Converting classroom learning into an online module is an exciting and a challenging opportunity to teach in the online world. The challenges and thinking involved in such a project is a very creative process. The presenter discusses his personal and professional development as he has recently gone through this process, translating to classes that instruct first-year law students about Canadian legislative online resources.
The presenter is a law librarian at the University of Saskatchewan Law Library and has taught elements of legal research to 1st year law students for the past 15 years. He co-teachers in this class with Law faculty within the University of Saskatchewan Law Library who teach legal research and writing. In this collaborative teaching approach, the law library and Law faculty work closely together and to classes that have been taught in Canadian legislative research, are part of the larger legal research and writing class. The Law librarian's knowledge and expertise of both federal and provincial and American legal resources contributes to this class. In preparation for the autumn class of 2016, the Law librarian worked closely with an instructional designer employed by the University of Saskatchewan Library. His expertise and his work helping other librarians develop online modules has been extremely helpful. The entire process has and continues to be a learning process for the Law Librarian. The focus of this presentation and eventual paper are applicable not only to Law librarian but to anyone who teaches or instructs.
The presenter has been teaching first year law students tools required for researching Canadian federal legislation for several years. The material itself has not changed so much from the print to the online world. The format of legislative information has changed and same government legislative information is now published online on Canadian federal government websites. Otherwise the steps and procedures to finding legislative materials has remain consistent
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Translation the classroom lecture into online format allows a stAudent to learn more effectively by reading information learning research procedures. Teaching these materials online enables practical hands on experience through a series of exercises and multiple choice questions designed to test students' understanding of the information and skill sets presented. The learning experience is enriched and practical skills are acquired that will benefit the students not only during her time in law school but when they are out practicing law is well
Three key elements of developing a series of online learning modules and the learning that accompanied these stages will be discussed. The presenter and the author is discussing the journey and learning involved in this project as much as the online modules themselves. It is hoped that by sharing such experiences others may learn and be inspired to develop online modules for teaching where appropriate.
It is highly recommended for those who do not have experience developing an online class or a series of modules to work closely with somebody who has had such experience. It also helps tremendously to look at other online modules in one's field or at one's institution to have as a guide or to help one develop a framework to provide direction and consistency in the project.
Secondly, it is imperative to state very clearly in the module what the student will learn from the online module, to provide an outline of what will be covered in each particular module, and to follow up with either multiple choice questions or an exercise to ensure that the student has learned from the material covered. The author found that converting a verbally charge class into written an online instruction forces one to use very clear and precise writing to guide the student through the lesson. Converting a lesson that is taught in class into an online format forces in structure to carefully think about what directions are required for the student to learn effectively; putting instruction into words is very different from standing in front of a classroom.
Thirdly, any corresponding quizzes, examples, exercises must also be very clear to illustrate what has been discussed. It is imperative that these questions are designed to ensure that the student is actually reading the material and also to, where possible, gives the student hands-on exercises to make the entire project interesting to the student and also to share that they learn the material properly. Instruction, commentary, examples, directions, etc. must be very clear to the student so that the online environment is a very positive one.
To conclude, the presenter shares the most difficult yet at the same time the most rewarding elements of converting a classroom presentation into an online module. Legislation and law-making procedures lend themselves to the online environment because steps followed to find statutes, regulations and other legislative information are consistent whether in print or digital format. The benefits of these online modules are greater retention and understanding of skills taught through practical exercises.