When Amelia Clarke first made the switch to online teaching, she was a bit unsure about the logistics of developing a module on a topic that’s always changing, climate change. She also felt that the online platform might not accommodate her stakeholder negotiation exercise, which requires students to interact with each other in a role playing activity. To Amelia’s pleasant surprise, these types of activities could be incorporated into the online version of her course using discussions, guest experts, and announcements.
Amelia purposefully designs her online courses to foster three types of interaction:
- student to content
- student to peers
- student to instructor
Using this approach, she aims to improve her students’ skills development and other learning outcomes. What does this look like in practice? First, she uses a variety of content and assignment types to keep her students engaged. Second, she maintains her presence online and promptly replies to student inquiries, building a connection with them. Finally, she incorporates discussions and group assignments into the course design to promote a connection among her students.
Not only does Amelia create a connection with her students by being present online and interacting with them regularly, she also goes above and beyond the typical level of instructor engagement by setting up a phone call with every student in their first online course to get to know them, motivate them, and help them succeed as online learners. This personal touch demonstrates to students that she’s invested in their learning, helps to build a connection with them and reduces feelings of isolation in the online environment. It also provides an opportunity to give students time management tips and answer any questions they might have.
Online courses offer a large amount of flexibility for both the students and the instructor in terms of time. Students and instructors have the ability to login from anywhere in the world, and students are able to revisit lectures and pause them whenever they need to. However, Amelia has discovered that the delivery medium for your online content is an important consideration. For example, digital lectures may not be the best choice for the ever-changing domain of climate change policy, as they cannot be updated during the course offer.
Amelia involves guest experts from around the world in her online courses through question and answer sessions in the weekly discussion boards. This would be much more difficult to organize for a face-to-face class. These discussions open her students up to the opinions of experts and practitioners from around the globe, and allow them to engage with some of the leading minds on business and sustainability.
Amelia’s preference is now to teach online courses over face-to-face ones due to the flexibility it offers. The technical aspects of online teaching shouldn’t intimidate instructors who are considering it, advises Amelia, as “working with the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) is great… someone doesn’t have to be particularly technical to teach online, that’s where CEL plays a big role”.