Module

  • First year support strategies

    For the first-year students in the study, [blended learning] approaches showed clear signs of positively affecting the quality of interaction. By integrating activities online and offline, the synergies produced learning in ways that were coherent and progressive. (Rix 2011, p 431)
    First year support strategies

    This site aims to stimulate ideas for developing and delivering first-year topics that are underpinned by tried and tested good practice principles for teaching first-year undergraduate students (based on the work of Chickering & Gamson; Devlin et al; Kift and King et al). When teaching first-year students, it is important to provide more examples (and other scaffolding strategies) than you might with other students. This site models that approach by providing many examples that you can choose from for your topic/s.

    By exploring this site you will:  

    • gain insight into the various needs of first-year students 
    • learn strategies to support diverse student cohorts
    • discover a range of adaptable tools and activities.


    How this site works

    This site explores face-to-face strategies and fully online strategies in consecutive modules. The site is designed so that these strategies complement each other while demonstrating the need to consider how each learning environment works differently. At Flinders University, even if your topic is completely face-to-face (internal), a FLO (Flinders Learning Online) presence is required (for lecture upload, announcements, assignment submission etc). The online strategies modules explore possibilities beyond these basic requirements, featuring activities and resources that enrich the first-year student experience. 

    This site follows a pre-semester, then week-by-week pattern, presenting material as you might to students. You can move through it sequentially using resources and ideas you come across. You can also look for specific information within the site by first ensuring all the modules are open (click on the 'Open all' arrow at the top of the module block first) then using the Ctrl+F keys to 'find' relevant words (eg 'group work', 'assessment', 'scaffold'). External links open in a new tab. 


    This site and the mock topic

    The First year mock topic shows how a first year topic might adopt these strategies, and is a complement to this site. If you would like to use any of these ideas, resources or activities in your Flinders topic site/s, you are welcome to copy/modify them (ask your  eLearning support team for help). Please refer to the Support resources module for key documents informing this and the mock topic sites.

  • Open allClose all

  • Prior to topic commencement (face-to-face and online)

    • Support students to learn how to learn
      Ideally students will develop the skills to survive and thrive at university (communication, group work, various literacies etc) as they learn topic content. Integrating the development of learning skills with understandings related to the topic will support students to learn how to learn (thus developing lifelong learning).

    • Get a sense of who your students might be

      Before you start, think about what you know and what you might need to know about your students. 

      It is also useful to consider what your students need to know about you. You might want to create a short video to introduce yourself and the topic. (You can also say a bit about yourself in a Welcome/Contact block in your online topic (FLO).

      It is very important to identify what they need to know about the topic to achieve the learning outcomes and successfully move on. 

      Also consider the number of students you will be teaching, as the size of your groups will impact on the the different activities you may wish to use. You may wish to explore the Topic demographics which are intended to assist you to understand your student cohort and its profile. They may signal ways to improve the student experience and to provide necessary support. Consider looking at the Student Pivot tables Load Current website or contact Planning and Analytical Services (Flinders University) direct.

    • Topic demographics File 105.4KB PDF document

    • Model and facilitate good communication

    • Remember: Students get access to their FLO topics one week prior to topic commencement.

    • Use the News/Announcements forum (a WebPET feature) to:

      • welcome students to the topic, encourage them to explore the site (videos, key features)
      • refer students to the topic information resources 
      • promote social learning and encourage them to engage with you and other students – remind them of the tools available for this
      • provide (learning) tips on how to be successful in the topic 
      • whatever else…

    • Students may have some questions prior to topic commencement. You could set up an FAQ forum that is central to the topic, or invite them to email you. However, if they ask questions that other students may also ask, it makes sense to share them in the topic. You can also encourage them to answer the questions of their peers to start a community of learners. The FAQ forum could become a legacy for future iterations of the topic (eg as a glossary).  

    • FAQs (frequently asked questions) Forum

      Standard forum for general use (forum type) – explain the purpose here

    • See the Support resources module below for the 'Teaching online guidebook', a handy resource to support your and your students' online experiences.

    • Ensure expectations are made clear to students and they are made aware of what is required to succeed in your topic.

      Provide a minimum workload statement and spell out what you expect of your students. It is also helpful to let them know what they can expect from you. An example is provided in the Key resources module of the Mock topic site.

    • Scaffold learning in the topic

      There are various perspectives on scaffolding with many drawing  on the notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) developed by Lev Vygotsky. Scaffolding allows learners to build on what they know so they can develop new knowledge in meaningful ways. Where students have no prior knowledge of the subject area, it is important to start with the foundational underpinnings and enable them to grasp those before moving onto more complex ideas. The Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) and Bloom's taxonomies support the classification of learning outcomes according to their complexity. These taxonomies help you to determine the complexity of activities you ask students to undertake and to more easily assess student learning. The use of taxonomies is not the only form of scaffolding.

      Other ways of thinking about scaffolding include providing a range of supports to students to help them learn. These supports are slowly removed as students develop understanding (just as scaffolds on a building site are removed as the building gets closer to completion). 

      Both these considerations of scaffolding involve a developmental approach to student learning, allowing students to increase knowledge and understanding as they move through the topic. References definitions of scaffolding are included in the Taxonomies and references module below. 

    • Provide key resources early on

      Students who visit the topic prior to Week 1 are likely to want to know what is ahead of them, so consider having at least some narrative and resources (if not activities) in the weeks/modules. 

