screen capture of welcome page

Teacher's voice

Text or audio/visuals within the course content which gives the learner the sense of the teacher supporting and guiding all aspects of the learning process

Samples

Preggers

This Toolbox is targetted at youth and gives learners lots of support from the teacher. This is often given through the use of a fictional cartoon character.

Source Where's the party at? Toolbox, lead agent Swinburne TAFE
URL http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/series5/519.htm
Use Literacy and Numeracy learners (15-19 year olds)
Delivery Can be delivered using a CD or loaded into a Learning Management System such as Moodle, Janisons or Blackboard.
Customisation The material in this Toolbox has been developed to allow for customisation.
Availability Details of how to purchase this Toolbox are available on the Flexible Learning Toolbox site

Lightbox animation studio

This Toolbox posits the trainer in a variety of roles in an animation studio. Up to 12 workplace supervisors with varying responsibilities guide the learner through concepts and skills to enable them to complete a variety of mentored tasks.

Source Animation Toolbox
URL http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/series4/405.htm
Use CUF20301 Certificate II in Screen
CUF30101 Certificate III in Screen
Delivery Can be delivered using a CD or loaded into a Learning Management System such as Moodle, Janisons or Blackboard.
Customisation The material in this Toolbox has been developed to allow for customisation.
Availability Details of how to purchase this Toolbox are available on the Flexible Learning Toolbox site

Bearings - fault diagnosis installation and removal

The foreman guides the learner through a variety of maintenance jobs

Source The Turning Force Toolbox
URL http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/series5/511.htm
Use Metal and Engineering Industry Certificates II - IV
Delivery Can be delivered using a CD or loaded into a Learning Management System such as Moodle, Janisons or Blackboard.
Customisation The material in this Toolbox has been developed to allow for customisation.
Availability Details of how to purchase this Toolbox are available on the Flexible Learning Toolbox site

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Why include the teacher's voice?

Learners who are studying online at a distance risk feeling lost and unguided. One way that you can ensure that this feeling is minimised is to include a sense of the teacher's voice within the course materials.

Features

Teachers Voice can take a variety of forms:

  • Discussion forum activities
  • Email or Instant Messaging contact and task reminders
  • Feedback and posts to learner wikis, blogs or project spaces and e portfolios.
  • Character driven workplace task scenarios
  • Podcasts of instructions and guides
  • Screen grabs or casts of software tasks (for example, typing a report, recording data in a spreadsheet, searching the internet for information)
  • Video interviews with previous learners, workplace mentors and industry mentors
  • Voice chat learner catch-ups, roles plays or simulations using virtual classroom, Voice over Internet Protocol or telephone calls.
  • Social bookmarks of web sites you want learners to follow up or report on
  • Posts and resources shared with learners through Social networking sites
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Including the teacher's voice

Creating a sense of the teacher's voice requires the teacher/developer to consider every aspect of the online delivery and to anticipate the areas where a teacher's support would be required.

Design steps

  1. Consider ways of getting the learners' interest.
  2. Remind learners of how what they are learning now links to previous learning.
  3. Give them signposts about what they will be learning next.
  4. Be prepared to explain new ideas, concepts, vocabularly to them.
  5. Try to provide links to learners' experiences.
  6. Prompt learners to think about the new concepts and consider how they apply to the learning context.
  7. Encourage them to practise what they have learnt.
  8. Review and summarise what they have just learnt and how this relates to the next step.

Assessment

The teacher's voice is also important within the assessment process. All teachers have experienced the multitude of questions that learners will ask related to the assessment process. In online delivery these questions need to be anticipated and dealt with upfront.

Technical notes

Creating a sense of the teacher's voice is not necessarily a technically difficult endeavour. Generally the teacher's voice will be included within web pages, Word documents and discussion board messages.

However some technologies such as:

  • online screen/voice capture software
  • audio and video distributed through podcasts
  • social bookmarks of relevant websites
  • screencasts of software functions
  • social networking

It can also be used to provide a sense of the teacher's voice supporting the learning process. Many of these technology products can be embedded into the web-based content you provide to your learners through either learner management systems or class wiki or blog.

Skills

You need to have a clear sense of the learner group, the context and the subject matter so that you can anticipate and respond in advance to the needs which will emerge.

You need to use clear and concise English language skills to ensure that the meaning of the support is clear and unambiguous to all learners.

You will need to demonstrate the technologies you use with your learners and ensure that you provide enough support to enable them to independently set up and use them.

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See also

From the Framework

More resources from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework

  • Different Voices, Different Spaces
    Explores:
    • the role and significance of voice technologies in e-learning
    • the relationship between technologies and 'good educational practice'
    • the educational and social implications of specific voice technologies and
    • the place of educational mentoring.
    http://dvds.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.html

Tools and resources

  • A new way with words in distance education
    Derek Rowntree
    http://iet.open.ac.uk/pp/D.G.F.Rowntree/words_in_de.htm
  • CaptureCAM-PRO
    This software package could be used to develop audio files which guide learners around a computer screen, course material etc.
    http://www.capturecampro.com/
  • Voice Thread
    Tool to create online media album that can hold media (images, documents and videos) against which visitors can make comments in through either - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam).
    http://voicethread.com/
  • Twitter
    Twitter is a service for learners and trainers to communicate and stay connected through text exchange.
    http://twitter.com/

Social bookmark for this strategy

http://del.icio.us/designelearn/teachers_voice

Last modified: 15/9/08