Transforming the student experience at a distance: designing for collaborative online learning

Figures & data

Table 1. The challenges of meeting Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles in traditional distance education (1987)

Principle	Challenge in traditional distance education
encourages contact between students and faculty	Few opportunities for contact between students and tutors; tutors may be part-time or freelance; students may be unlikely to get an immediate response to queries. Students may perceive that by contacting the tutor they are ‘disturbing’ or ‘annoying’ them; a delayed response may reinforce this perception. Contact between students may be rare or infrequent. Learning activities and assessment tasks are generally designed to be carried out individually.
develops reciprocity and cooperation among students	Limited contact between students precludes co-operative learning. High attrition rates themselves are a barrier to the use of collaborative learning and assessment tasks, as these activities require a critical mass of participation to be of benefit.
encourages active learning	Many distance learning courses provide advice on active study techniques; however, learning in isolation limits the range of activity.
gives prompt feedback	Delays in provision of feedback may be exacerbated by postal submission methods, flexible submission times and off-campus assessors. Little opportunity for peer feedback.
emphasises time on task	Students often have to juggle study with family and work commitments and may find it more difficult than on-campus students to set aside time to focus on their learning. Flexibility in submission deadlines offers both benefits and challenges to the part-time off-campus student.
communicates high expectations	Difficult to determine whether expectations have been communicated successfully. Expectations will be unfamiliar to students who have been out of formal education for several years and may never have studied higher level.
respects diverse talents and ways of learning	earners often restricted to a specific range of learning and assessment methods; e.g. solitary study, writing academic essays. Completion of course dependent on high level of self-motivation, self-organisation and self-discipline.

Figure 1 Approach to change (adapted from Everard, Morris and Wilson, 2004)

Figure 2 Example of introductory ‘socialisation’ activity

Figure 3 Example of group discussion task

Figure 4 Effective online facilitation of collaborative activity

Figure 5 Example of feedback response task

ChickeringA. W. and GamsonZ. F. (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7.

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EverardK.B., MorrisG. and WilsonI. (2004) ‘A Systematic Approach to Change’ in Effective School Management. London: Sage.

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