How do I provide course materials?

This section provides an overview on delivering and managing course materials using pedagogical best practices with technologies supported by the Office of eLearning.

Specifically, it will review methods to make course textbooks, readings, and multimedia materials available to students. It is important to develop a consistent way to deliver materials to students in order to minimize potential confusion about where to find things.

Using Isidore (LMS)

The easiest way to share course materials with students is to put them in Isidore. This approach works equally well in online, hybrid, and campus-based courses, and most students are already familiar with how to use Isidore.

Upload materials to the Isidore Resources tool. The Resources tool in Isidore allows you to share files within a course site. You can upload files including text documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, audio files, and video recordings. You can also create short notes, library citations, and post collections of links to outside web pages. This tool is hidden from students unless you make this available to them. You will link to these items from within your lessons or modules in order for students to access. (See below.)

Create folders to organize Resources in Isidore. This can be done in any way that makes sense to you and fits the structure of your course. Some instructors create individual folders for each week of the course, while others prefer to organize material by topic.

Organize materials in the Isidore Lessons tool. The Lessons tool is a way to organize resources, activities, and media as a web page. A course site can contain as many Lessons pages as needed. As with the Resources tool, there are many different ways to organize your content in Lessons. Common approaches include grouping content by week or by topical unit in the course. While the Resources tool is mostly used to provide files, the Lessons tool can give students a pathway to work through course materials sequentially. If you are using the course site template made for you then you already have weekly modules with course dates built into your lessons. These are ready for you to add content to for a quick start.

Customize each Lessons page to meet your learning objectives. Students generally work through Lessons pages in order, so think about how you’d like content to build throughout the lesson before you start creating content. Each lesson can be structured differently and can include links to other Isidore tools like Resources (described above), Assignments, Forums, or Tests & Quizzes. You can also design lessons so that some content is only visible to students after they complete prerequisite activities or follow a designated date and time.

Resources

Creating your own course videos

If you need to deliver small amounts of content to students in lecture format, that can be done live (in Zoom), but if you have time you can also record videos for your students. Keep your videos short. The most engaging videos are short, generally under 7 minutes in length.

Using Zoom for Recorded Lectures

You can have more on the screen than just yourself. You can share your computer screen and narrate while showing slides or doing a demonstration. If you would like to record yourself working on problems or solving equations, you can use a virtual writing surface like a tablet or use Zoom’s whiteboard feature. Whatever content you show, be sure to keep your video on while recording. Students are more likely to keep watching videos when they can see their instructor somewhere on the screen.

Creating Videos Using Snagit

You can also create instructional videos using a tool called Snagit. Snagit allows you to make a recording of you in your webcam, a screen recording of a presentation, or a combination of both. You will need to request a license key from elearning@udayton.edu if you choose to use this and have not already activated your software.  

Creating Videos Using Warpwire

The Warpwire tool in Isidore also allows for you to make a recording. You can record a video in Warpwire using your webcam. You can also use Warpwire to do a live broadcast or a screen capture.

Adding Interactivity to Your Videos

You can add assessments to existing videos. If you’d like to stop during a video to ask students a self-reflection question, you can use a tool called Interactive Video in Isidore. You can also break videos into short segments and put quizzes between them.

Resources

Using library materials

The University Libraries of UD have extensive access to many materials you can use for your courses.

Take advantage of electronic access to materials. Electronic copies of many course texts are available through the University Libraries, or the library may be able to arrange electronic access with the book publisher. Journal articles or other short works can be placed on e-reserves at UD Library. There are some limitations on what can be posted due to copyright restrictions, but the libraries have staff who can help navigate those issues and will make every effort to post what is needed for your course. 

Ask a librarian for access to films. If you are showing films in class, talk to a librarian to see if a streaming copy of the film is available for student use. Depending on licensing and availability, you may have to consider substitutes.  You can check out the available tiles by visiting the Kanopy page for UD.  Don’t see what you were hoping to use in your course? If so, please contact Chris Tangeman (ctangeman1@udayton.edu) in Roesch Library. Please provide him the name of the film(s) you would like to show to your class, along with the course and section number. Chris will do his best to procure an online version of the film(s) for your classes through one of our online content providers. It is important to note that not all films are available from these sources, so some requests may not be able to be filled.

If you need assistance digitizing book or journal content, please contact Elizabeth Jacobs (ejacobs1@udayton.edu) in Roesch Library for inquiries and assistance. Please include details of what you’re hoping to digitize.

Resources

Go to Topic 3: What communication tools are available?