Pedagogy

A problematic trend I notice when conversing with students is how many of them struggle to remember what they did in modules from previous semesters.

These discussions got me thinking about how to design learning activities that are unforgettable. Albert Einstein, among other figures credited with the quote, famously said that “education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school”. I want to ensure my students remember what they have learned from me, especially after all the hard work they put into the course.

Having heard a number of educators talking about a reduction in student attendance at live online lessons as well as limited interaction from those who do attend, we developed the following tips based on our experiences of online teaching, observing others and evidence-based continuing professional development.

Have you ever wondered how to boost the online learning performance of your students? Here, we share insights from a recent study investigating students’ self-directed learning abilities, cultural orientation and online learning performance.

An assumption about Chinese students is that their academic performance is more likely to be influenced by the Confucian cultural heritage than self-directed learning.

The pandemic has been responsible for a great many things, including the exposure of something endemic in higher education: learner variability. This is not new. Institutes of higher education have long ignored or paid lip service to the fact that students come from multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds, that they have differing needs, abilities, disabilities and constraints.

Developing effective collaboration skills is a priority in business education, because these skills benefit students throughout their careers. Therefore, group work is an integral part of module and assessment design in most university courses.

However, because of the college entrance exam procedure in many Asian countries and other parts of the world, students are raised to compete with each other and, as a result, have very little experience with group work.

“Prof, could you just tell me what to do? Can you show me the solution?”

“What do I need to do to get an A? And why is there so little feedback in my assignment?”

“My teammate is not contributing. I am doing all the work!”

The flipped-classroom format is a type of blended learning where students are required to do preparatory work – such as watching lecture videos or completing assignments – before coming to a face-to-face class to work on more challenging problems with the facilitation of an instructor.

There’s a non-trivial element of entertainment involved in the act − or art − of teaching. If you think back to your favourite teachers over the years, whether from school or university, I would wager that they found a way to convey their own interest and investment in their subject matter in a way that captured and held your attention.

In part five of our series on improving online education for students and staff – based on extensive learner feedback and faculty insight – we focus on online feedback and course continuity.

Giving feedback online

Feedback should be timely, useful and kind.

Consider giving audio feedback to students on projects in process. It is much faster to give, and the coaching tone and replay-ability of the feedback makes it preferable to most students.