wThe examples above demonstrate how I have found out about the learning needs of students in the context of their studies, developed approaches to best support these, and how practices have changed as a result.

Below are some key things I have learned from these examples that I will take forward into future practice.

1. Students are not as technical savvy is sometimes assumed and need supporting in the use of new technologies.

When working with students I have learnt that all students require assistance in using technology to learn effectively. This is especially clear in example 1 when teaching moved to learning online as they required support both technically, and help to understand what was expected of them in the sessions. In example 2 the students needed assistance learning how to create video presentations, in 3 they were trained on how to work as a team to make videos with mobile devices, and in 4 where the students needed help and guidance in using a e-portfolio platform. The common theme here is that by scaffolding learning and providing clear guidance the students are able to best achieve these goals. My experiences have shown me that the range of student ability and confidence is very broad, when designing learning activities it can be difficult to meet the needs of all abilities, however I find this is important as if activities are too simple or difficult it can result in a lack of engagement, I have experimented with different ways of supporting students including introducing group exercises, reflective blogs, and building in drop in weeks for students who need additional support. One area that I would like to try is to introduce a buddy system in which less confident students are partnered with more confident ones and to see if both benefit as a result. (Examples 1-3)

2. Support the diverse needs of students through careful planning and feedback.

Example 2 illustrates that is important to be sensitive to the needs of all students when designing learning materials and assessments.  By changing the assessment to recorded videos students suffering from anxiety were better able to engage with their learning, but the result was not to the detriment of the other students, the opposite is the case, all students benefitted.

When attending a training session on working with students with Asbergers syndrome (2012), I learnt that it is important to design both activities and assessments in which the outcomes are clear and measurable, this is also universally relevant for all students and I aim to make this clear in my teaching, this is an area I can improve upon as demonstrated by some comments from the end of term feedback from the module ‘Website design’

Feedback Comments:

A. ‘Doing the activities helped me a lot as I was getting hands on experience and it was related to the lesson. Its better then being talked at as I don’t take in much of the information that way, I learn better from doing activities’

B. ‘interactive learning is much better than just being talked at’

C. ‘Activities were definitely enjoyable! although they were linked to what we would be doing, maybe link it directly to the assignment brief a bit more?’

These comments show that whilst the active learning approach was well received, there was a lack of understanding from at least one student on how the activities supported their first assessment, some of my activities were very literally linked to the assignment brief whereas others were designed to develop promote creativity and critical thinking. As a result of this feedback one area I wish to address in future sessions is how I can communicate more clearly that how each learning activitity helps them in their assessments.

Another example of peer review is available here: Peer assessment and self reflection of learning activity (PDF), in this document I reflect on a learning activity using both student feedback and a colleagues peer review, and consider how the activity could be improved in the future. In this example I introduced role-play, both the peer reviewer and students provided examples of possible improvements to the activity most notably in the group allocation of roles which I will address when running the session again.

These two examples of student feedback show that it is a very useful and effective way of understanding the target learners needs, and can help to identify how to make learning more universal and accessible. (Example 2)

3. Aim to foresee problems before they arise.  

The need to move delivery of teaching to online in 2020/21 demonstrated that the context of learning and student’s needs is an evolving process which requires a creative and adaptable approach. The actions I take as both a tutor and learning technologist requires careful consideration, especially with regards to accessibility and developing digital literacies.

When considering learners needs I often reflect on when I began my working as a media demonstrator at the University, and how I would print out all the steps required to complete a task and give these to students to follow,  the result was that most of the students could follow these, but some students would return to ask for the instructions again after the session. 

Having spoken to the students to try and understand why they had not experimented to solve the problem I discovered that rather than requiring technical instructions, the students needed to be given opportunities to solve the problems for themselves and that this was an important parts of their learning. The following year I made the students research and demonstrate a skill as the purpose of the activity. As a result, the students both achieved the task but also developed their ability to research a problem and communicate this to others. I think this is a good example of how by giving more thought to the needs of the students I was better able to address their learning needs.

By engaging in practical research projects I have learned more about constructivist theories and approaches such as Kolb’s learning cycle, Gilly Salmon’s e-moderation and Bigg’s constructive alignment, these are useful frameworks which help me better understand students needs. By applying my lessons learnt from teaching, feedback and theory I am better able to anticipate potential problems before they arise and take proactive measures at the design stage to ensure that all learner’s needs are met.

4. Empathy and listening are important tools to understand learner needs. 

The nature of a learning technologist is different to a tutor in that as we mostly support tutors through technical support and training, when engaging with academics to discuss how technology can enhance their learning I strive to understand both their needs as a tutor and the needs of the students in their studies and make recommendations which best support these. As I also have experience as a tutor I can provide practical examples of how I have used technology for teaching and learning and use my experience to discuss on how technology can be used in the classroom, sharing my own practices and discussing the problems I have faced can be good way of opening a discussion and finding out about the problems other staff and student groups may encountering. 

When working directly with students as a Learning Technologist to provide technical support, I also endeavour to understand the student needs. Here I find that engaging in direct conversation to be a very effective approach. By being transparent and listening to the students needs it helps me to learn what has caused an issue, how they can help me to resolve the problem, and how we can work together to prevent the problem from happening again.

To support students with the e-portfolios platform PebblePad I meet weekly with our PebblePad team to discuss any student issues and jointly we find new solutions to these. This allows everyone who supports PebblePad to better understand our students needs and to allow us to take a joined up approach to supporting our learners needs. (Example 4)