Rethinking modalities in teaching and learning

The Educationalist. By Alexandra Mihai

Welcome to a new issue of “The Educationalist”! Today I am writing about one of the missed opportunities post-Covid: refining our learning design to include various modalities. After the pandemic subsided, we all came happily back to the classroom and mostly forgot the lessons we learned - especially in terms of course design. The classroom setup felt so natural to be in and old habits slowly crept in. No looking back. And yet, I feel that we do need to look back, and more importantly to look purposefully into how we create opportunities for learning and whether our students use them. I am outlining some of the strengths of the different modalities and provide some ideas on how to include them in your courses. As usual, I am curious to read your thoughts and experiences. Enjoy the rest of the week!

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, I spent most of my time trying to get faculty to think beyond Zoom, to design asynchronous learning activities in order to engage students. With mixed results. In the years post-pandemic, the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are again being used as mere repositories of resources and platforms for submitting assignments.

But I believe that there is much more to asynchronous learning than we give it credit for. It can really bring added value to learning, in many ways, some of which I will outline below. This is why, when working with faculty, I try to get them to consider various modalities when designing their courses. I encourage them to think beyond the content of their learning activities, in terms of modality. Interestingly, I notice this is an angle they are not usually exploring, but, when given time, their reflections are really meaningful. A kind of “lightbulb moment”, even. Does everything need to happen in the classroom? Do we even have time for that? What can be done more effectively before class and how can we scaffold that and then link it back to the face-to-face session?

Teaching in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment at Maastricht University, we focus a lot on collaborative learning and student agency. Even though in person sessions seem the most obvious place for that, it is difficult (and sometimes even counterproductive) to do everything in the classroom. Inevitably, parts of the process will spill over outside the classroom and thus they become impossible to capture. Moreover, independent learning plays a very important role in our model, and this often needs scaffolding (at least for first year students). By simply posting reading material on the VLE we miss the opportunity to support our students and we end up complaining they never do the reading.

Learning doesn’t happen only between the walls of the classroom, in the hours dedicated to a course. It happens beyond that, independently and in groups. We need to support and capture it better in order to create a rich learning experience.

This is not a call to use technology at all costs, to replace human interaction. It is a call to think deeply about how interactions in our courses take place and how we can shape them through intentional learning design, and with the help of technology.

A continuum of modalities

It’s not as straightforward as “being on campus” vs. “being online”. This is a false dichotomy. Learning is a continuum, a process that takes place in many forms, in different environments, individually and collaboratively, with or without our presence and support.

Why don’t we take some time to understand the strength of each modality and use it intentionally in our design? We can start from the learning goals, by understanding what kind of learning needs to happen to reach those goals. Where do students learn? How do they learn? When do they need us? In what form?

Here are some of my thoughts on asynchronous and synchronous modalities that you can use to support your reflection.

Why asynchronous learning?

• Asynchronous activities provide more flexibility, by giving students time to read/ watch the resources as many times as they need and reflect on them;

• By not requiring an immediate answer, asynchronous learning offers students time and space to engage more critically with the content;

• Teachers have the possibility to scaffold student learning and provide tools for them to develop their self-regulated learning skills;

• Asynchronous activities provide an archive of contributions and interactions- this is useful for both teachers and students to track progress and give/ receive feedback; it is also a good platform for peer learning;

• Including asynchronous learning in our mix enables us to provide a better structure, a red thread through the course, bridging the face-to-face sessions and supporting learning outside the classroom. This also has a positive impact on our communication with students, as it creates consistency.

Why synchronous learning?

NB: here I include both face-to-face and virtual synchronous moments (e.g. via Zoom, Teams)

• The greatest advantage of synchronous learning is immediacy. Simultaneous presence in one space (be it physical or virtual) and body language lead to richer communication and benefit learning;

• Synchronous interaction creates a good environment for exploring complex topics and processes through discussion;

• Synchronous activities are better suited for solving problems in a quick and efficient manner;

• The immediacy and simultaneous presence can be used for engaging in role plays and simulations;

• In terms of communication: the synchronous works better for more sensitive conversations (like group work not functioning well, etc).

Teacher-led or not?

Another decision we, as educators, need to make is when to get (more) involved in the learning process and in what way. What are students expected to achieve by themselves (individually or in groups) and where do we step in? This needs to be made very clear and explicit from the beginning (i.e. syllabus and first session), to make the most efficient use of our limited time together.

• It can be synchronous: usually this happens in the classroom, with the teacher being there to provide support, answer questions, challenge students to go deeper into the content;

• It can also be asynchronous: moderating and summarizing discussions, providing feedback, etc.

Mix / match

It’s not so much a matter of choosing one modality over the other but thinking in terms of what each one can bring to the course and mixing them accordingly.

For instance, collaborative learning activities can take place through a mix of modalities: they can start in the classroom, continue asynchronously as students work on a project, perhaps with some virtual synchronous sessions in-between, and conclude back in the classroom. One modality does not exclude the other, the key is in the intentional blend.

Some other ways to incorporate different modalities are:

• Interactive tools to support certain learning processes; students can use them in their own time, without direct teacher involvement. Here is one example of a tool my colleagues developed to support academic writing.

• Using ePortfolios to capture the process not only the outcome; for instance process of working on a project as a group, or the process of developing certain competences.

• Scaffolding independent learning with prompts; for instance developing workbooks with specific prompts for reflection in relation to the assigned reading/watching/ listening resources- this enables students to structure their understanding of the new knowledge and be more prepared in class.

My message here is: be curious, dare to do things differently, challenge your students but don’t forget to support them.

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi on Pexels