      Ensure that resources such as the topic guide, Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM) and any other assessment resources are easily accessible (eg in a module titled 'Key resources' or similar).

    • Use design features that support… 

    • …self-management

      The calendar block (a WebPET feature) is a time-management tool that alerts students to key dates in the topic. Once you have set up the assessment items (formative/summative) the closing dates for activities will automatically show in the calendar. Students can synchronise their FLO Calendar or export Calendar items to their phone/other calendar. 

      The clock block is a handy resource for enrolled students from different timezones (eg overseas or interstate).


    • Other self-management features include completion tracking and completion progress blocks. Students can monitor their progress in the topic through these tools. 

    • …active learning

      How can you engage students meaningfully? Activities that enable students to interact with peers (eg forum) give them opportunities to learn in different ways, and help them become more digitally literate.

      You can place activities (eg quiz, forum) in a week/module where they align with the focus, content and learning objectives so that students get what they need when they need it. Activities/resources that are ongoing in the topic (eg a glossary of terms) could be placed in a central location such as module 0 (top section) or a 'Key resources' section (eg module 1). 

      Provide multiple means of access to activities and resources using the Activities block. 

  • Week 1: Help students get orientated (face-to-face)

    • Orientate your students

      Not all students will have attended Orientation Week nor will they remember everything from that week, so it is helpful to revisit some of the important information about being a university student, and to introduce specific material about succeeding in your topic. 

      Show students the 'Making the most of your time at university' slides to help them gain some insight into the broader university context. 

      Show students the 'Student orientation for IT services' slides (long/short version) to help them use University IT applications (FLO, Okta etc).

    • Student orientation for IT services (long) File 2.2MB Powerpoint 2007 presentation
    • Student orientation for IT services (short) File 868.2KB Powerpoint 2007 presentation

    • Introduce yourself 

      Introduce yourself and tell the students why you are teaching the topic. 

      Discuss your expectations of the students, and how much time they need to spend on their homework, provide a range of times linked to potential grades (you may wish to refer to the Flinders' University Statement on Student Responsibility in Learning. 

      Set ground rules relating to studying in the topic, ideally engage students in the process so they feel they have agency. Begin to build a sense of community rather than competition by encouraging students to talk to each other.

      Explain what students can expect from you.

    • Acknowledgement of country

      You may wish to demonstrate your support and respect for the Indigenous students and staff at the institution and in your classes by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land where your teaching session is held.  You may also wish to discuss your acknowledgement of country and what it means to the students in your classes.

    • Introduce the topic

      Contextualise the topic, explain how it is set up and taught. Indicate how the in-class activities and out-of-class activities fit together and discuss the assessment pieces. Discuss the Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM) with students. Provide deadlines to students both verbally and in writing. If you have an assessment piece due in Weeks 3 or 4, go through it with students now, then remind them it is due a week before.

      Tell students how the topic is designed and why it is set up that way. Explain what FLO is and how it works in your topic. If you use a topic handbook (guide, details etc), explain where students can access it, what information it contains, and why it is important. Explain the links between the learning outcomes and the assessment pieces. Introduce the Graduate Qualities and link them to the learning outcomes (you can do this in the SAM). 

      Where appropriate:

      • fit the topic into the course (big picture) and discuss how these fit into potential employment opportunities
      • invite staff from the Careers and Employment Liaison Centre to your first lecture to entice and excite students about their futures 

      Help your students to start thinking about what studying in your subject area will mean for them. Try and encourage them to begin to think like a scientist, engineer, teacher, nurse, lawyer, writer, paramedic etc. 

    • VIDEO: (example) Introduction to entertainment Page

      video screen grabExample from a first class at QUT (Queensland University of Technology)

    • Get to know your students

      Use a variety of activities where possible as students may also be asked to undertake these activities in other topics. Ideally explain why you want to get to know them and contextualise the activity for your setting. Where students in your topic are part of a cohort who are studying a range of other topics in your school you may wish to ask other first year topic coordinators which activities they are using (or speak to your first-year coordinator). 

    • In lectures or large group settings
    • Postcard File 13.6KB PDF document
    • Stand up sit down File 16.1KB PDF document
    • In a tutorial, workshop, laboratory or smaller group setting
    • Speed dating File 8.7KB PDF document
    • Identifying opinions File 9.6KB PDF document
    • Agreement sheets File 16.4KB Word 2007 document
    • Human bingo File 11.5KB PDF document
    • Meeting game - Bingo File 14.4KB Word 2007 document

    • Support students to 'self-skill'

      Students new to university often struggle with what is required of them and the difference in the learning environment. Helping them understand how to learn at university and develop the skills that will set them up to do the best they can is important. Support students to develop:

      • independent learning skills
      • time management
      • critical and creative thinking
      • research skills in your topic area
      • literacies (digital, communication etc)
      • lifelong learning skills

      Ideally, embed and scaffold these skills across your topics.The mock topic site provides examples of how you might include these skills. Encouraging students to help set the ground rules can also help them gain insight into their responsibilities as learners. 

    • Encourage students to use learning supports 

      Tell students about the supports available to them within and beyond the University. You could discuss what Studiosity (an online resource that aids academic writing) has to offer or ask students if they are aware of the Student Health and Wellbeing blog an online mental health resource specifically designed to support students.

      Consider inviting a Teaching and Learning Librarian or staff from Flinders Connect, the Student Learning Centre and/or Health, Counselling and Disabilities Services to give  a short presentation in a lecture . 


