Quality Checklist for Flexible Learning Materials

[Reprinted from: DeLiberations]

• Objectives and statements of intended learning outcomes
• Structure and layout
• Self-assessment questions and activities - learning by doing
• Responses to self-assessment questions and activities - learning through feedback
• Introductions, summaries and reviews
• Tone and style of the text itself (including questions and responses)
• Diagrams, charts, tables, graphs, illustrations, and so on
• Some general questions

Whether writing your own materials, using existing ones, or adapting resources for your own purposes, the following checklist is intended to help you ensure that the quality of learning from flexible learning materials is as good as possible. Not all flexible learning materials will live up to all the issues raised in the thirty questions which make up this checklist, but identifying the shortfalls means that steps can be taken to compensate for them (for example through tutor support, or traditional teaching). The thirty questions are clustered under sub- headings reflecting the principle features of flexible learning materials.

Objectives and statements of intended learning outcomes

• Is there a clear indication of any necessary prerequisite knowledge or skills?

• Are the objectives or intended learning outcomes stated clearly and unambiguously.

• Are the objectives presented in a friendly way? (That is to say, not like 'the expected learning outcomes of this module are that the student will.'.

• Do the objectives avoid jargon which may not be known to learners before starting the material?

Structure and layout

• Is the material visually attractive?

• Is there sufficient white space for learners to write notes, answer questions, do calculations, and so on?

• Is it easy for learners to find their way backwards and forwards? (This is sometimes called 'signposting', and includes effective use of headings).

Self-assessment questions and activities - learning by doing

• Are there plenty of activities for learners? (Remember that flexible learning - like any other form of learning - is largely dependent on learning by doing).

• Are the tasks set by the activities and self-assessment questions clear?

• Are the tasks inviting? Is it clear to learners that it's valuable for them to have a go at each task rather than skip?

• Is boxed white space used to help tempt learners to write their answers? Is the space used for each task or activity appropriate? (A big space for a simple short answer is as upsetting as a tiny box for a big answer).

• Collectively, do the self-assessment questions and activities develop learners' abilities to master all of the objectives, and to demonstrate their achievement of the intended learning outcomes?

Responses to self-assessment questions and activities - learning through feedback

• Are they really responses to what learners have done, and not merely the answers to the questions?

• Do the responses meet learners' needs to find out:
  'Was I right?'
  'If not, why not?'
  - 'And what should I do about it?'

• Do the responses include appropriate (non-patronizing) encouragement or praise for learners who tackled the questions or activities successfully?

• Do the responses include wording which will prevent learners who were unsuccessful at the tasks and activities from feeling like complete idiots?

Introductions, summaries and reviews

• Is each part of the material introduced in an interesting, stimulating way, to help learners to want to work through the tasks and activities?

• Do the introductions alert learners to the ways that the materials are designed to be used?

• Are there clear, useful summaries and reviews, to help learners make sense of what they've just learned?

• Do the summaries and reviews provide useful material to help learners revise successfully?

Tone and style of the text itself (including questions and responses)

• Is the wording readable and unambiguous?

• Is the text relevant? For example, does it keep to the objectives and intended outcomes, and avoid going off at tangents?

• Is the style involving where possible? (For example, do learners feel actively engaged in the materials, by being referred to as 'you' rather than 'students', and does the author come across in a friendly way as 'I'?).

Diagrams, charts, tables, graphs, illustrations, and so on

• Is each as self-explanatory as possible?

• Do learners know what the expectation is of them, regarding each illustration? (For example, are they to learn them, note them in passing, pick out a trend, interpret them, or even nothing at all?)

• Is the material sufficiently broken up by illustrations? A sketch can be worth a thousand words.

Some general questions

• Is the material broken down into manageable chunks?

• Does the material avoid sudden jumps in level (which can all too easily be blocks to progress for learners working on their own)?

• Does the material ensure that the average learner will achieve the objectives, and be able to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes?

• Will learners enjoy using the materials?

[Adapted and expanded from 'The Open Learning Handbook' (2nd edition, Phil Race, Kogan Page, London)]