This session looks at the learning journey that a student is expected to follow from when they first enrol in their online subject until they receive the result for the subject, and your role in it as a lecturer. The session broadly introduces an online teaching approach for ICHM, which is consistent with the design of the subjects. A particular focus will be on the application of online teaching strategies and associated technology tools for effective facilitation of learning.
By the end of this session, you should be able:
- Map out the student online learning journey within a subject
- Articulate and apply the necessary strategies to facilitate student engagement in the respective subjects
- Identify and effectively utilise appropriate LMS and associated tools to support student learning and assessment
- Engage in a self-reflective process
This session is meant for independent study but may be complemented with a live session to allow for interaction with colleagues.
We take the approach that the online learner is on a learning journey, and that the online learning material charts that journey, and the lecturer facilitates this journey by supporting and guiding the student. Thus, understanding the learner and the learning material will help you as a lecturer to play your role more effectively hence we briefly characterise the following:
- The online learner
- The online learning material
- The role of the lecturer
The online learner
What kind of online learners do you think you will have in your class, and what are their characteristics? You probably can’t answer this question with any level of certainty until you see the list of enrolled students and begin to interact with them. However, this is an important question to ponder as understanding our students is the beginning of not just good learning design, but also how their learning is supported.
Who do you think are your prospective students?
If you could hazard a guess, what would you say would be the characteristics of your online cohort? How different might it be from your in-class cohort?
Perhaps, a key question to ask in order to understand online learners is why somebody would choose to study fully online over face-to-face. In other words, what is usually the motivation for engaging in formal online study? There are many reasons for why people study online, for some it is out of sheer preference, but for most it is because of their life circumstances. Whether it is the former or the latter, the underpinning reason is usually centred around the convenience and flexibility of being able to study anywhere, anytime, either because the prospective student is:
- Not in close geographical proximity to the education provider, and/or
- They can’t commit to fulltime or regular daytime study due to time constraints (because of family, work and other commitments)
This is important to understand and goes a long way in helping us begin to understand the needs of the online learner and how we can support them. This will be revisited in a little more detail in a later section.
Another key consideration in understanding fully online students is their potential diversity. While traditional face-to-face undergraduate cohorts are diverse in many ways, they tend to be dominated by students who are fresh from high school and are younger and with less life experience. On the other hand, a key characteristic of online cohorts is that they are likely to be more demographically diverse, in terms of:
- their age,
- their academic backgrounds,
- their life circumstances and motivations,
- their availability
- their geographical locations (Bates, 2019).
This means that the type and level of support required might differ immensely from one student to the other, necessitating an adoption of multiple teaching strategies. At the same time, the diversity of students’ prior knowledge, experiences, backgrounds and capabilities is a situation that can be leveraged by ensuring that students, in their diversity, learn from each other, making for a richer learning experience.
The online material at ICHM
In many ways the learning journey for the students is predetermined by the way the material is designed. The role of the lecturer, therefore, is to support students in this journey, this will be discussed further in a moment.
The design of the online learning material is largely a response to the needs of the online learner. Our learning materials are designed to provide a well-structured learning journey across the trimester. This allows for students to have a clear learning pathway.
Every week students are expected to achieve a set of topic-level learning outcomes through a well-designed learning workflow. The weekly material includes self-directed learning to allow for flexibility and self-paced study and opportunities for both live and asynchronous interaction with other students and the lecturer.
To be an effective lecturer you should understand the material, its structure, and how students are expected to interact with it, and identify critical points where direct support for student learning is needed.
Reflect
Compare and contrast how online learning and face-to-face learning environments facilitate student engagement. What aspects of our online learning materials can be improved? Write your notes in the reflective journal.
