Real Learners at a Virtual College

At the recent Plymouth e-Learning conference Bill McNeill delivered an interesting session on supporting virtual learners. Bill works for the College of Estate Management - an educational establishment that it is entirely virtual. Using Blackboard as their VLE the college delivers accredited programmes to surveyors worldwide. Bill talked about their approach to e-tutoring and the practical steps they have taken to encourage participation. This was a good real life case study and clearly there are some key lessons for practitioners – especially those in the work based learning space. The college awards extra credits for participation and has found the approach successful in promoting participation. Bill refered more than once to practice informed by the work of Gilly Salmon, e.g. max 15 learner’s for best participation, tutors stimulation activity online (effectively acting as a catalyst – speeding up the interaction without actually directying or controlling it), and leaving footprints (a useful concept to encourage engagement and participation).