Online, asynchronous learning offers students the greatest flexibility: it allows delivery of content on-demand and irrespective of where a student happens to be. The key to success for this online format, paradoxically it seems, is to encapsulate this flexibility with structure. Without structure, a student’s self-regulation, motivation and engagement with the course flounders. Providing structure doesn’t require course redesign, just an email.

The changing pressures on undergraduate students (Gitnux 2023) are increasingly requiring educators to provide greater flexibility in course delivery (Roberts-Grmela 2023). The solution can be shifting part or all of your course online (e.g., in a flipped design, or through an entirely asynchronous delivery). But maintaining a connection with your students and providing the necessary structure for their learning to thrive is critical (Tanner 2013).

Even before your course has officially started, engage your students through a pre-course questionnaire (see ‘TiP: Getting to know your students and what they need for success’). During the teaching term, maintain this engagement with an email every Monday to each student that provides a to-do list of activities to complete that week, with reminders of upcoming deadlines. This is a simple strategy for providing additional structure to learning that increases student self-regulation. These emails are consistently highlighted in my course’s myExperience evaluations as key in helping students stay on track during the course. 

I find this type of engagement is particularly important for helping students who are struggling. For example, I contact students privately whenever a task is submitted late or poorly completed, regardless of whether the task counts directly to their final mark. This communication is styled as an informal check-in to see if things are OK and whether they need any additional support. This conveys to students that their individual progress is tracked closely, that their progress matters to me, and that one-on-one help is available if they should need it.

This personalized support has improved the outcomes of at-risk students. Most students in my BIOS3011 Animal Behaviour course now achieve a High Distinction (HD: >=85%), and for some, this is their first HD in their university career. 

References:

Gitnux 2023. Working college students statistics 2023: a look at the numbers. https://blog.gitnux.com.

Roberts-Grmela, J 2023. More students want virtual-learning options. Here’s where the debate stands. The Chronicle of Higher Education, published online 5/5/23.

Tanner KD. 2013. Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. Life Sciences Education 12:322-331.