Lizzy Garner-Foy
Lizzy is an Instructional Designer at the University of Edinburgh. She has a passion for active learning design, creative approaches to teaching, and educational media production.
Location UK
Activity
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Yes, a properly formatted table can help screen reader users interpret tables more easily, but screen readers may encounter challenges with tables because they struggle to interpret the visual layout and may not easily convey the intended structure, making it harder for users with visual impairments to understand the content. It's always best to avoid tables...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy replied to Toni Philips-Tees
Hi Toni, this course focuses on the theory behind good learning design as well as practical approaches for developing content, rather than specific software. There is, however, an opportunity to explore digital tools in Week 2. Hope that's helpful!
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Hi Ellen, sorry to hear this was frustrating. As this episode was two speakers rather than one, we wanted to allow time for an insightful conversation - and wanted to make sure nothing valuable was cut out. Remember, with Audio steps, you can download the transcript to read instead, or you might prefer to have it on in the background while doing something...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
It's great to see many of you choosing digital tools for your learning sequences with accessibility and peer-to-peer interaction in mind. We hope that you can see the benefit of breaking down learning activities using the ABC Learning Design method, and how straightforward it can be to incorporate active learning into online teaching!
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Hi Wendy, just to remind you that it is completely your choice whether you want to apply an open licence to your video content. There are some Creative Commons licences that are more restrictive, such as CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, which means that users could share and download your videos, but they would have to credit you and wouldn't be permitted to adapt or use them...
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Hi Guy, the ratio on the contrast checker is a way to measure effective colour contrast between the text and the background.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) states that normal text and images of text must meet a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, and large text (18 point or larger) at least 3:1.
The minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 meets...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Hi all, thanks for your comments. To clarify, a lower third is a graphic at the bottom (the bottom/lower third portion) of the screen. They are often used to display a presenter's name and title at the beginning of a video.
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Hi Afisulahi, thanks for your comment. You will find out more about stock video and where to find it in the next step - 1.7 Open educational resources (OER). Thanks.
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Hi Diane, thanks for your comment. A lower third is a graphic at the bottom (the bottom third portion) of the screen. They are often used to display a presenter's name and title at the beginning of a video. PTC means 'piece to camera', which was introduced in the previous step. You might find it useful to revisit 1.5 Common video and shot types.
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
I have added a link to our pack of ABC Content Writing Templates into this step to view, download, use and share! Each one should be duplicated as needed to align with your ABC learning design. They contain a space for noting down details from the workshop, guidance on how to write each learning type (and links to support resources) and space to develop your...
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@ElliotWei I have added a link to our set of ABC content writing templates into this step to view, download, use and share!
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@KimberleyReid Hi Kimberley, yes these figures are a guide based on research and experience. The idea being that those word counts are enough to concisely describe an activity/provide a focused discussion prompt. There will, of course, be exceptions, but it's generally a good idea to stick to these word counts to ensure learners are clear about what they are...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
We have now updated our top tips to include 15 key things to consider when creating online materials. If you follow this guide, your content will be much more accessible to learners.
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thank you everyone for sharing your learning sequences! It's great to see examples from a wide range of topic areas. Why not spend a few minutes reading through your fellow learners' posts and reply to one or two to share and discuss your thoughts?
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thanks for your comments everyone! Most of you agree that Version 2 is much more appealing and easier to understand than Version 1.
When you were doing this activity, did you read the article word-for-word or find yourself scanning for keywords? Did you feel distracted by exploring links or did they help you to understand the content? Did the...
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Hi David, the one that springs to mind is Articulate Rise 360. It allows you to build responsive courses online. Might be worth doing a free trial to have a look.
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Hi Maria, I see where you're coming from, but designing online content in this 'chunked' way is proven to make reading and understanding easier and more enjoyable for the learner. It also allows you to incorporate active learning more frequently into your course. That's not to say that learners can't concentrate for longer periods though - it's a good idea to...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy replied to Roz B
@RozB Hi Roz, to download Audio step content, go to the relevant step, click on the step title in the Downloads area, then click on the three dots on the media player. Select 'Download' from the dropdown menu to save the file to your device.
Alternatively, you can view and download the media from this course on our Media Hopper Channel -...
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Hi Elliot, thanks for your comment! We developed a set of templates that align with the ABC learning types for course teams to write content (before we build the course on the online platform). Each one contains a description of the activity they devised in the ABC workshop, content writing guidance and useful links relating to that learning type (e.g....
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Hi Sébastien, that sounds like a great resource. It is of course your choice whether to openly license your materials. We encourage it at the University to allow teaching and learning to be exchanged, shared, and reused. For more information, see the 'Why you, as an educator, should get involved with OER' section on our Open.ed website (bottom of the page) -...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Lots of great learning sequences here that prompt active learning! Remember to include the licence information with your images. If you need a refresher on how to approach this, just go back to step 2.6 Finding and creating open content.
