Technology-enhanced learning: Communicate
“Graduates of the University are expected to be able to receive and interpret information, express ideas and share knowledge with diverse audiences in a range of media and formats.” — The University Graduate Profile, Communication and Engagement Capability 1
Effective communication provides a foundation for learning
When students have opportunities to share, compare and discuss with others, they can actively engage with content. Students articulate their ideas and questions, challenge and respond to the ideas and questions from their teacher and peers. They also develop skills that help them to organise, present and convey their ideas to others—work-ready graduates.
Creating a dialogue between your students can be a challenging yet fundamental part of teaching. Modelling the behaviour to allow for effective communication can help to build and foster a safe learning environment where students can thrive, grow and learn.
Communication checklist
Some techniques to help develop a sense of learning community:
- Provide a personalised welcome to the course.
- Communicate contact details and office hours.
- Create to-do lists and consistent announcements to prepare students on how their course will run, where they can find the learning resources and how they will be assessed.
- Enable ongoing discussions; scaffold students in discussions to build engagement.
- Keep questions in public discussions, so all students benefit from open resources.
- Facilitate peer dialogue around learning. Students don’t always understand the feedback given by teachers. When feedback is a transmission process involving ‘telling,’ they may ignore the active role the student must play in making meaning from feedback. Think of feedback as a conversation rather than information transmission. Students who have just learned something can often explain this to their peers in a way that is accessible. Consider allowing space for discussions between students.
- Encourage the use of collaborative documents (e.g., Google Docs or MS Office) for shared notes and comments.
- Consider the use of MS Teams for group messaging, or another University-approved platform that works within your discipline, e.g., Canvas Discussion or Ed Discussion.
- If discussion is assessed, provide rubrics, so students have clarity alternatively, provide exemplars of good discussion practice that help students engage. This can be in the form of question prompts or guidance on how to engage constructively with peers.
- Create a safe and inclusive discussion forum, model good communication practices within the class setting, and clearly state expectations and outcomes.
A bit about online discussions
Online asynchronous discussion gives teaching staff and students a space to actively engage with the course and each other.
At their best discussions can:
- Increase student-student interaction
- Establish a learning relationship between the teacher and student
- Support and grow confidence, competence, and autonomy
- Increase critical engagement with the contents of the course
- Open new channels for fast informal feedback
- Build a genuine learning community that is not bound by the confines of the physical classroom
For teachers, online discussions can:
- Reduce time spent addressing common questions and misunderstandings
- Provide feedback on how students are engaging with the course
- Identify knowledge gaps or areas for improvement in how the course is taught
However, to realise these benefits, online discussions must be purposefully designed, framed, and facilitated. An unplanned or unattended discussion forum is unlikely to be effective.
When you start your class discussion, consider drawing students’ attention to the page on Learning Essentials called communicating respectfully and constructively.
TEL in practice – communicate
Insights: Relationship-building by integrating Māori epistemologies into Chinese language education
Associate Professor Danping Wang uses relationship-building to transform the way languages are taught.
Teaching Tip: Reduce information overload at the start of your course
Dr Suzanne Reid brought her course syllabus to life through the addition of an interactive digital welcome map.
Teaching Tip: Break the class silence with student response tools
Dr Anthony Brand breaks the icy silence in his lectures through the use of low-stakes in-class response tools.
Fostering critical thinking with reflective journals
Lesley Gardner and Udayangi Muthupoltotage discuss how timely, frequent and constructive feedback has a powerful influence on student achievement. However, its impact on higher education students is hotly debated and often highly variable.
Page updated 26/08/2025 (moved ‘online discussions’ from defunct page)
- The University of Auckland. “Graduate Profiles.” Updated July 5, 2020. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/graduate-profile.html. ↩