Designing for engagement in a learning community (online course for staff)

A tutored 10-hr (2-wk) asynchronous online course on implementing engaging online activities to develop a community of motivated learners in online/blended courses.

Dates and times are up to you - there are no fixed dates and times except for optional webinars.

Next run: 19th April - 3rd May (you do any 10 hours in that time frame)

This course is a 10-hour online course spread across two weeks, mostly asynchronous, including two live sessions of an hour each - these are optional but recommended.

In this course you’ll learn how to implement engaging online activities that motivate students and promote learning in completely online courses or the online part of a blended course. You’ll experience and learn to support the stages of developing a community of engaged learners, and will practice some of the essential skills of online facilitation. This entirely online course will take 10 hours (or more if you engage with more than the minimum), spread over two weeks (reasonably evenly). You will be expected to engage in online activities which develop and build practical skills.

The course is a development of the Online Facilitation and Designing for Engagement course that ran very successfully many times, and has been redesigned and updated in response to academic feedback for the current circumstances. If you have already taken that course there may be much in this one that you recognise.

BOOKING
Here is the link to book on this course: https://training.nottingham.ac.uk/Course?courseref=LTENGAGECOMM&dates=0
(If you are China or Malaysia staff please book direct with helen.whitehead@nottingham.ac.uk)

Learning outcomes:

to understand the key concepts relating to online and blended learning right now, in this academic year and the next, at the University of Nottingham
to appreciate how participants will feel on undertaking an online course, or an online element of a blended course
to understand the stages of building an online community to support learner engagement
to be able to design activities for participatory social online learning
to be able to facilitate and develop online interactions such as discussion and collaborative production
to understand how learning materials can be organised within an online learning environment such as Moodle and related technologies such as MS Teams

Schedule

Day 1: Introductory Webinar (Teams meeting) (alternative dates and/or recordings available)
Asynchronous learning in your own time spread over two weeks
Approx Day 14: Final webinar (Teams meeting) (alternative dates and/or recordings available)

Who should attend?

Academic staff teaching online or blended courses, staff supporting teaching, those responsible for Education and Student Experience, or postgraduate students involved or planning to be involved in in learning and teaching in online-only or blended courses.

Postgraduate students should already have been asked to facilitate an online course or blended course. No postgraduate credit is available for this course.

Course tutor

Helen Whitehead is a Learning Technology Consultant at the University of Nottingham. She has a special interest in online and blended learning and has been supporting and training people to effectively teach online for many years, across a number of Universities and colleges.