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Hi Helena, great learning sequence! The ABC learning types can be used in any order. They are tools for you to create interactive learning experiences in bitesize chunks.
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Hi Catharina, wow I didn't know trains had nicknames!
This course covers resources in English, but if you can't find anything doing your own web search, if you work/study in an educational institution, I would recommend asking around... maybe there's an OER department or digital support team who might be able to help? -
Hi Rashida, while YouTube videos can be a great addition to your course, it is always a risk using media you don't own due to the issues you described. I would recommend reviewing your course regularly to ensure that there aren't any missing pieces of content, broken links etc., and using open licensed videos where possible so that you can upload the content...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thanks for your comments everyone. Remember, many online learners are interacting with materials on mobile devices and other small screens, so chunking content is essential for avoiding the scroll of death!
It can be useful to think of your materials like a website, as around 80% of online learners only scan text (they don't read every word) so using...
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ABC stands for 'Arena, Blended, Connected'. You can read more in their paper - https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dist/3/513/files/2018/05/ABC_LD-Toolkit-Intro.pdf
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Ah yes, I see what you mean. It's tricky when it's a one-off, but if you can work in a quick activity at the beginning to get everyone engaging, then revisit it at the end, then offer guidance for learners to do the same again for themselves or in groups at a later stage, that should help to encourage repetition and space, and also gives them ownership of...
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Hi Rosemary. Thanks for your question. You could include reflection on these topics in a later session so that you're encouraging your learners to think about them again (after space has occurred). You could also encourage learners to discuss and investigate the topic further and report back in a later session or ask them to write a summary, or produce a short...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thank you everyone for your input! It's interesting to read the variety of engaging activities you have devised using different digital tools.
You'll notice that Acquisition > Practice > Discussion comes up frequently... provide your learners with some content, encourage learners to build on that information and make it meaningful to them, then discuss and...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy replied to Jeffrey Vernon
Practice 'enables the learner to adapt their actions to the task goal, and use the feedback to improve their next action' (learning type definition). So, MCQs used as Practice enable educators to provide valuable feedback to help learners improve their skills. When MCQs are used as Production, although feedback can still be provided, the focus is on...
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It's important to make link text descriptive to help learners to see at a glance what they are - titles of articles, names of websites etc. are much easier to scan on a page than a sea of 'click here'!
Also, assistive technology tools like screen readers read out link text, and often read all the links on a page in one go, so 'click here' isn't helpful at...
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The Conversational Framework diagram (0:20 in the 'Professor Diana Laurillard’s six learning types' video) is also available on this blog: https://theteesra.com/2021/01/30/conversational-frameworks-and-coaching/
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
It's great to hear that you're all finding these tips useful.
When you're producing your own content, it's easy to become fixated on the end point, especially when you get in the zone with writing and deadlines are looming!
Remember to take a step back and reflect on these points. Give yourself time to review what you've produced with fresh eyes and put...
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On your first point, I know this can be frustrating! It’s a good idea to link out to interactive tools if your VLE is struggling. I’d recommend embedding videos in to the course, but, alternatively, you could use a thumbnail/image/icon to link out to videos hosted externally.
To answer your second point, we encourage teaching assistants to scan and search...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thanks for your comments everyone! It's really useful when writing content to be aware of readability, as learners can be put off straight away if writing isn't concise and clear. It's great to hear how you're using these tools and techniques in your own practice (I know I often get caught out by long sentences!)
You might also find this research useful...
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Thank you for all your insightful comments. This is a key topic that inspires lots of interesting discussion. We'd like to remind you not to share or request personal details in the comments area, as outlined in the FutureLearn Code of Conduct. Please ensure you familiarise yourself with it. Thank you. https://www.futurelearn.com/info/terms/code-of-conduct
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Hi Sarah, yes you can mark this as complete. Please go to step 3.17 to view the 'Prescribing Good Practices' content.
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
'Prescribing Good Practices' can now be found in the next step, 3.17. Thank you.
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Lizzy Garner-Foy replied to Ros A
Please be aware there is a small error in the 'Suction' audio. The correct flow rate is 40L/minute, as is stated on the slide and in the transcript (not 20L/minute as the audio states). Thanks.
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Lizzy Garner-Foy made a comment
Please be aware there is a small error in the 'Suction' audio. The correct flow rate is 40L/minute, as is stated on the slide and in the transcript (not 20L/minute as the audio states). Thanks.
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Hi, thank you for flagging this. We are working to upload an updated version with the correct audio as soon as possible. You can refer to the relevant action cards available in the Downloads area. Thanks.
