A Digital Day In The Life

Research

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the way that university students learn, with online learning becoming more prominent.

In March, April and May 2021, a team of researchers in STEER conducted a study entitled “A Digital Day in the Life”, exploring how the student experience had changed during the pandemic.

The researchers asked students to document their daily teaching and learning activities through frequent diary entries over 3, 3-week periods. Students were then asked to participate in a focus group session to discuss their diary entries in more detail.

Findings from the study were reported based on the 3 phases of the research ‘Timetabling and Organisation’, ‘Engagement’ and ‘Assessment and Feedback’. Each phase explored students’ perceptions and experiences in more detail. The report has since received responses to the points that students raised, which is helping to identify ways of addressing these challenges. The report also looked at the benefits of online learning that students highlighted, which is providing a fuller picture of the student experience during this time.

To share the findings with students and other stakeholders, Graduate Interns in SETL (Tom Savage, Kiran Mahmood) have produced a series of graphics to communicate the findings, recommendations, and responses.

The team have been discussing these findings internally and externally and are in the process of writing up the findings for publication.

Research Team: Amy Ramdehal, Liz Austen, Anna Fletcher, Helen Parkin, Tom Savage, Kiran Mahmood.

________

To view the content of each image in a text format, please use the following drop-down menus:

Timetabling and organisation

Benefit

“When my timetable is balanced and alows for frequent breaks, I have a better learning experience.”
“Being able to watch recorded lectures when I want is great and helps me manage my time.”
“When tutors communicate well with me, this creates a positive learning experience.”

Challenge

“If my taught sessions aren’t all in my timetable, or I’m not told about changes, I can sometimes lose track.”
“When I have poor internet connection at home, I struggle to keep up with the workload and I feel disorganised.”
“Sometimes it’s not easy to balance the workload and I feel like I’m falling behind”

Recommendations

For various learning materials to be available and accessible to students to support online learning, including recordings of taught sessions to help manage workload.
For learning objectives and tutor expectations to be clear and attainable.
For scheduled teaching to be well balanced and timetabling changes to be communicated clearly.

Response

Breaks in the timetable to be prioritised and put in appropriate spaces. One day free of teaching for all students.
On-campus and online teaching will be separate where possible. If this is not possible, there will be adequate space for students on campus to participate in online delivery.
Where possible, students will not have to come onto campus for 1 hour only of scheduled teaching.

Engagement

Benefit

“My tutors communicate well with me using online platforms. When I’m relaxed in an online session, I find it easier to chat with my tutor and my peers”.
“My tutors vary my taught sessions which makes it easier for me to engage with the work and with my peers.”
“When it’s clear why I’m in a breakout room e.g., for a group discussion, I feel more engaged and able to get involved.

Challenge

“If a session feels too formal, or if there’s lots of people I don’t know, I find it hard to engage and interact with others”
“It’s hard for me to engage with online sessions if my peers don’t, for example, if they don’t have their camera switched on or contribute to group discussions.”

Recommendations

Varied breakout room sessions can help to facilitate student engagement. The expectations and rationale for these sessions should be clear.
Get involved with your learning environment to build connections with your peers.
Make use of the digital tools provided and suggested to help better engage with both your studies and your course mates.
Students should discuss with their tutors what their expectations are from them during online sessions. There should be awareness about “netiquette”.

Response

Hallam Digital Skills can provide you with tips and give you advice on online etiquette.
There are lots of existing initiatives which enable you to interact with peers e.g., Hallam Award, joining a society or a sports team.
If you are feeling overwhelmed you can access the universities support services like ‘the 5 ways to wellbeing initiative’.

Assessment and Feedback

Benefit

“My tutors have adapted well to new ways of working by introducing new teaching methods, like using Padlet or running online drop-in sessions.”
“There was lots of easily accessible support available which helped me to complete my assessments e.g. drop-ins and one to one sessions.”
“It’s useful when I have the opportunity to discuss and clarify my feedback with my tutor.”

Challenge

“Sometimes it’s harder to access resources from home, e.g., library books and recommended texts.”
“I wasn’t aware of all the support available to me for my assessment tasks whilst learning remotely.”
“I was offered assessment support but the timing wasn’t always convenient. Getting feedback in a timely manner is important to ensure it’s useful and I can apply it.”
“I liked having more time to complete online exams (24-hours), but I also have other commitments which made it hard for me to use the time given.”

Recommendations

The assessment schedule and information should be clear and accessible to all students and assessments should be arranged to avoid multiple deadlines in one day.
The online 24-hour exam is helpful, but students should be able to complete the assessment tasks within a reasonable and appropriate timeframe.
Provide guidance about, and encourage the use of peer-mentoring and explore opportunities for peer-support e.g., using Student Connect and MS Teams.
Encourage the use of effective technologies across all courses and all levels, appropriate to teaching needs. Continue to provide a variety of assessment support sessions.

Response

Make use of staff led assessment support sessions. Classrooms are set up to support session recordings if you can’t attend on-campus.
Make use of mentoring programmes like Student Connect. Blackboard contains lots of information to help you get started.”
Exams will remain largely online, but will now be scheduled for a set time period. Additional time is there to help you, but your tutors will ensure that the task can be completed well within that timeframe.