a lab experiment to peers, then compare explanations with published research.
- Literature: Small groups interpret a passage differently, then discuss why their readings diverge.
- Business: Teams analyze a case study, prepare a short presentation, and field questions from classmates.
- Engineering: Groups diagram a system’s process flow, then refine it after receiving instructor input.
The common thread through these assignments is that they strengthen both content knowledge and collaboration skills, making learning authentic and transferable.
Inspiration Launchers
Did you know you can access these resources for free? Just create an account using your UMassD email address!
- Managing Group Work – Complex Instruction, Stanford Graduate School of Education
- Taking Collaboration Seriously – Oliver Dreon, PhD, Faculty Focus
- Five Ways to Use Group Work to Engage College Students – Tim Franz and Lauren Vicker, Inside Higher Ed
Faculty Strategies
Digital Tools That Support Explain/Expand Activities
Each of these tools extends the Explain/Expand phase beyond the physical or synchronous classroom. When used intentionally, they not only strengthen students’ conceptual understanding, but they also create documented evidence of student interaction and instructor engagement, key components of quality course design and RSI alignment.
Canvas Student Groups
Canvas Student Groups enable small teams to work together in a dedicated mini-course space where they can post announcements, share files, hold discussions, and work on group assignments together. This supports the social constructivist nature of the Explain/Expand phase by allowing learners to test ideas among peers before presenting them more formally.
Try this: Assign groups to collaboratively explain a concept using examples from different fields or perspectives, then have each group post a short “concept summary” to the main discussion board for classwide synthesis.
What are Groups in Canvas?
Harmonize
Harmonize expands what’s possible in Canvas discussions with features like multimedia posting and responses, emoji and reaction options, and analytics that highlight engagement. Its design supports deeper peer-to-peer interaction, which is ideal for Explain/Expand activities where students articulate their understanding and respond to each other’s reasoning.
Try this: Ask students to post a short video or annotated image explaining a process, diagram, or key concept, then comment on two peers’ submissions by extending or connecting ideas. Harmonize’s media-rich format encourages multimodal expression and more authentic explanations.
What is the Harmonize Discussion tool in Canvas?
Office 365 Collaborations
Canvas integrates directly with Office365, allowing faculty and students to co-author Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents in real time without leaving Canvas. This tool is perfect for group Explain/Expand activities that involve co-creating materials such as lab reports, literature reviews, design plans, or slide decks.
Try this: Have each group collaborate on a shared document to define key terms, summarize their interpretations of a text, or compile problem-solving strategies. The instructor can leave comments directly in the shared file, supporting both formative feedback and RSI compliance.
How do I use Microsoft Office 365 files in Canvas?
The Explain/Expand phase directly supports compliance with Regular & Substantive Interaction (RSI), a federal requirement for distance education. RSI emphasizes consistent, instructor-initiated engagement that is academic in nature. Explain/Expand activities in which students articulate their understanding create ideal opportunities for instructors to step in with timely, substantive feedback that meets RSI requirements.
For example, when students post explanations of a concept on a discussion board, instructors can respond with clarifications, additional questions, or resources. This feedback not only validates student effort but also extends learning in ways that meet RSI standards. Similarly, group assignments conducted in collaborative spaces allow instructors to monitor contributions, pose probing questions, and synthesize themes in summary announcements.
By embedding Explain/Expand activities in courses, faculty create structured interactions that are meaningful for learners and defensible in compliance reviews. These practices demonstrate that the instructor is not only present but also actively engaged in fostering student understanding.
- Start today! – Growing with Canvas faculty training!
- Start today! – Vendor-led Vault faculty resource of webinars!
- Thu, 10/16/25 at 2 pm – Harmonize Discussions
- Wed, 10/22/25 at 12 pm – Unclocking Canvas: Gradebook
- Thu, 10/23/25 at 2 pm – Unlocking Canvas: Gradebook
- Wed, 10/29/25 at 12 pm – Unlocking Canvas: Content and Organization
View a full list of Canvas and Instructional Technology workshops and self-paced offerings!
Instructional Development works with faculty to…
- Explore, design, and experiment with different teaching and learning modes.
- Research and integrate technologies that can enhance teaching and learning.
- Design and develop online courses and programs.
- Write learning outcomes, design assessments, craft activities, and develop content.
- Utilize best practices for using instructional technologies.
Feel free to contact us online to book an appointment!
Attribution/Transparency Statement: Portions of this post were drafted with assistance from AI tools (ChatGPT). The Instructional Development team reviewed and revised all content for accuracy and appropriateness.