Shaun Wilden

Online tutoring part 3: getting the most out of your students

Review last time terms and 5 step model
More swimming and learning styles
Applying learning styles to tasks
Some examples in practice
Setting up and running a task
Some scenarios to deal with
Aims
Where are you from?
Map from:
http://www.pictures.com.bd/blank-map-world-pictures/
Idea from:
Map of the world as featured in Teaching Online by Hockley and
Clandfield DELTA
1.I had my bike stolen yesterday.
2.Ill be in Yorkshire all next week.
3.Ive taken 22 flights this year all
ready.
4.My favourite film is the Lords of the
Rings trilogy.
5.I have been spinning three times
this week
1. I had my bike stolen yesterday.
2. Ill be in Yorkshire all next week.
3. Ive taken 22 flights this year all ready.
4. My favourite film is the Lords of the Rings trilogy.
5. I have been spinning three times this week.
How would you do this exercise
asynchronously?
http://www.gillysalmon.com/fiv
e-stage-model.html
v
Synchronous
Asynchronous
VLE
Blended learning
Off-the-peg
Bespoke Swimmer
Lurker
Waver
Drowner
Netiquette
LMS
The Swimmer
The Waver
The Drowner
Salmon (2000:112):
VAK
Honey and Mumford term the learning styles as:
1. Reflector - Prefers to learn from activities that allow them to watch, think, and
review (time to think things over) what has happened. Likes to use journals and
brainstorming. Lectures are helpful if they provide expert explanations and
analysis.
2. Theorist - Prefer to think problems through in a step-by-step manner. Likes
lectures, analogies, systems, case studies, models, and readings. Talking with
experts is normally not helpful.
1. Pragmatist - Prefers to apply new learning to actual practice to see if they work.
Likes laboratories, field work, and observations. Likes feedback, coaching, and
obvious links between the task-on-hand and a problem.
1. Activist - Prefers the challenges of new experiences, involvement with others,
assimilation and role-playing. Likes anything new, problem solving, and small
group discussions.
The question is, how will these four learning types be
kept engaged in an online course?
Adapted from Teaching Online by Hockly and Clanfield 2010 DELTA
Course Site Tools
Chatware
Blogs / Wikis
Word clouds
Comic creator sites
Video sharing sites
Survey sites
Sound recorders
Slideshows and slideshow sites
Maps
Shared whiteboard
Mind maps
Movie creator sites
Podcasts / Podcast tools
Quiz makers
Poster sites
Setting up and running a task
Netiquette
Swimmers, Wavers, Drowners, Lurkers
1. Which of the following would you do if you had set up a
Discussion Board at the start of an online course, but nobody had
used it?
A Check that all participants know what to do by reminding them of how to post a message. Send this by
email.
B Post a message (i.e. a questions to discuss) yourself.
C Insist that everybody posts a message, say, at least once a week from the start of the course.
D Post a message encouraging / urging participants to post a message.
E Leave participants to use the Discussion Board when they want to. After all, its okay to be a passive
learner.
Scenario 2
Having set up an open discussion for all the students on the course, the tutor
expected a generally balanced participation in the discussion from everyone.
However, though there is a class of 12, one student is dominating the
discussion by posting repeatedly and often. Though the contributions are for
the most part valid, the frequency of the postings is clearly putting off others
from contributing. How do you deal with the situation?
Scenario 3
Most course participants are engaging well with the course, but there is one
person who is very quiet.
Scenario 4
Having set up a group task you get an email from one of the group members
complaining about another member of the group. The email suggests that the
member is not pulling their weight in the group task. What do you do?
Scenario 5
A keen student who frequently posts first and also sends you emails has
complained about you for not giving them enough support. The complaint is
grounded on them feeling you are not giving them enough support. How do you
deal with it?
Scenario 5
A keen student who frequently posts first and also sends you emails
has complained about you for not giving them enough support. The
complaint is grounded on them feeling you are not giving them
enough support. How do you deal with it?
The swimmers have posted, should you give feedback? If you do, what will this do to the
wavers and drowners. If you dont give feedback to the swimmers, how will they feel and
react?
One of the biggest differences with online learning is the issue of feedback. In the
classroom students can see your body language and gauge how they have done. They
might get instant feedback or even if you decide to delay it until a task finishes, theyll
still get the feedback before the end of the lesson.
Online one student might post an answer on Monday but the others not post until
Wednesday. So, what do we do? One of the hardest things for a participant to
understand is not getting feedback immediately.
Feedback itself engages the learner and leads to a more participative
course. Does giving feedback too early discourage some from taking
part?
A post from a swimmer might say something like "I think the best way to
do it is X,Y,Z". If the tutor now posts, I agree then the wavers and
drowners think OK thats the answer so I dont need to post.
One way to get round this is to encourage peer feedback; getting the
participants to comment. Though then we have to ensure that it is done
sensitively.
Something else we can do is try and keep the conversation going.
Rather than posting as the 'tutor', do things like:
- take on the role of an equal.
- ask the participant to expand upon something they said.
- make a suggestion about their answer.
Weaving
Summarising
1. What do you feel are the biggest
differences between working with
students face to face and online.
2. What things you personally feel you
will need to consider when you start
tutoring online.
Reflection
Thank you for taking part.
Any (more) questions?
shaunwilden@gmail.com
Shaunwilden.co.uk
Thank you for taking part.
We look forward to seeing you at
future OUP webinars.
www.oup.com/elt/events