eTutoring: Top Tips for Engaging Students Karen Thompson,

Lianne Hutchings,

& David Hopkins

Business School

7. Incentivise

Use marks to encourage participation

– note that marking criteria need to

be clear. Define pre-requisite

activities for assessment and make

the rules explicit. Spell out the

correlation between participation and

grades.

9. Make

frequent

announcements

You need to have a strong

presence in the virtual

world. Two or three

announcements per week

as a minimum. Use

announcements to start

activities, encourage

participation, stimulate

debate, provide feedback

and close activities.

Include a link to the forum

for questions.

10. Feedback and reinforce

Provide feedback covering what has gone

well and scope for improvement. Address

content and process. Reinforce collaboration

by sharing tips, your ideas, suggestions for

application etc. Invite feedback on the unit

through a feedback forum and always

respond promptly to comments made.

And finally ...

make sure you do what you said you will do!

6. Understand strengths

and limitations

Yours and the students’. Prompt

students to share ideas and to critique

their own work by using generic

feedback, FAQs, model answers,

marking criteria etc. Encourage

students to use their experience as

well as theory. Students appreciate

tasks grouped together and

discussions spread over two weeks.

4. Make it personal

Introduce yourself and set clear

expectations for what students can

expect from you and what you expect

from them, particularly frequency of

contributions. Post a holding

announcement to make it clear when

the unit starts and explain any

preparation students should be doing.

Don’t overstretch yourself – you can

always do more than you’ve indicated

but never less.

3. Diarise your

time

Create your own

timetable for eTutoring

and put this into your

calendar. Put a ‘do not

disturb’ sign on your

door to prevent

interruptions. Include

time for planning,

making

announcements,

contributing to

discussions and

providing feedback.

2. Plan ahead

Aim to model the behaviour you

wish to see from students and

plan your interventions

accordingly. Make sure you are

thoroughly familiar with the core

material before the unit starts.

Once the unit starts you can

make core material come alive

by including current news items

for discussion.

1. Design for learning

Online delivery needs to be designed

around what you want the students to

do. Material can often be adapted from

face-to-face teaching, but needs to

engage students who are studying

remotely.

5. Explain the goals

Make it very clear what you expect

students to do and why - for the unit as

a whole and for each activity. Identify

what’s in it for them e.g. marks,

underpins assessment etc. Provide

opportunities for students to assess

their own progress towards the goals.

8. Force use of

forums

Insist students use discussion

forums for all questions and

discussions, so that ideas are

shared and your email is

reduced. Answer individual

emails and, if its not personal,

put Q&A on the unit support

forum (each unit should have

one). Subscribe to all forums

yourself and encourage your

students to do so too.