OnlineHE_Toolkit

18 The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2020-1-RO01-KA226-HE-095434 Similarly, learners’ cultural and educational experiences influence the perceptions of the feedback given to them. By considering the above parameters, all instructors can reflect on the feedback practices they follow throughout a course for further improvement. Step 6: Develop an instructional strategy Having taken the previous steps, we can identify the strategy that we will employ to achieve the objectives. The strategy includes the selection of all activities that are aligned with each other: ● warm-up/pre-instructional activities ● presentation of the learning content ● activities for practice ● specific assessment, feedback, and reflection methods To build a strategy, we have to consider the existing learning theories. Modern theories shift the attention to the learner, his/her interests (interest-based learning) and the social aspect of learning (socio-constructivism, social learning, communities of learning). They direct toward cultivating learners’ higher order thinking skills, such as creativity, research, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and production. Based on these, the presentation, practice, and assessment can be conducted through brainstorming exercises, case studies, simulations, game-based learning (Troussas, Krouska & Sgouropoulou, 2020), discussions, messages, wikis, (micro)blogging, teleconferencing, virtual scenes, quizzes, interactive presentations, social networking, webquests, digital escape rooms, and many more. These activities can be conducted via a synchronous (e.g., a live, web-based session) or an asynchronous mode (e.g. via a platform/LMS). In an online environment learners interact with each other, with the instructors, with the content, the interface, and the technology. All these types of interactions are important and need to be constantly enhanced through multiple ways (e.g., by using interactive tools and content, facilitating and promoting dialogues among all members). Additionally, it is important to incorporate activities dedicated to the development of students’ digital skills. A digitally competent person actually uses technology to solve problems, communicate, create while behaving safely and responsibly in the digital world. To achieve this, we can consult the DigComp framework developed by the European Commission, a tool aiming to build citizens’ digital competence. Lastly, depending on which of these practices we choose to follow, we will be able to select or produce materials for the interactive instruction. At this point, we outline the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2001) which targets the online context. The framework can be used as a guide when we develop the instructional strategy for the online learning experiences. It