By Grant Hill, Department of Chemistry
One of the major considerations when moving teaching online is how to keep learners engaged,
especially when the number of potential distractions can be far higher than in a traditional
learning environment. With this in mind, I've pulled together six rapid-fire points to consider as
you develop your materials for remote delivery. I've also included two suggestions for tasks to
try that may help develop empathy with your students as online learners, and to start to foster
a community of practice around online delivery.
Don’t make all of the learning activities simply acquisitional (listening/reading/watching),
include tasks that encourage students to collaborate, discuss, practise, produce or
investigate.
Add regular formative micro-assessments or other touchpoints for feedback to help keep
students on track. These can be simple Google Forms
Help students understand what they need to do. Where do they go in the virtual learning
environment to find “the map”? Aim to make this consistent across modules.
Consider how to “humanise” your course and reassure students you are there. This
could be including yourself in some course videos and/or giving audio or video feedback.
Set clear expectations for both you and your students. Being available to students can
increase engagement and retention, but must be manageable. Consider virtual office
hours where you answer questions and have a text-based chat function if possible, such
as in Blackboard Collaborate.
Follow the regular course lifecycle, including evaluation and refinement. Keep evaluations
short and regular - think about how to get useful and quick feedback from students.
Try this 1: Complete a couple of hours of an online course in something you’re interested in
(photography/playing a musical instrument/computer programming…) - gain experience of
hat it is like to learn online.
Try this 2: Co-design with a critical friend. Develop/plan with assistance from each other (use
virtual chat) and share your experiences afterwards. Use this reflectively to refine your
approach.
I hope that these suggestions can act as a starting point for (re-)designing courses for online
delivery with a view to promoting student engagement, and I'd be happy to hear about what
works (and what doesn't) from your own experiences. Finally, don't get too hung up about the
technology in online learning, the focus, as always, should be good teaching practice and
allowing students to reach their full potential.