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How do I ensure asynchronous student engagement?

Student engagement with the asynchronous learning is essential if a flipped learning approach is to be successful.

Flipped learning is dependent upon student engagement with the asynchronous learning content that is typically provided before synchronous 'class' sessions. Where students do not engage with these materials, the overall success of the flipped approach can be significantly impacted.

There are several key strategies you can implement to both promote student engagement, and enable you to monitor student participation.

1. Communicate expectations

Students are most likely to disregard the asynchronous learning if they view it as 'tacked on' content, rather than a key part of the overall learning design. To address this:

  • Clearly set out the learning journey by communicating the learning outcomes, tasks and timeline, and making explicit the relationship between the asynchronous and synchronous learning. For example, the learning journey should be clearly laid out in the module handbook and reinforced in the live sessions, and learning activities should be clearly structured and sequenced in the VLE.

  • Prepare your students by giving them an opportunity to discuss what you expect from them, ask questions, and understand how to effectively approach their pre-class and class work. This can be done in early live sessions, and/or asynchronously via a Discussion Board.

  • Sign-post support for students, taking into account the possibility that they may be unfamiliar with this form of learning. For example, it may be helpful to build-in links to the University's resources for supporting students with online learning.

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2. Build-in active learning

Evidence shows that student engagement with flipped approaches is significantly improved when asynchronous materials are embedded within an active learning approach.

As already noted, key approaches include:

  • Clearly organise and signpost the learning materials, making sure their relevance is clearly articulated.

  • 'Chunk' learning content such as screencasts/videos into shorter segments to support learner engagment and cognition.

  • Use guiding and reflective questions to introduce and connect materials, helping students identify the critical concepts and information.

  • Build individual and collaborative activities around the flipped materials, such as quizzes, discussions, research tasks, and collaborative activities.

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3. Monitor student engagement

It is important to incorporate into the learning design the ability to evaluate whether students are completing the asynchronous work and preparing themselves for the 'live' portions of the module. This will enable you to have more visibility of student engagement and to intervene where necessary.

Common strategies include:

  • Use online quizzes and self-assessments in the VLE that allow students to check their learning, and provide data on student activity and understanding.

  • Use online discussion boards with prompts to encourage student participation and to help evaluate student engagement.

  • Enable VLE statistics-tracking for additional data on student access of online learning materials.

  • Review the Panopto/Replay analytics data for course videos for information on whether students are engaging with course media. Adding Panopto quizzes into your videos can also encourage engagement and generate additional useful data.

  • Incorporate pre-class learning tasks that connect the asynchronous and synchronous learning. Approaches include asking students to pre-submit questions, respond to an assigned reading, or to bring a 'product' from their asynchronous work (e.g. a piece of research, response, or problem) to their next synchronous session.

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