The Open University has been providing open and flexible education to over 2 million students worldwide since 1969. In response to increasing demand for online learning, the university has been managing tutorials and events at scale using the Adobe Connect platform. Over the past years, the university trained over 4,500 staff and hosted over 40,000 online events annually with up to 5,500 concurrent users. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of online rooms tripled to support remote learning and community building. Key considerations for managing online tutorials at scale include ensuring users have proper technical setups, providing training, and adapting delivery methods for different types of virtual events.

1. Managing online
tutorials at scale at The
Open University
Zoe Gipson – Senior Product Development Manager
Learning Systems Team, LXT, CIO Portfolio, The Open University

2. Contents
The OU context & scale
Online learning
Responding to increasing demand
Tips for managing different
types of events
2
01
02
03
04
05 Summary

3. 1. The OU context &
scale

4. The Open University
4
• Established in 1969, celebrated 50th
birthday last year!
• Since then over two million students
taught worldwide
• National Student Survey highlights
the OU’s consistent quality – in the
top 3 universities to have consistently
achieved over 90% for student
satisfaction.

5. Mission
5
We believe that education
should be open to any
one, any time, any place
Our mission is to be open to
Methods
Places
Ideas
People

6. The Open University
6

7. The OU model
7
• Open access
• High quality learning materials
• One-to-one support
• Interactivity and feedback
• Formative and summative assessment
• Residential/day schools
• Social networking

8. 2. Online
learning

9. Typical OU module
9
• Students study part-time from home
(or work, bus, train, prison, submarine…)
• Modules run for 6 or 9 months
(30 or 60 credits)
• Average 16-20 study hours per week
• Student:Tutor ratio around 20:1.
• Teaching material structured around the module website, with links
out to our real time collaboration tool of choice, Adobe Connect
• Weekly study planner
• Face-to-face and online tutorials – currently face-to-face are cancelled for
the rest of 2020
• Everything online, but physical materials also important: books, etc.

10. Online tutorials at scale
10
• Using Adobe Connect since October 2016 – integrating Adobe Connect
with the OU’s Virtual Learning Environment
• Over 4500 OU staff trained (tutors and central academic staff) – many
remote
• On average we can have up to 3500 concurrent users and at peak this
goes up to 5500
• ~40,000 scheduled online events per year
• Over 43,000 recordings with a total view count of >1 million
• Wide range of learning events: from 1(tutor):20(students) tutorials to
module-wide events with 350+ participants

11. Seamless and consistent
11
• The OU is already operating at scale
• Centralised admin for set up of rooms, groups and timetabling
• Consistent approach to accessing online rooms and recordings – give tutors
space to concentrate on how they deliver their tutorials
• Training resources for ~4500 tutors – skill set
• Sharing knowledge

12. 3. Responding
to increasing
demand

13. Challenges facing online learning
13
• Remote learners have a variety of requirements:
• Varying technical abilities
• Different devices, operating systems and internet connection
• Responsibilities: work commitments, children, carers, etc.
• Accessibility requirements
• Motivation
• Expectations
• Engagement

14. Everyone wants to be online…
14
• Requests to add more rooms for staff to use
• Training staff that have never used Adobe Connect before
• Supporting staff to adapt presentations or delivery style for an online
audience
• Adapting guest access guidance
• Ensuring we have the capacity
• We cannot fix everyone’s internet connection…

15. Increase in online tutorials
15
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Number of planned tutorials
2019 2019 2020 2020

16. Increase in online tutorials
16
Overall the demand for scheduled tutorials has not
increased dramatically.
We are already operating at scale, with the majority of
tutorials being online.

17. 17
Increase in other rooms

18. Increase in other rooms
18
Use of rooms outside the scheduled online tutorials
has significantly increased
Contacts with students outside their modules has
increased with supportive sessions during lockdown
Use of staff online rooms tripled!

19. 4. Tips for managing
different types of
events

20. What do you need to do?
20
Beyond tutorials.
Keep people connected.
Reach a diverse audience, working remotely and on various devices.
Planning is similar to that of a face to face meeting/tutorial.
• Who is hosting the room and how many participants do you
anticipate?
• Why do you need an online meeting/event/tutorial?
• When will the session take place?
• Where – set up a room for your session and the URL is the location.
• What are the types of activities you want in your room?
• How will you achieve this?

21. Delivery of online tutorials
21
• Good audio, USB headsets recommended.
• Good quality webcam and internet connection.
• Pace the session.
• Leave thinking time and reaction time.
• Learning and teaching events are more than a video conference.
• Control participation, e.g. mics, webcam and draw.
• Plan your session and describe the room and content as part of your
narrative.
• Providing materials in advance if requested and add supportive notes for key
points.
• Speak slowly and clearly – repeat or rephrase what you have said.
• Remind Participants they can use the text chat and status icons to
communicate.
• For busy sessions over 30+ consider two Hosts, one to talk and one to handle
text chat and status.
One size does not fit all, but small adjustments can make a difference to many.

22. Student-only rooms
22
Requirement for students to access online rooms without tutors present. Use
Adobe Connect templates to provide rooms in a managed way.
• Social space to build
communities
• Familiarisation of
Adobe Connect and
preparation for online
tutorials
• Group activities
linked to learning
outcomes
• Time-dependent
team activities to
prepare collaborative
work towards
assessment
• Presenting/speaking
skills

23. Extended use cases
23
• Enabled staff to train advisors – both internally and externally
• Study skills workshops with students, can be larger events 200+
• Exam monitoring sessions using webcams
• Poster competition with OU Vice Chancellor announcing winner
• Academic Professional Development events for staff and research students
• OU Student Association workshops and virtual pub quizzes
• AL online conference with over 430 attendees
• Many research projects

24. 5. Summary

25. Continuing objectives at the OU
25
• Create a rich digital learning experience using innovative learning
technologies. ​
• Allow a supported learning journey with collaborative communities of
students and academics​.
• Enable and use of state-of-the-art teaching and assessment methods.​
Ongoing challenges for online tutorials​
• Ensure users have the right technical set up
• Training is key
• Adapting for any event
​

26. Zoe Gipson – The Open University
Zoe.gipson@open.ac.uk
THANK YOU