The role of the lecturer
The role of the lecturer has already been alluded to in the previous section. It is underpinned by an understanding of both:
- The student characteristics
- The online material
As a lecturer, part of your role is to facilitate learning in a way that is sensitive to the needs of the online learners, who are spatially and temporally (for the most part) separated from you and other students. To avoid feelings of isolation and disconnectedness, Teaching presence is therefore crucial in facilitating and directing, '…cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realising personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes' (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001, p. 5). Teaching presence means that the teacher is, not only visible but also meaningfully engaged with student learning. This can be achieved through both synchronous and asynchronous means, working in a complementary way. These strategies will be explored a bit further in the following sections.
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Apply How might you ensure your teaching presence for a class of 30 students who are located all over Australia. Note some of these students may not be able to attend live seminars because of time constraints. Share your thoughts on the reflective journal |
In addition to understanding the student-based factors that influence how you teach, understanding the teaching context, particularly the online learning material, is critical. This includes understanding:
the structure of the material and what it intends to achieve so that the strategies you use to support learning are consistent with the intentions of the learning material.
the environment in which the material is delivered i.e., the navigation, the tools, and how to use them effectively to engage and be responsive to students.
The tools have already been introduced in previous sessions, and in this session, we will focus on how they are applied in the context of the facilitation and management of learning and assessment. This is done in the next section.
The student learning journey in a subject commences with students being enrolled into the subject and having access to the material. Once they are enrolled the lecturer should be able to see their list in the Grade Book. More comprehensive information about their demographics can be accessed through the student management system.
The online process involves a multiplicity of activities that helps students to acquire conceptual knowledge, consolidate their understanding and engage in the application of content. These include:
- Interacting with self-directed learning content
- Carrying out learning tasks
- Collaborating and discussing with others
- Asking questions of the lecturer
- Attending live seminars
- Carrying out assessment
- Submitting their assessment
- Receiving grades and feedback from lecturers on their work
The learning journey ultimately culminates in students receiving their final grade for the subject, and eventually, the subject becomes inaccessible to them.
As you can realise, there are a lot of activities happening throughout the trimester that need student learning to be supported and guided, and it is the lecturer’s role to ensure that students engage in these activities meaningfully. In the following sections, we:
- First, take a look at the student journey across a trimester by identifying important touchpoints and associated strategies and tools that lecturers can use to engage and support students
- Secondly, zoom into the weekly cycle of learning to clarify the expectation on a weekly basis
Supporting the learning journey across the trimester (the marathon)
Throughout the trimester students need to be engaged and feel supported. Your teacher presence is crucial to ensuring that students have a meaningful and effective learning experience. While facilitation of learning happens throughout the trimester, each stage of the trimester may have slightly different teaching expectations and therefore targeted strategies. There are 11 teaching weeks and two assessment weeks in a trimester. Prior to the 13 weeks, it is expected that there will be at least two weeks of preparatory work on the part of the lecturer and at a least a few days for the students. The few weeks after the 13-week student engagement period are for finalisation of assessment, grading and resulting.
Following is an outline of the notional stages of a trimester, and typical engagement expectations and associated strategies and tools to meet those expectations. This is focusses specifically on the 11 teaching weeks, and is not meant to be prescriptive but suggestive in nature.
| Stage | Expectation | Strategy and tools |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-trimester (2 weeks before) | Pre yourself:
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Ensure you have access and go through every aspect of your online subject, if you need technical support contact xxx, and for enquiries related to the course material contact your PC at xxx |
| Pre-trimester (1 week before) | Know and prep your students |
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| Week 1 | Housekeeping, build connections, and set expectations |
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| Weeks 2-4 | Engage students, support their onboarding and establish a pattern of engagement, and early identification of needs |
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| Weeks 5-8 | Sustain engagement and/or review strategies, and reassure students |
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| Weeks 9-11 | Revisit expectations and reassure students |
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| Post-teaching (Weeks 12-16) | Finalise assessment and grading |
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Other strategies?
In addition to the strategies and tools suggested in the above table, what other ideas for engagement can you think of? Post your thoughts on the reflective journal
One of the crucial parts of being present as an online teacher is being able to monitor engagement of individual students, and coming up with interventions to help them where disengagement has arisen. Following is a hypothetical scenario, you might encounter, how would you deal with it?
