Designing to Facilitate Engagement: Putting Tutors at the Heart of Online Asynchronous Courses

Since the Covid-19 pandemic we have seen an increase in fully online asynchronous courses, and launch of the University of Exeter Centre for Online. But in a fully online environment, how do you facilitate student engagement?

In this post Sarah Paddock, Senior Learning Experience Designer in LXI, discusses how putting the tutor at the heart of learning design facilitates student engagement and outlines 12 ways to do this in online courses.

So, why is the tutor important in courses that are asynchronous and online?

The tutor scaffolds the learning throughout, connecting learners to each other, highlighting good practice and building interaction. Educator effort in the early weeks is rewarded by self-sustaining learner behaviour later in the course.  Professor Lisa Harris

This approach outlined by Lisa Harris is underpinned by Gilly Salmon’s 5 Stage Model for online learning.

Students expect a tutor on their course as feedback from University of Exeter students and research by Ferrari and Triacca (2021) shows. The recent JISC Framework for Digital Transformation in Higher Education (McGill, March 2023) states:

Embrace the notion of presence .. which can be demonstrated synchronously or asynchronously

So, what design features do I add to put the tutor at the heart of the teaching? Here are 12 approaches I use when working with colleagues to design online courses.

1. Welcome videos

These allow the tutor to not only communicate their passion for the course but also to mention a few personal details, showing their human side, as in the example below, a screenshot from her welcome video, Dr Rose Leach mentions her outside interests in the Exeter Community Garden.

Dr Susan Reh mentions her interest in nature encouraging students to see their tutor as an approachable learning partner.

2. Weekly Introductions

Every “week” of the course begins with a video introduction by the tutor to maintain their presence.

3. Tutor led invitations to gradually build up social presence

Padlet is used frequently for this activity, as it allows for choice and diverse means of expression (UDL Principles) when posting content. Padlet is then used in later activities, to allow students to gradually build their online presence using a familiar digital tool. At the start of the course – the tutor posts first on a Padlet and invites students to share a “low stakes” item such as their favourite place to reflect as in the example below.

4. Tutor posts first in Padlets and Forums

Research has shown that the empty space awaiting a first post in a forum can provoke feelings of anxiety. Rodriguez Leon et al (2024) As shown below, the tutor, Dr Lisa Harris, has posted first in her Learn Exeter MOOC course, Explore Digital Transformation.

5. Personalisation language cues

Mayer (2014) and subsequent researchers found a positive effect on engagement at both the behavioural and cognitive level when personal pronouns and conversational language is used. Instructional text directly addresses the student as if the tutor is talking: “You can read about ..” “Let’s look .”

6. Tutor voice

Wherever possible, animated explanations are accompanied by the tutor’s voice.

7. Live Sessions

An invitation is always made to an optional live session early on in the

8. Tutor callouts

A tutor callout draws student attention to constructively aligned activities, shown in the screenshot from a module below.

9. Auto Release and Click and Reveal Tutor Response

The impression of tutor presence is given with a response which is set to auto release once the student has

 

10. Interviews and Discussions

These allow students to see academic interactions with the tutor modelled, building bridges between the student and the academic environment. These are presented as Interactive Videos, using H5P with question pause points. Breaking videos into smaller portions for “low stakes” answers has been shown to promote learning. Wong et al (2024)

11. Scheduled Tutor Feedback

The timing of feedback is stated in the course welcome as shown below. This manages expectations for students and provides the tutor with a regular opportunity to offer personalised encouragement and teaching points.

You can listen to a Podcast or watch a video Dr Susan Reh, tutor on the importance of regular personalised feedback or 

12. Wrap Around Support for Tutor from other teams

• All online students are enrolled to an Induction Course –  tailored to online students only.
• A named student support advisor is flagged in the “Meet the Team” section of the Welcome Section, students can expect a response within 24 hours.
• Tutors are guided in their interaction points by a facilitation guide created by the Learning Development Team for each course.

Reflections – How successful was the process?

Dr Alex Thompson, former Programme Director involved in the initial stages of planning the MSc International Business degree reflects:

This approach helped establish the educator as a consistent presence throughout a course, personalise the module and contributed to transformational learning experiences.

Anonymous student feedback showed that tutor engagement was expected and valued.

What Next?

The Learning Design Team continue to reflect on feedback from students and make changes for future iterations of courses.

The Immersive Studio (an internal team who film and create animations for our courses) are piloting the use of virtual reality spaces for student interaction. You can read a blog on this by Lulu Cheng.

The Learning Design Team would love to hear about examples of ways others have made their presence felt in the online asynchronous space.

You can contact: learningdesign@exeter.ac.uk