Interactivities

In some subjects the ability to deliver graphical and interactive content is key to putting across complex concepts. It's not necessarily about adding bells and whistles to liven up dull content, but about finding the most effective way to deliver what's needed.

Sometimes when presenting dense content online it can make it less overbearing to present it in an accordion layout, which opens out to reveal each item in turn:

 

Let's now pull in some examples of learning content from different types of courses to illustrate good use of interactivity.

The following example is from a medical course and it compares standard ultrasound with high-end scanners. The ability to drag one scan over the other allows the student to make the comparison in their own time. A video could show the same issue but offers the student less control.

In subjects like economics it can be helpful to allow the student to control stepping through sequential images to understand a concept. Here the concepts of marginal cost, linear demand and monopoly behaviour are illustrated in a series of graphs.

 

The classic use for flip cards or dialogue cards is in language teaching, but they are a simple way to pose any brief question to the student and allow them to check their thinking.