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Online Teaching And Learning
Teaching online is not the same as teaching in person. It requires us to shift our pedagogy to engage directly with the unique demands and opportunities presented by virtual learning. This is more than just using platforms and technologies to facilitate communication, knowledge transfer, and engagement. It’s about re-evaluating our teaching strategies, how we create community, what we can do to support students when we are not in the same place as them, and how this is reflected in our course design.
Designing Hybrid and Online Courses
While the good design principles we have covered in Course Design section hold true, there are some special considerations for hybrid and online courses. This includes how we construct those courses to support engagement and motivation, and how we make best use of technology to support (and not overload) the learning process.
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Community Building Online
Establishing a sense of community that fosters meaningful interactions among students can be more challenging online than in person. It requires us to be more deliberate about creating community and spaces where everyone can thrive, things that often come more naturally when we teach in person. And we need to keep at it: community building is not something that is just done at the beginning but throughout the whole teaching period.
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Student Engagement and Motivation
Encouraging and maintaining student engagement and motivation online can be challenging, but it’s very achievable. In addition to creating peer-to-peer community, being present as an educator is known to improve student motivation, while virtual check ins improve persistence. Providing regular and constructive feedback keeps students on track and sustains motivation too.
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Research shows a link between a caring online instructor and success in online courses. Humanising your online course involves establishing a positive educator-student relationship that supports the cognitive development of diverse students into independent learners.
Accessible and Inclusive Online Teaching
As educators, we facilitate a wide range of teaching moments online, from synchronous discussions to asynchronous collaborative projects. Here are a few courses and resources to help you teach in an accessible and inclusive way.
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Feedback in asynchronous online courses is critical as students may have limited opportunities to discuss their work with peers and teachers. This course explores how you can enrich your feedback between tasks and make good use of technology to improve student learning.
Providing Support as an Educator
As educators, we primarily provide academic support, although often we are called on to deal with the many challenges that students face. It’s important that we organise our work, so that we are well-placed to deal with student queries, and not burn ourselves out in the process. Here are some useful resources that will help you find a suitable balance and help you explore the wider implications of delivering more teaching online.
