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Enhancing life-long learning, teaching and research through information resources and services

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Presenting and organizing learning resources in NOW

Presenter name, Role

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Learning Outcomes

• Working familiarity with the Content area

• An understanding of some approaches to planning, uploading and organising content

• Ideas for structuring content in NOW

• Basic understanding of some of the issues involved in making content available online such as accessibility, making the most of the virtual environment, technical requirements etc

• Ideas for ongoing practice

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Icebreaker Activity

• Spend 5 minutes chatting with the person next to you

• Find out their:– Name– Role– Experience of using content within NOW

• Introduce your partner to the rest of the group

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Delivering content…

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Delivering content…

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Making the decision to put materials into NOW is only the start of the journey…

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Moving from face-to-face to online

• What teaching materials will you be providing?

• What advantages might having content online give you?

• What advantages exist for students using online materials?

• What do they need from you?

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Brainstorm Activity

• As a group, spend 10 minutes discussing some of the issues which surround a student attending lectures vs. only downloading the lecture notes

• What strategies can we employ to resolve or minimize their effect?

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Plan

Create

Upload

Structure

Release

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Demonstration of the content area

http://now.ntu.ac.uk/

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Activity 1 - Uploading content

• Upload files from your H Drive to the NOW content area in your own Sandbox

• Follow the instructions for Activity 1 on the activity sheet you have been given.

– Log on to NOW– Select your sandbox from the learning rooms at the bottom– Select “Edit Room” from the right-hand nav bar and go to the “Manage File

Store” area– Upload files

• Spend no more than 15 minutes on this activity

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Learning Pathways – what and why?

•Provides orientation - tells students where they have been and where they will go next

•Scaffolds activities that link to the learning outcomes of the course

•Allows you to group related content, activities & resources

•Makes it easier for students to find things

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Types of Learning Pathway

Units of learning can be ordered:

•Chronologically, e.g. Week 1, Week 2 etc.

•Thematically, e.g. Nature of Cancer, Biology of Disease

•To provide different (adaptive) pathways through the material

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ChronologicalPathway

Manage Content window

Each Unit is ordered by week

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Thematic Pathway

Manage Content window

Each Unit has a theme

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What should guide the learning pathway?

Accessibility

Flexibility

Otherteaching

Activities

Assessment

Learningoutcomes

LearningPathway

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Creating a Learning Pathway in NOW

•Create and name your Units

•Add Topics to each Unit – Files you already have e.g. Word docs, Power points etc.– Resources you create using tools in NOW e.g. discussions,

assessments, web pages

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Activity 2 - Structuring your content

• Using the files you uploaded to the NOW content area in your own Sandbox:

• Follow the instructions for Activity 2 on the activity sheet you have been given

• If there is time, repeat the activity, deleting the structure you created and choosing a different learning pathway

• Spend no more than 20 minutes on this activity

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Discussion: Ideas for ongoing practice

• What would students find useful to see in the content area?

• What might not work so well?

• What other tools in NOW could you integrate into your content? Discussions, self-assessments, surveys etc?

• How do you think you could use the facility to conditionally release your learning resources?

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Further help and support

• Telephone: 0115 848 6030

• Email: elearninghelp@ntu.ac.uk – Prefix subject line with HELP:

• Desire2Learn community: http://community.desire2learn.com/