Transcript Why do you want to publish lecture notes on the Web?

Planning for Publishing
Lecture Notes on the Web
Deirdre Hetherington
Educational Technology Unit
Why publish lecture notes on the
Web?
 Accessible at all times
 For revision purposes
 Adding an extra element
 Illustrate a process
 To engage the student with the learning
material
What will motivate the students
to go to your page?

Directly related to coursework
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Related to the exam
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Pre-class preparation
Once there, what will keep them
there?
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Content
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Useful, relevant information
Presentation & layout
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Navigation
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Consistency of style
And what will make them return regularly?
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Keep content up to date, include new items
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Continue to develop the site further
How do I get the students to engage
with the material as participants and
not just observers?
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Question and feedback
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Adopt a problem-based approach
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Include an online experiment
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Student contribution
How do students behave
online?
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They check the contents
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Ensure that a list of contents appears early in the
page
Use a table
They scan rather than read
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Give key information early
Use everyday language
Considerations for the student
On the plus side:
 Access to lecture notes both at home and on campus at
convenient times
 Will not miss a lecture due to absence
 Greater variety in the learning environment thus
catering to a variety of learning styles
 Increased computer literacy
Considerations for the student
On the minus side:
 May be using a slow modem therefore resources take
time to download
 Access may require the use of plug-ins
 Access to audio and video files in open access centres
 Will have to bear the cost of printing
Looking at how others structure their
lecture notes
The Production Line
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Plan
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Prepare
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Resources
Produce
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State aims and objectives
Structure, layout, navigation
Using a conversion tool
Composing in HTML
Using an authoring tool
Publish
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Using Queen’s Online
Using images in web pages
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Gif, jpeg formats
Provide alternative text in the <ALT> field
Check the download time
Reduce loading delays
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Reduce file size of image by
Reducing the physical size (number of pixels)
Reducing the number of colours
Making 'thumbnails'
Example: Bodleian Library
www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/imacat/in02.html
Maintaining your pages
 Review your overall design; there are some useful do’s and
don'ts at
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/coursematerials/webdesign/DosND
onts.html which you may find useful.
 Evaluate your work
 Update the content
 Check that links work. Proprietary software such as Site
Mill & Front Page will check links.
 Get access statistics to find out if your page is being used.
Consider………
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Use Spellchecker
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Include a “Last updated” date on your page
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Include contact details?
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Copyright
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Data protection Act
http://www.qub.ac.uk/tap/admin_cler/Presentation%20Data%
20Protection%20Act%201998.htm
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Check your page for browser compatibility
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Check for accessibility
Going live
via Queen’s Online at
http://www.qnet.qub.ac.uk
Where next?
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Follow-up workshops with the Educational
Technology Unit
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Training Unit courses
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Media Services
See handout
The End