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Enhancing existing content and activities for online learners

Published on December 31, 2019   29 min

A selection of talks on Technology & Operations

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0:00
Hi, welcome to my talk on enhancing content and activities that you already have for use with online learners. My name is Sarah Jane Cashman and I'm based at Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland. I'm going to cover several topics today over the course of this talk. They're all focused on reusing materials that you already have and adapting them for use for online learners.
0:19
If you're considering creating new materials, then the principles here, they're still really relevant, but I would also suggest that you look at other talks in the series. There's lots of information on using different kinds of tools like creating effective screen casts or conducting webinars. There's ones on how to embed technologies, topics like that. So there's a lot of information if you're thinking about new resources.
0:40
So today I'm going to focus on re-purposing existing ones, how to make them accessible and as engaging for learners as possible. We're going to look at existing content, how to structure it, how to provide a consistent and visually appealing experience. Then we're going to look at how to adapt these activities from the traditional classroom to using them online. Okay, so jumping straight in then. Why is it important to adapt to your materials for the online learner?
1:04
When you're setting up a module online, you need to look at three different perspectives. So you're going to look at visuals, you're going to look at structure, and you're going to look at content. So for visuals, I mean the real basics. What menu items can they see? What fonts are you using? Under structure, we're talking about things like how to arrange and group your content. Then under content, we're looking at how it's presented, the types of content you're using, and the activities that will work well online. So there's another talk in this series that looks at the visuals and structures and a lot of that. It's really useful if you're looking for more tips on this. So in this talk, we're really focusing on the existing materials. When you're putting a module online or course online, the really easy option is just to upload everything that you have and leave them there and let the learner figure it out, but it's really not the best option because that relies on the learner to figure out all the different elements before ever starting to look at the actual content.
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Enhancing existing content and activities for online learners

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