Using polling online: benefits and options

You will find below a recorded presentation from Sophie MacKenzie, lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy, about the pedagogical benefits of using (online polling), as well as an overview of the different options to do online polling, along with pros and cons for each

Polling as pedagogy, voice over Powerpoint (3’36):

Brief overview of online polling options at City

Download the slides

Shifting a short module with guest speakers online

The module

Political Headlines’ gives City’s MA Journalism students the opportunity to interact, question and learn from top journalists and politicians.It is run by Professor Barney Jones. It’s a high-density, week-long module (in this case, a Sunday to Friday week). The module is assessed by the writing of a political pitch for a news story. Typically, over 80 students take the module. This year, another 70 Journalism students were given the opportunity to ‘audit’ the module.

The plan

The SASS School Liaison Team at ETT (Educational Technology Team) discussed at length with Barney the benefits of making content available to students asynchronously via City’s virtual learning environment (VLE). There were several reasons for this: students would be able to access content in their own time and time zones, they could pace their learning and they could learn more about the work of our guest speakers.

From the outset, Barney was clear that he wanted to keep the live events with the guests so that students could benefit from the Q and A sessions that have been the main events of previous modules.

We agreed that the module should have the following contents:

  • Narrated presentations (instead of live lectures by Barney)
  • Guest interviews via Microsoft Teams with Barney (where possible) lasting ten minutes which were recorded and posted on the VLE
  • Additional video content provided by the guests such as documentaries and showreels
  • Fora on the VLE for each guest so students could post questions to the guests ahead of the live sessions
  • Live sessions via webinar with Barney hosting, students asking questions live in-person (having posted them on the VLE fora or in the webinar chat) and us managing the guests’ access, the questions, and the audience.

Barney's video presentation

Moodle forum for questions to guest speaker

By the end of the module, there were four narrated presentations, nine ten-minute interviews and 11 live events involving 22 guests. Between 80 and 105 students took part in each of the live events

Comms

We sent emails to the students with the live events schedule for the week. These included details on how to access the events and the etiquette expected. Calendar items for each of the 11 live sessions were sent which included the event hyperlink. Daily announcements were made by Barney via the VLE reminding students which resources to look at in advance and what to notice in the media that day. Guests and hosts were sent separate calendar items with corresponding hyperlinks to shield their email addresses from a wider audience.

Lights, cameras, action

The live sessions followed a similar pattern: we would open the meeting and share a welcome slide with the name of the guest on it. Barney would introduce the session with some background to the guest and associated themes. He would check with us that all was well. We would start recording. This was followed by Barney chatting to the guests and then selecting questions from students (streamed by us via a private online group chat). He would ask the questioners to put them directly to the guests by turning on their microphones and cameras. These sessions varied in length from 30 to 90 minutes according to guest availability and other parameters. Some guests were on their own, others in pairs or threes and others joined while another left.

Evaluation

The Political Headlines module went very well. The level of student engagement was high for both the asynchronous and synchronous items. Between 85 and 110 students accessed the eleven live events and many questions were written for guests with a large proportion of them being asked live. Barney and colleagues from the Department of Journalism have been very positive about the module as shown in this news item.

Feedback form the students was overwhelmingly positive, with many agreeing that given the nature of the module, the online version was the “next best thing” after interacting with political journalists face-to-face in Parliament.

Some quotes from the survey that our team put together:

“Barney also put up some very helpful recorded lectures on Moodle to flesh out some of the topics of discussion.”

“The resources on moodle such as the documentaries and trailer videos were brilliant.”

Takeaways

We knew that creating high-quality online content is time-consuming, and switching from face-to-face delivery requires time, patience and a willingness to understand that it is not a switch-flicking exercise.

The process also requires well thought out strategies and practice as everything – including the training and the delivery – is partially delivered asynchronously. It would not be possible for us to assist all academics to the extent we have in this project.

