Towards an Online ABC

The latest modification of applying the ABC pedagogy at the University of Helsinki was designed because of the exceptional time during the COVID-19 pandemia during spring 2020. In this implemention of the workshop elements, the participants worked in small groups in Zoom’s breakout rooms and designed their courses collaboratively, according to the following steps:

  • Familiarizing oneself with the ABC cards​. The cards help you to think different learning types, teaching methods and online methods for your course​.
  • Discussing each course plan in your small group.​
    • What kind of teaching methods would support your course’s intended learning outcomes?​
    • What kind of online tools could you use and how do they support students’ learning?​
  • Concluding discussion: Sharing ideas
  • Participants gathered their course plans into a shared file. This could be ”freeform” write-up according to the set task, or a more structured form that is filled systematically during small group work. Note: The course plan may be written in shared file, provided for collaboration through an online collaborative space such as OneDrive.

Below: An example from the Flinga tool for how the cards were provided to participants online during a Zoom meeting. The activity task was also provided in the green background, and the write-ups came from the small groups’ ideas. The ABC learning types, elearning tools and methods were used as a reference. In this particular training, most of the group had already participated in a contact teaching ABC workshop, so it was convenient to use the cards as a quick reference and discussion starting point.