Providing learning materials online
Blackboard provides a range of tools to organise and deliver unit learning materials online:
Add File: to create html files or upload files such as html, Word, PowerPoint, movie, picture, audio files
Web Link: to create links to websites and e-readings
Folders: to group items together
Learning Modules: to group items together in order, with a contents list
Media Library: to create glossaries and collections of pictures, audio, etc. (including student contributions)
File Manager: to manage files
Selective Release: to control the release of items in the site according to date, group and other criteria
Non-Blackboard DSO tools to support providing learning materials online are:
Camtasia: to provide audio recordings synchronised with a capture of what is happening on your desktop
iLecture (staff only): to provide audio or video recordings
e-readings: to provide links to electronic readings (for information on how to do this go to Linking to electronic readings)
Strategies for providing learning materials online
How is the web different to print and face-to-face teaching?
Ways to organise learning materials online:
- Weekly topics or thematic modules
- Activity-based modules
- An introductory module
Online materials checklist
How is the web different to print and face-to-face teaching?
Providing learning materials online is different to lecturing or providing print-based study guides. The web is:
- Visual - so use pictures, colour and highlighting, and use screen space thoughtfully.
- Non-linear - students will jump around, rather than read your materials from start to finish, so organise your materials with headings and folders so they won't get lost, build in hyperlinks and accept they will choose different pathways.
- Not text-friendly - so minimise text and break it into screen-size 'chunks' so students don't need to scroll.
- Multimedia - so use audio and video (eg via iLecture) - but watch the file sizes.
- Networked - so use web links, online discussion activities (including eLive) and collaborative online activities.
- Interactive - students expect to be able to do things online, rather than just read, so build in activities such as quizzes, discussions and games (using StudyMate), and consider encouraging students to contribute 'content' to the unit site.
- Accessed at different times - so allow plenty of time for collaborative online work, and don't expect all of your students to be able to attend eLive sessions.
- Different - so include an introduction that explains how to use the tools and lets them practice.
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Ways to organise learning materials online
Screen space is limited so you must organise your materials carefully. Set up your unit site to support your teaching/learning strategy - two possible structures are:
- Weekly topics or thematic modules
- Activity-based modules
Whatever your main teaching/learning strategy, consider adding:
- An introductory module
1. Weekly topics or thematic modules
First, organise your unit into a set of discrete topics, modules or time blocks (eg each based on a week's work). Create a learning module for each.
Then, consider:
- The elements that will make up the topic/module (including face-to-face as well as online elements)
- The structure of longer 'study guide' content, if necessary.
Elements of a topic/module
For each topic/module, you could add any or all of the following (keeping in mind the number of hours' work you expect the students to do):
- Overview or introduction to the concepts and/or skills to be learnt
- Specific learning outcomes
- Key terms, concepts
- List of online and offline resources (link to online resources from here)
- Topic/module 'study guide' content
- Media Library category
iLecture recordings- Learning activities (online and offline)
- e-Readings, further reading
-
Discussion, eLive session
- Summary
Assessment (self-assessment or graded)
Example: a weekly topic structure
Structuring longer topic/module 'study guide' content
Look closely at your topic learning outcomes and proposed lectures (if any), readings and/or textbook. There is no point in covering the same ground in your topic notes. A one-screen introduction may be all you need to orientate your students to the subject area and explain briefly how the learning materials and activities should help them achieve the learning outcomes. Time saved in writing topic notes can be put to good use in finding fresh, high quality links, creating interesting activities, and moderating discussions and eLive sessions.
However, you may need to provide more than a one-screen introduction, for example, if your readings and activities don't quite cover the topic's learning outcomes, or you feel the students will need a little more guidance. If this is the case, some points to remember are:
- Chunk information
The best way to present longer text online is to work it into manageable 'chunks'. It is much harder to read from a computer screen than from paper, and students hate scrolling, so keep pages to one screen in length. Make sure your text is concise and your paragraphs are short, with 'white space' around them. Bullet points often work better than sentences.
- Use headings
It is also harder to navigate between online pages than paper ones without getting lost, so use a strong, logical heading hierarchy to divide main and subordinate ideas, then create separate files for each one. (Use headings and indents to indicate the hierarchy in the learning module's contents list.)
- Include multimedia and links
Include not only textual 'content' in these pages, but also use the tools provided in the built-in html creator to add graphics, links to external sites, questions for reflection, and links to glossaries (Media Library or external). However, make sure you check the file sizes of items you wish to embed in these pages - to save students frustrating downloading time, it may be best to embed only one audio or video file per page, or upload the larger files to your File Manager and just provide links on the page (with an indication of the file size). You may choose to link directly to e-readings, audio and video files from these pages and/or provide the links separately in a 'Resources' page in the learning module.
- Prioritise, annotate and check linked resources
Identify core and enrichment/ancillary material - this applies especially to linked materials, which can be tedious to open, navigate around, assess the relevance of and print. If you provide multiple links, consider ranking them in order of quality, importance and significance for the topic, and provide a brief summary of each. Also check that the links aren't broken!