It would be hard to imagine a richer pool of content for budding journalists. The guests were both generous with their time and their advice. Students received advice, empathy and encouragement in abundance, and this is could have a significant impact on their careers ahead. The online version provided some value there as it was easier to have more guests online than when they have to fit the commute to City to attend the face to face sessions.

Suggestions from the students to improve the module revolved around the process of asking questions  to  the guest speakers:

“Some of the questions, whilst interesting, were not relevant and took up time where better ones could have been asked. Perhaps a voting system for the questions asked could have been implemented.”

“I think if the questions ahead of time were hidden from view I would have felt more confident putting my questions down. “

This aligns with the fact that the live Q&As were very popular with the chat blowing up with new questions and comments and can be seen as a good sign that the aims of the module to make it an authentic learning experience and for students to explore how journalists make stories of political events were met.

Blended teaching of clinical skills (optometry)

Blended Learning: 

The training is divided into 7 short course units. Each unit relates to a specific core competency derived from existing ophthalmic speciality competency frameworks that define the knowledge, skills and attributes to undertake extended practice in Medical Retina. Each unit is equivalent to a 1 hour face-to face lecture.

  • Material, activities and recordings centralised on the Moodle module. 
  • Independent learning online with narrated Powerpoints for lecture content 
  • Interactive webinars incorporating case-based discussions. Recordings made available on Moodle 
  • Online quiz as formative assessment to provide ongoing feedback, monitor progress and identify learning needs. 
  • Face to face clinical sessions.  
  • Summative assessment:  a formal accreditation assessment in the form of an online test 

Learners expected to study for 50 notional hours over 3 months. Of these hours approximately 10 deemed contact hours: 7 x 1-hour online lectures, 3 x 1-hour webinars. 

Strength: authentic material and learning

“John’s narrated PowerPoints were really well designed i.e great use of clinical imagery which he then explained” Thomas Hanley, Educational Technologist supporting the project

The Moodle quiz used retinal scans taken from the electronic patient record database at Moorfields Eye Hospital London. Anonymised scans showing disease progression or stabilisation of patients with age-related macular degeneration over multiple clinic were used to assess clinical decision-making.

 

The synchronous sessions also aimed to provide an authentic experience. They were delievered by an external clinical expert who accessed the clinical database in real time (patient details were anonymised by obscuring part of the screen)

Feedback

A survey was sent to the course’s participants to obtain their feedback on the content and format. Overall there was very positive feedback from a great majority of respondents with regards to the online content, format and delivery.

How did you feel about studying online as opposed to receiving face to face training? 

Chart of overall satisfaction with online learning

Some takeaways and considerations for your own practice:

“All good, but a development point could be to adapt teaching style for online presentation. [In my opinion] there is no need to read out the PowerPoints, but perhaps highlight certain points. Keep the presentations to under 20 minutes. I’m afraid I was in danger of getting distracted with the longer ones. – Survey respondent

Most survey respondents did not have an issue with only participating in the webinars via chat.

“Text was much better as less interuptions and the audio of the presenter is clearer without everyone else’s microphones enabled” – Survey respondent

Most survey respondents also agreed that it would have been helpful to use discussion forums during and after the training for peer support.

Students on the training were also provided with some guidance on using the features of Adobe Connect for the live sessions


 

Moving the Masters in Academic Practice Online

EDM116 – Technology Enabled Academic Practice

Double credit module.Masters level. Started in term 2. Shifted 3 full teaching days online

New structure:

  • 10-11am live teaching – recorded
  • 11-12pm activities to work on
  • 12-12.30 lunchtime surgery
  • 1-3pm activities to work on
  • 3-4pm live teaching and wrap – recorded

Find out more: https://blogs.city.ac.uk/learningatcity/2020/04/24/teaching-online-learning-in-a-time-of-crisis/#.Xs5LDZ5KhrI

EDM121 – Developing Leadership and Your Reflective Practice

Masters level, small group. Originally five full days of face-to-face teaching. Started in term 2.

