{"id":232,"date":"2020-03-17T10:52:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T10:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/?p=232"},"modified":"2020-03-18T10:28:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T10:28:17","slug":"rising-to-the-challenge-of-the-online-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/2020\/03\/17\/rising-to-the-challenge-of-the-online-pivot\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising to the challenge of the online pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Susan Smith<\/strong>
Associate Dean (Education and Students)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us have never taught online and rely on traditional\nmodes of assessment. The current \u2018online pivot\u2019 is being driven by necessity\nrather than choice in face of an unprecedented challenge to the health and\nwellbeing of our faculty, support services and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Collectively and individually we will need to think\ncreatively about our content, delivery and assessment to maintain the integrity\nof the educational experience and ensure that our students meet their learning\noutcomes. This will not be easy and we will need to be pragmatic in our\napproaches to effectively adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As faculty we will be asked to make numerous decisions about\nhow we plan to teach and assess.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main message is to be consistent, use technologies both\nfaculty and students are familiar with, and to communicate clearly to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrol in the Canvas site Teaching Online, Learning Anywhere<\/a> which can help you with selecting the appropriate tools to deliver your online teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will it be\nsynchronous (or live)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live sessions can help to replicate the personal connection\nwe have in face to face teaching and help reduce student isolation. Live\nteaching also reduces the scope for misunderstanding and allows a more\nresponsive approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to be clear about the role that the live stream\nwill play in your module design. A live stream of a lecture may not be as\neffective as a shorter interactive session with students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barriers faced by students can include access and\navailability to high speed internet and scheduling of teaching across different\ntime zones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk through of how to set up live streaming<\/a> of sessions and Canvas Conferences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about\nasynchronous?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An asynchronous delivery mode enables an increased level of\nflexibility with students able to access on demand at a time when they are prepared\nto study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re recording content for teaching consider chunking\nit into smaller bite sized sections and adding quizzes and tasks for students\nto complete prior to viewing the next recording chunk. The Canvas site outlines\nhow to set up quizzes and integrate Padlet into your module.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty role<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an asynchronous environment faculty needs to maintain a\npresence and to communicate clearly and regularly as well as encouraging\nstudents to connect with their peers. Guidance\non how to manage communication<\/a> via Canvas has been prepared by TEL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considerations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We should be mindful that not all students will have access\nto high speed internet connections and that this is an important difference in\nour current situation versus purpose built online courses where students sign\nup knowing a certain level of internet access is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we facilitate this dialogue?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canvas discussions enable us to split the cohort into\nsmaller more manageable groups and use structured activities to drive student\ndiscussion and participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is using asynchronous learning techniques at present?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MBA team allocate marks for each module to student\ninteraction with online discussions. These discussions are structured and\nstudents are asked to perform specific tasks and comment on each other\u2019s\ncontributions. The faculty actively monitor and comment on student\ncontributions to encourage interaction and keep students on track. If you have\na large cohort you can split it down into the seminar or workshop groups for\nthis type of discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ODL teams also use discussions as part of their range of\nassessment techniques across their modules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a reflection from Rene Moolenaar who teaches one of the ODL modules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI divided the cohort in three groups. Each group was asked to upload an agreed part of their main assignment on a bespoke graded discussion board 48 hrs before the scheduled live session. <\/em><\/p>

\u201cOnce the students in a group had uploaded their work, they were then asked over a period of 24 hrs (still before the live session) to read each other\u2019s work and ask questions about it and respond to it. <\/em><\/p>

\u201cDuring the live sessions I then went through the work they had uploaded, gave feedback for improvement and referenced any interesting questions that were asked on the discussion board. Each session was recorded and made available to all students in the cohort.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Share your ideas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Share your ideas on our teaching online padlet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Susan SmithAssociate Dean (Education and Students) Many of us have never taught online and rely on traditional modes of assessment. The current \u2018online pivot\u2019 is being driven by necessity rather than choice in face of an unprecedented challenge to…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/parRft-3K","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}