Learning resources

Learning resources for a flexible digital education model need to be high-quality, accessible, and (where appropriate) designed with input from students.

The current context, where student consultation of hard-copy resources is very challenging to organise, means that we must prioritise accessible and free e-resources wherever possible. Reading lists should be streamlined to allow for ease of navigation and focus online, they should prioritise e-resources that are available through the library without extra cost, and they should feature - where relevant - digitised material that has already been generated. The library will issue guidance on new digitisation requests.

More broadly, resources placed in the KLE and on other learning platforms should be clearly signposted in terms of priority and sequence of consultation, and you should aim to check the accessibility and readability of your mixed-media materials.

This section offers ways of using digital technologies to:

• Deliver high quality library e-resources and an electronic reading list
• Build / author accessible and navigable online learning resources
• Set up online repositories for student-led or student-suggested resources
• Give students tools to re-arrange, curate and annotate the resources they access

Tips and tools to develop learning resources for a flexible digital education

• Try using Microsoft Sway to build a ‘pathway’ or ‘narrative’ of priority learning resources and add a self-assessment Microsoft Form. This allows students to manage and reflect on their journey through a key set of learning resources.

• Link to external resource: Sway overview and demonstration of uses for delivery of learning resources
• Link to video guide: Making a tutorial using Sway
• Link to external resource: Overview of creating and disseminating a Microsoft Form

• Curate your Reading List in Talis Aspire, which links directly into digitally accessible resources through the library and other online sources.

• Link to external resource: Talis Aspire overview and how it can be used for providing learning resources
• Link to video guide: Creating / Editing a Reading List
• Consult with your Faculty Liaison Librarian: Library contact list

• You can use OneNote Class Notebook to allow students to collaboratively produce learning resources as groups, to then be shared with the class.

• Link to external resource: OneNote Class Notebook overview and how it can be used to produce learning resources
• Link to video guide: Using OneNote Class Notebook within Microsoft Teams 
• Link to video guide: Class Notebook for Students in Teams

• Try using Wakelet to capture, organise and share multi-media resources to students through the KLE or Microsoft Teams.

• Link to external resource: The Educators guide to Wakelet
• Link to external resource: Wakelet overview and how it can be used to produce learning resources

• Encourage students (and staff) to use tools such as Mindmeister to map, curate and re-arrange the learning resources and concepts they are working with. Mindmeister is a collaborative mind-mapping tool that can be added to Teams as a component.

• Link to external resource: Overview of Mindmeister and how it can be used to produce Learning resources.

• We want our students to have access to high quality educational content and feel supported in their studies. One way we can achieve this is by producing online videos for asynchronous study which are engaging and pedagogically sound. This guidance provides an overview of how to produce video material.

• Link to sway resource: Online Video Production Guidance Overview