Technical support for online education and availability of the manuals/guidelines/online trainings on online education

Background from survey

Based on the results of the questionnaire survey, only 47% of teachers clearly know whom to contact for technical support in online education. On the other hand, there are about 10% of teachers who don´t know it at all and/or don´t care about it. The situation is even more serious with students: only 27% of students clearly know whom to contact for technical support in online education and about 20% of students don´t know it at all. The proportion of students/ teachers with a good knowledge on the technical support varied markedly among the participated universities (in some of them, this proportion was almost twice as high as in the others).

In terms of online trainings on online education, almost half of the teachers did not attend any training and another 12% wanted to attend the training, but the time didn´t suit them. In contrast, only 30% of teachers took part in at least one online training. Only few teachers were not aware of such trainings (6%). The proportion of those who don´t need such a training or don´t care about it extremely low (3%).

Among students, about 1/3 of them attended at least one online training on online education and 1/3 who didn´t. About a ¼ of the students didn´t know about such trainings and about 5% wanted to, but the date of training didn't suit them. Similarly to the teachers, the proportion of those who don´t need such a training or don´t care about it low (5%).

About 60% of teachers (and even 72% of students) do not exactly know that there are any online education guides and manuals available for them on the institutional websites or where to find them, despite the fact that those who don´t need such guides and manuals or don´t care about them is very low in both the groups (4% of educators and 2% of students).

Furthermore, the trainings for teachers were among the most frequently mentioned needs regarding the online education and examinations among the educators. Less frequently, the training manuals, the technical support or IT support were listed in the same topic. Among students, only few of them mentioned more support from the IT department among the needs regarding the online education.

Summary of the survey:

The smaller subset of teachers (and major part of students) don´t know which types of technical support they may use and whom to contact for this type of support in case of need. Only 1/3 of students and teachers have ever attended at least one online training on online education despite the fact that only very few teachers (and about 1/4 of students) feel that they don´t need similar type of training. Furthermore, such trainings are mentioned among the most important needs regarding the online education among teachers. There is thus still a substantial part of the students/ teachers who didn´t use the possibility to attend the online training or don´t even know about such an option and may potentially benefit from its attendance. Major part of both teachers and students are also not aware of the availability and localization of the online education guides and manuals, which again is in contrast with the very small proportion of those who don’t need such guides or don´t care about them among both the students and teachers.

Further increase of the knowledge about the modes and availability of the technical support and online education trainings or guides/manuals on online teaching have thus a potential to make the online education less stressful and more efficient and informative for both students and teachers.

Practice guidelines for technical support for online education and availability of online trainings/ guides/ manuals on online education

General recommendations for the technical support

• The awareness of technical support has to be increased among the teachers and mainly students (and sometimes other university staff).
  • Students and teachers should be informed about different modes of technical support and their availability including operating hours and whom to address in case of need.
  • The use of more than one channel to provide this information could help to increase this knowledge among those who may need it. Such an information should thus be available at:
    • The institution’s website
    • University / faculty online information system (always available to all the staff)
    • Institutional newsletters (sent by e-mails to the teachers/ students)
  • The teachers, students and other university staff should be informed about:
    • The computing products (operation systems, online teaching or communication platforms, remote learning tools) currently supported by the university.
      • The list of the computing software which is supported and recommended, is widely compatible and in broad use across the university should be available.
      • Such a list should contain also the links for safe download of particular products and the links for both the remote support guides and helplines / helpdesks support available for particular programs / products. Teachers / students should be aware that the use of recommended products provides them the certainty of relevant technical support available.
    • Types of technical support which might be available:
      • Online help (remote support guides or manuals): technical and computing self-help online section should be available from the institution’s website or university/faculty online information system for each of the computing products recommended and supported by the university. It should provide answers to common questions and issues that students / teachers encounter. The availability may reduce the use of the helpdesk.
      • Technical support helpdesk should be available via e-mail, phone (for urgent problems) and / or live chat (use of more options brings more advantages). This remote assistance usually uses the screen-sharing service and gives the community the convenience of receiving technical support from IT support staff across campus networks or across the internet. The helpdesk should be able to deal with a wide variety of IT queries and technology requests, including many specific tasks related to particular information systems used by the universities.
      • The remote technical support provided by the companies outside the university (usually related to particular computing product): mainly for situations with limited availability of the technical support provided by the university. Mostly available only in English, otherwise similar to the previous point.
      • FAQ reflecting technical issues that occur as the most common ones can be answered and complemented with a short video guide how to solve them on the university / faculty online information system.
    • The availability of the technical support
      • At least some modalities of the technical support have to be available 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week so any issues (including urgent ones) students / teachers may encounter while studying, teaching or preparing for lectures can be resolved quickly and efficiently.
        • The helpdesk availability should cover at least the common working / teaching hours. The longer time frame is more advantageous.
        • For urgent problems which occur after the helpdesk operating hours and require immediate attention, the IT After Hours operations number should be available on the university / faculty website.
      • Clear information about the availability of particular types of technical support should be easily accessible on the university / faculty website.

