![\"Image](\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/files\/2016\/11\/Multimedia-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Image source: CC0 Public Domain<\/a>. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.<\/p><\/div>\n There is an updated version of this post<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n How can we use multimedia content to make learning more effective? The traditional approach to teaching in higher education tends to limit learners to reading texts, listening to lectures and discussing ideas in seminars. However, we learn better, and are more interested in learning tasks, when information is presented in diverse ways – so why not try something different? <\/p>\n Make learning more active by giving students a task to complete while engaging with multimedia content. Rather than passively consuming, learners then have an objective and become actively engaged in doing something with the material. Try moving from lower order thinking skills, by testing comprehension with a short multiple choice quiz or survey (using, for example, Poll Everywhere<\/a>, Google Forms<\/a> or Study Direct<\/a>), to higher order thinking skills, by asking students to write a short blog post or summary of the material (using WordPress<\/a> or Blogger<\/a>), synthesise material from a range of sources (for example, on a Padlet<\/a> wall) or create an entirely new resource based on the content (e.g. a presentation, a handout, an audio recording).<\/p>\n Take your tasks a step further by integrating them into a structured system, progressing through a cycle of pre-session, in-class and post-session tasks, all of which provide you with evidence for assessing your learning outcomes. This constructive alignment will ensure that students are actively engaged throughout the entire process and that each step is linked by an overarching sense of purpose. Professor Robin Banerjee<\/a> (<\/a>Psychology), as well as Susan Smith<\/a> and Mark Fisher<\/a> (BMEc), have had positive results using this method. If you are interested in learning more about flipped learning approaches, ask to join our Flipped Learning Group by e-mailing tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/a>, or listen to our podcast episode, How I Got Started with Flipped Learning<\/a>:<\/p>\n https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/teachingwithtech\/how-i-got-started-with-flipped-learning-susan-smith<\/p>\n Reading lists have a long tradition in higher education – but why not try complementing traditional approaches with watching or listening lists? For example, Google provides useful tutorials on how to Create and Manage YouTube Playlists<\/a>, how to Share a Playlists with Others<\/a>, or Collaborate on Playlists<\/a>. Starting a class YouTube channel with collaborative playlists could be a great way to involve learners in evaluating sources and curating digital content. Alternatively, to create a listening list, you could try using this Podcast Playlist Creator<\/a> to search for podcast episodes, compile them into a playlist, then create a link which can be shared or subscribed to as an RSS feed (for more information, see What is RSS?<\/a>) using a service such as Feedly<\/a> or displayed on a Study Direct<\/a> site using the RSS block<\/a>.<\/p>\n1) Give students an active task to complete<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n2) Use a flipped learning approach, with pre-session, in-class and post-session tasks<\/h3>\n
3) Provide a watching or listening list to complement existing reading lists<\/h3>\n