Top picks for August 2024: Exploring effective practices for blended learning
Photo credit: Kabita Darlami on Unsplash
Humans currently have an attention span of 8.25 seconds, shorter than a goldfish, which stands at 9 seconds.1 This doesn’t bode well for students who are required to read large amounts of content, understand what they have read and then apply it to demonstrate learning.
Too Long; Didn’t Read (TL;DR)
This acronym is used in two ways, first by a reader (in informal settings and to friends) to indicate they didn’t read all the content, or by an author to show that the following short paragraph is a summary of the main points of a longer text. A ‘TL;DR’ paragraph can be a useful addition, either before or after the full text, to ensure readers understand the main points.
This is one simple example of leveraging effective teaching practices when designing our courses for blended learning, but there are many more considerations we should take into account. Several strategies that help students stay engaged with online learning include, but are not limited to:
- active learning strategies
- clear communication and organisation
- fostering student engagement and interaction
- providing timely and constructive feedback
- leveraging appropriate technology
The TeachWell Blended session from the Professional Learning Series is a good starting point to reflect on what blended learning could look like in your course and at our University. It describes three manageable steps towards implementation: short-term/low-impact, mid-medium, and long-term/high impact blends. And it provides examples of technologies that you might utilise to achieve your goals. The session takes approximately one-hour, and is a self-paced, free online module.
Best practice guides from other universities
Pedagogical Best Practices: Residential, Blended, and Online
The Harvard University offers principles and practical tips for teaching effectively in online and blended environments, including specific strategies for interactive lectures, hands-on labs, and engaging discussions. Perfect for both new and experienced online educators aiming for successful, inclusive classes. It also includes tips for boosting student engagement during and outside of synchronous online classes.
Ten Promising Practices for Effective Online Teaching
Stanford University offers detailed and practical guides for managing online teaching and boosting student engagement. It explores relational learning and how to create whanaungatanga by encouraging connections with students, between you as the teacher and with each other.
Facilitating Effective Collaboration in Virtual Student Teams
This blog post from Faculty Focus, acknowledges that virtual team projects can be particularly challenging. It describes the four stages a team will typically go through to begin a project and offers practical strategies that you as a teacher can use to facilitate the group’s smooth progression.
Active Learning Toolkit
The from UNSW Sydney provides three collections of resources and ideas to help academics engage with their students and promote active learning. The third toolkit includes ideas for large groups and classes and how to scale.
John Hopkins [Whiting School of Engineering]
This page provides an in-depth best practices guide for facilitating online discussions. It explains the benefits to students and provides examples for facilitating, grading with SpeedGrader, and how to utilise rubrics.
- The Treetop Therapy, “Average Human Attention Span By Age: 31 Statistics,” The Treetop (blog), July 17, 2024, https://www.thetreetop.com/statistics/average-human-attention-span. ↩