Attending: reflections on adapting a first-year module during COVID-19

I teach a first-year higher education business module on quantitative techniques, the overall aim of which is to learn how to make good decisions involving data and numbers. Due to COVID-19, the challenge has centred on how to move rapidly online whilst ensuring to support students to attend to their learning – to encourage and propel students to engage with the learning activities, resources and assessments. This involved redesigning aspects of the module structure, to encompass an online lecture and tutorial approach. Online lectures were designed with a focus on active participation, with tutorials focusing on students solving problems with access to 1-to-1 feedback. Assessments were adapted to include regular low-stakes quizzes that could be attempted multiple times. Ongoing communications and clear design of the virtual learning environment structured alternative asynchronous pathways through topics, providing a greater degree of flexibility for students, and supporting them to study independently, if impacted by health, family or other commitments. Informed by student survey feedback including open-ended comments, usage data from the virtual learning environment and test results as well as personal reflection, I will describe what worked (and
didn’t) and consider which aspects may be integrated for a blended future. Ongoing challenges accentuated by moving online due to COVID-19 include how best to facilitate peer interaction, and how to balance the focus of assessment on procedural fluency with conceptual understanding and communication. There will be a continuing focus on helping students to attend to their learning, with active approaches in lectures including answering questions via classroom response systems and online forms.