HEAT: Blended Learning Tutor Guide

Blended Learning Tutor Guide

Introduction

Welcome to your blended learning tutor guide. This guide has been written for you by The Open University HEAT (Health Education and Training) Team.

In this guide, we are going to outline for you the main responsibilities of your important role as a blended learning tutor in the HEAT Programme in Ethiopia. The HEAT programme in Ethiopia is a partnership between the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health, the Regional Bureaus, The UK Open University, UNICEF and AMREF. It supports the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health’s (FMoH) aim to upgrade the skills of Health Extension Workers (HEWs) to Level-IV and to provide a model of learning that will ensure quality, relevant and up to date training for all HEWs, wherever they are based. The FMoH’s vision is to deliver the theory parts of the Level-IV Health Extension Programme through blended learning in order to ensure that the programme can be delivered with consistent quality nationwide and at scale, with minimum disruption to the delivery of village health services to the population in Ethiopia. The Level-IV programme will eventually be used not only to upgrade existing HEWs, it will also become the standard curriculum for all new Level-IV Health Extension Practitioners (HEPs) joining the profession in the future.

First, therefore, we want to say that you are part of an exciting new health education and training initiative in Ethiopia that will enable HEWs to develop their skills and provide the best possible health services to people in their communities. Your role in this programme as a blended learning tutor, and the relationship that you develop with your students, will be crucial to ensure the effectiveness of their blended learning. Before describing your role as a blended learning tutor, we are going to describe what we mean by ‘blended learning’. The definition that we shall use is that of The UK Open University. The Open University currently has 175,000 students studying part time by blended learning — over 40,000 of these are outside the UK.

What is blended learning?

Effective blended learning is much more than self-instructional packages, correspondence courses, or courses delivered by electronic media. Effective blended learning is made up of a carefully planned and managed blend of learning resources and experiences which can include:

In most cases these are print-based. These materials have special features which ensure active learning by the student, application of knowledge, integration with practice, and feedback on student achievement and understanding.

The role of the blended learning tutor

The next part of this guide is divided into five sections, each of which outlines the main aspects of your role as a blended learning tutor:

1. Supporting and encouraging students
2. Helping students to learn
3. Marking assignments and providing feedback to students
4. Facilitating student groups and study support meetings
5. Record keeping of students’ progress.

This guide will help you understand what is expected of you as a blended learning tutor in relation to all of these aspects.

1  Support for blended learning students

In other words you are not your students’ teacher – your role is help your students to:

• manage their learning experience
• keep on schedule
• submit assignments on time
• feel positive about their learning
• encourage them when they feel they are falling behind, and
• explain when they do not understand something.

Crucial aspects of your role are motivation, creating mutual respect and providing an environment where your students feel confident that they can talk to you (and with each other) about their learning and any difficulties they are experiencing.

1.1  Motivation

Motivation provides the driving force for students to tackle the difficulties and challenges that are associated with their learning, particularly when students have many other demands on their time – in this case their work as HEWs, but also for many, family and other commitments. Your students will be motivated if they have a clear vision of their personal goal. Motivation is also influenced by students’ self-perception and by belief in their own learning ability. Your students will feel motivated if they understand that their learning is important for themselves as an individual, for future qualifications and for providing better quality delivery of health services in their community. They also need clear deadlines for task completion and regular timely feedback on their progress.

1.2  Mutual respect

It is also important to establish a relationship with your students based on trust. This has three components:

• students’ trust that the relationship is going on comfortably, so you can work together
• students’ trust that you, an expert, have something useful to contribute to their learning
• your trust in your students that they will take from your input and make use of what is important to themselves.

1.3  Providing a supportive environment for learning

Students each bring their own past experiences, which have shaped their perception and attitude towards both learning and assessment. It is worth keeping in mind that previous learning experiences may have been negative for some of your students. To overcome the fear of failure, students need a supportive environment to take risks in their learning and to make mistakes, to question and to challenge, to ‘have a say’. This is helped by an atmosphere of ‘unconditional positive regard’ towards your students, one that is non-judgemental and accepting.

1.4  Learning Agreement between you and your students

Establishing a good relationship between yourself and your students is very important.  In the best situations there is a lot of trust involved; you can trust that the students will do their best to learn from their study of the Modules — and the students can trust that they will be supported by you during their time as a student.

To help develop this high level of trust it is a good idea to be clear about the things that you expect from the students.  In return you should make it clear to the students what they can expect from you as their tutor.  Sometimes this process is called a Learning Contract or Learning Agreement.

In the first Study Support Meeting, it is most helpful to discuss with the students and make a list of the responsibilities that you expect them to fulfil and another list of the support that the student can expect from you.  Each student should write the agreed lists in their Study Diary and then you and the student should sign this Learning Agreement.  If any problems arise later, either in the student’s progress or the study support they receive from you, both you and the student can make reference to this signed agreement.

