Panel 2: The module
Panel 2: The module
Learning and teaching @York in the Coronavirus Pandemic: Continuing the conversation (Spring term 2021)
Learning and teaching @York in the Coronavirus Pandemic: Continuing the conversation (Spring term 2021)
The second panel included short presentations from the following contributors:
Tony Ward (Electronic Engineering): Monitoring engagement in and responding to questions from a large (n=188) student cohort module and keeping sane.
Mark Egan (Management School): ‘Fireside chats‘: Weekly podcasts in an autumn 2020 module. In the recordings, the module leaders and tutors delivered a weekly discussion of the lecture theme in a relaxed atmosphere giving them an opportunity to observe and learn from detailed academic debate and discussion.
Sara Boulton (Law): The Law Clinic module at York Law School. Our practice (such as around interviewing clients, and the storage of confidential data) has had to change dramatically. Many of the changes are now seen as improvements in our practice by the colleagues involved.
The recording is provided below followed by longer recorded presentations or supporting materials from each of the contributors providing a more in-depth reflection on their practices. The comments and reflections on each panel from session participants have also been included below.
You can view the session recording on this page (make sure you are logged in to Panopto first) or by following the link to view the session in the Panopto viewer (33mins 42secs)
Tony provided an overview of his approach to monitoring attendance and engagement, and keeping in contact with his students on a large module (n=188) in Electronic Engineering. [View in new window or play the video below (10mins 41secs)].
Mark provided a summary of his experiences of informal podcast-inspired sessions for students involving relaxed academic discussion of topics related to the module. The module leaders and tutors delivered a weekly recorded discussion of the lecture theme giving students an opportunity to observe and learn from detailed academic debate and discussion. Please see 7:05 to 12:12 of the video above for Mark's summary.
Sara outlined the ways in which the the operation of the Law Clinic and teaching and learning on the associated module within the Law school have had to change as a result of the pandemic. This has involved the transfer of paper-based record systems to a new online system, a shift to online consultations, and a transfer to online learning and assessment methods. Sara reflected on the outcomes of these changes and pointed to ways in which they are likely to lead to an increase in blended learning activities in future. [View in new window or play the video below (14mins 41secs)].
A 'live document' was used to record comment, reflection and discussion during the session. The contributions from this panel are included below for reference (click to view these contributions):
AFB: If using the wiki, instead of the VLE, how accessible is this content? Can the accessibility features of the VLE be replicated?
TW: We have had discussions about this and it is not as good as the VLE but there are pros and cons of both.
TW: On a related point there is a problem with roll over and retention of a snap shot for the whole year - this we have also discussed and we have a solution to this problem.
MP: Comment for Tony ( I think) We had to put a monitoring process on one of our workshops and I confess to finding it difficult if it had to be formalised (there was actual pay attached to “attendance” in this instance). One issue was that the VLE quiz functions could also address right/wrong questions unless staff marked them (we had wanted to use model answers). Second issue was that things like log in times can only be a proxy for “engagement” (ie someone could just leave their computer logged on without being present). I’ve not yet watch your longer presentation but I am interested in seeing if your approach could help address some of these. It definitely looks elegant and straightforward.
TW: On attendance, yes what does this mean? Logging in and then going off doing something else - very difficult to detect this so I agree attendance is only a proxy for engagement. This is somewhat similar to students attending lectures where we don’t really know how much they are engaging with the content - especially in large lecture rooms. Feedback from students is telling us they value the opportunity to choose when they look at material - they can do it to suit their personal circumstances. A good example of this is late afternoon lectures which, for students in China, is very late evening.
On quizzes - I specifically wanted a tool that was easy to work with and would give me a real time view of what everyone was doing without me having to log into another tool to see. Google forms fitted this picture - there may well be other and better quiz tools - I just did not have that much time to search them out and learn another new tool. Google quizzes are limited in their question type and ability to check answers and give feedback - so I made the quizzes fit the tool. It is not perfect but does the job. With more time I may seek out a better solution.
Happy to continue a discussion outside this session if you wish.
SS - on this, I directly know of students in my acquaintance at other places who have become very good at logging in and then going off to do other things - they attended so it was OK?
AFB - what platform is being used for the quizzes?
TW: Google forms
Great monitoring system Tony. Perhaps a bespoke institutional portfolio management system for monitoring student attendance and progress that can have utility for students and staff alike would be useful…
TW: Thanks - I think it could be made very generic if there is the appetite for that
Tony - interesting you mentioned the captions being requested by students in China - we have found a lot of students with English as a Second Language do find the captions helpful, and particularly if internet connections mean there can be glitches in audio.
Typically the caption option can help multiple user groups.
TW: Agreed - it has reminded me to look in the configuration to see if I can automatically set it to turn on for all zoom meetings.
Unfortunately not possible in zoom yet! It has to be manually enabled by the host in the meeting. Hopefully they'll make it automatic soon.
TW: Okay thanks Alice, yes would be good.
SS - fireside chats. I think there is a lot of mileage in this, it is akin to holding an SCR event and having a student audience (which happens a fair bit at Durham). I wonder if this could be expanded as a concept to explore how academics create and mark exams? How they approach key issues that may be societal or interdisciplinary? Could we also extend this to students to give an insight into their worlds, as Mark described? This could be subject specific or more thematic on items like exams/lectures/online learning, that we would be interested in.
Re the podcasts - are these captioned or are transcripts available?
Mark, I'd be interested to know how reusable your fireside chats were - How far do you think their power came from the fact that your students knew you were creating them in the moment for them? And how far did you incorporate references to the specifics of the particular cohort or aim to keep it generic?