Embed & scaffold support

Dr Keith Miller discusses learner retention. © University of Illinois Springfield

Whatever assessment task or learning activities you set or implement, there are resources and people that can assist learners to develop their content knowledge, academic literacy or technical know-how. Facilitators should support learners to develop academic literacy by modelling academic writing, scaffolding learning and sequencing learning activities so that together they contribute to successful assessment outcomes.

As a facilitator you need to know:

• What learning support resources are available
• Which learning support resources align with assessment tasks (e.g. giving a presentation, writing a report)
• How to make these resources available to learners.

“Flexible and online learning environments need learning supports to be designed as integral parts of the learning process.” (Oliver, 2001)

Strategies

1. Embed links to support research and writing skills –  Learning Lab.
2. Choose relevant resources from student learning support resources
3. Ask learners to post their assessment plans or outlines in a specific assessment discussion forum and provide feedback or ask a study skills expert to assist and comment on work.
4. Provide library support staff with their own discussion thread in your course to answer research and referencing questions or refer learners to the various online services and tools available to all RMIT students – such as Ask a Librarian.
5. Check out resources like Lynda.com to see if there are resources there that will support your learners.
6. Check out likely Open Educational Resources (OERs) that could support, enhance or extend your teaching.
7. Use links to appropriate resources in announcements, discussions and in assessment tasks.
8. Ask learners to do a plagiarism quiz and reflect on their results. What did they know about referencing?

It is important to be aware that not all learners have developed academic literacy skills – embed links that will help them develop these skills, such as those available in the Learning Lab. Learners also have diverse prior knowledge; it is useful to provide support resources such as library tutorials. The following are two important resources and actions you should consider.

Referencing – Using the online referencing guide

• Ask learners to access the online referencing resource used in the College of Business: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/bus/public/referencing/
• Ask learners to read the introduction to referencing: ‘What is Referencing?’, ‘Why do we Reference?’ and ‘When do I Reference?’. Ask learners to reference one text they are going to use in assessment task 1 and to post it in a discussion forum. This will get in the zone, get practice and get feedback.  In your role as a facilitator, you should model how to reference the ideas of others in all your online posts and lectures. Encourage learners to use referencing tools such as Zotero and Endnote.

Writing essays, reports and reflections – Accessing the RMIT Learning Lab

• Direct learners to learner support for online learners in the Learning Lab. It contains resources and tutorials for different types of writing.

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Learning Lab – The Learning Lab provides online resources to support academic study

Study and Learning Centre – The Study and Learning Centre provides study and learning advice to students and staff

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