Example of good practice in online communication

eLive tutorials

Kelly Miller

Kelly Miller - School of Life and Environmental Sciences

This example describes how tutorials using eLive have provided a flexible and enjoyable means of interaction in a wholly online unit.

The unit

SLE201 Society and Environment is a wholly online unit, generally with about 170 students. It is a core unit for all students enrolled in the four Bachelor of Environmental Science courses.

It is a challenging unit to deliver online, given that it is about the social dimensions of environmental science and includes topics such as environmental world views and values, social research methods, environmental conflict resolution, behaviour change strategies and public participation in environmental decision-making.

Most of the learning material is delivered through DSO, eLive tutorials and CD-ROM. The DSO material includes study outlines, electronic readings, assessment task resources and discussion forums. The CD-ROM includes video clips and interviews about current environmental issues.

eLive tutorials

Research suggests that environmental science students prefer to learn in outdoor or face-to-face settings (Miller 2007; Cooke, Miller & White 2006). It is therefore important to reinforce the message that environmental scientists often communicate with each other electronically, receive community input electronically, send out surveys electronically, and so on; and that electronic communication skills gained in this unit will be valuable, in fact essential, for the careers students hope to have in the future.

To provide an interactive learning environment for students, I schedule eLive tutorials for the unit each week. These are recorded for students who cannot participate. Feedback from students is that they like this flexibility and enjoy the interaction with staff and students, for example:

'This [eLive] is fantastic! … I can't get over the technology, the electric trains fascinate me but this, phew. But its great & I'm glad Deakin is making us participate within a class over the internet, because I would have never chosen to do it otherwise, & it is such an eye opener, not to mention the skills & new technology we'll learn from this, plus it will look real good on all of our resumes' (student posting on DSO).

I have found eLive to be a wonderful way to connect with my students - they can participate from anywhere in the world. I run the eLive tutorials as mini-lectures with a series of PowerPoint slides. I also show them around websites, have guest speakers, demonstrate how to access resources through DSO and invite students to ask questions.

Attendance at eLive tutorials in SLE201 is not compulsory and most students listen to the recorded sessions in their own time. Some students prefer to attend in real time so that they can ask questions and receive immediate answers. Most prefer not to use a headset with microphone, but type their questions into the 'chat' box.

References

Cooke, R., Miller, K. & White, J. (2006) Understanding Student Expectations in Developing Environmental Science Courses, International Journal of Learning, Vol 13, No 7, pp. 9-20, Common Ground, Australia.

Miller, K. (2007) Wholly Online Learning In Environmental Science, International Journal of Learning, Vol 13, No 10, pp. 95-103, Common Ground, Australia.

Further information

For further information on using eLive in teaching and learning, see eLive.


Accessing eLive sessions (click link to enlarge picture)	Students participating (click link to enlarge picture)	A guest speaker (click link to enlarge picture)