    • Prepare students for assessment

      Many academics talk about the way in which students primary focus is on assessment. It is important to explain the assessment requirements to your students as well as explain your expectations. Your topic should include both summative and formative assessment pieces which allow you and your students to monitor progress and gain insight into the aspects of the topic that may need to pay greater attention by them. See Assessment (Flinders University Learning and teaching website).

      Discuss the rubric (if your topic has one) and explain how the various components of the rubric might look in practice. Provide examples that demonstrate good and bad work, and explain why they are good and bad, with references to the rubric. Examples are included in the Support resources module below. See also Designing a rubric  (Flinders University Learning and t eaching website).

      Remind your first years of the assessment deadlines during weeks 1 or 2 of the topic and then again a week before the assessment item is due. 

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Week 1: Help students get orientated (online)

  • Week 1: Help students get orientated (online)

    • Orientate your students

      A narrative ('story telling' around activities, resources, context) can have many purposes:

      • to guide and scaffold students in what to do (instructional)
      • to contextualise the content for a week/module and provide a focus
      • to give the online space social presence (yours) and model what this means for students
      • to personalise students' learning (addressing them directly – 'you')
      • to link online and f2f moments (if applicable)

      Your narrative format could be text, short videos or audio, or a mix of these. This approach meets universal design (UD) principles – provide multiple means of representation.

      In the first instance, a video that introduces you and the online space/s will help students adjust to the learning environment you have set up.

      Post an announcement to students and attach the 'Student orientation for IT services' slides (long/short version) to help them use University IT applications (FLO, Okta etc). (Some students may be able to come on campus re Eduroam, but tailor to suit your students' needs.)

    • VIDEO: Orientation to this topic Page

      A short introduction to the FLO site – what students can expect and how to use the site effectively

    • VIDEO: Create your profile in FLO URL

      Encourage students to create a 'social presence' in FLO. Students can go to any profile from a forum (click on the student/staff name). View an example – a topic coordinator profile

    • Student orientation for IT services (long) File 2.2MB Powerpoint 2007 presentation
    • Student orientation for IT services (short) File 868.2KB Powerpoint 2007 presentation

    • Get to know each other

      Who are your students? What do they have in common? You can use a variety of tools to connect students with each other and teaching staff early on, laying the foundations for a community of practice. 

    • FEEDBACK: Postcard to the topic coordinator Page

      Alternative tools for finding out about students, particularly if you are encouraging ongoing reflection in the topic

    • FORUM: Share information and experiences

      Forum settings (Activity completion): the activity is marked as completed when students have posted about themselves once (Require discussions: Student must create discussions) and replied to at least one other post (Require replies: Student must post replies). 

      The topic will need to have completion tracking enabled before you can view and set these requirements at the activity (in this case, forum) level.

    • PADLET: Introduce yourself on the 'wall' Page

      Padlet is a free web tool, easy and fun to work with. Users can add text, photos and videos onto a wall shared with other users (students/teaching staff) in the topic. The wall can be used as a visual trigger for discussion/engagement. Go to https://padlet.com/ to create a Padlet wall. This Padlet example is embedded in a FLO page (resource) meaning it stays in the FLO site. This tool works best visually with smaller groups of students (under 100). One teacher used a postcard approach to connect students around the world. If you want to use a Padlet wall in a new iteration of the topic, you will need to create a new one.

      Note: Padlet is a self-supported tool, so best not used for assessment purposes. See Tool options - big picture for more information.

    • Support students to 'self-skill'

      Learning online effectively may require students to develop new habits of learning and self-managing their studies. You will need to support/scaffold students so they adapt to the range of learning environments they may need/choose to use. Support resources are available in various parts of the University and beyond (eg open educational resources). 

      Some key skills that will help students become successful learners online include:

      • Be present online
      • Self-manage your study
      • Communicate and participate
      • Reflect and feed forward
      • Be professional
      • Solve problems

      These skills include elements of digital literacy and enable students to become 'work ready'. Refer students to resources that can help them develop these skills during the topic. Threading specific resources throughout the topic when relevant to the context is a good tactic. 

    • Studiosity - 24/7 online support URL

      Help with an essay or report draft in less than 24 hours, or live expert assistance with subjects like writing, maths, science, economics and more. Your college template is likely to include a link to Studiosity.


    • Prepare students for assessment

      You may want to provide key assessment resources in one easy-to-find place, central to the topic. You would probably refer to this location in the 'Welcome' video. These resources could consist of rubrics, examples of student work, guides etc. If these resources are all files (eg PDFs, Word, PPT), you could  create a folder to store them compactly.

      You could alert students to key dates (eg assessment). There are many ways to do this – through forum announcements, the calendar block, and in the narrative within an individual week/module ('just in time'). Below is an example of an assessment text style. 

      Make sure you read the Statement of Assessment Methods for this topic carefully. The first assessment piece is due in week x.

    • Check student activity

      Reports in FLO can tell you how often a resource has been accessed, what students have accessed or participated in, and more. It is a good idea to check at the end of week 1 to make sure that students have been active in the site. After week 1, you could either check either randomly or regularly (eg weeks 2, 4, 6 / 3, 6, 9). If students are not active by week 3, you are advised to contact them.

  • Weeks 2-3: Support skill and knowledge development for success (face-to-face)


    …it is within the formal or academic curriculum that students must find their places, be inspired and excited, and work towards mastery of their chosen area. (Kift, Nelson & Clarke 2010)

    • Develop momentum in the topic

      Respond to any outstanding questions or provide feedback on activities from the previous week before introducing the new content. 

