Online professional education at Melbourne was designed with an online environment in mind. This matters.
Pandemic or no pandemic, online learning is a key feature of contemporary education. For busy, post-professional learners, the convenience this provides is crucial. But not all online education is equal.
At the University of Melbourne, online professional education courses have been purposefully designed for an online environment. This means the full gamut of capabilities, structures and technologies needed for quality online learning have been in place from the outset.
Pedagogy before technology
One key pillar is learning design. As Senior Learning Designer at the University of Melbourne, David Seignior says: “Probably the most important consideration when building an online learning platform is that effective curriculum design comes before the technology.”
Technologies to deliver remote learning might be abundant, but “you have to know how to use it effectively. Whether face-to-face or online, you need to look not just at what you are teaching but how you're teaching it. The technology must serve the pedagogy not the other way around.”
This thinking underpins online professional education at the University of Melbourne, supported by a team of 20 plus learning designers and educational technologists. First, an extensive design and development process to prepare subjects for an online environment takes place, which includes working closely with academics over several months to carefully plan each experience for the learner.
“We always work back from what the learner needs to be able to know and do in that particular context, and then consider how that can be learnt and assessed in an engaging manner online,” says Seignior.
Learner-centric programs and best practice
Specific needs of the learner are addressed at this early stage too. Since post-professional learners are often time poor, this characteristic is built into the design. As Lead Learning Designer, David Hall, says:
"We need to help them learn and understand as quickly and clearly as possible: provide them only with material that helps them achieve the learning outcomes, make it authentic, and ensure there is variety.”
Rather than squeezing content into a short amount of time, or reducing content altogether, the team works on creating engaging content that addresses the learning outcomes.
Another potential of good online learning is to develop a Community of Inquiry, that allows students to learn with, from and about each other, says Seignior. The Community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) has three key elements: social presence, cognitive presence, and teacher presence to enable effective peer learning and student satisfaction.
“Some think online learning is set and forget, that it is purely about self-directed learning with minimal teacher presence post design. But teacher presence is a really important aspect of the online learning experience. The more the teacher is present – whether instructing in webinars, facilitating web tutorials or conversing in discussion boards and giving feedback– the more interactive and engaging the learning will be for the student and the more they will feel part of a learning cohort.”
Other models and best practices are drawn on for professional online education at the University. For example, it’s never just one way transmission – only reading, watching or listening – but a combination of modes with a focus on deeper engagement and experiential, learning. Often, the flipped classroom approach is used, where learners prepare ahead of time, “optimising the live contact time together to share insights, and perspectives, collaboratively problem solve and apply learning in student relevant contexts”, says Seignior.
Advanced technology
Alongside the latest teaching techniques, the team have the skills and capabilities to implement the latest technology. This includes things like virtual collaboration tools, which allow learners to work on real-world scenarios, and even access places that they otherwise couldn’t physically go. A development in teaching healthcare for example allows students to ‘walk through’ an operating theatre during surgery.
Discussion boards and activities such as interactive videos and case studies, simulations and games, are also used to support collaboration and connection between learners, peers and tutors. One example is the learning interactive, which sees nursing students compete to accurately identify heart rhythms in the fastest possible time. These collaborative activities are a real benefit of online learning, notes Seignior.
“It’s ironic that we compare online and face-to-face. To me, online is more face-to-face than face-to-face. In a lecture theatre, the only person you’re face to face with is the lecturer– all of your peers, you’re looking at the back of their heads. Done well, online is more of a tutorial type setting. It really allows genuine peer learning to take place.”
As Christie Cline – the first graduate from the University of Melbourne’s online suite of graduate courses – says: “I was amazed at the technology. I could interact with everyone and learning from them and their real-world experience made me feel ready to start my new career path.”
Integrated, effective content
Engaging online learning is also achieved by the production team, who are specialists in coding, programming, video production, graphic design, animation and motion graphics. They work in collaboration with the Faculties, Schools, academic staff and subject matter experts to create innovative, visually compelling content (including audio, visual and associated digital assets) that is underpinned by academic rigour and industry relevance.
“We don’t just film lectures and put them online, we ensure digital assets and online activities are integrated with the learning design, working together to deliver content and experiences that engage learners,” says Production Manager, Csilla Csongvay.
With relevant, engaging content a significant predictor of adult student success (Tanner, 2020), having dedicated learning designers and production team is significant.
World-class experts
Access to great minds is of course also key, and online post-professional education is no different. Our programs draw on the wealth of world-class knowledge and research from across the University's 10 faculties, and are developed and taught by leading experts from Australia and around the world.
Online learning is an entirely different environment to face-to-face. It is, as Seignior describes it, “a portal to a diverse, multifaceted learning experience where people are connected to people.” For it to be quality, a host of skills, tools, methodologies and technology are required. And that’s what the University of Melbourne offers with its pedagogically driven approach.
References
- Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T. & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 7-23.
- Tanner, B. (2020, February 23). Evollution. Taking Initiative to Bring Back Adults.