Learning Resources and Activities
Aim
Our aim in this area is to continue to develop effective practice in the creation and use of learning resources and learning activities to enable pedagogically sound, learner-centred and accessible learning experiences in post-16 education. This will be achieved through the co-ordination of existing work across JISC programme areas, and effective dissemination of lessons learned in this area. Outputs will assist practitioners in making effective decisions about the use of e-learning, and will help to support the effective design and use of learning resources and learning design tools. Guidance for practitioners and institutions on effective practice in this area will be provided in collaboration with relevant partners for example, The Higher Education Academy.
Overview
Whilst purely informational content has a significant role in learning and teaching, it is helpful to consider resources by their levels of granularity and to focus on the degree to which information content is embedded within a learning activity:
- Digital assets – normally a single file (eg. an image, video or audio clip), sometimes called a ‘raw media asset’;
- Information objects – a structured aggregation of digital assets, designed purely to present information;
- Learning object – an aggregation of one or more digital assets which represents an educationally meaningful stand along unit;
- Learning activities – an interaction between a learner and an environment, leading to a planned outcome. It is the planned outcome which makes learning a purposeful activity.
- Learning design – structured sequences of information and activities to promote learning.
(Text from the JISC paper Activity Areas:Challenges and priorities)
