A 5-week online course (in Moodle). You will need to set aside 3-4 hours per week at any time to suit yourself.

This course aims to provide you with the basic key skills for teaching online and to maximise the impact of activities in your course, whether on-campus or distance, blended or entirely online.

The tutor, Helen Whitehead, has taught similar courses in a variety of online environments and VLEs, including Moodle and Blackboard/WebCT (whatever your VLE, the skills taught in this course are transferable). She has trained online tutors and community facilitators for Nottingham Trent University, the University of Leicester, Leeds Metropolitan University, Oxford Brookes University and clients, York College, Leeds City College, the National College for School Leadership, and multi-national groups of academics from the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT in Development ELKS (E-Learning and Knowledge-Sharing) community as well as membership organisations and companies in the training sector.

Open to all lecturers, tutors and teachers in HE, FE, schools or online training contexts, this course aims to provide you with the key skills for designing online activities and teaching online. By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Understand the pedagogical basis of collaborative online learning

• Develop, motivate and retain learners

• Create online activities that complement other features of your learning programme (blended learning)

• Manage your own time appropriately

• Weave & summarise

• Encourage sound contributions from others, and give appropriate feedback

As a participant in this course, you will experience excellent online learning first-hand, and will learn emoderating skills that will help you maximise the impact of online activities in your course.

Suitable for:

Academics, teachers and tutors who are or are planning to teach online, and staff who support learning online in FE, HE or adult and work-based learning environments.

Indicative course content:

Week 1: Induction

• Introduction

• Completion criteria

• Induction activities

• Becoming an online learner

• Discovering Moodle

Week 2: Online/Offline

• Time management

• Models of online learning

• Building on offline teaching skills

• Getting people communicating

• Motivating participants

• Reflective learning

Week 3: Key skills for E-moderators

• Designing effective online activities

• Encouraging participation

• Encouraging collaboration

• Summarising

• Weaving

Week 4: Learning Together

• Challenging & questioning

• Evaluating your contributions

• Dealing with inappropriate contributions

• Communities of practice

Week 5: Practical Applications

• Evaluating and promoting deeper learning

• Facilitating your own activity

• Farewells

The course will take up approx. 3-4 hours per week. You should aim to be online several times a week. The course can be accessed from any computer with internet access (home or work) and there are no set times: you can log on and work at times to suit yourself.

Facilitator

Helen Whitehead is an elearning consultant and online tutor. She has trained e-moderators in schools, universities and colleges in the UK and internationally.

What previous students have said:

“An excellent course with a first rate professional tutor.”

“I have learned so much in a very friendly, supportive and highly professional environment that I intend to duplicate in my own teaching, I am confident my students will enjoy it and benefit from it immensely.“

“I found this course very useful indeed. It really sharpened up my attention to detail and let me play with some ideas I am keen to get working on. The tutoring was very effective.”

"The course allows you as a tutor to experience online learning from the learner's point of view. In doing so it encourages you to reflect on your own teaching practice and fully appreciate the benefits that e-learning can add for learners."

"This course has been of immense value in understanding the many facets of online teaching and in developing a practical online teaching toolbox."

For further details please contact us at info@reachfurther.com or phone us on 0113 394 4525.