26 October 2017

Turn Open Online Resources into Learning Activities

The internet is full of open access high quality resources that can be used in education. Some of these are made as so-called Open Educational Resources (OER), such as lecture videos, training videos or language learning tools. Others are simply open access resources, such as databases, online tools or media products (reports, scientific publications, videos, podcasts, etc.), which are not directly intended as educational materials, but which can be used as part of educational activities.

To guide and motivate the students, and ensure that these educational activities fit with learning outcomes of the course, it is important not just to identify and share the online resources, but to present them with a small introduction, clear learning outcome(s), and a small task or assignment, that ensures that the students engage with and understand the points you want them to learn from the activity.

Try an educational activity based on an open online resource: 

Instructions

Activity
Please visit the EM-DAT database on www.emdat.be (Links to an external site)
and answer the following quiz questions.

Background
Development and relief agencies have long recognized the important role played by data and information in mitigating the impacts of disasters on vulnerable populations. Systematic collection and analysis of these data provides invaluable information to governments and agencies in charge of relief and recovery activities. It also aids the integration of health components into development and poverty alleviation programmes.

The Centre for Research and Epidemiology of disasters (CRED) in Belgium has a long history of standardized data compilation, validation and analysis. It provides free and open access to its data through its websites.

One of CRED’s core data products is the International Disaster Database: EM-DAT.

The idea is that activities like this can be used as self-study elements in an online or blended course. The activities should build on knowledge and insights that the students gain through the course’s lectures or reading materials, and in a sense, augment the learning experience e.g. by making students apply their knowledge for calculations, opening their eyes to the large amount of high quality secondary data that can be found, or making them familiar with central web-tools and -portals.

The format is very minimal

  1. start with a learning outcome
  2. give a short introduction to the resource
  3. describe the activity that the student needs to do.
  4. As we want this activity to be evaluated by the online learning platform it is most easy to make this in the form of multiple-choice quiz questions.

If there is an instructor (or a peer review system in place) the activity can be more advanced, as e.g. a short written answer reflecting on a question or dilemma. 

Find a whole collection of open online resources used as learning activities in Absalon. All activities in this collection relate to public health in humanitarian action.