How to be a great teacher and student online

Jeff Hunter

9 December, 2002

Tips for online learning (collated by Janene Piip, Spencer TAFE)

Lecturers		Students
Define the scope of the project - Beginning and End - Pathways to other study - Start Small		Meet minimum requirements of the course – writing, language computing
Define the aims, objectives and purpose of the project		Become involved and participate
Define your image of the project		Accept responsibility
Identify the Resources needed – Lecturer & Student		Share ideas
Define your expectations of Students		Be motivated
Create a printable copy of course in PDF format		Have commitment to the project
Address Learning Styles		Maintain self discipline
Plan for Equal Opportunity		Communicate problems to lecturer
Develop Motivational Tools		Accept critical thinking
Visual and auditory aspects of design		Accept other people’s ideas
Communication Tools		Have access to the IT Tools
Assessments		Like the idea of on-line Learning
Frequently Asked Questions		Support other students

Why use online Learning?

Delivery of materials to solve existing delivery problems
Customisation for clients in organisations and individually
Cost-effective training
Development of programs that meet new quality standards
Interactivity through use of multimedia
Complements the content and objectives of existing programs
Allows flexibility in program delivery
Online collaborative
Communication advantages
Student-student
Lecturer-student

Key tasks of the Online Lecturer

Diagnosing learners’ needs
Helping learners get started
Explaining content
Assessing progress
Giving feedback
Promoting activity
Giving encouragement
Trouble-shooting problems
Preparing the learning environment
Recording progress

When working towards implementing an on-line learning environment, clear guidelines and deadlines need to be established for all involved in the scope of the project.

Tips for Lecturers

General Planning Tips

1. Identify the purpose of the on-line course:

Simple self study
Virtual classroom
Book converted to PDF format

2. State clear objectives for the course

Tell students early what resources they will need
Specify pathways for student afterward completion of the initial course
Develop clear guidelines so they can evaluate their progress
Provide motivational tool to keep them going, eg certificates

3. Make available a print version of the course

on the site in PDF format
in a font such as Times New Roman

4. Start small and do not think you have to do everything yourself

be prepared to share knowledge
make use of training programmes
use opportunities to gain feedback

5. Consider Equal Opportunity

Access
IT literacy
Visual impairment
Mobility
Time (carer/worker)
Geographical

Other tips include:

1. Addressing Learning Styles

The on-line course should encompass sound Adult Learning principles as a good starting point for the design and delivery of on-line learning.

On-line learning enables lecturers to:

Match topic to teaching strategy
Plan and think about delivery a lot more before course is ‘live’
Weave in feedback opportunities
Enable options for students to participate or not (lurkers)
Decide the best way to learn competencies and skills

Doing in this context could be an activity within the learning materials.

Simulations are one of the best ways to make the learner react and test skills.

Thinking could be a discussion within the chat function.

Theorising could be a question submitted to the tutor.

Planning could be a group activity carried out through the collaborative working part of the learning environment.

The challenge for lecturers facilitating an on-line course is to engage all learners, regardless of their learning style.

Think compact, as the conversion of the course involves total redesign.

Be prepared to review and revise in light of learner needs and comments, do not lose sight of the student as the centre of this process.

Allow students to interact by planning a discussion forum/message board

Think how new technology enables different ways of teaching and learning.

2. Visual Design

Designing the on-line course is a challenge to be thought through before starting to create it.

Will the course have:

Scrolling or clicking through screens
Images
Blocks of text
Video clips
Sound

Students’ tolerance to slow downloading is around 10 seconds - after this students are gone

Photographs and diagrams should be linked so students can choose whether or not to print

Scrolling makes printing easier and takes up less paper

Chunk sections and use small headings to make scanning the page easier

3. Colours for Web Pages

When designing web pages and selecting colours for text and any background colour, colours from the 216 colour ‘web safe’ palette should be used.

This is a standard range of colours which are common to all browsers and both PC and Macintosh systems.

A useful guide to web safe colour can be found at the www.lynda.com website.

When this is printed out the screen colour does not translate precisely to the printed page but will provide a good guide. This should be printed out and kept in a working folder.

The correct RGB (Red Green Blue) colour codes for each web safe colour can be specified in colour selection tools in most web editors and word processing software.

4. Backgrounds

Backgrounds should be plain enough so that the text is still easy to read.

Using different colours in the background can be used to differentiate portions of the text and make navigation easier.

