Learning to Teach Online

A video-based program helping teachers in 138 countries step into the virtual classroom, has earned its developers a prestigious international award.

Learning to Teach Online is a series of online video and PDF resources developed at UNSW’s College of Fine Arts.

Funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, the project supports teachers in any discipline who are new to online learning.

Project leaders, COFA’s Simon McIntyre and Karin Watson, have been awarded the 2012 MERLOT Award for Exemplary Online Learning Resources. They will be presenting at the 5th Annual International Symposium for Emerging Technologies for Online Learning in the United States later this year.

Learning To Teach Online is no newcomer to awards - the project won the 2011 Innovation and Excellence Award from the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (Ascilite).

For more info, check the LTTO website via the link at right.

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This final project report, completed for the funding body, the ALTC, analyses the outputs and impacts of the project up until June 24, 2011 when the report was completed. Since that time, the project has continued to attract attention from educators all over the world, and as of 14 October 2011 when this report was released here, we are nearing 90,000 unique views of the episodes from all over the world (nearly 40,000 more views than when the report was written 4 months previously). We hope this will continue well into the future!

The final evaluative report examines:

Since its release, the Learning to Teach Online project has developed a reputation for providing quality, pedagogically sound and broadly applicable professional development resources relevant not only to the Australian higher education sector, but to other sectors around the world. 

ISBN number 978-1-921856-70-9

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This case study examines how technology can be used to support an active learning strategy within face-to-face Chemistry classes. Both in-class polling software and online lectures are used as part of a comprehensive teaching strategy, designed to enable students to develop critical thinking and analytical skills. While in-class polling is not an online process, it is included within this case study to highlight how different types of technology can be used together effectively to support classroom teaching, when integrated with a carefully considered pedagogical approach.

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When teaching larger classes, an online environment can provide many opportunities for increased student engagement, group work and self testing. In this case study Professor Alan Crosky, from The University of New South Wales, explains how he uses a blended learning approach in his Engineering Materials and Chemistry class with 700 first year students. He highlights the importance of providing student orientation and support when first introducing an online component, and discusses the benefits of integrating online tutorials and resources, group work, peer assessment and self-testing into the class.

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This PDF file contains detailed information related to the Learning to Teach Online video called "Using ePortfolios as a reflective teaching tool - Case study". Please ensure you watch this video in conjunction with reading this document.

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This case study examines how ePortfolios, used in conjunction with blogs, can encourage students to become more critically reflective learners. The benefits and challenges of using ePortfolios are discussed, along with strategies for providing sufficient technical and pedagogical support, to enable teachers and students to confidently use the technology as a collaborative learning tool.

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This PDF file contains detailed information related to the Learning to Teach Online video called "Using online environments for teaching large class sizes - Case study". Please ensure you watch this video in conjunction with reading this document.

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This PDF file contains detailed information related to the Learning to Teach Online video called "Online teamwork and collaboration". Please ensure you watch this video in conjunction with reading this document.

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This PDF file contains detailed information related to the Learning to Teach Online video called "Using online lectures to support active learning - Case study". Please ensure you watch this video in conjunction with reading this document. 

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This case study examines the use of simple audio podcasts in a fully online distance education class, as part of the DUCKLING research project conducted by the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. It discusses the benefits of using podcasts as part of an integrated online learning strategy in a distance learning context, and gives an overview of how podcasts were used to introduce concepts, provide support for assignments, and to give students direct feedback on their work.