Engaging face-to-face and online teaching practices
Effective facilitation and teaching is more than just the successful transference of knowledge, skill or application around a particular topic. Effective teaching ensures that a surface approach to learning is replaced by deeper, student driven approaches to learning that analyse, develop, create and demonstrate understanding. Students need to initiate learning and maintain engagement during learning in their development as independent lifelong learners. As a tertiary teachers, the facilitation of that learning journey requires a strong teacher presence regardless of delivery mode.
The following web pages include information, approaches and strategies to support you in understanding the facilitation process and its value for learning, and what you can do as a teacher to engage students in learning through facilitation in any delivery mode.
The following information can assist you with implementing the above, and support your ongoing professional development and learning needs:
Quality teaching practices includes an awareness and accommodation of your students and their learning needs for success. Do you know the answer to the following?
Facilitating for learning
- How do you facilitate a deep level of learning, as opposed to surface learning, for your students?
Principles of facilitation
- Do you include social, teacher and cognitive presence in your online teaching?
Models of ‘flipped’ facilitation
- Are you confident in facilitating ‘flipped’ approaches to learning at a class or course level?
Collaborative teaching practices
- Are you working effectively as a teaching team with your colleagues across campuses?
- What strategies do you use to maximise learning through effective use of group work?
Quality facilitation practices
- Are you effectively managing you teaching time?
Engaging online facilitation
- Are you an active member of the students learning community?
Engaging face-to-face facilitation
- Are you maximising the on-campus class time with active learning sessions?
Engaging blended facilitation
- In considering the ‘blend’ of face-to-face and online in your teaching have you critically assessed the balance to ensure that all components of good teaching and learning practice are covered?
Technologies to enhance teaching
Are you using the right technologies to facilitate the learning journey?
The BOLD Learning and Teaching Practices provide clear guidelines to support teaching practices for different delivery/study modes, opportunities for self-assessment and reflection on current teaching practices, and opportunities for collaborative discussion with peers and learning designers to enhance online teaching practices. The minimum course expectations for facilitating a quality learning journey to support student success are outline in Focus Area 02. View the BOLD Learning and Teaching Practices.
Focus Area 02 | Teacher presence and communication, facilitation and interaction
2.1 Contact details and availability of all course teaching team members clearly stated.
2.2 A course welcome/introduction is provided.
2.3 Expected learner query response times are clearly stated.
2.4 Online communication etiquette (netiquette) expectations are clearly stated
2.5 The strategy for using News Forum/Announcement (one way) posts is clearly stated.
2.6 News Forum/Announcement (one way) posts are made in accordance with the stated strategy.
2.7 Learners are provided with opportunities for collaboration and interactivity (ie: peer-peer, learner-teacher and teacher-learner).
- Asynchronous communication, requiring teacher and learner interaction (ie: General (topic/module) and Q&A forum discussions).
- Synchronous communication, requiring teacher and learner interaction (ie: Adobe Connect virtual classes and/or office hours).
CLIPP offers the following professional development opportunities to support teaching staff with the development of their learning and teaching spaces:
- BOLD PD Offerings | Resources –View other online resources that support understanding your learner and their learning needs.
- BOLD PD Offerings | Central – View online webinars on offer this quarter.
- BOLD PD Offerings | School – View the School specific PD ‘menu’ available. Contact your Associate Dean of Teaching Quality or School’s CLIPP Learning Designer to see what has been organised for delivery in your School or Discipline.