Who am I to write about this?
Hello, my name is Suzanne, and I am a Registered Nurse, PhD student and Associate Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia (yes, we do have lots of sunshine). I am also a recent UniSC Alumni who remembers her student days well, and what kept me on track with my studies in three degrees.
What is the problem?
Student engagement and interaction in a post-COVID setting is challenging for us Course Coordinators, especially as engagement is directly related to student success. Additionally, many students miss their tutorials due to work/life stressors, illness or carer duties. How do we know where they are at, and how can we react to concerns in real time? We all know that keeping students in the loop with what is happening in the course is vital to their sense of belonging, ability to process learning content and successfully complete the required assessment tasks.
So, do I have to sing and dance to keep students engaged?
Well, in my case this would not be a good move, pardon the pun. But I have discovered that closing the learning loop with a three-pronged approach can anecdotally support students to continue to be engaged, keep up to date with required learning content and lead to positive student outcomes. And yes, this is all my own idea, which I was able to implement first with supportive colleagues three years ago and have refined now as a Course Coordinator of first-year nursing courses with around 800-1000 students.
SNAP WRAP CHAT – Sounds like a breakfast cereal!
Funny you say that. Maybe? But no, this is what it means. SNAP refers to snappy anonymous questions that students respond to in a short poll. WRAP is the wrap-up of the weekly content with a slide show, and CHAT is the collegial chat that makes the video unique.
That must take a lot of time to do!
Not really, and I will show you shortly how you can do this yourself. Yes, you need to be organised before you start your semester or course, but with a bit of preparation it will become a great way for you to debrief as a course coordinator too. Here is how it works:
My current version has a maximum of 8 slides, and I use a lot of screenshots – easy and visually pleasing:
- Slide 1: Title slide (this is also where your teaching team member introduces themselves).
Slide 2: Something special from this week, like congratulations on submitting your task and overview of where we are in the course.
Slide 3: Learning content this week (brief and succinct, just as a teaser and to help students see what is important.
Slide 4: Feedback slides from the student polls with anonymous quotes.
Slide 5: Feedback slides from the student polls with anonymous quotes.
Slide 6: Support slide – this is where you follow on from slide 5 and share student support that is appropriate to your poll, such as learning advisers, library, wellbeing, accessibility and more.
Slide 7: Highlight what students should be currently working on – next task, what stage (sourcing literature) and how to ask questions (Zoom drop-in, discussion board).
Slide 8: Funny happy weekend slide.
Nice, but where is your evidence that this innovation is effective?
Glad you asked. I have been too busy doing it to research it, but that will be the next step. However, Noetel and Griffith (2021) looked at how Video Improves Learning in Higher Education: A Systematic Review. When looking for supporting evidence for such wrap-up videos, I found some parts in Brame (2018) helpful: Effective Educational Vidoes: Principles and Guidelinse for Maximizing Student Learning from Video Content. I used the ‘I’ tonality, speaking directly to students, and tried to be brief. Realistically I never quite made the maximum 6-minute mark. I usually ended up with 10 minutes. However, students are advised they can speed up the videos and there are closed captions available too.
The most important evidence – student voices
‘The wrap up videos are a good way to go back over the course content for the week’
‘I loved how Suzanne and colleague did their weekly wrap-up videos and listened to feedback from students. They are wonderfully supportive and delivered a course which I enjoyed. Thank you to you both’!
‘The Wrap up videos were funny, I did think I wonder if these two [Colleague and Suzanne] get frustrated with each other HA HA and I noticed they were helpful revealing the assignments and tasks. I got heaps of info about it’.
‘They are very helpful in consolidating the knowledge taught throughout the week’
‘I really like the wrap-up videos. It shows that the course coordinators value student feedback and show genuine caring and support for their students. It also shows that they are committed to improving the course for future iterations’.
What if I have any questions?
Please reach out and get in touch with me at svolejni@usc.edu.au
UniSC: https://www.usc.edu.au/staff/suzanne-volejnikova-wenger
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-v-878542b1/
Thank you
Suzanne
Associate Lecturer Suzanne Volejnikova-Wenger
So, who actually came up with Snap Wrap Chat? My name is Suzanne, and if you can say my surname ‘Volejnikova-Wenger’ then I salute you. My life and professional experience is as long as my name, there is actually a ‘Lee’ in the middle, and I continue to be a life-long learner. My Swiss heritage and younger years influence my focus on excellence (think Swiss watches). My Australian side helps me not to take myself too seriously, and my Czech connection grounds me. I am an old nurse (Swiss) and a new nurse (Australia), and have recent experience as a mature age student. My learning continues as a PhD Candidate looking at professional wisdom in nursing. As a community nurse I can influence the life of individuals and families, as a nurse educator, researcher and Associate Lecturer I can influence the next generations of nurses. I believe that learning needs to be fun, and my first research project into Serious Games supports this – Student nurses’ experience using a serious game to learn environmental hazard and safety assessment.
This is why I love being creative, exploring innovative ways to engage adult learners and supporting students to become competent, confident and compassionate nurses of the future. If you want to know more about my professional pathway, check out my LinkedIn or UniSC profiles – I would love to connect.
Thank you so much Suzanne for sharing this inspirational practice! It is so elegant – and so obviously engaging and impactful. Well done – brilliant!