Using online courses in remote teaching
We appreciate that with students learning from home, access to resources and technology can be inconsistent. The following suggestions aim to give you a range of options to help you to make the most of the resources we have available through our online courses.
Individual learning
Students work through the courses individually, completing research projects and reflection tasks to submit as proof of their activity and learning. For each of our courses you can download specific end of week and course tasks to set your students.
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FutureLearn is free to access with a valid email address. Your students can register and access any of the courses available. If you send them links to the courses you want them to complete, they will have free access for up to four weeks.
Within each course there are several tasks and activities. Although FutureLearn does not have the functionality for teachers to monitor students’ progress through the course, you could set students deadlines to complete certain tasks. They can undertake these tasks offline and send you their completed work for assessment.
As you also have access to all the courses available on FutureLearn, you have the option to use the existing tasks within the courses or use the materials available to develop your own.
We have created a bank of resources with suggested tasks and activities for each course for you to use. Select the online course via the website for access to these resources.
Group activities
Students complete activities from the courses in remote groups, presenting their work via webinars. Alternatively, asynchronous discussion forums are used to discuss the learning and present findings from the activities.
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If your students have the resources to take part in group work remotely, many of the activities from our course can be adapted. Websites such as Padlet are available for students to take part in asynchronous discussions, sharing work and commenting on each other’s posts.
If you have the option to conduct webinars with your students, this could provide an opportunity for students to present and discuss their work synchronously.
They can discuss their learning from the online course with other students in real-time. This option could also give you the opportunity to answer questions or explore a topic in more details. Using our online courses and activities, screen share programmes provide you with the opportunity to conduct activities as a class, or explain a concept in more detail.
To access the bank of resources and ideas available, select your chosen online course from the list on our website.
Teacher-led lessons
Using the available resources and lesson plans, courses are taught directly to students in real-time over several lessons. Lessons can be delivered remotely via online webinar tools, or face-to-face, eg to children of key workers who are still attending school in person.
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If you need a complete lesson on a topic that’s engaging, informative and logical to follow, online courses can provide you with great content and activities. To make things even easier, you can download a copy of a suggested five-minute lesson plan for some of our courses and see where they might fit into your curriculum.
FutureLearn guidelines
FutureLearn has guidelines specifically aimed at young people using its site, covering key guidance on how to use the Comment sections safety and responsibility, and how to report anything they find concerning. We would recommend that you instruct your students to read these guidelines before starting.