Why are ‘learning activities’ important?
Essentially, learning activities are tasks designed to help students unpack and make connections between content and learning aims/outcomes. You can use learning activities to:
Link content to independent activity
Example: Create/make available screencasts and content, and construct a solo activity for the student (‘Watch the video. Write down in your own notes (1) the elements of good practice you observed and (2) the poor practice demonstrated’).
Make connections between content and live teaching
Example: Create/make available screencasts and content, then construct a related activity which features/ links to the interactive session (‘Watch the screencast/read the article. Write down what you think are the three most compelling reasons for xxx and come ready to share your ideas at the interactive session on Thursday’).
Link content to collaborative asynchronous learning
Example: Create/make available screencasts and content, and construct a related activity to be completed in an online Blackboard group (‘Watch the screencast/read the article. Go to the Blackboard discussion forum and share what you think is the most important factor in the success of xxx, and explain why you think that. Complete this by xx date).
How do I engage students to participate with TEL activities?
Maximise student engagement with learning activities by following these guidelines to engage your students.
Good design practices and inspiration for TEL activities
The following pages provide inspiration and design principles to create effective learning activities for a range of teaching scenarios:
- Asynchronous Blackboard activities
- On-campus teaching spaces
- Live online sessions
- Tips for activities requiring digital freehand annotation or drawing
If you are considering scenarios whereby students are present in the physical classroom and remotely online, see CQSD guidance about Hybrid teaching.
What technologies are available for learning activities?
The table below provides links to further information and available support for commonly used technologies. If you’re planning to use technology listed as ‘third-party’, see considerations when using third party tools/services in teaching and learning,
| Blackboard contact CQSD TEL for support |
Office 365 contact DTS for technical support |
Third party technologies contact provider for technical support |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborate Whiteboard (use during a Collaborate session) |
Microsoft Whiteboard (use during or outside of Teams meetings) |
Padlet (collaborative digital pin boards) |
| Collaborate break out rooms | Teams break out rooms | – |
| Polls in Collaborate | Polls in Teams | Free/freemium ‘student response’ apps |
| Blackboard Tests | Microsoft Forms (quizzes and surveys) |
– |
| Discussion Forums | Teams spaces for student collaboration | |
| Blackboard Groups for student collaboration | O365 co-authoring tools (collaborative O365 docs and OneNote) |
– |
| Wikis | PowerPoint Online (collaborative posters and presentations) |
– |
| Blogs | – | – |
| Journals | – | – |
| Creating a PeerMark assessment | – | – |
| Formative assessments: How to provide feedback with no mark | – | – |