Students told us what they want for online learning. Here are 7 strategies that educators can use.

This article is Part 3 of our “Student Voice Matters” series, a collection of articles on Malaysian students’ experience with online learning.

Throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia students across the country have been making the transition from offline to online learning. During this period, Project ID has sought to capture student voices about this experience through our “Your Voice Matters” survey with over 700 respondents aged 13–18 years old.

Part 1 of our “Student Voice Matters” series detailed commonly used learning platforms and some of the challenges students face. Part 2 focused on their experiences of students as they transition from offline to online learning, asking them what they enjoyed most and what their ideal learning experience looks like.

The final part of this series takes the responses presented in the first two articles and summarises some of the main challenges. We also propose some recommendations that educators may find useful to deliver a better online learning experience. Online learning, if done correctly, is a great enabler in creating access and here we discuss ways on improving the experience for students.

The reality of online learning

1. Varying degree of access to connectivity / device renders various challenges for teachers to teach remotely: The diversity of students from the same class inevitably means some will have better tools and connectivity than others, posing a significant challenge to teachers and their teaching methods. “Some teachers are unable to conduct online teaching because of the problem of internet connection. I hope we can find a way to teach using less data.”
2. A substantial lag in communication with teachers: The physical absence of teachers makes it more difficult for students to seek guidance and support especially to raise comments, questions and frustrations. “I want something that makes it easier for me to understand what my teacher want to explain and also allow me to ask any question that I don’t really understand…”
3. A lack of human interaction with both teachers and peers: Students feel isolated and miss out on the interactive environment of a classroom, whether with teachers or peers. “Sesi pembelajaran menjadi lebih seronok sekiranya dapat berjumpa dengan kawan. Selain itu, saya lebih memahami apa yang dipelajari sekiranya saya dapat berinteraksi dan bersemuka bersama dengan guru-guru dan kawan kawan.”
4. Both students and teachers struggle to adapt: A sudden and dramatic change from a traditional classroom to virtual learning is a new experience for both learners and educators that need more time for everyone to adapt. “Kerana secara atas talian saya akan mengalami kesukaran untuk memahami dan bila cikgu menerangkan saya berasa keliru dengan penerangan cikgu dan saya berasa susah nak belajar.”
5. A lack of structure in online learning: Students have found it difficult adjusting to online learning due to the inconsistencies in teaching methods, from schedules and preferred online platforms to the volume of homework. “The schedule is too complicated and some teachers are teaching at the same time. The fact is many teachers give us a lot of homework at the same time. Besides that, the homework is given from two different platforms such as Whatsapp and Google Classroom.”
6. Aversion towards online learning due to unfavorable experience in the past: Some students currently hold disposition against online learning i.e.“I don’t like online learning. I just don’t enjoy any online classes”.

Based on student feedback, what can we do as educators?

1. Re-frame Students’ Perspective on Online Learning

Stigma against online learning persists among students. We can address this by:

• Conducting reflection sessions to better understand their struggles, while helping them see the benefits of online learning.
• Discussing with students how to collectively make the learning experience better encourage a change in mindset and overall impression of learning online.

2. Ask Students What Works

When confronted with an uncertain situation we find it most effective to ask our students, “What works for you?”

• Conduct sessions for students to express how they would like to learn.
• Allow students to rate their experience after each class to help educators adapt and tailor-make lessons to suit their students’ needs and overcome their learning roadblocks.

3. Create a Nurturing, Accessible Setting to Make Up for the Benefits of a Physical Classroom

Creating an experience for our students should be the focus when designing an online lesson to build trust and connection, making them feel part of a collective. A sense of belonging allows students to feel heard, putting them at ease with online learning.

• Ask students how they are doing before beginning a lesson.
• Increase interactivity by allowing students to express themselves using the selected platform’s features (such as Whatsapp’s voice note feature, Padlet, Kahoot).
• Organize an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session at the end of classes for them to get to know teachers better and to have some fun.
• Design a reward system to motivate students learning remotely, perhaps through virtual certificates or scoreboards in group chats with students.

4. Create Clarifying Mechanisms for Students

Teaching online often subjects us to the risk of being lost-in-translation which can lead to student attrition. As such, we need to find different ways to make ourselves available for students to clarify learning ambiguities. Opportunities for clarification make it easier for students to reach out and ask questions.

• Schedule designated Q&A sessions at the end of every session using a video conferencing tool for students with higher bandwidth or voice call options for students with lower bandwidth.
• Let students know that they can contact / inform you via different mediums of communication if they have questions.

5. Set Session Norms

Clear expectations of students’ behavior and actions will set the tone for better management of online sessions. Norms and consistency helps students remain focused on learning new concepts while setting the parameters for a new learning environment.

• Set up rules with video call sessions i.e. “Mute” yourself when you are not speaking, join the session 10 mins before it begins, or click the “Raise Hand” button if you want to ask a question.
• Find out what works and stick to it, be it schedule, learning platforms or online tools.

6. Blend Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

Educators can create learning opportunities with Blended Learning to cater for students with different access and learning styles while ensuring that they are constantly engaged with high ownership over their learning process.

• Compile good learning resources and deliver to students who lack access.
• Collect all learning materials on one repository (e.g: Google Classroom) to allow students to learn at their own pace.
• Plan fun assessments like online quizzes or game-based activities to enhance learning experience.
• Create short (no more than 15–20 minutes) videos on your teaching content followed by a live Q&A session.

7. Nurture Independent Learning

Independent learning plays a key role in students’ success especially in remote learning, as it increases their intrinsic motivation and self-confidence. Prompting students to reflect on their work or to consider strategies they will use if they get stuck have been highlighted as particularly valuable.

• Coach students to set personal learning goals.
• Encourage them to work in teams with guidance for self and peer assessment.
• Allow students to rate or comment their mastery on the knowledge before and after an online teaching session, then allow students to share what is missing and discuss what they can do to fill the gap.
• Give personalized, qualitative feedback to students.
• Incorporate project-based learning which gives students greater autonomy over their own learning and encourages them to engage with complex questions and real-world problems.

Making learning experiences work

Malaysia is now on the road to COVID-19 recovery. Schools are beginning to reopen beginning with students in Form Five and Six in order for them to sit for their SPM and STPM examinations. That said, we still have a large number of students who will continue learning from home, and will require more support from teachers.

In the past 3 months, we have seen some amazing stories of both educators and students going above and beyond to ensure learning happens — from a teacher personally delivering learning materials to a university student camping out to take exams online. The Ministry of Education has also launched DELIMa — a sharing and collaborative platform that consolidates technology from Google, Microsoft and Apple for online learning.

Now that we have access to this platform, the next step is to hone our craft as educators to create a great online learning experience for our students. From our experience, we find that addressing the seven strategies mentioned above has made a meaningful difference for our students. We hope our survey findings provide a useful starting point for teachers to continue their students’ learning journey as we embrace ‘the new normal’.

This article and survey findings were developed and compiled by the Project ID team with additional analyses support from Bain & Company and Teach For Malaysia.

Project ID is an education social enterprise that runs high-impact programmes empowering students to lead self and others with 21st century skills. Since the beginning of the MCO, Project ID has run over 30 online workshops with more than 600 student participation across Malaysia.

If you find this article useful, Project ID will be launching a series of teachers’ workshops on strategies for online teaching and learning. Click here to register your interest.