Online distance learning: reflections on practice by Sarah Henderson, Programme Director MSc Clinical Management of Pain

Sarah shares her experience of delivering an online programme and identifies some barriers she and her students faced:

Many of the systems that are now in place for distance students, simply did not exist, or at best, were patchy – I can remember have drawn out discussions with Registry about how my students were going to matriculate as they were not physically coming to the University to do so. A decade ago processes such as these were immense stumbling blocks, however, as the years have rolled by, many of these issues have been resolved as distance education becomes increasingly mainstreamed and the number of students studying at a distance grows.

Sarah goes on to highlight how the programme has developed over the years with some reflections on the changing perceptions of online learning including an acceptance that it is a valid mode of study.

Visit her blog post on Teaching Matters - http://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/?p=338.

Supporting student transitions into online learning by Celeste McLaughlin, Head of Academic Development for Digital Education (IAD) and Ros Attenborough, a Phd student in Science and Technology Studies

This post highlights resources produced as part of a QAA funded project. The resources were produced collaboratively by partners from four Scottish Universities and were themed as follows:

• Being an effective online learner (topics covered included academic time management, independent learning, motivation and self-regulation);
• Working with others online (how learners work online in groups, how do they communicate effectively with their peers and tutors);
• Learning effectively with technology (enabling leaners to understand what technology can do for them to benefit their learning);
• Being a responsible online learner (practical guidance to help learners manage their digital identity in the online educational environment);

The collaborative project adopted a students as partners approach and students from all four institutions co-produced the resources.

Visit the blog post on Teaching Matters to find out more about the project - http://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/?p=2223.

The full set of resources are available on the QAA Enhancement Themes website.

Student-created, peer-assessed Open Educational Resources by Jen Ross, Senior Lecturer in Digital Education

Jen highlights how the Digital Futures for Learning course (part of the MSc Digital Education) is assessed. The course explores digital technology and it's implications on digital practices. The course is co-created by students and includes an assignment where participants are asked to create an Open Educational Resource (OER). Students create a first version which forms the content of the final block of the course. These OERs receive feedback from peers prior to the authors submitting a final version marked by the tutor.

Peers invested considerable time in providing detailed and constructive feedback, which was instrumental in allowing authors to revise and improve their OERs in the second stage of development.

Jen goes on to reflect on openness, the different approaches adopted by the students on the course, and her plans to include further critical engagement and discussion about openness in future iterations of the course.

A selection of the final OER assignments is available on the Digital Futures course website.

Visit Jen’s blog post on Teaching Matters - http://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/?p=2350.

Tracking progress from afar by Paula Smith, Senior Lecturer/Academic eFacilitator in Clinical Sciences

Paula reflects on how important it is for online learners to track their progress. She discusses how she uses visualisation software to create student dashboards which give students the opportunity to explore their progress.

The top three adjectives selected by students were “interested”, “motivated”, and “encouraged” when asked to describe how they felt when viewing the dashboard data.

Paula goes on to discuss how the dashboards have resulted in more dialogue between students and their tutors. She also acknowledges that using a dashboard may not be appropriate for all students, and when used they should be accompanied by support from staff.

Visit Paula’s blog post on Teaching Matters - http://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/?p=2286.

Digital Tools to Support Inclusion by Anna Wood, an education researcher at the University of Edinburgh

Anna provides a personal reflection about her participation in an online course and the role digital technology played to enable her participation.

The flexibility of studying online (for a part-time MSc in E-learning – now Digital Education) worked really well for me, as my illness is a fluctuating condition. I could go at my own pace and reread bits easily if I was struggling with concentration.

She highlights some of the tools and technologies which help her study (and work) at a distance, including the ability to network using Twitter, video conferencing and recordings of lectures and conferences.

Visit Anna’s blog post on Teaching Matters - http://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/?p=2554.