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Encouraging online student participationJuly 2020Sue Pawley, Hilary Holmes, Claudi Thomas, Katrine Rogers
Photographer: Chris Floyd
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Interaction in online maths tutorials
Evidence that active learning deepens mathematical understanding …
… but online, some tutors tend to adopt a lecturing style with little student interaction.
Small OU research project investigating:
• the extent to which online tools (polling, whiteboard activities, text chat) engage students;
• the advantages and disadvantages of these tools as
perceived by students and tutors.
Research methods:
• tutorial observations;
• student and tutor surveys;
• student interviews and a tutor focus group.
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Interactive Exercises
• Results from our survey show that students find all types of activities useful, though chat box ones a little less enjoyable (but still useful)
• High participation rates, even if not sharing the answer
• Appreciate opportunity to benchmark
• Good to see others having similar difficulties – not alone
• The main reasons why students do not take part in interactive exercises are: lack of time (catching up on notes or other students being faster) and lack of confidence (especially if answers are not anonymous or if they are behind with the module material)
Students appreciatedaccumulating new knowledge,revising a skill and feeling enabledto tackle similar problems.
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Some things to consider…
• Can tutors and students use the technology effectively?
• How easy are different tools to use?
• Time needed to prepare resources
• Balance of teaching and activities
• How does the tutor create an environment that encourages participation?
• Language used
• Anonymity
• Allow time for student questions, activities and explanations
• Include range of activities
• Can all students participate?
• Mobile devices may not allow students to interact
• Students with disabilities may need extra support
• Some activities better for small groups
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ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY
• Think about all the different times students may interact in relation to a lecture• Interactions before the lecture starts• Questions at the end/during the lecture• Discussions between students both during the lecture
and at different times during the week
Try to recreate an online alternative where these things can happen
• Don’t plan to start
immediately, leave
time at end
• Ask students to test
microphones when
they enter
• Put up a map so
they can mark where
they are
• Build in time for
questions (how can they
be asked?)
• Think about drop in
sessions/ making time
available for students
• Forums/WhatsApp/
Facebook/snapchat/
Discord/Instagram
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INTERACTIVE EXERCISES: POLLING
• Easy to set up and use
• Different types – multiple choice, multiple answer, short text
• Anonymous
• Can be used in many different ways:
Determine session content
Check underlying skills
Engage students in understanding new ideas
Address misconceptions
Identify errors
Identify process - What step should we try next?
Recap on main ideas
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POLLING - Using a web link
• Lots of different polling tools available:
• Polls can also be used directly in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Blackboard Ultra, Adobe Connect …
• Please post in the chat!
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POLLING – Microsoft forms math quiz
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POLLING – Diagrams and LaTeX
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POLLING – Mathematical content
• Put the question and option details in your presentation and just list poll options as A, B, C… Don’t know – this may allow you to reuse the poll.
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POLLING – A few suggestions …
• Use a variety of polls - short text,
multiple choice, multiple answer.
• Give details of the timing for the poll and allow some quiet thinking time.
• Broadcast the results, but only when enough students have voted.
• Allow enough time for students to see the results and explain any misconceptions.
• Experiment with extension problems for faster students.
• Encourage questions and pause recording if needed. Be aware that students may have the impression that they shouldn’t be asking any questions.
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INTERACTION – CHAT/TEXT BOX
• Getting students to answer mathematical questions by chat box tends to be very quick as it allows you to move on when the first correct answer comes in, though you can encourage others also to share their answers by asking whether they agree
• Some students struggle to keep up with the speed of chat box answers and feel overwhelmed when lots of answers appear at the same time
• According to our survey, using the chat box is not as enjoyable as multiple choice polling or whiteboard activities
• Generally not anonymous, which might matter even more to some students when the tutorial is being recorded.
