The COVID 19 isolation rules have forced the Avondale Business School to create a new teaching mode, which is a mixture of online materials, and interactive zoom sessions with students.
Lisa Barnes Perspectives:
We have certainly learnt a lot about the use of zoom, especially when it comes to engagement with the students. Here is a photo of one of the zoom sessions run by Dr Homa Freeman, where she asked the students to give the thumbs up!
Zoom is certainly a challenge when a course is designed for a face to face delivery, and research has shown that one way to keep the student stimulated is to engage with them early. One of the initiatives we have been using is the use of “polls” where students are asked to select a response on the screen, and when all responses are received the results are shared with the group.
Another initiative is the use of Guest Speakers. In the past it was difficult to get guest speakers due to Avondale’s location, however getting guest speakers has become a lot easier for lecturers. So far, we have had QANTAS Captain David Saunders, who shared his experience of being stood down in the current environment after 31 years with the airline, and flying the International routes which have now been closed.
Another quest speaker was Nerolie Dever, the Internal Auditor for Sanitarium, and a current Masters student here at Avondale. Nerolie shared her experiences of creating policy in a pandemic, where demand for products have dramatically increased, and physical distancing presents real challenges in a food manufacturing setting. Thanks to both David and Nerolie!
Challenges
- To maintain connected to our students
- To devise online exams where students may have intermittent internet connections
- To create zoom sessions that are interactive and allow students to learn
- To stay connected with other colleagues within the business school and Avondale as a whole
Opportunities
- To connect with industry partners (eg Qantas and Sanitarium) as guest speakers
- That we CAN move to an online teaching mode of delivery
- That more flexible work practices will become the norm
- Better life/work balance with less commuting and more efficient meetings
Peter Williams Perspectives:
In many ways, I felt somewhat prepared for the directive to commence teaching online. Having delivered content to other third-party providers in the past, albeit with tutors on their end, meant that I had a context of what students would likely engage with, and what they wouldn’t. As my thinking began to take shape, I placed a premium on three points of emphasis:
- Regular communication,
- Keeping content based around topic necessities, and
- Drawing on additional resources to keep currency, with simplicity central.
While I knew that the student/lecturer engagement component we enjoy in a classroom setting was going to be lessened, I wanted to keep students in a clear loop of communication, and the central elements of this became weekly emails revolving around what is happening in our unit (the ‘timeline’ as I refer to it!), together with a pdf document which contained the week’s media relating to our subject. With this as an ongoing basis, I knew that our Zoom classes would be able to build off of this, and emphasise the content and assessment mix to assist students in having a clear goal for what was needed to progress through the unit.
In addition to our weekly emails with the timeline and media for discussion during class time that week, I set about making a series of short videos that addressed the content areas, hoping that students who may not be availing themselves of our zoom classes may be able to use these videos to gain additional insight into their topic content. While this represented an extra touch point for content - now available in video, textbook, PowerPoint and our zoom sessions - it catered to another learning style and added some value for students.
Our zoom classes still covered the timeline of the unit, and of course the topic content, but additional emphasis in this time was placed on our exploration of the media which had been emailed to them the day prior to our online class. This proved a rich place for discussion for those present, and helped to solidify some of the concepts visited in the content. Steady attendance in our zoom classes took place, and while I acknowledge that it felt very different to our face-to-face classes, some camaraderie was built, and most importantly, learning took place.
A major learning for me was that just as each face-to-face cohort of students differs, so does the ‘feel’ of each online class. Adjustments were necessary to meet the preferred learning styles of the classes and their members, and student feedback was needed as to how they wanted to best utilise the zoom sessions. There were nuances of difference for each class, and these modifications proved to be beneficial in enhancing the student experience and improving student engagement as we progressed our online learning experience.
Warrick Longs Perspectives:
The transition to online proved to be challenging and rewarding. While not everything worked, I learnt a lot to help make teaching more effective. Connecting with students proved to be critical, and different methods were adopted to try and find a way that connects with the wide variety of students. Classes took a more causal approach at times, as we chatted about the peculiar times we found ourselves in, and what strategies we were using to cope. My use of different backgrounds often provided a talking point. Institutionally I believe we found out that we can do many things were reluctant to even try. It has challenged the need for personal attendance at every meeting, and focused on what outcomes are important as opposed to what activities we do.
Dianne Smiths Perspectives:
From a student’s perspective, it has been amazing to see how the lecturers have stepped up to the challenge of creating and presenting every unit online due to COVID – 19. Initially it felt strange and different and a little uncomfortable, not being in a lecture room with students but instead getting used to a new kind of normal of having classes via zoom and seeing everyone via zoom on my laptop.
Lecturers communicated the changes in regards to moving to online classes and the modification and changes to any assessments and content to be studied extremely well. My class was an accounting unit and is a really hands on kind of unit where you need to read the content, understand the theory and then learn how to put it in practice. The lecturers conducted one or two zoom sessions and then would seek feedback from their students as to how they could gain the most out of learning online going forward. The lecturers were very flexible and quick to apply the feedback to make classes more interactive, interesting and balance the content of the specific topic with activities and questions that would help us to apply what we had learned in that topic.
My class lecturer also provided an extra tutorial class each week after the mid semester break to help us learn and understand the accounting concepts and financial statements that were being taught in this unit. I would receive an email regularly every week after class from my lecturer with encouraging words and a reminder of the topic that we had covered, a reminder of the extra zoom tutorial class that students could attend as well as any assessments that would be due in the next week or two.
Our lecturers were always encouraging us to contact them if we had any questions or issues, that they were very willing to help us and make time to see us via zoom out of class time to help us should we need it. Going through this change of learning style has shown me the importance of having initiative and persistence to get through my studies as well as knowing that the lecturers really care about their students and are willing to go the extra mile during these challenging times.