Create adaptable resources for teaching with technology (ARTTs)

Basic structure

Each resource in the ‘Adaptable resources for teaching with technology’ Collection follows the same broad structure:

• Introduction and anchor menu (what can the reader expect)
• How to do this (outline description of activity)
• What tools can you use? (usually software or a website)
• When and where to use (suitability for different learning modes, course types and timing)
• How long will it take? (build, teach, learn)
• What research tells us (literature review and references)
• Citation and attribution

Content guidelines

Whilst each individual resource is unique, using a consistent approach and style across the Collection makes it easier for a reader to follow and engage with the content.

Find out more…

These resources include common elements such as Headings, Anchors and Emphasis Blocks. You can learn more about using these in the resources below:

• Using emphasis blocks
• Menus, anchors and headings

Introduction and anchor menu

The introduction should be short (1-2 paragraphs) and tell the reader why they would use this activity (broad objectives). Use the ‘Introduction’ block for this, which doesn’t allow for bullet point lists or other special formatting.

The anchor menu comes next, which helps the reader navigate to the parts they’re interested in and quickly see the structure of the resource. ARTTs resources use the same five anchor menu headings (shown below), so you can easily add these first, before editing the main content.

Important!

Don’t forget to add the section ID/HTML anchor menu text to the heading (e.g. how_to_do_this) and copy it into the anchor menu at the top of the resource.

How to do this (H2)

Often the longest section of the resource, this explains the process for the activity as clearly and succinctly as possible.

If appropriate, it can be split into subsections (e.g. ‘Preparation’, ‘Task’, ‘Follow up’) using Headings (H3).

You can break up the text in this section and help illustrate the activity with a relevant visual or screenshot of the activity you’re describing:

You can also include a ‘Useful tip’ emphasis box here like this one, to highlight something to the reader:

Useful tip

This is a ‘Useful tip’ Emphasis Block, which is pre-formatted. Useful tips are most useful when they’re short! You can include bullet points here if you have more than one related tip, but short and sweet is usually best and keeps the reader engaged.

H2: What tools can you use?

Here we usually include at least one tool which is supported by UTS, and sometimes tools which are not officially supported, but often used. It might read something like this:

The following technologies in this activity are supported by UTS:

• Canvas pages
• Microsoft Word

If you would like to experiment, try the following tool (please note, it is not officially supported by UTS):

• Google Docs

Useful tip

If you can, link to the relevant resource with more information and guidance on the tool. If there is no UTS resource or Futures blog, link to an external site with more information (e.g. mentimeter.com).

H2: When and where to do this

This section helps the reader understand when and where the activity fits into familiar learning contexts. The first sentence or paragraph includes recommendations for when to introduce the activity, which could refer to a point in time (in a lesson, module or session) or how regularly you might use it.

Secondly, we help the reader consider the learning environments, modes, subjects and any other suitable applications for the activity. These might include:

• Cohort size (small, large, any size)
• Learning mode (online, blended, block, face to face)
• Subjects/faculties (language classes, theory-heavy, medical, social science etc.)
• Other specific aspects such as group work, lab work, case-based learning, guest speakers and so on.

Once you’ve decided on these, this short section might read something like this:

This activity is suitable at the beginning of the session (in the Get Started module), for the following types of subjects:

• Online learning
• Any cohort size

H2: How long will it take?

Estimate how long the build, teaching and learning processes take for the activity. You can copy and paste this table and amend the timings as appropriate.

BUILD	TEACH	LEARN
60 mins	30 mins	60 mins

H2: What research tells us

This section usually includes a 1-2 paragraph summary of the literature review which informed the resource. Most will include references below like this:

References

• Reference here
• Reference here

Citation and attribution

At the end of each resource, an emphasis box is added which includes citation and attribution information for readers who wish to reference the resource elsewhere.

This is created with a ‘Custom header’ emphasis box (type in ‘Citation and attribution), following the structure below:

Emphasis Block: Citation and attribution

Author Surname, Initial. (year). ‘[title of resource]’ in Adaptable Resources for Teaching with Technology, LX.Lab, Institute for Interactive Media & Learning, University of Technology, Sydney. Retrieved from [resource url, when created]

The Adaptable Resources for Teaching with Technology collection by LX.Lab, Institute for Interactive Media & Learning, University of Technology, Sydney are provided as open educational resources under
a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

 

Final checks

As well as the usual spelling and grammar checks, use the list below to make sure the resource works as it should. Don’t forget to ask a colleague to proofread it for you when it’s done!

• Links open in new tab
• Anchor menu HTML added to heading and menu
• Resource has been allocated to a Collection (settings)
• Topic and any relevant Technologies added (RH menu)
• Collection flow/order – choose where in the Collection to add your resource (RH menu – Post Attributes, select number)

To see how it all comes together, take a look at one or two examples from the Adaptable resources for teaching with technology Collection. You could also have a look at the whole list of resources to see where your own activity would fit best, too.