Bath Blend Baseline

Students’ experience of learning and teaching activity is consistent and structured across their course and individual units.

• Work as a teaching team and collaborate closely on the design and delivery of the course to ensure a consistent student experience

• Consider using a Moodle Course Template to support your course-wide approach

• Use the Moodle Unit Template to provide key information such as:

  • a Welcome Message (could be text or video), the Learning Outcomes, Library Lists, Assessment Summary (this will appear in a standard format at the top of the course)
  • provide assessment outlines and criteria, and demonstrate how the assessment links to the learning outcomes
  • Use due dates for activities and assessments, and meaningful titles (e.g. Essay on The Origins of the First World War, instead of “Essay 1”)
  • set clear expectations for how staff and students will communicate with each other

• Use the Moodle Unit Template to:
  • structure your learning resources clearly using consistent headings for each week/topic
  • provide clear instructions on what students are expected to do and by when
  • ensure resources are labelled with clear, specific and meaningful descriptions (e.g. Week 1: Lecture Notes on the War of the Roses, instead of “lecture notes”)

• On each unit, encourage student use of discussion forums for moderated discussion

Learning opportunities are inclusive and available to all students regardless of their mode of study and learning needs.

• Identify and anticipate student needs in advance so that they can be embedded in course and content design (using a Moodle template will help as will following the guidance below)
• Ensure all students can interact and contribute in teaching activities (and use, where possible, Bath supported technologies)
• As a course team, make use of Ally’s (link to Hub page guidance) accessibility reports to check the accessibility of your units, and identify two or three “quick wins” across the course
• For individual resources on your unit, use Ally to identify areas for development and improvement using the built-in help tool (students will also be presented with the option to download alternative formats automatically unless you disable this option
• Make appropriate use of the Library Scanning Service to obtain accessible copies of documents that can be read via a screen reader.

Learning is explicitly structured, sequenced, and supported to promote the effective development of students’ understanding and skills, with clear opportunities to support learning.

• As a course team, use the Moodle Course Template so that students are provided with:
  • a clear overview of their course
  • the pattern of learning and teaching activities across all units throughout the year
  • a statement that helps students to orientate themselves, outlining how and when they are expected to learn and engage
  • clear expectations as to students’ own responsibilities for their learning, communicated at both Course and Unit level
  • guidance on how to transition into blended learning and develop new skills, such as how to do groupwork, how to participate in discussions and how to approach assessment online

• Use the Moodle Unit Template to:
  • present activities and resources on each unit in a clearly structured and sequenced way that is consistent across the course
  • use the announcement forum to send out key messages to students, and to guide their learning
  • provide opportunities for reflection and informal feedback to help reinforce learning

• Chunk pre-recorded content into “bite-size” sections (e.g. 5-minute videos), and use quizzes and question prompts to reinforce learning
• Carefully consider scheduling (and duration) of live and asynchronous teaching sessions and how these will deliver learning outcomes (shorter “live” sessions work better in an online context)

Students are empowered in their studies, with delivery focused on embedding collaboration, discussion, and interactive learning activities.

• Encourage students to engage with online environment by designing an appropriately-scaffolded online learning experience (using a Moodle Unit Blend Template can help with this)
• Include carefully scheduled interactive, synchronous online events, where appropriate and when feasible, as students may be in different time zones
• Provide opportunities for students to engage at their own pace and/or work in groups
• Make the purpose of forums clear and actively participate in online discussions by:
  • replying to student contributions (this can also reduce the number of emails you receive as you are providing an answer in one place for all to see)
  • summarising discussions
  • asking questions to students to stimulate conversation
  • monitor group collaboration and encourage students to participate actively
  • moderate discussions and intervene where necessary

• Provide opportunities for active participation in online activities (e.g. polling and live quizzes)
• Provide opportunities, with guidance and feedback, for students to reflect on learning