Dual Delivery: Techniques for Blending Digital Classrooms with Face to Face Learners

The National College of Ireland employs a dedicated Computing Support office to support students from level 6 to level 9. As the School has grown, demands on the office have grown, prompting the development of new techniques... [ view full abstract ]

The National College of Ireland employs a dedicated Computing Support office to support students from level 6 to level 9. As the School has grown, demands on the office have grown, prompting the development of new techniques to more effectively support student numbers.

As Computing students cover similar base modules (Programming, Web Development etc) support classes were merged so that students from different courses attend the same classes. This approach brings with it some drawbacks:

• Scheduling classes to suit all students
• Booking classrooms large enough to accommodate demand
• Fully online courses would have to be supported separately

Therefore, an online classroom system, which NCI uses to conduct live online classrooms with distance learning students, has been implemented in a face to face(F2F) classroom. Live classes were streamed online, allowing both online and F2F students to interact with and watch support sessions live. This allows for the recording and distribution of classes, allowing students to re-watch content at their own pace, on any device. The blend of F2F and online learning options had the benefits of not only solving the above mentioned issues of room size, scheduling etc, but also some unexpected benefits:

• Attendance at classes has doubled
• Students re-watch recordings far more than expected
• Engagement has increased. F2F students began to use the 'chat' feature of the classroom for inquiry, and the perceived anonymity of that system has led to an exponential growth in questions asked per class.

'Dual delivery' has been in place for 2 years, and many facilitators of computing support classes have been trained up in the pedagogical and technical competencies needed to facilitate an effective 'dual delivery' of classes. The presentation will cover practical techniques, pitfalls and learning gathered by facilitators of dual delivery classes over the past 2 years.