Approaches to the induction of e-learning students: Laying the pedagogic foundations for successful relational e-learning

Abstract

E-learning students beginning their studies at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) have similar needs to campus-based students. Whether e-learning or campus-based, all students embarking upon a programme of study need opportunities for orientation, making connections and building confidence in themselves as learners. However, e-learners may be overlooked during induction with little at an institutional level to support their participation as a member of the learning community. Whilst HEIs offer campus tours and various social events for campus-based students, e-learners may lack a ‘tour guide’ to show them around an unfamiliar virtual landscape which also encompasses university systems, learning technologies and a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
This paper draws on the authors’ extensive experience delivering postgraduate e-learning courses and proposes that a relational approach to the induction of e-learners can build foundations for student success. The model for an e-learning induction process is the culmination of 13 years of reflective and evolving practice which places consideration of the e-learning student’s perspective at the root of the model. The authors suggest that effective induction processes should orientate e-learners and familiarise them with the territory; they should facilitate e-learners’ connections with their fellow students, tutors and the university/institution; and enable them to build foundations to support their emerging confidence as successful e-learners.