      For example, if you asked students to complete a postcard discuss your overall reactions to the postcards. Identify any common fears, concerns and points for excitement across the group. You may also want to mention one or two things that surprised, delighted or worried you. Do not identify individual students but discuss what was said in a positive light and make suggestions in relation to action students might take to address concerns or ensure their aspirations might become more easily realised.

    • New content 

      Introduce the subject of the lecture or tutorial and contextualise it in relation to the topic, the activities that will follow it, and where possible the first assessment piece. If you are covering material related to the same content over a few weeks, ensure students know that you will help them to gain and build understanding. If there is content or a concept that you think they are likely to struggle with, tell them so they do not think they are alone in their struggle to understand. If you wish to ensure students have made sense of a concept or want to identify their level of understanding, use an 'active quiz', 'knowledge probe' or 'muddiest point' activity at the end of the session or via FLO.

    • Goal setting

      Help students think about setting goals and support them by acknowledging when these are achieved. You may consider including a completion progress bar in FLO which changes colour when students have completed tasks such as quizzes and assignments.  

    • Support understanding through activities

      Wherever possible ensure your interactions with students include opportunities for them to engage in activities that support their learning of the concepts you are teaching as well as help them learn how to learn at university level.

      If your topics require students to develop skills in finding, accessing and appropriately using information developed by others it will be helpful to have your Teaching and Learning Librarian talk to them. Encourage students to visit Library World and, if required as part of your topic, set the Library World Quiz as your first low-stakes assessment piece.

      Topics that are part of a vocational program could include the use of eportfolios as part or to form all of the assessment. Using eportfolios as part of the assessment in non-vocational topics provides a good way of introducing students to a range of work-related skills such as reflecting on practice, group or team work, critical thinking; creative thinking; problem solving etc. If you introduce eportfolios but do not link them to assessment your students may be less inclined to use them. At Flinders University we use the Mahara eportfolio.

      The activities discussed for Week 1 may be used in other weeks, although it is important to ensure a range of activities are used so students are not bored or disengaged if they do not like a particular activity.

    • In lectures or large group settings

    • Set time aside for students to think about and digest new concepts you introduce. Ask them to talk to the person next to them and to ask you questions. Prompt them with questions to discuss with the person next to them during the lecture. The content of your presentation may be obvious to you but your students may not have come across the ideas before. Explain any subject-specific language, make links to the real world, use examples they will understand, and provide links to further reading or videos that help them improve their understandings. 

    • Increasing interactivity File 34.6KB PDF document

      Here is a pictorial representation on how you might set up your lecture type session to increase interactivity and help students reflect on their learning.

    • Active quiz

      Use in a lecture/tutorial/workshop, as often as you think it is required. You create the quiz in advance – adding questions from a question bank. In face-to-face time, start the quiz 'session'. Students can now connect to this quiz using their devices. Review their responses in real time, re-poll the same question, go to the next question, jump to any question. It is demonstrated in Week 7 of the Mock topic (FYSS1001).


    • Hand out coloured cards at the beginning of the lecture and have quiz set up so students hold up the appropriate coloured card.

    • Interactive pop quiz example File 136.9KB Powerpoint 2007 presentation

    • In a tutorial (or similar) space only

      Ensure these sessions provide opportunities for students to ask questions and test what they have learned in the lecture. If students were asked to write a 'muddiest point' or 'reflection on learning' at the end of the lecture, explain these. If not, use one of the strategies in the tutorial (see below) .

    • Muddiest point
    • Muddiest point File 12.3KB PDF document

    • Reflection on learning

    • Reflection on learning File 17.9KB PDF document
    • Reflections as assessment

      You may wish to use either the muddiest point or the reflection on learning as an assessment piece (5 or 10%). It provides an opportunity to determine student engagement with the material as you progress through it, and allows students to monitor their learning. If used as an assessment piece, students will need to include their names on their responses and you may need to provide more individualised feedback in some cases. However, you can post responses on FLO (without naming students).


    • Remind students about assessment

      Remind your first years of the assessment the week before it is due indicate that they should have started by now, if they have not started they need to start now. Ask students if they have questions about the requirements of the assessment – is there anything they need help or support with? Set time aside in tutorials to discuss their questions. Use part of your time to show students good and bad examples of work from previous years and ask them to grade the work.

    • VIDEO: University teaching and assessment ('Feeding forward') Page

      'Feed forward'An experienced academic provides ideas on ways she helps students understand what is required of them

    • Students hold up the coloured card that relates to the correct answer. Feel free to use and change the question and the colours. 

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Weeks 2-3: Support skill and knowledge development for success (online)

  • Weeks 2-3: Support skill and knowledge development for success (online)

    • Contextualise the week/module

      Provide a narrative about the week/module (multiple means of representation – a Universal Design principle – means you could use text, audio or video or all three). You could also introduce the week/module by linking to an open educational resource that is contentious, thought provoking or scene setting. Another way to engage students and keep them moving is to pose a question/s. Or each week/module you could have a list of key questions to give students a sense of what will be covered and challenge them as well.
      Key questions

      • What are the key skills that will support you to learn at university?
      • What do you already know about the topic?
      • How is knowledge arranged in this topic?

