LEO offers a range of different interaction tools which should be used intentionally to support high quality learning and teaching.

Implications for practice

• Communication strategies and tools are selected which are appropriate for the delivery mode of the unit and are consistent with the checklist for the minimum use of LEO document and the lecture capture policy.
• Learning activities in the LEO unit are designed to facilitate progression towards higher-order thinking via student-student and student-staff interaction.
• The communication strategies selected (synchronous and asynchronous) are appropriate for, and support the priorities of, various student populations within units.

Resources

LEO Guides > Communicating

Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers (UNE) (PDF, 535.69 KB)
sourced from www.une.edu.au (3 Nov 2016)

Staff should understand that an active presence in their LEO unit is essential to student achievement.

Implications for practice

• Staff provide a timely response to student enquiries and provision of feedback.
• Staff create a welcoming and supportive atmosphere at the start of the unit.
• Staff are committed to actively monitoring how students are engaging in the unit.
• Staff foster student engagement with the unit and the material.
• Staff involved in delivering the unit are clearly identified in terms of their roles and responsibilities.
• Staff take an active and leading role in facilitating online discussions.

Resources

Community of inquiry model provides a useful framework to understand how teacher, social and cognitive presence can create a quality educational experience:

Refer to the following resources:

Teacher-to-teacher communication is vital to ensure effective delivery of a unit and to create a consistent learning experience for students, regardless of campus and delivery mode.

Implications for practice

• Course/Unit coordinators ensure new teaching staff are orientated adequately to the unit.
• The teaching team have a shared responsibility to ensure adequate planning, moderation and unit/course evaluation occurs before, during and after each unit so that the content, delivery and assessment of a unit is consistent across campuses and delivery modes.

Resources

There are a number of useful resources on the learning and teaching website with regard to course development and review.

Also available is Information on the ACU evaluation of learning and teaching policy.

Staff and students have a shared responsibility to be respectful in all online interactions.

Implications for practice

• Staff and students should be sensitive to different viewpoints and alternative perspectives.
• Staff should model respectful behaviours for students at all times.

Resources

Australian Catholic University Netiquette

Staff and students are encouraged to integrate social media into learning and teaching, where the use of social media is aligned to ACU’s social media policy and its use supports the instructional aims of the unit.

Implications for practice

• Staff and students should ensure they are familiar with ACU’s social media policy prior to using social media as a teaching and learning tool in their unit.
• When selecting social media tools for use in a unit, staff are mindful of the particular tools students prefer to use. Where a tool is unfamiliar to the student(s), staff provide or refer the student(s) to adequate learner support resources for that social media tool and support the student(s) during the unit in the use of the tool.
• Staff should allow students to opt out of participating in any non-assessed social media interactions and if opting out, the student should not be at any disadvantage in terms of achievement in the unit.
• The social media tool selected by staff should be one that is appropriate for students with a device of average capability and speed, and is brand agnostic.

Resources

So you want to innovate using a non-LEO technology tool? - Infographic

ACU Social Media policy

100 ways to use Twitter in education, by degree of difficulty (Edudemic)

Twitter in 10 minutes (PDF, 2758.64 KB)
sourced from https://leo.acu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/1002998/mod_resource/content/1/Twitter%20in%2010%20minutes.pdf (3 Nov 2016)