Thinking about content design and delivery differently

The purpose of the following pages it to highlight some of the different ways you can design and deliver content for learners at a distance. In the design of 5 credit unit webfolios it is important to consider what kinds of different media can be used to prevent 'digital paper' where text based material is simply taken from word and copied into a digital page of a webfolio. The webfolio design guidelines suggest no more than 2 screens of content per week. This can be difficult to do unless a number of different media are used to break up the content into more than text.

Some ideas for media for content delivery

*Narrated PowerPoints - using the 'record narration' tool in Microsoft PowerPoint will allow a voice over PowerPoint to be created. This provides much needed context to PowerPoint resources which are viewed outside of the classroom.

*MS producer videos - MS Producer files allow for a narrated PowerPoint with and additional video window showing the tutor.

*Videos - YouTube and tutor generated. Video gives a multimedia dimension to learning and can bring to life concepts, ideas etc.

*Animations - possibility to illustrate concepts and ideas.

* Muvizu animations - enables quite simple creation of animations.

*Audio files/podcasts - to break up text based delivery which puts a voice to static content.

*RSS feeds - a way of delivering current information without having to manually update content. The most up to date information delivered direct to the learner without searching or updating.

*Slideshare Presentations. A colloborative website that shares PowerPoint presentations on a vast range of topics. Utilising shared content such as this reduces the need for repeated tutor generated content.

*Images/Diagrams - FlickrCC and PowerPoint created jpgs. The importance of ensuring copyright is not infringed makes using resources such as FlickrCC a useful experience. The images on Flickr CC allow for all the images to be used (with attribution given) but this opens up a world of images that help illustrate any point. The use of relevant images in distance learning materials is crucial to prevent 'digital paper'. Images and diagrams that are tutor generated can be easily made using PowerPoint. Simply saving a PowerPoint slide using the save as 'jpg' option will allow tutors to utilise any diagrams they have in presentations as images in the webfolio design.

*Online blogs/forums - incorporating current and changing opinions through online blogs and forums can be a good way to show the vast amount of opinion that exists on all topics.

*Reusable Learning Objects - Alison, e-evolve and Jorum. Shared content prevents tutros having to reinvent the wheel when activties in their discipline area may already exist.

*ebooks and resources - The university academic reosurce librarians can advise on the ebooks and resources the university has in your are. A vast catalogue exists at www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/resources

*Screen demonstrations – using software such as Adobe Captivate allows screen recordings of anything. Excellent for demonstrating software or processes..

Synchronous content delivery

Watch this space! The university are currently piloting Cisco Webex as a synchronous web conferencing piece of software. This will allow for live lectures and seminars.

Once the webfolio is complete you will need to do the Gateway admin and preparation shown on the gateway admin page