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INTERACTIVE EXERCISES - WHITEBOARD
• Whiteboard activities are entirely anonymous – even the host cannot see who is interacting with the whiteboard tools
• Too many students using whiteboard tools at the same time might affect connectivity and can look chaotic and messy
• Screen activities can take a long time, but it can be worth it if you can address several points at the same time
• Types of activities: colour code, draw lines tomatch expressions, draw graphs, type in True/False,highlight mistakes, cover visual concepts
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THE ACTIVITY
A 1 � 2 � 3
B 8 � 6/2
C 5�
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THE ACTIVITY
A 1 � 2 � 3
B 8 � 6/2
C 5�
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THE ACTIVITY
A 1 � 2 � 3
B 8 � 6/2
C 5�
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THE ACTIVITY
A 1 � 2 � 3 �9
B 8 � 6/2=11
C 5�=25
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THE ACTIVITY
A 1 � 2 � 3 �9
B 8 � 6/2=11
C 5�=25
Ticks and crosses
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WRITING ON THE BOARD
The number of
cornflakes in a
packet
The temperature at
midday in towns in
Scotland
The size of the
crowd at a rugby
match
The number of
books in a library
The weight of
cornflakes in a packet
Discrete Continuous
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THINKING LATERALLY
5
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
4 2 2 4
C
A
B
D
3 1 0 31
y
x
� ��
� 2��
�1
2��
� �� � 5
� �� � 5
� �� 3
� �� � 2� 3
� 5��
Match the equations to the graphs.
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USING A WEBCAM
• Using a webcam to capture the writing of maths by hand might be the easiest and most flexible way to get maths into an online session.
• An inbuilt camera may have low resolution and may not point in the right direction.
• Experiment with applications that turn your mobile phone into a webcam, such as EpocCam, DroidCam, iVCam etc. Some of these applications work only with Windows or only with iPhones – so make sure to choose one that works for your setup.
• This usually requires you to download the software to your phone as well as your computer. Some of these rely on WIFI to send the video to your computer, though some will allow you to use a USB wire.
• You can buy a cheap phone holder or balance your phone on something suitable.
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USING A WEBCAM
• You can select which camera to use inside your conferencing software. In Zoom, set Video to the web cam app and make sure that your phone is running the app and is connected by wire / WIFI to your computer. Or, in Zoom, just use Alt + N to switch between cameras.
• Or you can run the camera application on your computer and on your phone and use application sharing – this may make it harder to keep an eye on the chat box though.
• Two options: point the camera at a piece of paper and write normally, but with a pen that shows up well, or point the camera at a whiteboard and write reasonably large with a whiteboard pen.
• The first option will allow you to scan your notes and email them to students after the session.
• Be prepared for technical difficulties and have a backup plan!
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RECORDING TUTORIALS
• OU Maths & Stats students generally want all tutorials to be recorded.
• Check with your institution about how to deal with recordings. You may need to explain to students what the recording will be used for, how long it will be kept and who will have access to it.
• Check that everyone agrees to be recorded – give students who do not wish to be recorded time to leave the session before starting the recording.
• If attendance is optional, you may find that more students watch the recording than attend live.
• Consider how students may need to navigate recordings. A copy of your presentation might help.
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TIMETABLING
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
We
ek
da
y e
ve
nin
g t
uto
ria
l (7
tuto
ria
ls)
In a
dva
nce
of
tuto
ria
l ca
len
da
r (8
tuto
ria
ls)
Fo
r st
ud
en
ts u
sin
g t
he
MST
12
4/M
ST
12
5 c
ale
nd
ar
(7
tuto
ria
ls)
Su
nd
ay e
ve
nin
g t
uto
ria
l (1
1
tuto
ria
ls)
Fo
r st
ud
en
ts u
sin
g t
he
MST
12
4/M
14
0 c
ale
nd
ar
(8
tuto
ria
ls)
Fo
r st
ud
en
ts s
tud
yin
g o
uts
ide
of
the
UK
(7
tu
tori
als
)
Sa
turd
ay
tu
tori
al
(8 t
uto
ria
ls)
Su
nd
ay m
orn
ing
tu
tori
al (5
tuto
ria
ls)
Mid
we
ek d
ayti
me
tu
tori
al (1
0
tuto
ria
ls)
Tu
tori
als
be
hin
d t
he
stu
dy c
ale
nd
ar
(6 t
uto
ria
ls)
Ave
rag
e n
um
be
r
of
stu
de
nts
Tota
l nu
mb
er
of
stu
de
nts
Total attendance at different strandstotal number of students
average number of students per
tutorial
THANK YOU
