Hi world!
During the sessions, devoted to Topic 4, we have been discussing design for online and blended learning. First, I need to provide a disclaimer: due to a high workload I did not participate in our meetings to the extent I would have wanted to. However, this experience prompted me to think about asynchronous learning activities in the context of online and blended teaching in depth, the aspect, that I am going to discuss in this blog post.
In our PBL group, we have been focusing on figuring out what is required from us, the teachers, to enable the students to succeed in blended learning activities. Once this prompt was asked to ChatGPT, we got 7 key points, namely: clear expectations, effective communication, guidance on digital tools, personalized support, regular feedback, monitoring and tracking progress and flexibility and adaptability.
While thinking about ensuring successful and fruitful participation in asynchronous learning activities, several thoughts came up to my mind. Firstly, the courses, involving online or blended asynchronous learning activities, should include a compulsory introductory module on digital tools, where the basics of digital literacy, necessary for the course, are to be explained. The second step is to ensure that students understand what is expected from them and, what is more, have an incentive to carry out these activities. The last point goes hand in hand with monitoring/tracking – I think a possible approach in this regard could be introducing some gamification/interaction elements that could encourage the students to go through the online elements of the educational process. I myself have recently undertaken a very productive 1-hour online course on the use of a digital tool, that included a couple of lectures and short quizzes to them, a successful completion of which resulted in getting a cute ‘certificate’. This course, that I found both informative and entertaining, represented a great example of online teaching, whose simplified elements could definitely be implemented in online courses in my field of expertise. Construing asynchronous elements of the course in such a way could also take off some pressure, that stems from the necessity to ensure effective communication with the students and providing them with regular feedback. Even though I find effective communication, personalized support and regular feedback to be vital components of teaching, I think it is also important to be aware of the reasonable limitations that accompany our teaching conditions – while it is possible to guarantee effective communication in a group, consisting of 20 students, it is extremely difficult to do that in a class that is comprised of 160 students and where the budget covers the employment of only one teacher for this particular element of the course.
What are, to your mind, the essential elements for creating functional asynchronous learning activities? Looking forward to reading your ideas and comments on that!
Lars Harrysson
Thank you
Some interesting thoughts. It is always interesting to see what an AI bot suggest for structuring a task. At this stage it is a way to utilize its capacity. To use the structure to enhance your work some theoretical backing is always good. I think of models such as Community of Inquiry and The five-stage model, combined with some basic pedagogical ideas of how to engage students. What do you reckon?
When it comes to aligning to a very large group it is a challenge, but there are good evidence on how case methods have been used and assessed in large classes, up to 300. A colleague of mine came up with an interesting solution to being available while the students are solving group problems. This in course on social legislation with about 90 students. She connected all groups to breakout rooms in Zoom, and thus she was available both to listen in and to be available at any time. The group only need one computer up and running to make it work. Far more efficient than to walk between rooms (which of course has its merits too).
/Lars