Preparing students for SAFE Online Learning

I have written about this subject before in The Farmers Breakfast and I'm Engaged but when's the Wedding? but not, as I recall, in respect of ONLINE learning.

The COVID-19 inspired rush to go online for many Universities risks forgetting some of the basics as online TEACHING is delivered, rather than online LEARNING.

Picture courtesy of bruno cervera azsk at unsplash

In a traditional classroom or lecture hall students feel relatively safe.  They know from many years at primary and secondary school that they can be:

• Confident that they know what is going to happen,
• Familiar with the environment and the peer group,
• Sure that they will not be picked out in front of their peers and have their lack of preparation exposed,
• Assured that whatever content is delivered, it can be revised before the exam .

NONE OF THIS FAMILIARITY AND REASSURANCE CAN BE ASSUMED ONLINE

So, online learning needs students to be SAFE - yes, another mnemonic is brewing.  Students need to feel:

• Secure - in the environment and the technology,
• Acknowledged - where peers and the session facilitator (teacher) note their presence,
• Forewarned -  clear about what the session will deliver and what is expected of them,
• Engaged - by the subject matter, the interaction, the response opportunities - basically by anything that keeps them focused.

Future blogs will expand on the practicalities of this necessary part of planning for online learning.