Creating useful learning resources using digital technology

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The old methods of teaching and learning are slowly becoming outdated. It is challenging to absorb and recall information from a 2 hours oral lecture about a particular topic. Even if the facilitator uses a neatly organized PowerPoint presentation or speak using a lovely tone, students will have lapses which causes them to not record some or most of the information.

If you can use the internet, useful hardware and or vital software to help you share the main content of a lecture as a:
  • blog article - using a Learning Management System like Moodle or a blog site like Blogger if you have a Google account.
  • podcast - using a Learning Management System like Moodle or a hosting platform like SoundCloud if you have an account.
  • video - Using a Learning Management System like Moodle or a video hosting platform like YouTube.  
Then these learning resources will be of value to students and those interested in the subject matter. In particular, it will be useful for the different types of learners like: 
  • visual learners - they will gain knowledge when they watch your video on your unit webpage on Moodle or your YouTube channel.
  • auditory learners - they will learn by listening to the audio component of your video or your podcast.
  • Reading/writing learners - they will absorb the information shared on your blog article. 
It is important that we review our lesson plans, marking rubric and assessment tasks to include the use of these learning resources. The new Moodle server (version 3.5) has audio and video buttons that we can use to create podcasts and videos instead of using an external software like Audacity or the Camera app. However, the only limitation is that the audio or video recording has a maximum time limit of 2 minutes.  




Students at the tertiary level of education should be trained to develop their higher-order thinking skills as identified by Benjamin Bloom. We should now move away from the lower-order thinking skills like remembering, understanding and applying. Instead of asking them to do a 10 minute classroom presentation, we can challenge them to produce a podcast or a video file. 

The Bloom's Digital Taxonomy devised by Andrew Churches categorizes blogging, podcasting and video blogging under creating. They are identified as higher-order thinking skills, this is again a strong justification for us to promote the use of blogs, podcasts and videos in our teaching and learning strategy.

This year I hope to publish more articles on my blog and create more podcasts including videos. The podcast will be share on my respective Moodle unit webpages but the videos will be uploaded onto my YouTube channel.

For students, I have incorporated these higher-order thinking skills like blogging, podcasting and video blogging into their assessment tasks a few years ago and will continue to do so.

Comments

  1. EthoLyallMarch 26, 2020 at 1:27 AM

    Its about time, very helpful article bro. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 8, 2020 at 1:14 PM

    Thank you Bernard for sharing your thoughts on teaching and learning using digital technology.

    Very insightful as we explore various methods of teaching and learning.

    We have to change, adjust and embrace technology to help us improve on the various modes of teaching and classroom learning delivery to ensure the learning objectives of the different groups of learners are appropriately met.

    ReplyDelete

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