2  Helping your students to learn

As a blended learning tutor you can help your students to learn in a number of ways. For example:

• engaging in dialogue with each student to ensure she has a clear understanding of the learning outcomes for each Module in the programme
• being clear about what learning outcomes are being assessed in each of your students’ written assignments
• providing feedback on how well the learning outcomes have been achieved, together with manageable advice on how to improve, and how to negotiate the next goal
• requiring that your students submit some form of self-assessment and responding to that self-assessment
• talking to students who do not submit assignments by the deadline and planning with them how they might catch up with work they have missed
• helping students to integrate their blended learning with the skills they are taught in their practical training.

2.1  Study Diaries

As your students study the Modules they will have a lot of exercises to complete.  At the end of each study session, for example, there are Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) that they will be expected to answer in writing in English. When you meet your students at their next Study Support Meeting, they will be expected to show you their answers to these SAQs, so you can check their understanding of the Module and offer support when needed. This activity also gives the students an opportunity to ask you (as their tutor) about any issues that have arisen for them since your last meeting.

To help this process each student should have a Study Diary.  This is simply an exercise book or file that they should use to record:

• the date on which they completed each study session
• any notes they made while studying it
• their written answers to the SAQs for that study session
• any queries that they want to raise with you
• a record of the practical training they have completed.

Students have to supply their own Study Diaries (they are not provided for them).  Each student may want to record their activities in a way that suits her personally.  Some may use an exercise book, while others prefer a loose-leaf file or folder.  In either case it is important for you to make sure that they continue to be systematic in recording all the required material for the whole time that they are studying.

3  Grading assignments and providing feedback to students

Students will be required to undertake formal written assignments during the programme. Grading your students’ assignments and giving clear feedback on their written work is an important way of providing them with personal learning support. It helps over time to establish the teaching and learning relationship with your students and acts as a powerful teaching tool when you are grading your students’ learning (particularly if the grade is a low one). The feedback you give on each assignment should help the student understand what she should have written to get a better grade, but it should also identify and praise good points in her answers.

Providing individual written feedback for each student has a number of purposes; for example it helps:

• to act as a driver and a focus, giving information to your students on areas the curriculum leaders think are important and the standards expected
• to structure students’ learning
• to give them frequent opportunities to assess and improve their learning and achieve better outcomes
• to encourage your students and build their confidence.

As a blended learning tutor, providing feedback on written assignments enables you to:

• explain something that your student has not understood
• facilitate skills development by providing examples to your student
• help your student attain learning outcomes for each session and/or Module
• individualise the learning experience and, if it connects with your student, make it personal to her and acknowledge her uniqueness
• be flexible in your responses to the different learning needs of each student
• provide space for reflection, encouraging your student to think about both how well something has been written and how well a learning outcome has been achieved
• to identify the next steps in learning
• help every student to identify her strengths and weaknesses
• help the student to look ahead and identify her mid-term and long-term learning goals
• involve each student in self-assessment by requiring her to answer self assessment questions in each study session, write her answers in her Study Diary, (and where appropriate to discuss them with you in study support meetings).

4  Facilitating student groups and study support meetings

It is likely that the students in your study group will know each other quite well already. You may know some or all of them too. But this will be the first time they will come together as blended learning students with you as their blended learning tutor, so we thought it would be useful to include some guidance about how you can help your students get the most out of their group, during their time with you.

A major objective is for you to facilitate the kind of atmosphere and activities that will encourage everyone to relax and feel comfortable working together in the study group. As a blended learning tutor, you will have a lot of influence and responsibility in relation to the kinds of methods, learning processes and activities that go on. The ways in which you attend to relationships and communication within the group can greatly affect the students’ experiences as members of the group. Working in groups can enhance the achievement of specific tasks and it can also develop individual skills and confidence in becoming an independent learner. It can help your students in their personal engagement with the learning materials and enable them to become more independent of you. In this respect, your principal aim is to cultivate skills of independent learning in the students and to facilitate that process rather than be the source of their knowledge.

At the first study support meeting therefore, you should check that your students know each other and then give them a chance to share their expectations, concerns and questions – with each other and with you, as the blended learning tutor. The rules for the group should be established, such as listening to each other, everyone having an opportunity to say how they are getting on with the learning materials and so on.

