The Learning Technologies Unit website

Tutors and/or programme administrators should regularly post announcements on the BLE and also send these by email to students identifying key dates and events.

The BLE provides a function to do this automatically via the News Forum, which is available by default in every programme and module area within the BLE.

Programme/module information should be provided both on the VLE and in a handbook. This should include a simple statement from the programme/module leader outlining the respective inputs and responsibilities of the students and academic staff.

There should be:

• a clear outline of areas covered by the programme,
• aims and learning objectives (where applicable),
• an overview of how the programme will be delivered:
  • structure,
  • timetable,
  • scheme of work indicating nature of activities – e.g. face-to-face or on-line,
  • any attendance or participation requirements. 

The BLE should contain staff information and contact details of all staff delivering the programme/module. This will usually be produced automatically by the BLE under the link Participants if staff are enrolled properly.

Programme/module leaders and programme administrators are responsible for keeping the staff list up to date.

Staff should be encouraged to fill in their user profiles under My BLE > My Profile > Edit Profile.

The programme/module site should have clear information regarding whom to contact when having problems (whether academic, technical or administrative). For technical support, it is sufficient to point to the Student Support option in the Support tab.

Students should be encouraged to fill in their user profiles under My BLE > My Profile > Edit Profile. This is particularly important where the programme/module is fully or mainly on-line.

It is recommended to include information about the length of time within which students will normally receive a reply to requests (e.g. an acknowledgement within two working days). It is also recommended that students be given multiple options for contacting the module tutor (e.g. phone, email, office location and hours as appropriate) so that they may opt to communicate in a way that suits them.

The following should be provided:

• Programme/module specific information regarding the role of the BLE in students' learning in the programme/module,
• an up to date reading list, 
• links to programme/module level resources and appropriate web resources, with a clear distinction between materials that students need to address and those offered as further reading,
• copies of relevant presentations, documents or media used to facilitate learning and teaching, appropriately structured into topics, learning units, or pages (alternatively, where materials can be made publicly available, these can be provided via appropriate on-line tools such as Slideshare, Google Docs, personal websites),
• a clear description of the course assessment – including, schedule, criteria and submission details,
• an electronic submission facility (where applicable):
  The IOE supports, but does not require, the use of on-line submission of module assignments. The LTU can advise on implementation of on-line submission of assignments.

On-line sites for learners whose programme/module is fully or mainly on-line should be interactive and responsive in order to maintain student motivation and engage them actively in the learning process. A discussion forum tool within the BLE should be made available as a minimum, but blogs, wikis and other tools should be used as appropriate to allow the exchange of ideas between students and with tutors.

Where forums/blogs/wikis or other interactive resources are made available, programme/module leaders should make clear to students the protocols for use. When using such communication tools tutors should facilitate the discussions; and conversations should be clearly structured e.g. by the use of separate forums for separate topics. Tutors should read postings regularly - for example once every two working days - and students should be aware of the normal frequency of tutor’s reading, so as to manage their expectations about tutor engagement.

Where forums are arranged for other purposes, such as discussion within student groups without tutor input, this should be made clear.

Where students are entitled to individual support, for example in relation to comments on draft assignments, normal and negotiable alternative ways of providing this support should be specified, particularly for fully on-line modules.

The BLE should contain the programme/module evaluation tools (standardised end-of-module online questionnaires are available), and a space for general (i.e. non-programme specific) student questions, including a section of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) if appropriate.

In seeking to make their on-line sites as accessible as possible course teams should consult the IOE web-site Enabling Access to Courses: http://projects.lkl.ac.uk/accesstocourses.