This short presentation discusses the need or usefulness of introducing online elements into teaching and learning. I’ll be making the assumption that you are a lecturer whose teaching methods have worked for much or all of your career to date; and your research, teaching and administrative duties leave no space for any additional workload.

That said, you may well be facing pressure - from students, colleagues, or your institution - to utilise new online methods of teaching. It’s very easy to imagine that such a change might involve difficult technical skills, long hours converting or rewriting materials, or even losing face-to-face elements as the central point of contact with your students.

Although there are several horror stories which perpetuate these views, the reality is that good online learning enhances your teaching, rather than replacing it. You and your existing lectures and tutorials remain the solid core, with additional help and support features added around you.Let’s step back now though, and look at a typical traditional lecture.

Here are a typical student group, all eagerly awaiting the start of their 9:30 lecture.Except, being a typical group, we find that several of the seats are empty: some have a timetable clash with another module; some are working to pay their tuition fees; some have overslept after a few too many drinks the night before. A few minutes in to the lecture, and already several students are losing interest: whispering to friends or checking their phones beneath the desks.About halfway through, some students are finding it hard to grasp the concepts being outlined, and give up, their attention wavering.A couple of students are making notes so furiously that they lose vital information; and at the end of the lecture these few are thoroughly confused and are desperate for more examples or information.We can see that, by the end of the lecture, only a handful of students have actually gained what they needed from the lecture, and have learned effectively. A few more will go away and read up on the topics, or discuss them with friends, and gain the required level of learning that way.But what about the rest?

Traditionally, these students would struggle on, maybe seeing their tutor if things got particularly bad; maybe even changing courses or in extreme cases dropping out - but largely continue on to exams carrying the gap in their knowledge and understanding.With the internet, however, we have an opportunity to provide support for these students when they most need it - just after the lecture, when writing an essay, or when revising topics later on.Many of them require minimum effort on your part, as lecturer, but can be very effective for the student.

The easiest online option, and one which helps a subset of our red students, is to put a few follow-on references, web links or other information sources on to BlackBoard, the institution’s virtual learning environment. By pointing students to these additional resources in the lecture itself, a way is provided for them to easily continue their learning in a guided way. Adding such items to BlackBoard is almost as simple as using Word, and requires no specialist skills, abilities or much time: think of what you might suggest to a student who came to see you to ask for further help.

To catch a few more red students, those who missed the lecture physically or mentally, you might choose to make your presentation or transcript available on Blackboard, so that they can catch up in their own time. In some cases, it might even be possible to record an audio or video copy of your lecture, and place that within BlackBoard: this requires rather more preparation and expertise of course, but you may be able to ask central services to provide this effort and assist in uploading the resulting material, whilst you concentrate on your lecture as normal.

The previous two options provide more traditional, passive learning options for the students. To engage them more thoroughly, you could think about encouraging an online discussion related to the course material. BlackBoard provides discussion areas which can be used as and when the students find it convenient to contribute their thoughts. It does most of the work on the technical side, so your main job is to choose a stimulating discussion topic for the students to engage with. You might decide to join in with the discussion, or just view it from the outside; alternatively, you could use postgraduates to moderate and encourage the discussions. Discussions can be included in assessment schemes, as they often include a high level of reflection and insight.

For some students, open discussion is a little intimidating, and so for these there are two other useful online tools, both available within BlackBoard: blogs and wikis. Blogs tend to be written by individual authors over a period of time, much like diary entries - and as such can be used as a reflective learning journal for each student - restricted to the student and yourself: this method fits in well with student Personal Development plans. Or you might like to ask groups of your students to co-write a wiki: maybe to present the results of an additional research activity you set them. In each case, the emphasis and effort on your part is on setting the topics for discussion or encouraging reflection; the technical and day to day maintenance of blogs and wikis is handled within BlackBoard.

Let us return now to our lecture hall, and see how each of the online enhancements we’ve discussed might help to engage some of the absent or disaffected students.

Hopefully this short presentation has shown you that even minimal online additions to your course can result in more engaged students with deeper understanding and connection with your subject. Why not start small, and next time you prepare for a lecture, think of a few add-on tasks, links or readings and drop them into BlackBoard before you head to the lecture theatre?

Online teaching: too much work? Alex Moseley Learning Technologist

Why change what already works? http://www.flickr.com/photos/maebmij/123180774/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewscott/2330212397/

Enhance, not replace

9:30am, Lecture Theatre 1

Course trajectory

Follow-on resources Easy and quick Lead on to wider/deeper reading

Transcripts or videos Effort is pushed to technical teams Students can review in own time

Stimulating discussion Encourages reflection, insight You can choose to be involved or not

Blogs and wikis Highly reflective: reinforces learning Individual or group

Lecture + online enhancements

Online teaching: too much work?… start small big results