mba blended learning tutor guide 2014/15
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2014/15
MBA Blended Learning
Tutor Guide The Business School
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this guide is to ensure that a common understanding exists of
the role and responsibili es of a tutor, to give you some idea of how to
approach online unit design and to explain the part that we hope to play in
your development as an effec ve tutor.
The Blended Learning MBA is intended to provide a more flexible
management development experience than the exis ng programme,
enabling students to become more effec ve managers with less disrup on to
their current prac ce.
CONTENTS
Advice and Support .......... 2
Being a Tutor .................... 3
Design ............................... 4
Communica on ................ 5
“..we will always encourage you to reflect upon the pedagogy first. You shouldn’t worry too much about your technical ability..”
There are four common approaches to staff development taken in this area,
namely the running of training sessions, direct consulta on (including technical
support), mentoring and the suppor ng communi es of prac ce. At the Business
School, we currently concentrate our efforts on the first two, although we may
try to develop a community of prac ce for MBA tutors over the coming academic
year.
If you do seek assistance from us, we will always encourage you to think about
the pedagogy first. You shouldn’t worry too much about your technical ability as
training can be provided once a requirement has been iden fied.
And there aren’t any limits! Whatever your idea, as long as you allow us a
reasonable lead‐in me, we can probably help you to realise it.
LEARNING TECHNOLOGY ADVICE AND SUPPORT
OUR APPROACH TO TUTOR DEVELOPMENT
Development programs for
e‐learning and online tutoring vary
widely from one ins tu on to
another, extending from single
hour‐long sessions to mul ple days
across a term or academic year.
Within Bournemouth University
Business School, development
opportuni es are provided for the
main part by the Learning
Technology Team, par cularly the
Learning Technologist with special
responsibility for the MBA.
You will be contacted by the MBA
Learning Technologist at least one
month prior to commencement of
your unit for an informal discussion
during which the appropriate level
of on‐going support will be agreed
upon.
MBA MANAGEMENT TEAM
Dr Milena Bobeva MCMI
Tel: 65193 [email protected] The Programme Co‐ordinator (PC) is responsible for the overall management of the programme and the provision of advice on procedural ma ers.
Mrs Mandy Lynch Tel: 68729 [email protected] The Programme Administrator (PA) is responsible for the day‐to‐day administra on of the programme.
Mrs Kathy Abbasirad MSc Tel: 65793 [email protected] The Learning Technologist (LT) is responsible for providing pedagogic advice, guidance, encouragement and support in the use of the technologies specific to online programme delivery.
2
BEING A BLENDED LEARNING TUTOR
What is a blended learning degree programme?
All learning is essen ally blended learning and there is no single accepted
defini on. It is most o en used to describe a programme of instruc on in
which students are taught partly using e‐learning, with the student able to
exercise more control over me and place than is possible with tradi onal
delivery methods.
What is e‐learning then?
E‐learning is the use specifically of internet technologies to convey and/or
create knowledge.
What are your responsibili es?
In common with tradi onally delivered units, you have sole responsibility for
your unit. Learning materials on MBA units are (or will be) rou nely rolled
over from the previous year but you are not obliged to use them ‐ you are
enthusias cally encouraged to modify and create! If you do choose to take
ownership of exis ng materials please make sure that they are reviewed
thoroughly, it isn’t acceptable to blame a previous tutor for errors or poor
quality. Make sure that you edit all men ons of the previous tutor (so that
the students don’t mistakenly contact them), check that external web links
s ll work (and are s ll relevant) and most importantly, change the dates in
the unit schedule and guide!
A detailed step‐by‐step Opera ons Manual can be found in Appendix A.
Before the unit you will
be expected to:
Have explored the
pedagogy specific to
blended learning.
Be familiar with the
intended learning
outcomes of each session.
Be familiar with the
intended learning
outcomes of the unit.
Have reviewed and
updated all exis ng
documenta on and
material associated with the
unit if not crea ng new
materials.
During the unit you will
be expected to:
Acknowledge all student
contact within 24 hours,
inform students of your
preferred weekly online
working hours and any
likely periods of
unavailability.
Take responsibility for
iden fying and assis ng
non‐engaging students.
To modify prac ce in
response to student
feedback when possible.
* You should never ask students to
contact you via a personal email
address or home telephone.
Whenever possible communica on
should take place within the unit
discussion board but in situa ons
when this is not appropriate, for
both technical and legal reasons,
you should only use your university
email account.
3
YOUR CHALLENGE AS AN ONLINE
TUTOR— 9 EVENTS OF INSTRUCTION
(GAGNE, 1969)
1. GAIN ATTENTION
Present an introductory ac vity that engages and
excites.
