Page 76 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

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Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
5.
Learning Development and Literacies
The Learning Development and Literacies (LD) departments in ADC contributed to all of the above projects, including the development of SOS content, the presentation of live online sessions, the hosting of webinars and answering student queries online.
Another approach that is being further developed is the creation of more comprehensive, fully online and self-paced modules on a number of topics that supports student success. These modules will cover many of the most important student success themes when they are all ready, but as an example of this intentionally blended approach, the LD unit includes a fully online Learning Development study skills module that was completed in 2020 and fully rolled out in 2021. This self-paced module is available to all undergraduate students on Blackboard as an Organisation. The module focuses on skills such as time management, exam-taking strategies, creative studying, planning for revision, motivation and goal setting. Although a self-paced model is used, social presence in the online modules is important in a mediated environment and therefore senior mentors and staff engage with students in the online modules. This
social presence plays a supporting role in the formation of relationships and the exchange of information within a mediated environment (Oztok & Brett 2011). It not only supports and facilitates the communicative actions of students but also potentially enables learning in online environments, according to Oztok and Brett (2011). Social constructivism holds that social presence is critical because it connects students in an online learning environment and motivates them to take an active role in the knowledge construction and meaning-making process (Fung 2004; Henning 2004; Stacey 1999, in Oztok & Brett 2011). Struggling students are identified and tracked and individual or group support is then provided. In this way, students are guided and supported by the LD facilitators and senior mentors throughout their learning journey. Senior mentors are also active on these modules to encourage and nudge students to complete the activities in the module. The online activities or tasks provided a new way to measure learning self-regulation of students (Haverson & Graham 2019). Meyer (2014, in Haverson & Graham 2019) further state that learning self-regulations is especially important in online learning and to be successful depends on the student’s discipline, self-direction and ability to remain motivated. The senior mentors and facilitators’ responses and participation in the discussion boards further ensure student engagement in the module.
In addition to this, face-to-face student success support is being intentionally augmented
by online courses as well. An example is the self-paced online mentor training module that was developed and implemented during 2020/21. This module represents the first phase/ level 1 training for first-time mentors. Training is organised in collaboration with faculties/ departments/residences/organisation and module lecturers at the beginning of each year or as required.
Singh (2003) holds that blended learning mixes various activities including live online learning and self-paced learning. Further, blended learning is a mix of traditional instructor-led training, synchronous online training or conferencing and asynchronous self-paced learning. A live online training session is held to introduce students to what mentoring is. This live session provides engagement, online social contact, relevance and context to facilitate meaningful learning (Singh 2003). Live online discussions are held during training, focusing on challenges first-year students experience, scenario discussions, mentees in crisis and how to conduct
a first mentoring session. The involvement of a senior mentor and mentoring training staff monitor the engagement of the mentors on discussion boards and other learning activities and to ensure that the mentors complete the self-paced module. The senior mentor uses synchronous online formats such as email through the blackboard email system and WhatsApp to provide mentors with the necessary support.