Besides the operating hours, students and teachers should be also clearly informed how to contact particular types of support and whom to address in case of need including the urgent situations during the online teaching

General recommendations on the online trainings / guides / manuals on online education

• The teachers and students participating on the online education should be encouraged to use the online trainings or guides and manuals on online education to increase the quality of the teaching process and extend the knowledge about the appropriate tools and methods available.
• The online trainings / guides / manuals should address following topics:
  • Overview of the teaching methods available and related technical requirements.
    • Forms of online education - synchronous and asynchronous learning and particular tools used in each of them (live chat – real time online lectures, online seminaries / exercises in real time, audio and video conferencing, data joint viewing of multimedia presentations and online slide show, files sharing, sharing pre-recorded presentations or video lectures).
    • Advantages and disadvantages of particular methods.
    • Suitable forms of teaching for different types of courses - for lectures (preclinical, clinical), seminars and practical laboratory or clinical exercises.
  • Technical requirements for online education (hardware, software, internet connection).
  • Online learning platforms and other applications used in the online education.
    • Platforms available, used and preferred by students / teachers for real-time online education.
    • Other applications used for the purpose of online teaching activities (For creating videos, audio recording, quizzes, tests etc.).
    • Problems with using particular platforms (mainly during the real-time online education).
  • Practice guidelines for effective and attractive online teaching including following specific topics:
    • preparation of study materials for online teaching - interactive textbooks, instructional videos, virtual patients, practice tests and others
    • tips on how to conduct live online teaching so that it is effective and attractive enough for students to keep their attention
    • ways to activate and motivate students during online teaching
    • time-requirements for online teaching
    • access to online material: who should the teachers share the materials with
    • recording the real-time online learning activities
    • specific needs of teachers / students in online education
      • how to handle the specific needs of disadvantaged students during the online education (students with limited internet access, lack of concentration, students with specific learning disabilities)
    • Practice guidelines for evaluation, examination and continuous assessment of student knowledge during online education.
      • General recommendations on the online assessment
      • Online assessment recordings
      • Preparation for examinations
      • Recommendations on continuous assessment
      • Recommendations on oral exams
      • Recommendation on written exams
    • Technical support for online education
      • Particular types of support available
      • The list of supported and recommended computing products (including but not limited to the online teaching or communication platforms, the programs for creating videos or audio recordings) – see above
      • How to inform the students / teachers about the support available and how to get to the contact with particular modes of support
      • The availability of the online education guides and manuals or online trainings on online education
    • Students and teachers should be informed about the availability of online trainings or practical guides and manuals on online education and should be supported to use these tools.
      • The use of more than one channel providing the information about their availability could help to increase this knowledge among those who may need it. Such an information should thus be available at:
        • The institution’s website
        • University / faculty online information system (always available to all the staff)
        • Institutional newsletters (sent by e-mails to the teachers / students)
      • Considering the needs and requirements of various groups of teachers and students, it is highly beneficial to provide the online trainings in more different modes. Following options are available:
        • Online lectures in real time
          • Strengths – Instant availability of the teacher and related possibility to ask any question in real time. For many teachers / students more understandable and illustrative and easy-to-use in comparison with written manual.
          • Weaknesses – exact time-slot, not suitable for everyone who considers the participation. Due to usually limited time-slot, some topics or questions may not be addressed.
        • Videos with pre-recorded lectures
          • Strengths – Excellent availability at any time, nicely understandable, illustrative and easy to use for major part of the students / teachers.
          • Weaknesses – limited availability of the teacher in real-time and thus limited possibility to directly ask any questions. Due to usually limited extent, some topics or questions may not be addressed.
        • Written education guides and manuals (available online), online interactive textbooks
          • Strengths – Usually comprehensive and containing full extent of information. Available at any time.
          • Weaknesses – Less easy to use, no possibility to ask the teacher if needed.
        • Combining more methods may emphasize the benefits of particular methods and reduce or minimize their disadvantages. Possible combinations may include among others:
          • videos with pre-recorded lectures with real-time interactive video consultations
          • written education guides and manuals or online interactive textbooks with real-time interactive video consultations