This week I began my teaching term again after quite a long break. The two classes I am responsible for are online (with one having a videoconferenced lecture once a week), so my teaching is very dependent on technology. That is my mistake! or so it seemed this week. Nothing quite like technological problems at the start of term to take the wind out of one’s sails.
However, aside from these issues, I have enjoyed interacting with students again. In the large class I teach (over 500 students), I have been encouraging students to work in groups and I have set up group pages for them. While I generally leave the groups to work things out for themselves in terms of how the group operates and what tasks are undertaken/what content is mulled over etc, it has been lovely keeping a bird’s eye on the development of these groups. I have watched them really get their teeth into the primary source data and share their information around. Maybe it is a sign of a generation that is used to working with virtual strangers across vast geographical distances, but I am amazed at how quickly these groups have jelled and have just ‘got into it’.
I created a quiz for students to do that consisted of 5 questions related to their readiness to learn (background; learning style; preferences in teaching styles; preferences in resource use; how organised they were at the start of term). I guess not surprisingly those that completed this quiz early (in O week), were the organised ones, who generally liked to learn fairly independently and were comfortable with the online environment. I dare say I will not get a representative result with this quiz in terms of learning styles and preferences for all the students as it is likely only those who are already quite comfortable with the technology will actually complete the quiz; those who are assessment driven probably won’t take the time to look around at what is available to them on the online site. However, I am optimistic that the bunch of students I will be working with contains some really motivated students who really do want to learn and are throwing themselves into their studies. I have to admit it is very refreshing to watch.
The other addition to my teaching this year is a practice referencing quiz. I can see that a number of students have gone into this quiz 3 and 4 times already and it appears they are using the feedback provided as a way of learning how to reference. One student, for example, did this and then did the Assessment reference quiz and scored 100%. I am certainly fielding very few questions on referencing thus far, which is a change from previous years, so maybe this sort of resource helps take the angst out of referencing a little, and thus allows the discussion forums to be mostly focused on exploring the content. I hope so because although I have articulated both procedural and declarative knowledge as part of the outcomes for this course, I think somewhere along the way I have ended up focusing more on the procedural stuff in response to student queries etc which has taken away from really working through the important stuff. This is something I will keep an eye on as the term progresses. I guess only time will tell whether the thought I put into the design of the course etc will result in deeper learning for the students. That was my intention, anyway.
