The topic for the Teaching Lunch held on 19th February “Effective Use of Online Learning” and Kobi Gal facilitated the session. There is an increasing demand for online learning and the UOE digital team have a manifesto ‘distance is a positive principle, not a deficit’.
The discussion focused on online learning in the context of enhancing teaching on campus, learning from the experience of others present who are teaching an online student cohort.
Jane Hillston stressed that Course Organisers need to learn how to deliver teaching online and acknowledges that there is a body of literature there to help. These include online training courses which guide Course Organisers through Learning Technology tools currently available and how to design feedback, for example.
Sharon Goldwater commented that personally she uses the WIKI a lot as it encourages students to share comments and this gets captured. For large courses quizzes and questions can be used and feedback can be given, which is very useful. Sharon stated that at institutional level, looking at online learning and what it can do for us on campus is more important.
Volker Seeker discussed how to include more people in quizzes in classes, he suggested using Top Hat so everyone can be involved. However he pointed out that the WIFI does not support this and the larger the class the bigger the problem. Volker went on to explain that Top Hat is a tool that allows you to have an online poll, using an app on their phone students can participate and scores can be given.
Paul Anderson stated that distance students feel the need for personal connection, want rapid responses and very often are in different time zones. He stressed that the Piazza forum is a very important tool to facilitate this connection, students are encouraged to answer the questions for themselves and help is offered, but not the answers!
Concerns were raised about the overhead required to set up and keep up with changes in Learning Technology and the “social engineering” required to get students talking to each other and enjoy working together.
Kobi Gal commented how he feels like it currently takes a while to mark things, meaning it is very often too late on in the course that students find out how they are doing. The possibility of marking and providing feedback online could help to push this information to students sooner. Another observation is that class attendance drops as the semester progresses and there needs to be added value of coming to class, online tools can be an incentive to lure them in.
Kobi Gal went on to outline that he prepares ahead of time some multiple choice questions, interacting questions and then has an online poll during the class. Sharon said it takes a lot of skill to write that type of questions and staff need training in how to do this effectively. Volker pointed out that if everybody in the class gives an answer, you can show the distribution of what the students think.
Kobi Gal suggested that you could demand students to do a question for every class, this had a mixed reception as some students, including students taking online courses, want contact and others don’t.
David Sterratt stressed that you need to think very hard about how to engage and outlined that for IAML the format is pre-recorded lectures. These are essentially segmented into 5 -10 minutes or the whole lecture. There is then a quiz to test if you have listened and the class are given feedback. He noted that not many Business students fill out the quiz before the class meaning you then need to change the structure. David went on to discuss a few issues, including feedback from the students that they don’t like note being able to see the lecturer and that it’s difficult to keep the lecture content up to date and error free (currently recordings are 5 years old) and that the pace in the current recording is too fast. Pavlos Andreadis advised that it can be changed and bits can also be added.
Pavlos Andreadis explained that last year he was taken on to help with IAML(DL), he has to manage the problems they face because students are far away. He described that the main complaint being that they are lost as there is too much information and that they should still have tutorials which need to be more flexible. Pavlos went on to outline that these students look for guidance and this includes study guides, good feedback, suggested books and points that you should understand by now. They interact with tutor every week and students know when they are available.
Stuart Anderson commented that there are lots of tools and it would be useful to continue to share advice on where good ideas, resources and training can be found.