      You could also use the week/module space to advise students of any adjustments to the site based on their feedback, and invite them to contact you if they need to. (For example: Please email the topic coordinator/other teaching staff member if you have any concerns. Our contact details are in the right-hand block.)

    • Goal setting

      If you have set up the feature/s completion tracking/completion progress block, alert students to these features and remind them how to use them on during the topic. Be clear about how engaging with these features can support them how to self-manage their learning. See the module Prior to topic commencement for more information.

      They could share their goals with teaching staff and/or other students (eg in a forum), or include them in an assessment piece. These goals could also be linked to learning outcomes and/or employability skills.

    • Alert students to upcoming events or participation opportunities

      In the online space there are opportunities to engage synchronously with other learners, teaching staff and topic materials. Tools that facilitate this include Collaborate (virtual classroom) and Chat. 


    • You may want to alert students to particular events (eg guest webinars) to encourage their 'attendance'. There are many ways to do this – through announcements (news forum), the calendar block, and within an individual week/module (just in time). Below is an example of a text style. 

      The Teaching and Learning Librarian will be a guest speaker in a virtual session (week 3) via Collaborate so please make sure you attend virtually! Afterwards, you can do the Library Quiz and explore Library World resources to help develop your research skills. A recording of this event will be provided if the timeframe does not suit you.

    • Support understanding through activities

      The following tools are examples of online activities students could do to test their understanding and develop their capabilities.

    • QUIZ: Library World URL

      This quiz, in conjunction with Library Search Smart Online, aims to help students at Flinders understand what academic resources are and how to get started using the Library. Talk to your faculty eLearning support team if you want to add it to the topic's gradebook as an assessment piece

    • QUIZ: Test understanding of a new concept

      Set up a short quiz with multiple questions that students can respond to using their mobile devices. You can easily view the results of a quiz (eg responses) to determine the muddiest points.

    • PADLET: What is not clear so far? Page

      See Week 1 for details about this free web tool. The wall is useful for a quick visual overview with smaller groups of students (under 100), and may help students realise that they are not alone in their (mis)understandings. If you want to use a Padlet wall in a new iteration of the topic, you will need to create a new one.

      Note: Padlet is a self-supported tool, so best not used for assessment purposes. See Tool options - big picture for more information.

    • GLOSSARY: Key concepts

      You could set up a glossary of key concepts (terms, definitions) that is carried forward to future topics (legacy). This approach motivates students to become collaborators in creating a resource that will help future students. You could set up the glossary so that students can create entries themselves, or comment on entries created by you. This glossary could become the 'text' for the topic and use multiple means of representation (eg videos, open educational resources).

      Talk to your faculty eLearning support team about how to do this as it is set up in the permissions. You could also create a 'Random glossary entry' block.

    • Mahara (eportfolio at Flinders) URL

      At Flinders University we use the Mahara eportfolio. In a blended setting it would be good to talk about this tool in face-to-face time, looking at its features and options for layout. The eLearning Gateway entry (linked above) provides a range of examples and ideas on how to use the eportfolio in your topics. The entry is designed to support both staff and students, so you may wish to link to it in your topic.


    • Remind students about assessment

      Assessment items will appear in the calendar block. Alert students to this feature and remind them that they can synchronise their FLO Calendar or export Calendar items to their phone/other calendar. See the module Prior to topic commencement. This approach is a form of scaffolding and supports digital literacy skill development. 

      You can also remind students of key resources relating to assessment and their location in the FLO topic – topic details/guide, Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM), assessment folder resources etc, Prompt them to ask questions in the FAQ forum or general discussion forum. Below is an example of a text style alert. 

      Assessment 1 is due next week. Please make sure you are aware of and understand the requirements for this assessment item. Contact the teaching team if you are unsure.

    • Check student activity

      Check either randomly or regularly (eg weeks 2, 4, 6 / 3, 6, 9). If students are not active by week 3, you are advised to contact them.

  • Week 4: Support successful assessment and feeding forward (face-to-face)

    • Time assessment pieces

      Assessment needs to be timely so that students are given opportunities to gauge how well they are learning and can receive feedback that they can act on to improve their learning. Assessment would ideally involve a number of formative pieces that build to the summative assessment.

      An assessment piece that is reasonably low stakes (20%) in Week 3 or 4 has a number of useful outcomes. It provides monitoring opportunities for:

      • students, who can then reflect on the content they understand well and what they need to work on
      • you, to identify if students are at risk (you can determine which students might need more support and contact any who do not submit the assignment) 

      The second and any other midpoint assessment pieces need to be timed so that students can use the feedback they received from previous pieces of assessment to develop their skills and understanding as they move through your topic (be formative). If appropriate, assign a percentage grade to encourage students to explain or demonstrate how they have used the feedback provided to them. 

      The final assessment piece should bring together and assess all of their learning (be summative) and help students to transition into the next phase of their learning. The final assessment would therefore ideally be another low stakes piece of work. See Assessment (Flinders University Learning and teaching website). 

    • Design assessment elements

      Carefully design your assessments so they:

      • are linked to learning outcomes
      • help to support and scaffold student learning
      • provide you with insights into content and or skills students have misunderstood or are finding hard to grasp (is summative) 
      • allow students to gauge how well they have understood content and/or developed specific skills (is summative)
      • give students an insight into the topic content and how it fits together
      • show respect for students' time (where possible do not clash with other assessments and provide appropriate grading for time spent)
      • meet the student workload requirements of (2 hours of time commitment per week per unit which is the equivalent of 9 hrs per week for a 4.5 unit topic) as outlined in the Assessment policy (see section B 2.1.1)
    • Examples

      Ideas on how to develop scaffolded assessment pieces are included in the Support resources module below.