The number of students who are able to attend the study support meeting may vary from time to time. However the following characteristics are most frequently mentioned in evaluations of effective learning groups even if there are just two or three people present:

• a climate of acceptance and respect for one another across both similarities and differences in the group
• openness of communication
• listening being valued as much as talking
• everyone taking responsibility for their own learning and their own behaviour
• problems and conflicts being faced openly and constructively
• the tutor taking responsibility for the process of the group by encouraging and facilitating active participation of all the students attending
• clarity in the setting of tasks, activities and deadlines
• everyone’s contributions being acknowledged and valued.

Part of your role as blended learning tutor is being prepared to intervene if one or more students are experiencing difficulties. However it is important not to dominate the discussions in the group. It can be difficult to let go of the traditional authority of ‘the teacher’ and there is a certain amount of security in standing at the front and doing the majority of the talking. But it is important that from the start, you establish a supportive role that enables your students to become confident and independent learners. This emphasis on facilitation can broaden and enrich your role as well as benefit the students.

5  Record keeping

Record keeping will be mainly in relation to two things:

• (a)  the written assignments your students submit to you at the end of each Module
• (b)  your students’ attendance and performance in the study support meetings.

Your Regional Health Bureau will have arrangements in place to ensure that you are able to keep and submit accurate records.

6  Assessment

There are two kinds of assessment in the programme:

• (a)  informal assessment - e.g. in-text questions and answers, and self assessment questions (SAQs, where the answers are at the end of the Module) which the students answer to help reinforce their studies and assess their own progress. These assessments are not graded.
• (b)  formal assessment – assignments that are marked and graded by the blended learning tutor with written feedback provided to the student.

Grading formal Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) and providing feedback on them is an important part of your role. You can assess whether the student has met the learning outcomes for each study session or Module and can measure the student’s understanding and progress through the curriculum. The student receives encouragement for what has been done well and advice and guidance about how she can improve.

Students need to know the purpose of the assessment, and what learning outcomes will be addressed. Explicit information given in advance of an assignment can help students to understand the purpose of the task and also the value to themselves of engaging with it. With increased understanding comes increased confidence that they will be able to undertake the assignment competently and so they are more likely to be successful.

Each assignment therefore will identify which learning outcomes the students are being assessed on, and an approach to answering the assignment questions so that students are clear about what is being asked of them.

What feedback is useful to students? Feedback that:

• is returned promptly (e.g. at the next study support meeting) while they can still remember what they wrote in the previous assignment
• is supportive and encouraging
• offers more than just corrections – that is, you should respond to good points and ideas in the assignment and say why they are good
• helps them to develop skills they do not yet have, such as structuring an answer or being able to build sound arguments
• suggests how to bring about improvement (for example, ‘you could have referred to a case study to illustrate your point here’)
• helps the student to take forward skills and ideas to the next assignment and beyond
• encourages the student to become more skilled at self-assessment.

Using a positive tone and setting up a ‘dialogue’ in your written feedback is important. If students don’t like reading your comments, they won’t learn anything. A relaxed and personal tone shows you feel involved too, and encourages and creates trust and mutual respect. You can use phrases such as:

Avoid using judgmental language such as

which may be read as accusatory or as questioning credibility.

Instead, you can write things such as:

You should also use phrases that challenge the students, which will help to progress their learning: for example:

A lot of students will be anxious about the thought of writing an assignment, particularly the first one, and many leave it to the last minute to do it and are then short of time. Some students find it difficult to keep focussing on answering the questions and instead write about what they find interesting. You could talk to them about these issues in the first study support meeting. If you do find that they misinterpret the assignment you can show them in feedback how to analyse the questions by adding in some comments about how you would have approached the answer. For some (if not all) students, writing assignments in English will be an added cause of anxiety for them. You will need to be sensitive to this when you are grading their assignments. We suggest that your feedback focuses more on ensuring that each student’s meaning is clear, rather than correcting every spelling mistake or grammatical error where these are not crucial to the delivery of safe and effective health services by the HEW.

7  Relationship with your Blended Learning Supervisor

Throughout your time as a tutor you will receive support from a Blended Learning Supervisor, appointed by the Regional Health Bureau, who will also oversee the organisation and delivery of the practical skills training sessions for your students. You and your supervisor will meet regularly to discuss how you feel your role as a new Blended Learning Tutor is progressing, and if there is any support you may need in order to facilitate the learning of your students more effectively.

You and your supervisor will also discuss the progress that each of your students is making, and consider how best to support a student who is having any difficulty in keeping up with the pace of study, or achieving the Learning Outcomes of the Modules. Reviewing the assessment record of each student from the grades you have awarded for the Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) is also an opportunity for the supervisor to discuss the marks you have awarded (e.g. if you are marking too high or too low compared with the marking guide for that TMA), and to comment on the supportive feedback you have written on the student’s script. The supervisor is there to help you in supporting your students, so that they can study successfully and improve the health education, healthcare and social mobilisation they provide in their communities.