Engaging students in online learning: emerging lessons

For some considerable time, the CENBASE group of sixth form colleges has been working together as a peer support organisation, providing joint training and a place for discussion. This year, our discussions have inevitably centred around on-line teaching, learning and assessment, and through regular Teams meetings of leaders across the colleges, we have been openly sharing our successes and challenges. What is very clear is that, across our colleges, it is a big challenge to engage all learners online, no matter how motivated they are to learn or how high-quality our teaching. This article sets out some of what we are experiencing and learning.

Technology

One leader sums up the big question: why are learners ‘silent and reluctant to engage online’, even when teachers try their best to provide a wide range of activities and respond to student feedback? One major stumbling block in the initial weeks of lockdown was connectivity and the availability of devices at home (many students usually share devices with others, or have devices with no camera or microphone). This has largely been alleviated by the procurement and distribution of technology, both by the DfE but also by colleges using their own funding to respond to students’ needs, but issues remain around access to fully use that technology, resulting in the ‘digital divide’ leading to a widening of the attainment gap. Some students have challenging domestic circumstances such that attendance at live lessons might not be possible, like caring responsibilities, supporting younger siblings during lockdown, or simply being unwell. Recording key parts of lessons (at least where new work is taught) therefore remains essential for later review and revision, even if the majority of lessons are taught live. This is also a route to engaging those learners who do not have a private or quiet space to work from, who have continued to struggle—some in silence. ‘Finding’ these students and helping them must be a key component of any college’s online learning strategy. One college suggests that allowing learners to engage in their own time has worked well with Level 3 students, while learners at level 1 and 2 have engaged more with live lessons; the same solution may not fit all levels or all colleges.

Students have also taken time to get used to finding their way around and using the technology required of them. While this generation are often expected to be ‘digital natives’, in reality many colleges have been surprised by the level of training and instruction students require to access unfamiliar platforms. Bear this in mind when considering whether or not to add another online tool or program to your teaching arsenal! Some teachers have identified an IT champion in their lesson who acts as a support if the technology goes wrong.

One emerging issue on the other side of the equation is staff burnout. Teaching a full timetable online is difficult, but for teachers who have to juggle home schooling too it is almost impossible. There likely isn’t a clear solution for this except exercising compassion and flexibility as leaders.

Engagement in lessons

Then there is the issue of students showing themselves in lessons and being willing to answer questions, ask questions and discuss. Some subjects rely on this happening more than others or in different ways, of course: discursive subjects where knowledge and understanding need to be developed for the higher order written analysis and evaluation, such as English, Politics, Sociology and Psychology, are different to subjects where teachers usually focus questioning on checking knowledge and understanding, such as Maths and Sciences, where answers may be right or wrong. Either way, eliciting a response from students is both key to learning, and surprisingly challenging. One college has noted the transformational effect the use of breakout rooms in Teams can have for students discussing points with each other in small groups and getting to know each other, followed by a plenary.

Many students also remain reluctant to show themselves on camera. This may be because it  eats into bandwidth, or for other reasons – a learner survey at one college asking whether students were happy to have cameras on received 750 responses, of which 600 were negative. Additionally, safeguarding guidance on this has been inconclusive and sporadic, with no one agreed ‘best practice’. So while many teachers have found that having cameras on increases engagement, it is unlikely you will get 100% of your students doing this of their own volition. Teachers therefore need to use other ways to check that they are still in livestreamed lessons and haven’t simply signed in, then gone back to bed! The use of quizzes, quick vocabulary checks, whiteboards (the whiteboard.fi app works well for vocabulary or diagrams), polls, or simply raised hands for answers to multiple choice or yes/no questions using the chat function in Microsoft Teams part-way through lessons can help check attendance. One leader suggested calling individual students who seem to be disengaged or experiencing problems for one-on-ones, whether as a one-off conversation or a more frequent check-in.

The key lesson: pedagogy trumps platforms

Overall, a variety of activities, resources and technologies remain essential for good lessons to be delivered remotely. Pedagogy still trumps platforms, so scaffolding, effective questioning and other learning checks, feedback, spacing and retrieval strategies, and flipped learning etc. all still need to be planned well to promote learner engagement and progress. However, the group has noted specific tools which work well, as well as those noted above, including the use of a shared class notebook, uploading assessment via Teams, and Microsoft Forms. It will take all of these digital and pedagogical tools to counter the effects of lockdown, and some factors are out of our control: we can’t see the most vulnerable students face-to-face no matter how much we would like to, and we can’t re-instate exams to ensure motivation. Teachers are often asked to work miracles, but the ‘big miracle’ of ensuring that lockdown has no negative impact on our students is likely out of our reach in many cases; it’s OK, and admirable, to aim for the ‘small miracles’ of alleviating that impact, by paying attention to students’ needs and sharing strategies with one another – which is what this article, and our discussions at CENBASE, aim to do.

CENBASE is a peer group of colleges (originally all Sixth Form Colleges) across the Midlands and East of England. The Colleges collaborate and support each other on wide range of issues and provide joint training at all levels across the organisations. The CENBASE colleges are 

• The Sixth Form College Colchester
• Long Road Sixth Form College
• Luton Sixth Form College
• Solihull Sixth Form College 
• USP College
• WQE Sixth Form College

The group has been working together for around 20 years in a truly collaborative manner; their geographical spread ensures there is no competition in what they do. The colleges in the network provide a broad education across a range of levels for around 17,000 students.