This is where the course is beginning to make real sense to me. I have developed and taught online courses since 2011 and have had to learn through trial and mistakes what works and what does not. Approaching the guidelines offered by City University London through the lens of Salmon’s (2013) five-step model for successful online learning confirms what I already knew – but more importantly taught me a lot of what I did not. Something else I am increasingly becoming aware of is how important it is that colleagues and the institution as a whole are onboard with what one is trying to achieve. This is not always the case, I have found, and then it does not matter how good one’s intentions are. The battle is too uphill. 

Nevertheless, here a quick summary of some of the things I thought about while reading the material for this week: The initial stage feels very familiar -make sure that the course is accessible, create a friendly welcoming environment, clarify netiquette etc. Step two – here there is room for improvement in my courses. typically I begin with small individual assignments, but a more collaborative assignment might actually be a better option, to break the ice. Step 3 – this is where the course proper begins. Students are expected to work together, if only ata very basic level, by answering and commenting on set questions. Perhaps I need to play a more active role in this process. Step 4 – I am not sure this step even exists in my current courses, which is a bit depressing from the perspective of all that I have learnt during this course. I will need to rethink the entire structure of my course in order to achieve this level. Step 5 – Ok, so this is where we (teacher – students) part ways. This is where students go off on their own, hopefully taking what they have learnt with them.

One way to motivate colleagues and not the least one’s institution is to emphasize student retention. Online course drop-out is notoriously common, after all. van Ameij et al. (2018) suggest a number of solutions: the different parts of a course must be well-integrated, Student collaboration must form part of the course, activities and material must be engaging, the workload must be balanced, material should be limited to the learning outcomes, the course should include reflective elements, such as self-assessments and finally, the course should be structured in such as way that students work towards more complex tasks gradually.