Understanding the Approach
In higher education, creating digital learning resources involves designing materials that enhance how teaching is delivered and experienced by students. These digital resources may include interactive content, multimedia content or structured online materials that support more engaging and flexible learning.
This approach helps address key challenges such as student engagement collaboration, and the need for multisensory learning. As learners in higher education are typically adults, traditional pedagogical approaches may be less effective making andragogical principles such as self direction and motivation more relevant. Digital learning resources align well with these principles by enabling learners to engage with content in ways that suit their individual needs. In a technology enhanced learning context this makes them particularly valuable as they can improve accessibility, support retention and provide a more dynamic and inclusive learning experience.
Types of Digital Learning Resources:
Digital learning resources are materials, tools, or activities delivered through digital platforms to support teaching and learning. These resources can take many forms depending on the subject, learning outcomes, and teaching context, including videos, interactive activities, online assessments, and collaborative spaces.
At York St John University, Moodle is used as the institutional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Moodle provides a wide range of built-in tools that enable staff to design digital learning resources which promote engagement, collaboration, and multisensory learning. These tools can be grouped according to their primary pedagogical purpose, although many support multiple learning approaches.
VLE Resources
These provide core content and structure within a Moodle course:
Pages:
Files
Text and media areas
URLs
Medial
Lesson
SCORM Packages
Collaboration Resources
These tools encourage interaction, communication and shared learning experiences:
Feedback
Mentimeter
Padlet
Forum
Choice
Chat
Engagement Resources
These support active participation assessment and learner motivation:
Quiz
Checklist
Course Certificate
Assignment
H5P
Scheduler
Wiki
Multisensory learning Resources
These enhance learning through varied formats and sensory engagement:
Glossary
H5P
Book
Lesson
Medial
Lightbox Gallery
Workshop
Together, these Moodle activities and resources provide lecturers with a flexible foundation for designing effective digital learning resources that can be adapted to a wide range of teaching contexts.
Teaching Scenarios & Relevance
Digital resources should be designed with specific teaching scenarios in mind. For example:
- Pre-session learning: Short videos or readings to prepare students (flipped learning)
- In-session engagement: Live polls, quizzes, or collaborative activities
- Post-session consolidation: Interactive quizzes or reflective activities
- Assessment support: Practice quizzes, feedback tools, and portfolios
The choice of resource should always align with how and when it will be used within the learning journey.
Designing for this Approach
When designing digital learning resources, consider the following principles:
- Alignment: Ensure learning outcomes, activities, and assessments are clearly connected
- Clarity and structure: Organise content in a logical, easy-to-follow format
- Engagement: Use interactivity, multimedia, and varied activities
- Accessibility: Design for all learners (e.g. captions, readable formats, clear navigation)
- Chunking: Break content into manageable sections to avoid cognitive overload
- Consistency: Maintain a uniform structure across modules
Frameworks & Guiding Principles
Effective digital learning design is often guided by established frameworks, such as:
- Constructive Alignment (Biggs): Align outcomes, teaching activities, and assessment
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression
- Digital Pedagogy: Focus on how technology supports learning, not just content delivery
- ADDIE Model (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate): A structured approach to instructional design
These frameworks help ensure that digital resources are pedagogically sound and learner-focused.
TEL Support
Explain how technology‑enhanced learning can support or enhance this approach.
Consider:
What TEL makes easier, more flexible, or more effective
Examples of digital approaches that work well
How TEL supports learning without adding unnecessary complexity
Case Studies:
Sorry no case studies have been found at the moment. 🙁
Next Steps:
Describe a real example from practice where this approach has been used.
You might include:
The teaching context or challenge
What approach was taken
How TEL supported the design
What was learned or what others could take from this example