I recently did an online session on how to use workflow.

Before the pandemic, we used to run sessions like this, where the participants would be shown the system and then given a number of activities using the new system so that they would get a good understanding of the session and it would be a fun interactive session.

Since the pandemic these sessions are online and it is quite difficult to replicate the activities we used to do, I thought that this is a good opportunity to get feedback and suggestions on how to improve this sort of session. Moving it away from me just showing the participants the system to a more interactive based session.

The session was about 30 mins, I tried to introduce a little interaction at the beginning which I think I will adapt, it was a random question I used the quiz tool for, however, I agree with Emily that it would have worked better if the participants had to use the text box to add an answer and reason. Because these are not my students and this is the only interaction I have with them, it can be difficult for them to want to communicate and ask questions, this was the case in this session where no one asked any questions.

The session consisted of me going through all the main aspects of Workflow for the students, we covered the following:

• How to log in
• Examples of students workflows
• How to create a page and collection
• How to share it with your tutor or anyone
• How to submit and what the difference is between sharing and submission.

I also recorded the session, so that they could go over it again, and also any student that was missing could watch it back. Handouts were given and a follow-up session was discussed and is now booked in with one of my colleagues.

I asked a number of times if the students had any questions? Howerver, the students remained radio silent throughout. It’s really difficult to gauge whether or not the students found the session useful when you can’t see or hear them, getting a way to get them to engage so that I can get feedback during the session is really useful and really helps make sure that the students get the most out of the session.

I used this session for both my observation with my Tutor and with a peer, I thought it would be interesting to see if the feedback was different. I asked for feedback about how to make the session more interactive and ways to replicate a practical session online. This Will help me with the session I run, but also through the advice and training we do, it will help the lecturers that have more practical subjects to teach. As we pass this advice on to staff.

What I have learned.

In the future, I will look at adding micro activities of between 5, and 10 minutes in length, where the participants need to report back their findings.

To ask specific questions that the students need to answer rather than ask if they have any questions.

Get the students to work in groups for specific activities, this will help get them talking and hopefully elicit a more discursive session. There are a number of studies on the effectiveness of using breakout rooms to help engage the students with the session

Work on more icebreaker activities to start the session, We have had feedback to the Dean’s forum that the start of online sessions can be a strange, quiet, awkward space. It’s understandable for the lecturer to wait for the majority of the students to appear online, however, the silence can be quite a negative experience, filling this time with a fun icebreaker can start engaging the students that are there and fill the awkward moment.

References

Chandler, K. (2016). Using Breakout Rooms in Synchronous Online Tutorials. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 4(3).

‌Vivify STEM. (n.d.). 50 Distance Learning Icebreakers & Games. [online] Available at: https://www.vivifystem.com/blog/2020/6/1/icebreakers-for-distance-learning.