    • Provide feedback that feeds forward

      The first assessment may have been due in Week 3 or 4. Ideally this was a low stakes assessment piece that helped both you and your students gain insight into how well they are doing, and highlighted the differences between university assessments and what they have experienced to date. Student feedback needs to be provided in ways that allow them to understand what they have done well, how they can improve, and where they have gone wrong. A suggested strategy for supporting student assessment and feeding forward is included in the University teaching and assessment ('Feeding forward') video provided in the module Weeks 2-3. 

      Students should not be surprised by grades they receive in their assessment as the feedback given should explain how the grade was achieved, as well as how to feed forward for future learning. See Principles of good feedback practices (Flinders University Learning and teaching website).

    • Support group work

      Students tend to dislike group work, but is that because they have never been properly taught how to work in groups and because assessments are not always well conceived for group work. If you are requiring students to work in groups there are a number of important considerations, these include:

      • have your students been trained in group work skills
      • do they know what is expected of them in your context
      • how will the groups be developed 
      • how will the students be assessed in relation to their performance in the groups?

      It is important to provide support and guidance to students who are new to doing group work at university, a set of group work considerations is included in the Support resources module below. 

    • Resources that support you when setting group work activities

      The Teaching and Learning Blog included several entries on group work including a range of ideas regarding how to set groups up, why they might be useful and assessment practices. These are available via:

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Week 4: Support successful assessment and feeding forward (online)

  • Week 4: Support successful assessment and feeding forward (online)

    • Scaffold assessment pieces

      Use a narrative approach (this could be text or video) to support your students prior to/during assessment week. You could set up a forum discussion specifically on the assessment item (eg walking students through examples of good/bad assessment, available in a module – see Week 1). This could be a structured activity that they do individually or in a group to identify what is good and bad, and share their thinking. 

      This might also be a good time to encourage students to make an appointment with you if they need to (eg using the Scheduler or Chat activity), or remind them of the many ways they can ask questions (Contact block, forum etc). If you have set up an FAQ forum for assessment, encourage students to post their questions there. Urge them to read carefully all available resources on the assessment for the topic as this will ensure that they are well informed and may save them time. See the module Prior to topic commencement.

    • You can scaffold activities around assessment by providing clear instructional guidelines which may be in a variety of formats and types (Statement of Assessment Methods, Topic details, video/audio) so that students feel more confident of success. Rubrics and student examples will help students visually as well as linguistically understand what is required. These approaches apply  Universal Design principles.

      If using a just-in-time approach, you may want to set up activities or provide resources 'on the fly', as required/requested by students. This approach could be guided by student responses to a quiz, the Touchpoint survey (feedback) or other checkpoint tool ('What is not clear?'). This key checkpoint – the first assessment item – could help them see the advantages of online interaction and connection.

    • (placeholder) VIDEO: Assessment Page

      Short video about the assessment for the topic or a particular assessment item

    • Turnitin icon(placeholder) TEXT MATCHING: Turnitin draft box

      Students will have the opportunity to submit their draft assignments to text-matching software (Turnitin), to check for academic integrity (the draft dropbox will be in module 0). Encourage them to do this – academic integrity (and its key component, referencing) is often a muddy point in first year.

    • ASSIGNMENT DROPBOX: (example) Literature review DRAFT

      This Assignment dropbox is set up for draft reviews. Students can feed this formative feedback forward to improve their final submission. The assignment must be generated in electronic form.

    • ASSIGNMENT DROPBOX: (example) Literature review FINAL

      This Assignment dropbox is set up so that students click the Submit button. At  that point they must accept the academic integrity declaration (ie that the work is their own unless otherwise acknowledged). 

      Student assignments will now be ready for managing and marking. There are many feedback options in FLO (text feedback and a mark, rubrics and marking guides, annotation, as well as the options to mark online or offline, or a combination of the two). You can also consider what types of feedback to provide (eg audio is considered to be effective).

    • VIDEOS: Practice approaches to eMarking Page

      Practice approaches to eMarkingFlinders teachers talk about their approaches to eMarking across a range of disciplines

    • Encourage community

      Build a sense of community (rather than competition) through group work and peer-to-peer support and evaluation (or assessments). Group work could have a 'feed forward' approach that is evidenced in artefacts (eg assessment items):

      • discuss the feedback students have received and explaining how it can help their future learning
      • encourage students to take risks by asking questions and discussing what confuses them
      • ask more difficult and complex questions of students, requiring them to extend their thinking

      See the       Taxonomies and references module below for information on Bloom's and the SOLO taxonomy.

    • Scaffold group work

      You will need to answer some design questions prior to getting students started with group activities: 

      • What will students do – together, individually? 
      • How many students will there be in a group?
      • How will they be organised into groups?
      • How will the activity/ies be assessed?

    • Once you've set up group management, you will need to prepare students to work effectively in groups, to help break down the barriers and misconceptions many learners have about group work. A new set of questions might be:

      • What space/s will they work in?
      • Will students determine in their groups the best way for a group to work, as part of the activity?
      • Will they be supported with resources (multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement) to support effective practice?
      • What other ways could they learn this skill?
      • Will there be a reflective component that has some form of peer assessment?