Learning was moved online after day 2:

  • parts of the assessment were adapted: students were asked to submit a narrated Powerpoint instead of presenting in class. They were also assigned a group and would peer assess each member’s submission. The rest of the assessment, reflective blog posts, remained unchanged.
  • The days were broken into chunks of content and activities organised around themes. Every two to three weeks a new section would be open on Moodle to start the new topic. Each topic would be organised around the following:
    • independent learning activities on Moodle
    • synchronous session to introduce the topic, often with a guest speaker ; to review progress on activities and discuss further; as a Q&A with regard to the content or activities
    • suggested deadlines for topical blog posts
    • opportunities for formative assessment with deadlines at various points of the module (presentation and blog posts)

EDM106 – Curriculum Design and Evaluation

Masters level, small groups. Usually taught over the term with full days of face-to-face teaching.

The whole module was moved online in term 2. The days were broken into chunks of content that were released every week

  • video introduction to the module
  • 1 hour webinars around specific topics once a week
  • online content (lecturers’ presentation, other sources) followed by discussion forums around the topics

Example of discussion forums around topics

  • individual submission of narrated Powerpoint for the summative assessment. Students were also assigned to groups and peer reviwed each member’s submission
  • opportunities for formative assessment: draft submissions and Moodle group forum activity to discuss the assesssment criteria

EDM109 – Researching Higher Education

Masters level, small group, term 2. The full module was moved online. Teaching over five weeks:

  • week 1 : introductory week
  • weeks 2 and 3: topic 1, divided into two subtopics, one each week
  • weeks 4 and 5: topic 2, divided into two subtopics, one each week

Organisation of activities:

  • video introduction to the module
  • presentations and other contents with guided activities on Moodle (using forums and lessons mostly), along with forums to ask questions about the content or activities, followed by
  • weekly 1 hour webinars, usually with guest speakers, to discuss the topics and progress on the activities
  • all the activities are building up to the summative assessment, which is the submission of a research proposal.
  • reflective journal with prompts to write entries at different stages of the module.
  • opportunities to submit formative activities, eg sumit a visual representation of the research plan

 

Developing First Aid Skills Online

HS1925 Practice 1: Foundations in Nursing Care

Developing first aid skills

What the academics did: Usually a practical element of the course. The academics used the Moodle lesson activity and Moodle quiz to create interactive resources for students. In total 6 activities and 9 resources were created. Students were told the whole section would take around 4 hours (6 hours maximum) to complete and they were given 3 weeks to complete it. They were expected to complete the activities in order. Reports on Moodle were used to identify if students had completed the activities and a Q&A forum was used to get feedback from students on the activities.


1. Narrated PowerPoint (Present)

Welcome presentation (4.35mins long)
Goes through the organsiation and content of activities.
Tells students that the whole section will take around 4 hrs (maximum 6 hours)

Course welcome presentation Course welcome presentation


2. Lesson activity (Apply and review)
6 minute video followed by quiz questions

Lesson activity in Moodle Lesson activity in Moodle


3.
Presentation and links to reading followed by Quiz activity (Present, apply, review)

Students are provided with links to the legislation and are then required to take a quiz to apply and review their knowledge on the key bits of legislation.

Reading on HS1925 Links to reading followed by quiz questions

4. Instructional video (Present and apply)

Short (6.45min) home made video to demonstrate practical skills for students to try out at home.

Instructional video Instructional video


5. Scenarios –
using the lesson activity (which allows branching) (Apply and Review)
Students are given a 2.33min introduction with instructions. They required to select three First Aid scenarios (out of a total of 9)
They note down their answers and get instant feedback on their analysis of the condition and suggested treatment.

Scenario activity in Moodle lessonlesson Scenario activity in Moodle lesson

 

6. Build a first aid kit exercise (Present, apply, review)
Students are required to use the online resources to find out what equipment a workplace first aid kit should contain. They then apply this knowledge to build their own kit online using the Moodle feedback activity. Students receive instant feedback on whether their choices were correct or incorrect.

7. Video resources (Present)
Students are provided with several YouTube video resources created by the Red Cross.

Video resources YouTube video resources