Tami King and Nataliya Thomson, Module Leaders
INTO Newcastle University
What did you do?
Created an easy-to-follow main homepage and pathway structure for multiple classes in one Canvas course. Made it very easy for students to navigate through, using five main areas of navigation to keep the structure straight forward.
Pathways had a similar look and feel, so students knew that they were getting the same product, but it was also bespoke and customised so that students felt part of a community.
To make a community for students where they can support each other and a build a network at INTO.
Canvas course – English for Academic Purposes (Graduate Diploma) – INU3102
Students – 119
Canvas course – Introduction to Humanities (INTO Graduate Diploma) – INU3111
Students – 44
Who is involved?
Tami King, Module Leader and Teacher of English for Academic Purposes, Graduate Diploma INTO Newcastle University
Nataliya Thomson, Module Leader of Introduction to Humanities and DPM, Graduate Diploma INTO Newcastle University
How did you to it?
Broke down the Semester week by week, providing a page for each to give access to weekly materials.
All teaching groups are within one Canvas course.
Each group have a dedicate area for their material. This can be customised by the teacher. For example, specific academic calendars for specific groups because that group are maybe an on-campus group, and have a slightly different timetable to online students.
Students have their own dedicated academic community where students can build profiles about themselves to get to know one another and build rapport.
Used discussion boards to foster engagement within their teaching groups. Encouraging support and engagement between students. Teachers also respond in the discussion boards when required or to introduce new material.
Created representative graphics to signpost students, using a series of symbols to show homework, assignments, etc. Providing consistency for students throughout the course.
Provided an area for learning material, slides, videos etc. Making navigation for students straight forward and consistent, which is essential in the move to online learning.
Why did you do it?
To replicate as much as possible the real life environment of sitting with another student and having interactions with other students.
To try and replicate the chance meetings and conversations that happen before or after a teaching session. Interactions that could happen outside of the corridor just waiting to go into a class.
Exploring as many avenues as possible that are available on Canvas online in general. It was also an experiment to see what would work because this has never had to be tried before.
Canvas offers more opportunities to experiment for students and teachers to collaborate.
Does it work and Student Voice
The consistency of courses has been a benefit for students and teachers. In terms of where information can be found regardless of the course.
Communication boards have been successful for all groups with a lot of engagement. Engagement occurring organically between students and supporting each other being a major factor.
Quite easy for students to navigate and useful if they expected some information to appear and if it was missing.
One platform is extremely useful for students and teachers. Emails for example are not lost and all sorted in the same place for all students.
Comments from students:
I think is very good videos, and I should watch the videos over and over again If I don’t understand it.
For the pre-secession task, I think it is perfect, it includes the whole what needs to finish, convenient to consolidate my knowledge
I think the pre-session tasks are very good. I finish them in advance, and I can discuss effectively with my classmates in class
The pre-task explanation is very detailed, I know how to complete the task
Graduate Framework
This approach develops the following attributes:
- Engaged
- Resilient
- Creative innovative and enterprising
- Future focused
- Confident
Staff can find out more about the Graduate Framework on the University intranet.