Distance education: Creating learning materials Caroline Williams Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies (LUCAS)

Overview n My aim: –to demonstrate how to create learning materials n My objectives: –supply a brief background to learning –give you a task to do n Your learning outcomes: –demonstrate what makes learning effective –test success of the materials you created

Materials in context n Effective planning n Resources n Institutional support n Who are the learners? n Learning materials n Communication n Evaluation n Measuring performance n Quality assurance

Learning materials n Delivery options –print –voice, video, cd-rom, audio –computer applications and bulletin boards web-based teaching home-page facilities

Which is best? before selecting a delivery system n focus on instructional outcomes, not technology of delivery –needs of learners –requirements of content –constraints faced by teacher n typically you will end up with a mix of media each serving a specific purpose

Adapting existing materials n By adding –user-friendly objectives and outcomes –responses to questions/tasks/activities –self assessment tasks –written study skills help –assessment criteria –summaries/reviews/checklists –feedback questionnaires/evaluation

Learner centred materials design Successful learning programmes allow for: n wanting n doing n feedback n digesting

Creating the ‘want’: motivation n By first attracting, then stimulating to start and continue, and encouraging to persist by: –attractive title –good design –aims, objectives and outcomes they want to achieve –address them personally: you will be able... –a compelling introduction (written last) –demonstrating they can already do it

Enabling learning by doing n learning by having a go n as soon as possible n and getting it right (and wrong) n by being well briefed for the task n tasks should involve more than just recalling n students can decide, prioritise, attack, summarize, defend, propose, analyse, evaluate etc n self assessment activities, test your learning with answers or other feedback

Learning from feedback n which makes them feel good n whether right or wrong n more than mere answers n your responses are the most important part of your open learning materials n integral not last minute

Digesting n making sense of the learning experience n sorting out what is important from what has been learned n putting things into perspective n taking ownership n designers must factor these four in

Workshop n Aim: to create three or four pages of material which enable the undergraduate learner to define the attributes of a record. n You are supplied with: –definitions of a record from ICA, AS4390, ISO –UK PRO and ICA definitions of context, context and structure –a doctor’s prescription, medicine packaging –sample of existing material

Tasks n Create an ‘interesting’ title n Define your aim n Define student’s learning outcomes n A compelling introduction n Include three or four activities. The task and its response should be clearly indicated on the page n Provide responses which will lead on n Test it out on another group

Remember to facilitate n Wanting n Doing n Feedback n Digesting

Useful sites n (lists delivery sites) n (how to) n World bank(delivery site) HomePage/1?OpenDocument n International Centre for dl n Educating Society through its records