Week 3: communication strategies

This week we will be discussing communication strategies for working with masters students at a distance and thinking about how to choose communication tools from all those available to you. Our work this week will take place in small groups, each working on a hypothetical case study.

The group task

This week you will be working with a small group to develop an appropriate response to a case study. You will be allocated to one of two groups: north or east. You will collaborate online to jointly produce a plan for dealing with the situation you have been presented with. Each group will be supported by a tutor.

Step 1: Read the case study and any recommended resources carefully and then, in your small group, discuss what might be happening from the student and the tutor's perspectives. How might the individuals involve feel? How might they each be interpreting the situation?

Step 2: From your discussion and readings, identify a range of possible next steps the tutor could take and recommend the student undertakes. Consider the ways in which using technology might help.

Step 3: Produce a joint response which includes:

You will need to consider how you will work as a group and what roles you will take. It will probably be appropriate to divide up the work between you and then to have a volunteer to put the final response together and post it.

About two pages would be an appropriate length for your response, although there is no need to feel constrained by this.

Step 4: Post your presentation to the case studies discussion topic.

Note that once posted, your presentation will be visible to the members of all the small groups.

Key readings