Skip to main content
UNSW Sydney Logo
Teaching
Mobile search
mobile nav menu button
  • About
  • Teaching
    • New to teaching
    • Educational design
    • Assessment and feedback
    • Evaluating education
    • More...
  • Educational Technology
    • Support
    • Training
    • TELT Administrator
  • Events & News
    • Upcoming events
    • Recent news
    • Event recordings & resources
    • Subscribe to education news
  • Awards
    • Awards
    • Fellowships
    • Gathering evidence of your teaching practice
  • Professional Development
    • Beginning to Teach (BTT)
    • Teaching Accelerator Program
    • Foundations of L&T (FULT)
    • Course Design Institute (CDI)
    • Self-paced learning
    • Academic Mentoring
    • More...
  • Contact & Support
  • About
  • Teaching
      1. New to teaching
      2. Educational design
      3. Assessment and feedback
      4. Evaluating education
      5. More...
  • Educational Technology
      1. Support
      2. Training
      3. TELT Administrator
  • Events & News
      1. Upcoming events
      2. Recent news
      3. Event recordings & resources
      4. Subscribe to education news
  • Awards
      1. Awards
      2. Fellowships
      3. Gathering evidence of your teaching practice
  • Professional Development
      1. Beginning to Teach (BTT)
      2. Teaching Accelerator Program
      3. Foundations of L&T (FULT)
      4. Course Design Institute (CDI)
      5. Self-paced learning
      6. Academic Mentoring
      7. More...
  • Contact & Support

Breadcrumb

  1. Teaching
  2. Teaching practice
  3. Teaching for learning
  4. Blended and online
  5. Planning & Designing Courses

Online Learning Activities

Using online activities, you can progress students' learning, prepare them for formal assessment tasks and undertake assessment. Conducting learning activities online gives students flexibility as to when and where they will undertake learning and be assessed. This supports the development of their independent learning skills.

Planning

When planning online activities, consider:

  • How will the learning activities support the expected learning outcomes?
  • What will motivate students to engage with the online activities?
  • How can you support students, and encourage them to support each other in online learning?
  • Can what the student does be incorporated into course assessment, so that the learning activities conform to the principles of student-centred learning?

Creating an activity online doesn't guarantee that students will participate. Encourage student engagement by ensuring that the activity is integrated with the rest the course learning. Each online learning activity should support an assessed activity, or be an assessment itself.

Types of learning activities

Online activities should relate to face-to-face activities, and complement them. For example, you might:

  • replace an in-class activity with an online activity (e.g. replace a lecture with self-paced material and quizzes, or replace a tutorial with a discussion activity),
  • or support an activity with online material, and manage it with online tools, while still including a face-to-face component (e.g. a group project).

In either case it is important to consider how to support the students in completing the activity, and to give regular feedback.

LMS tools and examples of learning activities

See Building graduate capabilities, and Using technologies for assessment for some examples of how tools in learning management systems can support different activities.

Online Portfolio Tools

Tam Nguyen from the Faculty of the Built Environment talks about using the portfolio tools available in the Blackboard LMS.


Online portfolio tools - Tam Nguyen

Resources

  • Read more about Teaching approaches and strategies.
  • The UNSW Guidelines on Learning explain why active learning is so important.
  • New staff
  • Teaching for learning
    • Active learning spaces
    • Blended and online
      • Examples from UNSW
      • Aim & Vision
      • Teaching Online
      • Selecting Technologies
      • Planning & Designing Courses
        • Preparing Students
        • Communicate with Students
        • Providing Feedback
        • Your Workload
        • Analyse Student Needs
        • Learning Outcomes
        • Graduate Capabilities
        • Course Schedule
        • Student Workload
        • Group Tasks
        • Learning Activities
        • Assessing Participation
        • Menu Structure
        • Accessibility
        • Course Materials & Copyright
        • Design Checklist
      • Evaluating Courses
      • Evaluating TELT
      • Using Digital Media
    • Brainstorming
    • Case studies
    • Debates
    • Discussion
    • Flipped classroom
    • Questioning
    • Simulations
    • Teaching diverse groups
    • Helping Students Reflect
  • Assessment
  • Teaching Settings

Events & news

Grades, Risk and Psychopathy: Students’ Willingness to Pay for Essays
Finding a teaching space just got much easier!
More
Back to top
  • Print
  • Share
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google
    • Email
  • Home
  • About
  • Educational Technology
  • Events & news
  • Awards
  • Contacts

Authorised by Pro Vice-Chancellor Education
UNSW CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G, TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12055, ABN: 57 195 873 179
Teaching at UNSW, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia Telephone 9385 5989

Footer menu

  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright & Disclaimer
  • Accessibility
  • Report an incident
  • Complaints
  • Site Map
  • Site Feedback
Page last updated: Tuesday 12 October 2021