  • Week 5: Keep students motivated (face-to-face)


    At this point you are most likely providing students with feedback from their first or second assessment item which has provided a basis for both you and your students to gain insight into what they currently know and what they need to develop further. 

    • Maintain momentum

      Some students may be feeling overwhelmed by now, others may be pleasantly surprised by their results so far, and others may continue to be baffled by what is required of them at university. It is helpful to acknowledge confusion and explain that some students may be feeling good while others are feeling despondent. Normalise confusion as part of learning, and provide anecdotes from your own experience of learning something new and struggling to understand what you needed to know. Where possible, link these experiences to your specific topic. 

      It is helpful to pause and reflect on the main points of the topic to date and discuss how it all fits together. Continue by:

      • revisiting the ground rules and expectations set in the first session (and updating these if appropriate)
      • setting time aside to discuss the feedback students have received and explaining how it can help their future learning (individually or as a class) 
      • encouraging students to take risks by asking questions and discussing what confuses them
      • asking more difficult and complex questions of students, requiring them to extend their thinking
      • encouraging students who are doing well to discuss what they have done to gain insight and understanding in your topic
      • building the sense of community (rather than competition) through group work and peer-to-peer support and evaluation (or assessments)

      See the Taxonomies and references module below for information on Bloom's and the SOLO taxonomy.

    • Remind students about learning supports 

      This might be a timely moment to remind students of supports available to them within and beyond the University. For example, you could set aside 5 minutes to discuss the value of seeking support in a lecture or tutorial. Try to normalise support seeking behaviour so students do not feel inadequate if they use them.

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Week 5: Keep students motivated (online)

  • Week 5: Keep students motivated (online)

    • Maintain a narrative

      How are your students going? Are they actively engaged in the topic? Use an active voice narrative ('you' + active verbs) that motivates them to participate in the topic. You are modelling good online behaviours if you are active in the online space.

      At this point you could also reflect on the main points of the topic to date and discuss how it all fits together – this is a form of sensemaking for students.

    • Share experiences

      Continue to foster a community of practice through promoting the forum/s or other communication activities you have set up (see Week 1). If students have a question, ask them to share it in a forum or through another activity designed for that purpose (eg Collaborate or Chat – see Weeks 2-3). 

      As the facilitator, you could start by sharing a personal experience of learning, then encourage students to problem-solve learning and share their tactics to develop collaborative and individual insight and understanding. Group work breaks down the sharing into smaller 'bites' and may be less intimidating for students.

    • Alert students to learning supports 

      This might be a timely moment to remind students of supports available to them within and beyond the University. For example, you could make an announcement that goes to student email, and also set up an alert in the relevant module/week. Below are examples of a text style alert. 

      Want help with your study skills? The Student Learning Centre has lots of online resources (study guides, referencing help etc) plus a drop-in service (if you live in Adelaide).

      Want to find information for an assessment item? The Teaching and Learning Librarian can help you with your research. You can contact the Librarian directly to make an appointment (phone, face-to-face).

    • Check student activity

      Continue to check either randomly or regularly. You can view an individual student's activities in FLO to see if they are maintaining momentum (Participants / (name of participant) / Reports section: Outline Report). If they seem to have dropped off, you could contact them personally or see if it's a general trend (eg around a particular resource). This data can help you refine the topic or produce just-in-time activities/resources.

  • Weeks 6-9: Develop understandings and skills (face-to-face)

    • Develop skills and knowledge

      The development of skills and knowledge builds on what is known and then what is added to as new learning occurs. Where appropriate formative assessment which helps you and your students gain insight into areas where they may require more focus. As discussed in Week 1, supporting development and by building on what has come before is sometimes referred to as scaffolding.

    • Active quiz

      Use in a lecture/tutorial/workshop. You create the quiz in advance – adding questions from a question bank. In face-to-face time, start the quiz 'session'. Students can now connect to this quiz using their devices. Review their responses in real time, re-poll the same question, go to the next question, jump to any question

    • Introduce and discuss communication skills

      Teaching students how to communicate in your subject area is imperative as it is likely that there is a particular language that you use or there are protocols that are followed when talking to others in class or in professional contexts. Communication skills are also important for success at university and although many students are commencing university from high school they may not be aware that communicating in university contexts is different. Students may need to learn to: 

      • talk to people from different backgrounds and/or who may be in senior or junior roles
      • write reports and other texts
      • give presentations to small and/or large groups
      • work in groups with other students (potentially) with differing skills and backgrounds from their own
      These are skills that students need to begin to understand and develop in first year so that they can use them both at university and in the workplace.

    • Culturally inclusive communication

      Students may need support to develop an understanding in how to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. The Cultural Diversity and Inclusive Practice Toolkit provides ideas and suggestions on how to support students. You may also wish to get students thinking about their own perspectives and how and why they might hold particular points of view. 

    • What is it? File 41.2KB PDF document

      The attached resource, Copyright 2012 www.traveladventures.org, can be used  to help you work with students to explore the way we see things from different perspectives and reflect on why we see what we see.

      The picture is a photograph of a stupa in Christiana, which is a site in Denmark.

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Weeks 6-9: Develop understanding and skills (online)

  • Weeks 6-9: Develop understanding and skills (online)

    Self-assess learnings so far

    Ask students to assess what they've learned in the topic at this point against some key questions. You can easily see student responses (if using the quiz activity) which will enable you to be responsive to their needs and/or (mis)understandings in the weeks/modules following.

