Instructional Design
How do I go about ensuring that students successfully engage with a particular topic? The way the content is arranged and the approach to activities and resources can have an impact on the level of engagement.
So where do I start? I usually start with the Definitive Validated Document in one hand and a weekly schedule template in the other. Next is consideration of the available resources. I am likely to be timetabled in a computer lab for all three hours of the session. Timetabling is out of my hands. I can put in suggestions for whether I want a lecture theatre for the first hour and a lab for the other two, or a lecture theatre of two hours and seminar rooms for the other hour. For this particular module I request a lab for the whole session. We only meet once a week so it is important that I can build flexibility in where I can. I find that by using the lab I can incorporate short and long activities and interchange as required on the day. I don't like to be restrained by the resources available to me. If we were timetabled in a lecture theatre for the first hour I would see this as a restraint to creativity. I could not ask the students to explore a particular website or piece of software or record thoughts and ideas in Word. We would have to do this is the lab session later and therefore the impetus would be lost.
A great deal of formative assessment takes place (more about this in the Assessment section), I believe, unbeknownst to students. Most students focus on the end product - the grade awarded.
