Week 8 – Learning Environments

For me, reflecting on my personal experiences in online teaching and what I have learned through this course, the three key things to consider when designing content/environments for HE are:

1. really focus on a couple of key outcomes for the students. Don’t overwhelm them with information. Just tackle a few really well, making sure they are relevant to the learning outcomes and industry relevant.

2. Experiment with different activities and approaches, so that the students don’t get bored by repetition. This will also help both students and educators discover which methods resonate with them the most, as it can be very personal.

3. Leave a buffer of time for the unexpected, or in fact expected questions. Not all students will pick up the tasks at the intended speed, plus there will inevitably be questions that push the boundaries of the designed content. This is higher education, so we should be encouraging this questioning! We also need to factor in IT issues and language skills here too, especially in online courses where we are not always working synchronously.

As I have no real experience in a physical classroom, only online, it is hard for me to think about how my three key considerations would change in the two spaces. I think the first and third point would still be very relevant in both settings, and the second would be made potentially easier in a traditional classroom.