- Encourage active learning and build in opportunities for feedback
Rather than concentrating on simply providing information, think about how you would teach the same concepts face to face and the ways you would get students to demonstrate and refine their understanding as you go. Supporting students with feedback, whether from yourself, the materials themselves or their peers, is just as important whether students are on-campus or off-campus. Include equivalent online activities in the learning module such as reflective writing exercises (using the Notes tool), group activities, self-tests, discussion topics, games (using StudyMate) and/or eLive sessions. The quality of these activities is important or they will be ignored - they must be clearly expressed, relevant to the learning outcomes and ultimately the assessment, interesting, challenging but not too hard, varied, and ideally able to be completed within 20 minutes at the most. Introduce the activities in the topic notes with a brief explanation of their importance to the learning outcomes to encourage students to complete them, but build in options for students to choose between (eg post a discussion message OR take part in an eLive session).
- Make text legible
Use standard font sizes (10 pt minimum), and bold rather than italics.
- Make it look interesting
A graphical banner can add colour, visual interest and a distinctive look and feel. A cascading style sheet can provide attractive, consistent heading hierarchies and fonts. A consultant from the ITL Support Service can help with this.
- Consider using a CD if necessary
If you wish to use multiple files larger than (say) two megabytes and these cannot be compressed, talk to your faculty teaching and learning staff or a client services manager from Knowledge Media Division about providing them via a CD-ROM, links to which can be created in your learning modules.
More information is available from the Deakin Writing for the Web website.
Example: a content-rich study guide page
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2. Activity-based modules
If your teaching/learning strategy is based around major activities such as problem-solving scenarios, simulations, rich case studies or role-plays, simply create a learning module for each activity and add any files, discussions, web links, links to eLive sessions, assignments and whatever else the students will need to complete their work on the problem or activity.
Things to consider:
- One learning module may become cluttered when there are many items relating to one activity. Use headings and indent subordinate items in the contents list to save space. If you still need to scroll to access the lowest items in the contents list then consider setting up separate learning modules for different stages in a large activity.
- You can encourage students to make this learning space their own by adding their own web links and media library collections.
- The learning module format presents the content in a linear list, but this might not be appropriate for all activities. A CD-ROM might allow you more freedom to present materials in a non-linear structure. Talk to your faculty teaching and learning staff or a client services manager from Knowledge Media Division about this option.
Example: an activity-based learning module
Example from Deakin Contemporary online teaching cases: Kristin Demetrious' ALR276.
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3. An introductory module
Don't assume that students will know how to use the tools in your online site effectively. An introductory page or learning module to orientate students to the site is always helpful, and if you are including graded quizzes, online assignments , eLive sessions, or iLecture recordings, set up examples on which students can practice. An effective way to ensure students take the opportunity to work out how to use their software in good time is to make completion of orientation and practice tasks a hurdle requirement worth a small allocation of marks.
An introductory module could include:
- An explanation of how your teaching/learning strategy should work, what the students are expected to do, how much time to set aside each week, how they can contact you or their other teaching staff, etc.
- Where the various resources, activities, etc. the students will need can be found (graphics or a flow-chart might be helpful)
- Practice quizzes, if you are using these for assessment, including links to the assessments quick guide for students
- Practice online assignments, if you are using these, whether they are ordinary Blackboard assignments or Turnitin submissions. (Include links to student plagiarism and collusion resources in your instructions.)
- A link to a discussion topic for students to introduce themselves (including a link to the participating in discussions quick guide for students)
- A link to a discussion topic where students can post messages asking for help on technical matters
- Instructions on how to set up for eLive and a link to an eLive session you have created for the unit, set up to be open constantly at least until the first scheduled eLive session, so students can check their software is working, and their audio and microphone levels are correct
- A link to the first iLecture recording for the unit (or a dummy if this has not yet been recorded), including a link to iLecture student information page
- A link to the e-readings for the unit
- Links to academic skills resources provided by the Division of Student Life and research skills resources provided by the Library.
Example: an introductory module (from Steven Slaughter's AIR236-336-436, Sem 1 2006)
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Online materials checklist
- Is there a clear explanation of what's expected of students, what they will need to complete the work, and what they are to do?
- Is there a clear explanation of where the resources and tools they will need are, and how to use them?
- Is there a content structure that is logical, with a clear heading hierarchy - eg divided into study blocks or major activities?
- Are there sufficient and appropriate activities to engage the students in active learning?
- Are there sufficient opportunities for students to interact with each other and teaching staff via the communications tools in order to check, share and build on their understandings?
- Are there opportunities for students to engage in both independent and collaborative work?
- Are there sufficient opportunities for students to take advantage of the wealth of web resources available on the subject (without wasting too much time in inefficient searches and downloading large and/or irrelevant documents)?
- Are students given opportunities to exercise control and discretion over what and how they study, and the activities they engage in?
- Are students able to monitor their learning progress through appropriate assessment tasks and feedback?
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