Tips for online learning from a South African mathematics-for-engineering lecturer

Assessment

• Give a practice test before the first official test to reduce anxiety and sort out unforeseen issues. (Some of my students could not view a diagram.)
• Allow students to start an assessment at a time of their choice within a long window (e.g. 10 hours). Some will be sharing devices with others in their home and may not be able to take a test in work hours. Others, such as those in Zimbabwe, may have limited hours with power supply.
• If giving a time limit for an assessment, add extra time (50% or more) for potential connectivity issues, such as slow network speeds.
• At the start of an assessment, require students to agree to uphold the code of ethics they agreed to when joining the university and remind that there are consequences for cheating.
• Help to reduce the panic that can lead to cheating by:
  • Giving clear, advanced notice on what the assessment will require of them;
  • If possible, building in a make-up opportunity, such as a resubmission, or makeup assignment in the final week.
• Consider if collaboration should be taboo or if it will result in more of the intended learning.
• Ask more questions that test understanding (e.g. “When trying to determine whether a triangle with points A (a₁, a₂, a₃), B (b₁, b₂, b₃) and C (c₁, c₂, c₃) has a right angle, why is it wrong to calculate the cross product A x C? How can you use vectors to determine if triangle ABC is a right-angled triangle?”) instead of calculation questions that can be done by an online calculator (e.g. “Find the cross product of (2,3,1) and (5,4,-1).”)
• If your course is a pre-requisite for another course, repeatedly refer to that course to motivate students to honestly develop themselves. You could also help to set a pre-test for the next course and warn students that a low pre-test score will lead to additional assignments in the next course.
• If your course is an exit-level course, ask students to submit short voice or video recordings in which they explain selected questions. If your LMS is a free-data site, students can upload without incurring costs. An alternative may be for students to send Voicenotes to you on WhatsApp. Use WhatsApp Web on a computer to manage the files if, like me, your phone has limited space.
• Use Test Wrappers – reflection quizzes – as course requirements and as an opportunity to improve test marks. Questions could include
  • “Attached is an example of an incorrect answer to this question. In which line is the first mistake? Submit a correction.”
  • “Why do you think you didn’t get this question correct?” (Choose from, “I didn’t complete all tutorial questions for this section; I didn’t spend enough time studying; I couldn’t access additional resources such as videos, textbooks, tutors when studying; I misunderstood the question; I ran out of time.”)
  • “How do you plan to support your wellbeing in the next week?” (Choose from “Daily exercise; regular sleep of 7+ hours; spend time positively communicate with friends/family; daily think of what I am grateful for; be mindful for a few minutes a day; make my bed each day; plan goals; use my character strengths in new ways”)
• Have frequent assessment, preferably weekly, to help students keep working consistently.
• Expect that not all students will be able to stick with the original schedule and plan to use the last week or two as catch-up or reassessment time.

Enduring

You and your students may face personal challenges during your online course. Share a list of support services with students. Create a list of professionals, colleagues, friends and family members you can use to help you should you need different kinds of help. Planning how you might deal with worrying circumstances can be calming. Most of all, recognise that it’s okay not to be okay all the time. Aspire to treat yourself and others with kindness.