Selecting sources and materials

The learning outcomes or learning objectives are again central when it comes to gathering sources. After all, all educational activities contribute to this, and the learning outcomes are based on the degree programme’s BOKS. The learning outcomes guide the process of gathering sources, given that the level and the degree of complexity are already defined. You may be able to build on sources for modules that preceded or will follow on this course. 

The AUAS Library has many materials; ask your discipline’s information specialist for advice. The information specialist can help you find sources and may be able to help with the right search terms. 

Sources alone are not enough for the development of practical, cognitive and regulative skills. You will also need to look for materials that students can practise with. For learning activities, too, you can use existing materials and sources, such as practice questions, assignments, simulations and games. Practical examples are important sources of inspiration for students, so make sure to include them in the course material. 

Collecting sources and materials also serves to offer a diverse range of materials to students, making it possible to train various information skills, including the use, synthesis and evaluation of information. 

Compare the sources and materials you have collected to identify any duplicates or missing learning content. During this process, you may discover new concepts or insights, in which case you will need to decide whether or not to include them in the course material. After all, you have been searching for the current state of professional and academic practice, and the sources taken together should cover all of the course material concepts identified in your learning outcomes. In addition, you now need to decide which sources are most suited to the module – which sources to keep, and why. Examine your own ideas critically: are you also selecting sources that may throw an alternative light on the course material? 

To select materials such as practice questions or assignments for practical skills, find out to what extent they include aspects of the learning outcomes. Or do you instead want students to rehearse aspects first? How are the assignments structured? 

When assessing sources, decide how they contribute to learning new concepts and insights. The quality of sources and how up to date they are is important for this, so did you find them in the library’s database or on YouTube? Keep in mind, ‘bad’ examples can also serve an educational purpose. 

‘Kill your darlings.’ Take a critical look at which sources are truly relevant when it comes to acquiring the learning content. What does the mix of materials look like, and how do the materials help acquire practical or cognitive skills? Not everything that is interesting is suitable as course material. An important factor here is deciding what may be expected of students in view of the available study time. 

When you have the right list of sources and materials, you can consider how to fit these into the context of the module. Choose the sequence in which you will introduce the concepts. Decide how you will use the sources and materials to demonstrate connections and how these fit in with students’ prior knowledge. You could use frequently encountered misconceptions and counterexamples to get students to actively grapple with the material. The way you arrange the sources helps structure the content of your lectures. Will you use sources as preparation for the lecture, or are they meant for going into greater depth afterwards? Will you use sources and materials together? We will look at this in more detail under developing learning activities . 

The Cognitive Presence from the Community of Inquiry model shows the importance of students interacting with the material while interacting with fellow students and the lecturer. So rather than being separate, the material is actively embedded in the teaching. 

Source: http://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/coi

Brightspace is the learning environment at AUAS where sources and materials are placed in the context of the module. This is where many elements of the module come together digitally: the structure, content, sources, learning materials, assignments and deadlines. 

When making sources available, make sure to pay attention to copyright. Linking to a source, for instance at the library or on the Internet, is always permitted. Copying parts of texts is permitted conditionally; the AUAS Library can advise you about this. When using texts and images from the internet, you must always cite the source.