OASIS micro site - Selecting learning resources

Module 2: Selecting learning resources

Selecting learning resources for your course usually entail looking for existing materials that suit the course. In some cases, you need to develop new learning resources for your course to address particular learning areas or topics. Whatever the case maybe, it is important that you know how to select learning resources that would support the attainment of the learning objectives.

Objectives

After working on this module, you should be able to:

Define resource-based learning;
Differentiate the types of Web-based learning resources;
Describe open educational resources (OER); and
Select online learning resources for each topic in your online course.

Resource-Based Learning

A key feature of the online learning model being implemented at UPOU is the use of digital learning resources found on the Web. The availability of numerous multimedia educational resources on the Web makes it a good tool for resource-based learning (RBL), an educational model where students are encouraged and enabled to use a variety of print, non-print, and human resources to seek information and solve problems (Prince Edward Island Department of Education, n.d.). In the process, students develop not only knowledge of a particular subject matter but also information literacy — the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information — and independent learning skills.

You may want to view the subpage on RBL to understand this concept further in the context of UP Open University's practices.

Types of Learning Resources

Laurillard (2002) provides a classification of learning resources based on the type of media, with each media type supporting or enabling different degrees of learner activity and engagement (see Table 1).

Table 1. Media types and the learning tasks they support

Source: Adapted from Laurillard, 2002, p. 90 and Beetham, 2007, pp. 226-229

All of these media types are relevant for the online course that you are designing. But in this module, you will be selecting Web resources that exemplify the first three media types in Laurillard’s classification — i.e. narrative, interactive, and adaptive media. We will discuss the use of communicative media and productive media in the module on writing study guides and creating assignments, respectively.

Aside from selecting learning resources in various media, it is important that the Web-based learning resources you select for your course are open educational resources.

Open Educational Resources

Open education resources (OER) are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and/or re-purposing by others” (The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation).

Guidelines for Choosing Learning Resources

In selecting learning resources for student use, teachers should keep in mind the following guidelines provided by Herrington et al. (2001):

accessibility – resources are organized in ways that make them easy to access and locate
currency – resources are up-to-date
richness – resources reflect a variety of perspectives
purposeful use of media – appropriate media is used; the usability of the resource is enhanced by the media used
inclusivity – the resources demonstrate social, cultural, and gender inclusivity

References

Beetham, H. (2007). An approach to learning activity design. In Beetham, H & Sharpe, R. (Eds.) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age. London and New York: Routledge. Pp. 26-40, 226-229.

Herrington, A; Herrington, J; Oliver, R; Stoney, S and Willis, J. (2001). Quality guidelines for online courses: The development of an instrument to audit online units. In Kennedy, G; Keppel, M, McNaught, and Petrovic, T. (eds.) Meeting at the Crossroads: Proceedings of ASCILITE 2001. The University of Melbourne.

Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking University Teaching: A Conversational Framework for the Effective Use of Learning Technologies. 2nd Edition. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Prince Edward Island Department of Education. (n.d.). Resource-Based Learning: Approaches. Building Information Literacy. Retrieved 31 May 2010 from http://www.edu.pe.ca/bil/bil.asp?ch1.s2.gdtx

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