5. Reading Text

It is over 25% slower to read from a monitor than a paper.

Text should be simple and clear with the layout of the text easily perceived and uniform across pages.

The site should fit to the screen size of 640x480 pixels. Although scrolling up and down is readable, scrolling left to right should be avoided.

6. Fonts

A Sans Serif font such as Arial, Verdana or Helvetica should be used to help readability.

If specifying a font for web page text remember that other web users may not have the same set of fonts on their computer as you.

Avoid using fancy fonts or non-standard typefaces.

7. Navigation

Navigation bars indicate the structure and hierarchy of the site.

They should be located at the same place on all pages to add unity and assist in finding links.

8. Images

Images should be reduced to the smallest possible size to assist with downloading

Drawings and other pictures with uniform colours should be in .gif format (Graphics Interchange Format).
Photos and pictures with shadings and colour scales should be in .jpg format (Joint Photographic Experts Group).
There is also an intermediate for of .jpg and .gif, .png. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a replacement format for GIF

9. Animations

If a number of your users access at a high bandwidth, then animations and video are an option. Ensuring your students have the correct plug-ins can be a problem, however.
Simple animations can be done with Flash and Shockwave, but more sophisticated ones need programming. With VRML a simulation into a 3D world can be done.

10. Videos

Videos can be put to Internet in various formats.
Most common and functional is Quicktime.
Other formats are .avi, .mpeg and dv format for dv products.

11. Communication Tools

Plan how you can use the communication tools to encourage, replace and support more conventional face-to-face exchanges, but make sure you communicate frequently with students.

12. Assessing

Assessments need to be applicable and comparable to those used currently, but also consider alternative ways of assessing.

Test early and often
Develop Pre and Post quiz scripts
Provide motivational tool to keep students going, eg certificates

13. FAQS
The most frequently asked questions from student emails can be copied and put into a list of frequently asked questions.

Questions can also be posted to a forum for sharing with other students so that threads are recorded.

This will enable students to build up a series of queries and responses and students can then be directed to these resources as preliminary steps before asking the lecturer.

14. Provide opportunities for Student Support
Provide the opportunity to learn from peers

Encourage discussion
Sharing of work
Supportive learning environment
Set up Group Work areas
Use the communication tools
Learn by lurking

15. Provide Study Skills Support
One study found that students’ attainment from online learning was highly dependent on their experience with self-directed study.

Those with few of these study skills found the transfer from face-to-face to network-based learning extremely difficult, far more than the requirement for ICT skills. Study skills support may be required initially.

16. Student’s IT Skills
There is a need for student entrants to on-line courses to have achieved a minimum skill level in IT, English and Maths so that they are able to manage the course without a lot of preparatory assistance.

What makes a Successful Online Student?

Tips for Students

Students will need to:

1. Share some of their life, work and educational experiences as part of the learning process may be necessary.

2. Express themselves in writing.

3. Be self-motivated and self-disciplined.

4. Accept responsibility for maintaining commitment to the learning process. The freedom and flexibility of the online environment also demands individual responsibility. The online process takes a real commitment and discipline to keep up with the flow of the process.

5. Be willing to "speak up" if problems arise If a student is experiencing difficulty on any level (either with the technology or with the course content), he or she must communicate this immediately otherwise the instructor will never know what is wrong.

6. Be willing and able to commit to4to 15 hours per week per course.

7. Be able to meet the minimum requirements for the program.

8. Accept critical thinking and decision making as part of the learning process. The learning process requires the student to make decisions based on facts as well as experience.

9. Have access to the necessary communication tools - a computer, phone line and modem and internet browsing software.

10. Be able to think ideas through before responding.

11. Feel that high quality learning can take place without going to a traditional classroom. If the student feels that a traditional classroom is a prerequisite to learning, they may be more comfortable in the traditional classroom. Online is not for everybody.

12. The online learning process is normally accelerated and requires commitment on the student’s part.

Acknowledgements

Jeff Catchlove, " The Metaphoric Environment" Video Conference 2002

Rhonda Daniell, Melanie Sorensen "Access & Equity Issues" Video Conference 2002

Catriona Ward"Good Practice in Online Design" Video Conference 2002

And information from the following websites:

http://www.wlv.ac.uk/celt/oltips/4design.html

http://www.ion.illinois.edu/IONresources/onlineLearning/StudentProfile.html

http://stylusinc.com/online_course/tips.htm