Digital First Cloud Based Interactive Course Materials
Dr Shaista Bibi , Ms Lince Rudy AGSM , Business School
In accordance with our commitment to flipped mode , AGSM designs structured course materials for our students . This allows the students to focus on key areas to suit their learning needs and identify questions to ask in class to ensure a better overall learning experience ( Lag & Sael , 2019 ). Given our students are normally in full-time employment and studying part-time , we release the course materials to them well in advance of the start of term so that they can plan and prepare ahead of time . When students come prepared for their class , class facilitators can work on higher levels of Bloom ’ s taxonomy in class , such as application , analysis and synthesis instead of focusing on the basic levels of remembering and understanding ( Krathwohl , 2002 ).
AGSM delivers courses in a variety of delivery modes : weekly face-to-face classes , weekend intensive classes , online synchronous classes and online asynchronous classes . Our provision of course materials before the term start means that whatever mode in which they will be undertaking their studies , all students receive the same foundational materials for courses .
In recent years we have been moving from presenting the course materials in PDF form to eBook form .
An important advantage of eBooks for students is that they are cloud-based so students can work on them on any , or all , of their devices . The presentation of the materials is dynamic and reflows to suit the device .
Other benefits for students are :
A .
B . their digital notetaking and responses to self-reflection activities are saved inside their eBook and sync between devices navigation is straightforward using the table of contents
C . there is inbuilt Google and wiki search functionality .
Publishing to eBook means that any updates to the course materials can be made seamlessly without having to redistribute files to students . Also , if we wish to do so , we can do a staged release of materials – for example , releasing Units for the first three weeks of their course , and then subsequent Units later .
We have been rolling out the eBooks gradually so that we can take account of feedback from students who use them and adjust functionality and design accordingly . Students have lasting access to the eBooks ( and PDFs ) beyond the completion of their degree .
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