Week 11: Activity – How would you deal with challenging situations with online learners?

Reflect / Produce

• The Idler

• The Flamer

• The Saboteur

• The Black Hole

• The Cheeky Student

• The Invisible Student

Choose TWO of these and consider the following questions:

1. If you were the online tutor working on and facilitating that course, what would you do to resolve this problem?

2. How could the problem have been avoided, if a different approach had been taken to the design of the course?

The Idler

Although I believe that on this PGCHE course, scaffolded questions have been used to support and encourage engagement cognitively, following the Koumi Design Principles (2013), idlers still exist.

Salmon’s (2013) Stage 1 would provide an opportunity to welcome, explain and pose to students what benefit they can personally receive from interacting socially. This would encourage students to receive extrinsic motivation. I would ensure that welcoming content would feature me personally, as a tutor, as Gimbar, K (2012) advises, to show students that I am relatable and there to confide in, if necessary.

 At Stage 2, I would facilitate bridges, posing specific directed questions to individual students to encourage conversations to happen. Faniglione, D (2025) speaks about in detail in ‘Week 11: Practitioners in Action’ how online learning gives no room to hide, but enables tutors to provide personalised interventions.

Referencing this PGCHE, Gibson, C (2025) and I speak in Week 11’s forum about the possibility of scaffolding implemented designated buddy groups (as we were allocated in term 1). It makes me question if there is a specific technology for mini rooms within a forum? Looking at the COFA Learning Matrix, it questions the rationale of why and how technologies are used. Supporting this and following Salmon’s (2020) Stage 3: ‘Information Exchange’ it questions how technology can be personalised for specific tasks and aspects of a course. Maybe there needs to be a technology implemented which specifically supports students who are prone to becoming idlers? Could a smaller break away forum be created, supporting mini safe places for buddy groups to support information exchange?

In Salmon’s Stage 4, and Stage 5, in the event of student idlers, I feel that as a tutor, I would reach out privately to individuals to see if there is a technical issue, personal issue or anything which I could do to support or guide idlers to individually become less passive. Could a personal action plan be put in place for the idler? For instance, try to provide 1 response/ interaction next week as an aim for the idler’s work load. Aims could be increased as the idler’s confidence raises, by providing bite sized individual aims, encouraging a student-centred and personally tailored plan to support all students to reach their LOs. For my practice, this could involve supporting individual students, giving further technical guidance to fire finished tests, to then be photographed and upload into forum discussions. Supporting a small technical issue to enable the idler to participate and become more confident, engaged and supported (Salmon, 2013).

The Invisible Student

I have chosen this, as I feel that it relates to one of the reasons that I decided to participate in this PGCHE course. I can personally reflect how my confidence has built week-on-week to get to the stage where I am happy to appear on camera and speak openly about my practice and learning, without considering my personal circumstances. Furthermore, I would like to bring aspects of this course into my teaching to foster and support my students to feel that they are working in a safe place, like I have felt. Strategies to support the invisible student, might have cross overs to those actions considered for the idler, in that tasks can be created to build confidence and scaffold individuals (Vygotsky, 1978) as and when required.

Salmon’s (2013) Stage 1 supports a welcoming approachable and supportive demeanour, crucial for tutors as it fosters a positive learning environment and encourages student engagement. Tutors should strive to be warm, friendly, and welcoming, creating a comfortable atmosphere where students feel safe to ask questions and participate actively. This reflects students’ real-world situations, as the UK ceramics industry is incredibly small. The way you are perceived is memorable within a small community.

Stage 2 ensures that appropriate technology bridges knowledge and student learning. By citing the The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P™ (2014) ‘Intentional Content’, I will ensure that content is accessible, inclusive, and relevant to all students.

Stage 3, 4 and 5 are suited to the blended learning environment, ensuring that the invisible student is supported. The Four Aspects of Learning, designed by Beetham. Et. al(2024), specifically ‘Time, Place and Timing’ specifically suits individuals to personalise learning to match student background, ability, and choice.

References

Beetham. H, MacNeil, S. McGill, L (2024) Beyond Blended: rethinking curriculum and learning design. [Online] available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/beyond-blended-rethinking-curriculum-and-learning-design (accessed 24.06.25)

Faniglione, D and Oradini, F (2025) Week 11: Practitioners in Action – Federica Oradini and Dario Faniglione [Online] available: https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1334/pages/week-11-practitioners-in-action-federica-oradini-and-dario-faniglione?module_item_id=85582 (accessed 04.08.25)

Flipped Learning Network (FLN). (2014) The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P™ [Online] available: https://flippedlearning.org/definition-of-flipped-learning/ (accessed 04.08.25)

Gibson, C (2025) Week 11: Forum – Reflect on Your Experience of Being Online Learners [Online] available at: https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1334/discussion_topics/30017 (accessed 04.08.25)

Gimbar, K. (2012). ‘Katie Gimbar's Flipped Classroom - why it has to be me!’[Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfSLXluiSE  (accessed 16.06.25)

Koumi, J (2013) Pedagogic Design Guidelines for Multimedia Materials: A Call for Collaboration between Practitioners and Researchers, Journal of Visual Literacy, 32:2, 85-114. 

Salmon, G. (2013) E-tivities: the key to active online learning. ProQuest (Firm). Chapter 2: ‘E-tivities in the Five-Stage Model’, pages 31-44

UNSW Sydney. Selecting Learning Technologies [Online] available at: https://www.teaching.unsw.edu.au/selecting-technologies accessed: 21.07.25

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. London: Harvard University Press.