One giant leap into an online pre-sessional

Debra Jones and Hazel Newton

Abstract

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Centre for Academic Language and Development at the University of Bristol moved from a blended pre-sessional course, created in 2019, to a course which could be delivered fully online. Rather than adapt our existing course, we took this opportunity to create a brand new course with an emphasis on process over product, moving away from the traditional discrete-skills approach to a more developmental, holistic approach to academic communication. We also wanted to create a sustainable course which would work online or face-to-face in future years, not simply an emergency response to the crisis. While we did not use any materials or assessments from our blended course, we were guided by the same design principles: the digital transformation categories ‘modification’ and ‘redefinition’ of the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (SAMR) model (Puentedura, 2013) and the 4Cs of creation, collaboration, co-construction and critique (Newton & Jones, 2019). In addition, we incorporated Salmon’s (2013) five-stage model of teaching and learning online into our course design, providing orientation, technical support and opportunities for online socialisation before and during the course. In this paper, we will outline the design and creation of the new course, including the teaching and learning technology, tasks and activities, as well as our evaluation of the course based on student and teacher feedback, and our plans for future development.