Collaborative working online
Online environments allow collaborative study, with peers and tutors taking part in discussions, using chat facilities and perhaps video or webcam communication.
Online study complements the content and activities used in traditional teaching and learning. The types of materials, with examples, may include
- uploaded text material: lecture notes, schedules, notices, reading lists
- multimedia resources: streamed video and audio
- computer assisted assessment: multiple choice questions
- computer mediated communications: e-mail, computer conferences, bulletin boards, chat rooms
- online tutorials
- simulated activities: virtual workshops and field sites
- course management: course information, assignment submission procedures.
Online environments, sometimes called virtual learning environments (VLEs), can be developed using commercial software products such as WebCT, Lotus Learning Space and BlackBoard, or designed in house, as has been done at Staffordshire University (COSE) and the University of Leeds (Bodington Common). VLEs may form part of wider, Web-based online systems called managed learning environments (MLEs), which include administrative functions such as admission, student records and student progress tracking.
It may be necessary to provide alternative or additional types of presentation, for example subtitling of audio for deaf students. Similarly, some visually impaired students may have difficulty in accessing certain software.
Remember that some students may take much longer to carry out operations such as finding a newly arrived message, opening and reading the message, or formulating a reply to submit to the discussion, and so may prefer asynchronous to 'real-time' discussions.