    • Begin with a question/s or challenge

      What do you NOW know about:

      • concept here?
      • concept here?
      • concept here?
      What (if anything) has changed for you over the past weeks?

      Do you have new understandings:

      • about yourself?
      • about the topic?
      This approach can support students to self-skill their learning and time, and revisits Week 1. This approach could also lead into group work, where students communicate with their peers in developing shared understandings and some kind of artefact/assessment piece that is formative/summative.

  • Weeks 10-12: Consolidate understanding and skills (face-to-face)


    At this point you are have most likely provided students with feedback from an assessment item which may lead to their final assessment. This assessment piece will have provided further insights to both you and your students regarding their learning in the topic and will signal what they still need to learn. As students work toward their final assessment piece, it is important that they are given all possible opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to successfully complete it.

    • Continue to maintain momentum

      As indicated in Week 5 (above), following their receipt of feedback on the assessments some students may feel despondent and disappointed while others are delighted or surprised by their progress. It is important to ensure that those students who are still struggling to grasp concepts are given guidance regarding where they might find additional support. For other students, attention will need to be on ensuring interest and focus are maintained during the last weeks of the topic. 

    • Consolidate learning

      As students move towards the final assessment piece(s) they should have a good understanding of the whole topic. More complex elements of the topic can be introduced and new learning builds on what has occurred to date. The last few weeks are where it is important that students are reminded of how the various aspects of the topic fit together and reflect on what they have learned.  

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Weeks 10-12: Consolidate understanding and skills (online)

  • Weeks 10-12: Consolidate understanding and skills (online)

    Consolidate learning/s

    Students could do a final quiz to assess their learning/s. This quiz will help them identify gaps that remain or have emerged and will lead into reflection in the last week/s or before.

  • Week 13: Final reflections and transitioning on (face-to-face)

    • End of the topic

      The final session of the topic should be an opportunity to celebrate with students. They have reached the end of the topic, have developed a range of skills and understandings and are moving on to new topics. Some may still have exams to sit, so the last session with you provides an opportunity for last minute guidance. The last session is a good place to:

      • discuss topics students might be doing next 
      • expain how the skills and learnings support lifelong leraning and their future at university
      • explain how the learning they have achieved fits into various workplace settings

    • In lectures or large group settings

      • spend the last session showing a humorous topic related video and link the material in the video to specific aspects of the topic. Demonstrating the value of your topic to broader experience. 
      • use the last session as an opportunity to have students complete SETs (ask them to bring a device, or ensure one is available)
      • provide students with a sense of how all the elements of the topic fit together and will support them in the future (you could draw a picture as you go)

    • In a tutorial (or similar) space only

      You may wish to invite students to bring something to eat and drink (non-alcoholic) and 

      • run a muddiest point activity with twist, where students are invited to discuss what still remains confusing and openly discuss these
      • hold a debate on the various areas of confusion or on a topic related issue that might divide opinion in the group
      • watch a humorous topic related video

    • For online (FLO) strategies, see the next module Weeks 13: Final reflections and transitioning on (online)

  • Week 13: Final reflections and transitioning on (online)

    • Feed forward

      At this stage, when students are consolidating their learnings, it is also a good time for them to think about what they will take forward to other topics. You could create an activity around this where they summarise feedback they have received and goal set around this feedback – how they can actively apply it to future learning. They could share these reflections with their peers in a forum for a richer experience.

      • How well have students met the learning outcomes for the topic – in their own eyes? 
      • Do they have their own 'feeding forward' learning outcomes? 

    • FORUM: Feeding forward your learnings

      Set this forum up to encourage students to share with others. It could be a Q and A forum type that means they don't see others' posts until they have posted themselves. This prevents them being influenced by others' posts, but then they can be encouraged to add to their reflections from the posts of others (learning from peers).

    • A mind map or other visual means of representation might also be useful for reinforcing meaning and sense making.

    • PADLET: Visualise your learning Page

      See Week 1 for details about this free web tool. The wall is useful for a quick visual overview with smaller groups of students (under 100), and may help students realise that they are not alone in their (mis)understandings. If you want to use a Padlet wall in a new iteration of the topic, you will need to create a new one.

      Note: Padlet is a self-supported tool, so best not used for assessment purposes. See Tool options - big picture for more information.

  • Taxonomies and references

    • Taxonomies

    • Bloom's taxonomy (revised) URL

      Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a way of categorising learning hierarchically and moves from lower to higher order thinking skills by assigning different verbs to the learning activities. 

    • SOLO taxonomy URL

      'As learning progresses it becomes more complex. SOLO, which stands for the S tructure of the O bserved  Learning  O utcome, is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess students’ work in terms of its  quality  not of how many bits of this and of that they have got right.' (John Biggs)

      '...by using the SOLO framework, instructors can determine whether learning outcomes and teaching activities will promote deeper learning experiences.' (Czerkawski 2014, p 31)

    • References

      Campbell, C., & Cameron, L. (2016). Scaffolding Learning Through the Use of Virtual Worlds. In S. Gregory, M. J. Lee, B. Dalgarno, & B. Tynan (Eds.), Learning in virtual worlds: research and applications: Athabasca University Press.

      Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

      Wilson, K., & Devereux, L. (2014). Scaffolding theory: High challenge, high support in Academic Language and Learning (ALL) contexts. Journal of Academic Language & Learning, 8(3), 91 - 100. 

  • Support resources