Set the scene!
2. DESCRIBE THE OBJECTIVE
Make sure that your students know what they
need to learn, why they need to, and what the
schedule is.
Adult learners need to be able to organise
thoughts and allocate their me .
3. STIMULATE RECALL OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Make any connec ons to previous learning clear.
Allow students to build on previous knowledge
and make sure they recognise when they can and
should be doing so.
4. PRESENT THE MATERIAL
Carefully sequence and split up all material into
easily diges ble chunks (20‐30 minutes per
ac vity) using a variety of different media .
5. PROVIDE LEARNER GUIDANCE
Put new material into context by presen ng
examples, or case studies.
Use the forum to do this ‐ encourage discussion,
guide it and summarise at regular intervals.
6. ELICIT PERFORMANCE
Provide opportuni es for your students to show/
apply their new knowledge .
7. PROVIDE FEEDBACK
Correct any misunderstandings your students
may have and reinforce correct understanding .
8. ASSESS PRFORMANCE
Formal assessment in the form of an essay, quiz
or other .
9. ENHANCE RETENTION & TRANSFER
Provide opportuni es for your students to relate
knowledge to their own experiences.
DEVELOPING AND RUNNING YOUR UNIT
If you decide that you want to produce new online unit content,
then Gagné’s Nine Events, an instruc onal theory first proposed
by Robert Gagné in his 1969 book Condi ons of Learning, can pro‐
vide a useful checklist for preparing and delivering it.
You will probably be carrying out these “events” intui vely in a
classroom se ng but you will o en need to plan carefully to repli‐
cate them online.
Each of the events emphasises different a cogni ve process. By
giving careful a en on to each of these events when developing
you unit, your students should be more engaged throughout it
and show increased reten on and comprehension.
Please feel free to seek further informa on and support from the
Learning Technologists at any me.
DESIGNING FOR ALL — WRITTEN MATERIAL
Good design is usually simple and consistent design! Try to keep visual
clu er to a minimum.
For students with visual impairment (requiring screen reading so ware),
or specific learning disabili es such as dyslexia, inconstantly forma ed
and punctuated text can cause par cular difficulty. You should also bear
in mind that a significant number of your students may not read or write
English as a first language.
4
TOP TIPS
Choose a plain font such as Arial (12 – 14 point) and s ck with it!
Write short sentences and paragraphs using simple English.
Write using an ac ve rather than passive voice.
Use figures and illustra ons only to convey essen al informa on
and never to simply brighten‐up material.
Provide alterna ve text for all figures and illustra ons.
“Good design is usually simple and consistent design!”
“..your students have a huge amount of relevant experience, which they will generally enthusias cally share .”
Discussion boards are a key feature of most online courses, and we would
strongly argue that it should be used as the communica on hub on all MBA
units.
You can chose to organise your unit rather like a tradi onal correspondence
or distance learning course ‐ direc ng students to work their way through the
materials provided, asking ques ons as and when they need to. If you do
choose to approach your unit in this way however, we believe that you will be
missing out ‐ your students have a huge amount of relevant experience,
which they will generally enthusias cally share if given an appropriate
opportunity to do so in a discussion board ac vity.
And remember to subscribe to your forums so that you receive
email no fica ons!
THE IMPORTANCE OF USING THE DISCUSSION FORUM
TIPS FOR INVOLVING STUDENTS IN ONLINE DEBATE
5
Always create opportuni es for the students to share their
own experiences.
Start with a simple ac vity (an icebreaker).
Encourage par cipa on and promote confidence by being
visible online, being enthusias c, and showing an interest in
the students’ perspec ve.
Show by example how students to are expected to interact
and be strict in enforcing rules which ensure that all opinions
are respected.
Contact any students who are not ac vely par cipa ng by
email.
Be current if possible, using relevant, familiar news items.
Act promptly to keep discussions flowing, clarify/correct
confused understanding or inaccuracy, seize upon relevant
points and help the students to make connec ons. Summarise
threads and link them to your learning materials and reading
list.
ONLINE TUTORING MEME
Colleagues at Edinburgh University have
produced a “Manifesto for Teaching
Online” intended to “s mulate thought
about crea ve online teaching”.
Though s ll serious academic output, the
manifesto is intended to be very different
to the tradi onal paper ‐ a novel way of
sharing ideas, embracing up‐to‐date web
culture.
The manifesto has a Crea ve Commons
license, and its authors want it to be
rewri en and debated ‐ that’s the idea!
They ask that you share your thoughts
with them via their website.
h p://www.swop.educa on.ed.ac.uk/
manifesto.html