Next generation ACAS website resources

Ross Woods, Revised Jan. 2012. Jul. 2014

Where I'm going with this ...

  1. We need to monitor the number of course websites. They are easy to reproduce for different purposes and contexts.
  2. The html websites compete with Moodle courses.
    1. html websites are easier to write, especially when working offline.
    2. They have different roles. html is best as a static text-based resource, and works better for teachers. In contrast, Moodle is an interactive system that can be used to actively teach, not just provide information.
    3. The html text is much better for compliance.
    4. The html text is much better for assessment only courses.
    5. Students tend not to look at the html text. In contrast, Moodle shows how much students log on and interact.
    6. Moodle is a better medium for problematization (I.e. "what's the problem that we're solving by learning this stuff?")
    7. Moodle is a better medium for personalization (i.e. identifying the course with people in a scenario)
  3. We could link to unit- or task- specific assessment tools directly from the staff page.
  4. We could explore more effective or creative clustering. We have already decided to arrange one qualification as a series of tasks, rather than units. This reduces the amount of redundancy, and might be the trend in the future.
  5. We aimed for full self-study materials for whole qualifications, and we've done that for some programs. But we've still go a way to go for that. Right now we depend on a supervisor and a workplace for those kinds of information.
  6. Provide a teaching outline.
  7. We have started to:
    • Recommend specific textbooks when that is the most effective way to approach something.
    • Include Job descriptions. The course is them "how to do what's in your job description."
    • Include notes on how to teach it, especially if not clear in the student's training plan.
    • Include a separate page of packaging compliance.
    • Put more information in the staff page of each website.
  8. Other things that we should perhaps aim to include: Timetables to address unit requirements