Digital learning is becoming more and more common in education for students and for adults in the workplace. Just as digital content must be engaging and accessible for students, it should also be for adults. When designing online courses for both types of learners, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and SCORM should be used.
Best Practices for Building Online Courses
SCORM is a standard to use when building online content. A course built using SCORM is a “collection of lessons packaged with instructions that are understood by online learning management systems” (KMI Learning, 2010). SCORM stands for Sharable, Content, Object, Reference Model. The course and its lessons (objects) can be shared from one system or organization to another without changing it. The number of lessons in a course can vary, and rules can be set governing how the lessons are accessed. SCORM courses are adaptable to the needs of the learner, and they can track the learner’s progress (KMI Learning, 2010).
More recent legislation has called for more access to digital resources for all students, and there is an emphasis on using UDL when creating digital content. The basic idea of UDL is that digital content should be “born accessible” instead of requiring modification to meet accessibility standards. Content should be created from the beginning to meet the needs of all students including those with various types of disabilities and English language learners (SREB, 2017). SREB (2017) defines UDL as
“a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that — (a.) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and (b.) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English-proficient.”
UDL benefits all students because content is developed in a way that uses all senses and more than one learning style, and allows for many ways for them to demonstrate their learning (SREB, 2017).
Accessibility - It's Not an Option
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 required that physical spaces be accessible to all, and it also applies to digital spaces (SREB, 2017). Prior to this course, I had heard about the need for accessible websites (high contrast colors, alt-text, etc.), but I had not been aware of the need to ensure accessibility of all digital content for students in schools and in work environments (SREB, 2017).
Schools can be held legally accountable for failure to ensure accessibility, and an accessibility plan is needed. They need to include accessibility requirements in their policies, including those that regulate purchasing of online services, digital content, technology, and open educational resources. They also need committees to monitor regulation changes and review policy in light of those changes. Schools also need to ensure implementation by monitoring accessibility practices of faculty and staff. Teachers, administrators, and IT professionals all need training to ensure compliance (SREB, 2017; SREB, 2018).
Based on my own experience and the SREB (2017) readings, many school personnel do not know about the legal requirements to create and use accessible content or how to create it to begin with. I have never heard it mentioned in any training I’ve had.
Professional development is needed in this area, and the training must be created with adult learning theory (andragogy) in mind. The four key principles of andragogy are 1) application, 2) problem solving, 3) involvement, and 4) experience. Trainings should be applicable, and the teachers need to be able to see how they could use the content in their practice. The training should also include problem-solving scenarios, and allow for involvement and interaction with each other and the content. The trainees also need to be allowed to share their experiences and wisdom in discussions about the content (Training Solutions, 2020).
Creating Videos for Online Training Courses
For online trainings, videos are very important. They can be more interesting and engaging than a traditional training, and can be done with simple software and your phone. Engagement can be increased by adding hot spots and hyperlinks, which allows learners to access information that is most interesting to them (Quigley, 2020; Pappas, 2016). According to Pappas (2021), videos can “stimulate brainstorming, heighten motivation, and appeal to a variety of learning needs.” Videos can be used to present many kinds of topics, and they can reduce the amount of time it takes to learn. They incorporate several methods of communication (pictures, words, context, tone) in one place (Pappas, 2021; Quigley, 2020). Creating your own videos allows you to customize the content to the context you are in and meet your specific objectives (Quigley, 2020). You can also use premade videos and edit them to make them more engaging and interactive (Pappas, 2016).
In order to make a quality video, there must be thorough advance preparation, a quality recording, and good editing.
In the planning stage 1) objectives and goals need to be identified, 2) an outline with all visual elements and a script with appropriate interactions need to be made, and 3) equipment for recording needs to be obtained (Pappas, 2021; Pappas, 2016). The equipment needed to do this does not have to be expensive or complex. You need a camera, lapel microphone, software for screen captures and editing (Quigley, 2020).
During the recording phase, Pappas (2021) recommends filming multiple times, making sure each aspect is perfect, and trying different angles, music, graphics, etc. Editing is needed to streamline the video (Quigley, 2020).
During editing, it is important to ensure accessibility by making sure it can be viewed on any device and has closed captioning. Also include audio narratives for graphics, tables, or images can be added, and add non-distracting background music and visual effects. For the best effect, videos should be less than three minutes. It is also a good idea to create a compressed, lower-resolution version for people viewing it on a slow connection (Pappas, 2021).
Once completed, the video will need to be delivered to the learners through a learning management system (LMS) or embedded into your course. Video tracking can be used within the LMS to track progress and prevent learners from fast forwarding or opening other browser windows, and analytics can be gathered to evaluate effectiveness of your video (Quigley, 2020; Pappas, 2016).
Personal Experience with Screencast-O-Matic
One video capture/editing software I have used is Screencast-O-Matic. I started using it in 2017 to record lesson instructions for my students when on maternity leave. My videos have been very basic. They usually are recordings of a lecture with a screen recording, or a capture of examples I have done under the document camera. It has the capability to do just a screen capture, a webcam, or both of these. I have used it in all of these ways. I have used the editor to delete dead air and to narrate over the screen capture before when my microphone didn’t work.
I vaguely knew that Screencast-O-Matic had some more advanced features. I had never really had the time to play with it to see if they were something I could use.
After watching videos on some other video programs this week, I was impressed with Camtastic. I wondered if those features I had never explored on Screencast-O-Matic were similar.
Upon further examination, I have discovered that I can change the speed and volume, do captions, annotations, zoom, draw, and add royalty-free music to my videos. I also discovered that I can upload straight to YouTube. Somehow, I had missed this along the way. This piece of information will save me time in the future! The interface seems less user-friendly than Camtastic did, but the major features seemed similar. When I looked at the price tag, I have decided that the price for more user friendly is not worth it. I pay about $20/year for my Screencast-O-Matic deluxe account (they have a limited free version too), and an education account on Camtastic was over $200. I am looking forward to trying out some of the new features that I have discovered to see if I can make my videos a little more interesting and accessible for my students.
Here is a brief tutorial on how to use Screencast-O-Matic.
References
KMI Learning. (2010, April 26). Scorm demystified. YouTube.com. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzxNwWvmwf4
Pappas, C. (2016, August 1). 6 steps to create interactive online training videos. eLearning Industry. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://elearningindustry.com/steps-create-interactive-online-training-videos
Pappas, C. (2021, May 12). Producing high quality Elearning Videos: The ultimate guide. eLearning Industry. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://elearningindustry.com/producing-high-quality-elearning-videos-ultimate-guide
Quigley, E. (2020, January 29). How to create employee training videos. LearnUpon. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.learnupon.com/blog/employee-training-video/
SREB, (2017) Expanding Accessibility to Digital Spaces Through Improved Policy and Practice Retrieved December 9, 2019 from https://sulross.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/courses/2019_SPRG_21411_ED_6381/2018_SPRG_21931_ED_6381_ImportedContent_20180107094503/2017_edtech_policybrief_final_5-3%281%29.pdf
SREB, (2018). 10 Issues in Educational Technology, 2108. Retrieved December 7, 2019 from https://www.sreb.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/10issues_v8-web_version_accessible.pdf?1521568731
Training Solutions. (2020, October 22). How to implement adult learning theory (andragogy) in the workplace. YouTube.com. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIpXQKQpMI
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