Analyse and discuss
It is at the end of week 3 and you notice the following pattern of engagement for 3 out of your 30 students.
| Student activities | John | Mary | George | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Introductory discussion forum | participated | participated | participated |
| Journal activities | participated | participated | ||
| Forums | participated | participated | ||
| Other online activities e.g. quizzes | participated | participated | ||
| Seminars | participated | participated | ||
| Consultation sessions | ||||
| Week 2 | Journal activities | participated | ||
| Forums | participated | |||
| Other online activities e.g. quizzes | participated | |||
| Seminars | participated | participated | ||
| Consultation sessions | participated | |||
| Week 3 | Journal activities | |||
| Forums | participated | |||
| Other online activities e.g. quizzes | participated | |||
| Seminars | participated | |||
| Consultation sessions |
For each of the three students
- Characterise their engagement
- Hypothesise what their issues might be
- What might you do to find out more about why the students are not engaging as expected?
- What interventions might you put in place?
Share your response to the discussion forum, and comment on other student's posts (at least one other student, acknowledging any comments made on your own post)
Facilitating the weekly learning flow (the sprint)
The weekly cycle is predetermined through the storyboarding process. It represents a weekly learning workflow with a beginning and an end. Students carry out a set of predetermined activities to complete weekly learning material. In a similar fashion, your role as a lecturer is to support this process. While there are specific teacher activities that may be done in certain weeks, as outlined in the previous section, there are also core or typical activities that will be expected of you every teaching week. Following is a table, outlining the weekly learning and teaching cycle in terms of:
- The stage of the week
- The student’s needs
- The lecturer's actions are required to meet the students’ needs
| Stage/aspect | Students need: | Lecturer activity |
|---|---|---|
| The beginning of the week |
Onboarding Students need to be eased into the week by way of an introduction |
Send a “Welcome to the week” through the messaging tool. This could include:
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| Self-directed learning support |
Support & feedback The students need support and feedback as they
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| The live session |
Gudiance and consolidation Students need to be guided towards the consolidation of their understanding of the material. The seminars are meant to help students to apply and consolidate their understanding through real-time guidance of the teacher, and collaboration and discussion with other students. Consultation sessions allow for customised support either as a group, groups, or an individual. It is a more open-ended session that can pivot to the specific needs of the student. |
The teacher’s role is to ensure that both the seminar, and the consultation session provide a meaningful and effective learning experience. Seminar Before the seminar: Ensure the Zoom session appears on the calendar Check how many students intend to attend to help you organise yourself. This can be done by asking students to register for the sessions through the calendar. Revisit the pre-designed tasks for the seminar and plan accordingly Remind students about any preparatory tasks they need to do before the seminar (e.g., through the welcome message) Monitor discussion forums and journal entries for any issues e.g., misconceptions that may need to be collectively addressed/discussed in a seminar environment and plan a “remedy”. During the seminar
After the seminar
Consultation session You may, if necessary, split the consultation session into 2 or 3 mini sessions to allow for students who may be available at different times Before the consultation
During the consultation
After the session
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This session covered the learning journey that a student goes through in a typical online subject at ICHM and outlined your role in it as a lecturer. A key part of your role is understanding both your online learners and their needs, and the object, structure and content of the online learning material. Your role was viewed in a two-fold:
- Firstly, in terms of strategies and tools you may use at different times in the trimester, and
- Secondly, in terms of how learning is typically supported by you on a weekly basis
The strategies and tools suggested for you in your online facilitation are not to be taken as prescriptive but are merely guidelines. To be an effective practitioner you need to continually reflect on your teaching practices and constantly enhance them to optimise student learning.
- Anderson, T., Liam, R., Garrison, D.R. and Archer, W., 2001. Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 5(2).
- Bates, A.T., 2019. Teaching in a Digital Age Teaching in a Digital Age_ 2nd edn. Creative Commons Attributions Non-Commercial International License.
