How Practising What You Preach Can Shift Student Success

The pandemic caused a reset in thinking about large-module hybrid teaching for coordinators and lecturers at the Faculty of Education. One such module was OPV 222, a second-year module with a cohort of 1 200 students. It is a faculty-wide module focusing on supportive learning environments.

Dr Michelle Finestone points out that the unprecedented challenges for OPV 222 were not only COVID-19-related. In addition to converting a mainly contact curriculum to a fully online one, lecturers were also presented with the challenge of improving on the module success rate of 88,7%, achieved in 2019. The sudden shift to fully online teaching in 2020, and the concomitant psychological and health impact of the pandemic, caused some unanticipated effects on planning the teaching and learning in a large module such as OPV 222. These challenges required a multi-system intervention approach to teaching in the OPV 222 curriculum. It was redesigned by planning online activities so that students could interact with one another online to build relationships while continuing to maintain social distance. Curriculum transformation in the course involved the addition of more context-relevant case studies, discussions and a cell-film assignment. Assessment practices were adapted to ensure maximum participation and opportunities without compromising quality. Students were provided with the opportunity to promote (advance to the following year of study) without writing an examination if they achieved at least 60% in their continuous semester assessments, which included six assessment opportunities (two online tests, two discussion boards, an assignment and a case study). Students who received a semester mark of 40% or higher, but below 60%, or students who wanted to increase their final mark, could write a final examination. Although these increased assessment opportunities affected the workload of the lecturers and markers, they were necessary given the challenges experienced by the students. clickUP was used optimally to present classes online, provide narrated PowerPoints, and make recordings available to students who could only access the classes later. Regular communication with students from the OPV 222 group of lecturers was instrumental in keeping students engaged. The training of the tutors, referrals to tutors and regular updates by tutors received particular attention.

OPV 222 Supportive learning environments: A multi-system intervention approach Support provided to students was especially important because of the challenges they faced, such as limited Wi-Fi accessibility; family members sharing a computer; power outages, especially in rural areas; own and family illness; mental health issues; violence; and financial struggles. The most effective support strategies included regular meetings between the coordinator, lecturers and tutors to ensure students were academically on track. Students had personal contact with their coordinator, lecturers and tutors where specific challenges could be addressed and alternative arrangements made regarding, for example, submission dates of assessments. Students who indicated they were experiencing mental health issues were immediately referred to the Counselling Unit in the Department of Student Affairs.

All the while, staff and tutors were tracking students’ academic performance. If a student did not submit an assessment on time, he or she received a personal email as reminder or a note to contact his or her lecturer. This process subsequently enhanced the students’ participation and accountability.

Going fully online proved to be a very interactive way of engaging with OPV 222 students and bridging the isolation gap created by COVID-19. Online teaching created an environment where OPV 222 lecturers were willing to engage with and support the students to ensure that everything went well for them. Significant undergraduate student success was achieved by transforming the delivery of the curriculum and increasing lecturer support to students. The OPV 222 module success rate increased from 88,7% in 2019 to 96,7% in 2020. This achievement can be ascribed to a multi-system intervention approach that started with curriculum transformation. The openness of lecturers and students to the new approach was positive and the faculty has every intention of maintaining the effective elements of the approach into the future.