Recommended weekly engagement
In the past couple of blogs, we focused on getting started with moving your teaching from campus to online delivery.
In the remaining blogs in this series, we will cover a wide range of topics with practical advice from the perspective of the current situation.
Not all of the advice will be applicable to all and not all of the advice will be as easy to implement in the way that it is described. As we have suggested in previous blogs, you should connect with your local learning technology, technology-enhanced learning or IT teams to help you access training and resource provisions.
So, now you’ve started- what next?
One of the first questions you may be considering is - what does good online engagement with students look like?
Your presence in the online learning environment is vitally important to an effective educational experience for your learners. There is a wealth of evidence for the value of instructor to learner interactions on learner engagement, satisfaction, progression and outcomes*.
Suggested weekly engagement
| Message/Timing | Tool (subject to availability) | Value |
First day of a new online delivery mode |
VLE Announcements Email all |
Reassure students, explain the new mode of delivery, set expectations, check-in on how students are doing. |
Welcome to the week (start of each week) |
VLE Announcements Email all |
Welcome, motivate, reassure and enthuse students. Show your presence. Identify key activities |
Check-in/post to discussion forums (2-3 times per week) |
Discussion forum |
Show your presence, interact with students, let them know that you are reading their posts, share your insights, encourage and motivate. |
Live sessions (1-2 per week) |
Live session software |
Connect with your students in real-time, show your presence, maintain the learning routine and momentum. |
Live session reminders/summaries (remind a few days before and summarise soon after) |
VLE Announcements Email all |
Remind students about live sessions and the value of attending. Share the recording and summarise the key points discussed. |
Answer student’s direct questions (within 1-2 working days) |
VLE announcements (for answers relevant to all) VLE messaging system |
Respond to individual issues directly, reach out to students who are struggling/disengaged, provide support as you would on-campus. |
End of week message |
VLE Announcements Email all |
Remind students of upcoming activities, motivate, reassure and share advice. |
Feedback Formative (timely) Summative (same as campus policy) |
VLE Announcements (for group feedback) VLE feedback tools Email (if no other options) |
Formative feedback in a timely fashion will help students keep on track with their assignments. Offer developmental feedback and feedforward. |
Your communication rhythm
If your online course will be more self-paced in structure, you could offer students a predictable rhythm of communication to help keep them on track and create a sense of regular contact and presence.
Take a look at some suggestions for activities to engage students, set out over a typical week. You could try all of these suggestions each week, or you could try just one or two, based on your confidence and students’ other activities.
Motivation Mondays: Share a motivational message early on a Monday morning. You could share a briefing of things that are happening in your field right now,
Tip Tuesdays: Share your own thoughts on a topic being discussed in the forums, a journal article, a recent news event or a study skills tip that you think your learners might find useful.
Woohoo Wednesdays: This is a great time to praise students for their engagement and action in the week so far and a chance to motivate those who might not have engaged as much and encourage them to do more before the week is over.
Thoughtful Thursdays: Offer the chance for students to reflect on their learning this week and to encourage them to complete a learning journal or to make notes on their reflections. You may be able to make use of journal software, if not, ask students to record them in their own way.
Fail Forward Fridays: Friday is a great time to offer some encouragement for the potential failures and praise for the successes of the week. In a discussion forum, ask students to share some study or content-based lessons learned this week and ideas for how they might apply them next week.
Adapted from and inspired by materials shared by Michael Wesch, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University.
Beyond the basics
- Try and make your communications fun and informal, use emojis to demonstrate your sense of humour. It is amazing what a brightly coloured emoji can do to brighten up a text-based message :-)
- VLE announcements don’t have to be text-only, you can upload audio and video messages to help show your presence, make the message more informal and friendly and give students something interactive to engage with.
- VLE announcements and emails can be scheduled to be sent at specific times-so if you have some time available, you can write messages in advance, saving some time when the course is live and you are very busy.
- Use communication tools for fun activities to help break the ice or help students socialise. For example, ask students to share a photo of where they are studying, their favourite study music, a recipe they have tried recently, their favourite holiday or their plans for the weekends. Be sure to share your answer first.
Differentiating
The advice above is based on a typical week or structure of an online learning course and doesn’t consider the wide range of approaches and needs that students will bring to your course. The current events will disperse your international students to their home countries bringing timezone challenges to your course and those with specific learning needs may not have their usual on-campus support available to them.
One idea to help differentiate your approach could be to survey students (anonymously) about their current location, learning resources (IT), learning needs and learning style preferences. Doing this early will help you to plan your approach to online teaching to maximise its value. For example, you may plan to move to live online teaching to replicate your lectures, but a large portion of your class may be unavailable to attend due to timezone issues or new or existing caring responsibilities.
Perhaps you will be able to identify a range of teaching approaches that will help you to support all of your class. Use Microsoft or Google forms or any other free online software to survey your students.
Finally
As always, contact your learning technology colleagues for support with any of the tools or approaches mentioned above.
Whatever tools you use and however you do it, the most important thing is that your learners feel supported and connected at this incredibly difficult time for everyone.
Additionally, for more support with moving courses online and digital teaching and learning approaches, please feel free to contact the Academic Services team of Pearson UK HE Services.
You can meet the team by accessing the link below and contact the team directly via the following email inbox PDSD@pearson.com.