Laura Hollinshead, Learning Technologist-Curriculum Development
We have collated some case studies of good practice across the institution, providing some ideas of the activities you could try.
Live Q&A
In an initial Teacher Education session Blackboard Collaborate was used to help facilitate group work within break out rooms. The final part of the session was dedicated to a Q&A using the chat facility. This worked well with the ability to field questions from all 96 attendees at the same time, whereas face-to-face there would probably have been a lot of repetition as students asked the same questions. The feedback from students suggests this was a very useful and effective session and, as such, this is a format that will be taken forward and used in future modules next year.
Guest Speakers
Several programmes have used online live sessions to help bring in guest speakers:
- In Football Journalism, online live sessions have been used to carry out interviews with Burton Albion football club, a GB Olympic hockey player and a press conference with the Manager and Chief Executive of Derby County Women. They have also used this approach to help the Football Writers’ Association journalists to mentor the students during lockdown. Examples of the reporting pieces created by students can be seen on Twitter UoDFootyJournos and their WordPress site.
- In Publishing a range of industry professionals have given their time to provide virtual guest lectures (presenters from Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Trigger Press, 404 Ink, Vintage, PRH and Headline).
- In Economics and Finance, guest lecturers have presented in live sessions including a Bank of England East Midlands agent (Applied Intermediate Macroeconomics module) and a financial expert (Investing in Financial Market Behaviour module). All the sessions were recorded so students who has missed a session can review them later.
Group Work
Opportunities for group working can feel harder to achieve as a remote live element. However, some programmes have looked at how technology can help to facilitate this and potentially blend live experiences with asynchronous (non-live) elements within their programmes.
- In Law, the Legal Practice Course team have used breakout rooms on Collaborate Ultra to enable students to undertake group activities and for lecturers to ‘visit’ and feedback in real time. This has encouraged interactivity between the students as well as directly with the lecturer.
- In Policing:
- A live brief was used for a crime prevention strategy at a Highbury Hospital, Nottinghamshire, with students presenting their findings on MS Teams and then holding a Q&A session with the rest of the cohort.
- Students were set the task of watching a video of an incident through Blackboard and then within a live session they completed a written statement that was read out and critiqued by the rest of the group.
- In another session, the students watched a video of an incident and then were set tasks regarding decision making, code of ethics etc – asking them specifically what they would have done differently and why.