Enhancing social presence with videos and orientation guides

Dr Eduardo Pol | Business and Law (BAL)

I explored creating subject orientation guides and summary concept videos in my Moodle sites for ECON 802: The Economics of Global Business Challenges. I did this with the intention of enhancing the social presence of the site and increasing overall student engagement.

 

Overview video

 

Hello there, my name is Eduardo Pol. I work in the Faculty of Business and one of the subjects that I teach there is included in the Graduate Certificate of Business. 

I asked myself, how could I improve the engagement in that subject. The subject has been versions one is face to face and the other one online version. 

Well initially I didn't have a clue actually, but I was lucky enough to be in touch with LTC and they provided the strategy and the tools to obtain that main objective, which is, enhancing the learning of this subject. So I approached LTC and we designed a project about that particular subject. 

Basically, focusing on creating modules within the subject and also to support learning of the subject through a collection of videos. 

And the reality is that after having finished the project, I tend to believe that it is a different subject from the pedagogical viewpoint, because now a students have an absolute clarity about the content of the subject. And also I'd say an additional advantage because we have incorporated a set of questions covering each and every topic.  

So my own personal experience with this project was that initially I was very nervous, I cannot conceal that fact, but when I started working with the Education Specialist in LTC, she showed me the path to follow and everything was a smooth and successful adjustment so I can tell you that today we have a fantastic version of an old subject. 

 

How?

With the assistance of Learning, Teaching & Curriculum (LTC), I wrote a welcome message and recorded a welcome video that featured as the first thing students saw at the top of my Moodle sites for ECON802.

Welcome message

Welcome video

I also created a separate section at the top of the site called "Subject Information and Subject Outline" as depicted in the following snapshot of some of the Moodle site sections:

In the "Subject Information and Subject Outline" I created a Moodle book called: “Introduction to Studying Economics” which provided context for studying economics and the purpose of the subject as shown in the screenshot below.

I also created a Moodle book called "A Helicopter’s View of the Subject" that provided a trailer of the content covered throughout the subject and acted as a sort of virtual tour guide. The resource featured a collection of short 3-5 minute videos (created in collaboration with LTC) that summarised key economic concepts and appeared throughout the weekly modules in the subject. The following image shows the Moodle book in the Moodle site and an introduction that explains its purpose.

Reflection

I feel that the improvements I made to this subject’s Moodle site increased opportunities for students’ active engagement with subject material and learning experiences. The reality is that after having finished the project I tend to believe it is a different subject from the pedagogical viewpoint because now students have absolute clarity about the content of the subject.

"I feel that my educator videos established teacher presence, which is especially important for an online subject."
- Eduardo Pol

Initially, I was very nervous (I cannot conceal that fact) but when I started working with LTC they showed me the path to follow and everything was a smooth and successful subject. I can tell you today we have a fantastic version of an old subject.