Have you overloaded your learners with content? This is a problem that I have come across as an...

Catrina.Ascenuik4924

Have you overloaded your learners with content?

 

This is a problem that I have come across as an instructional designer. When I’m reviewing content in Brigthspace, many of the courses I've reviewed have overloaded their learners with information. As an instructor, I also had this urge to give my students all the information I could. LMS systems allow for content, links, media, and resources to be uploaded at the click of a mouse, but at times it felt as if I was flooding my learners with information. 

 

How do we prevent information overload for learners? It is a question that has come up again and again, and there are certain tricks that I have used to help create a custom learning path that is manageable for learners:

 

1. Using release conditions→ Adding release conditions to content, resources and tasks can be helpful. It allows the instructor to release content in whatever intervals they choose.  Release conditions can be added to each content page. A user cannot see the content until the condition is met.  For example, you could attach a release condition to the second topic in your course’s content area that would hide that topic until users viewed the topic before it. You could add a condition that users cannot see the quiz until they view all content associated with it. You can even add multiple conditions, but users must meet all conditions in order to see the item. Please read here for more information. 
2. Using Start Dates, Due Dates, and End Dates → This is another way to add a condition but this is based on time. You can do this with content pages, quizzes, assignments, and other tools in Brightspace. 
3. Other resources section → Sometimes there just isn’t enough time to show our learners everything. Also, it is great to give learners extra resources that they can look at in their own time. I often include these sections either at the end of each module or at the end of the course. 
4. Estimate time for course content + work → It is great to get a sense of how long it is taking our learners to go through the content and to complete the tasks we expect from them. There are some course estimators that can help you gage how long a module will take a learner to complete. Here is one I have recently come across: 

Wake Forest University: Workload Estimator 2.0

 

Though these have been my methods, I would love to hear how you’ve customized the learning path for your learners!

 

 

[Deleted User]

Great ideas @Catrina Ascenuik​! I really like setting up the Dates on my content and assessments because you can then have them appear in the Calendar for learners to manage their time and use the Manage Dates tool to offset them for a subsequent offering.