Learning about e-learning @ ITC

I tend to use social media to talk about research, but rarely about education. So, let's change that. I experimented with a flipped classroom for e-learning. It was for a keynote in ITC's Global Challenges Location Action course. This is what I did and learned.

I had given this keynote three times before. Twice face to face and once in a hybrid format with some students in the class and some online, but never fully online. I wanted to retain the interactions and discussion, but also try to shape the discussions and keep them on time.

To do this I first modified the lecture plan, then adjusted my slides/script. I split the lecture into three pre-recorded mini-lectures, one for each major theme of the keynote, followed by a live discussion session. My lectures were recorded in ITC's excellent studio facilities.

After editing (thanks Job Duim!), I worked with ITC e-learning specialists Ivan Oliveira and Laura Cray to make the videos interactive. H5P https://h5p.org/ and Wooclap were our tools of choice to make the interactive elements and report on student responses to polls etc.

H5P allowed us to add the interaction as a layer on top of the video. We made the video pause when an interactive element was introduced. Students could then follow that interactive part and return to the video afterwards.

We kept it simple - the interactions were surveys, polls, and open-ended questions. These were hosted in https://www.wooclap.com/ You could also do a lot of this with H5P alone, but Wooclap gave us more flexibility and better feedback on the answers that students provided.

Students were informed about the videos a day before the "lecture" and that they would need around 90 mins to follow them and then be ready for the discussion. I could see responses coming in in Wooclap all throughout the 24 hours prior to the lecture.

I had some time to review the responses, and then develop a few more slides to shape the presentation around common themes. I could also develop a new quick poll and run that during the live discussion. The discussion was only 45 mins. and it was challenging to cover everything.

Student response (through a snap evaluation I made, also in Wooclap) was extremely positive about the lectures. It gave students the time they wanted to study, listen, and think in their own time. It did however limit their interaction with one another and reduce face time with lecturers in a time where face time is at a premium. BTW I think our students are too kind. 😊

The discussion was also viewed positively, it brought the class element back into the lecture. There were too many comments to address in 45 minutes and asking students questions but not answering them is not good practice. So I later copied all questions and responses into a discussion forum in Canvas – our e learning environment.

Some thoughts on all this and hopefully the start of a discussion.

1.   Redeveloping a lecture like this take time. I underestimated the effort. It added up to around 12 hours. I learnt a lot from it, so it was time well invested, but be prepared to make that time available. Videos can be reused but may also need edits/updates like any lecture.

2.   Support from e-learning specialists was essential and invaluable. I would have made some poor choices without them. There are so many tools to choose from and their advice helped me find my way to achieve my objectives in matching the learning objectives to the mode of teaching/engagement.

3.   Interactive videos seem to trigger students to think about a topic that they have just listened to/watched, and it engages them more in the lecture content. This works well for our GCLA course where we aim to bring in and share international perspectives.

4.   Less is more seems to be a good mantra for adding interactive elements into a video. Take care with how many questions you pose and how many different types of interaction you use. Starting with the learning objectives and finding the best tools to achieve them seems to be a good approach.

5.   Make sure the discussion really captures the student’s questions. I struggled to do this due to the amount of questions I posed and the number and variation in responses I received. Asking fewer questions leads to more in-depth discussion.

6.   This was a nice experience in trying out new modes of teaching and working with colleagues to make it happen. #olddogsnewtricks