Creating SERC Pedagogic Service Modules and Activities
The Project Goals: Linking Pedagogy and Content
The Pedagogic Service connects teaching materials to pedagogic methods
in ways that ensure that faculty seeking teaching materials find
pedagogic information and vice versa. Our goal is to create modules
that address teaching methods of high interest to faculty and link them
with examples illustrating the use of those methods in the classes they
teach.
Examples
Our research indicates that the examples play a critical role in
bridging between the work that faculty do on a daily basis that
motivates their interest in teaching methods and educational writing on
the use of the methods more broadly. Activities are submitted via the
Activity Submission Form.
More on Authoring Activites
Modules
Modules put forward information on the teaching methods in language
that speaks to faculty. The most popular part of every module is the
How section which gives practical advice on the use of the method. We
emphasize references to the educational literature in the modules as a
way of engaging faculty in the scholarly work that supports effective
teaching and learning.
More on Authoring
Modules
Writing for the Web
Audience
As an module or activity author, the primary audience for your webpages
are faculty - those in your discipline and those in other fields of
science,social science, engineering, mathematics and technology. Our
users also includes faculty in the humanities, K-12 teachers, and
students at all levels.
Looking not Reading
The most important distinction between writing for paper copy and for
the web is that users read books while they look at websites. Studies
show that users do not read through pages linearly, rather they look
first at the the things that catch their eye (titles, headers, pictures
and links). Users need to be lured in to reading by something
interesting. To this end we encourage you to think about how a user
will look at and move through your webpages to learn something. Nesting
long descriptions behind pages that provide a quick overview is an
important technique.
Bad Surprises
The largest source of frustration to users are links that take them to
things they are not expecting. They don't mind clicking nearly as much
as being surprised or disappointed by where they land. Thus, it is
critical to place links in contexts that help the user understand where
they are going.
Using the SERC Content Management System
You will create your module or activity in the SERC Content Mangement
System (CMS). This web-based interface will allow you to create and
edit your webpages in such a way that they can be incorporated in your
site and shared with other projects across the country. The CMS uses a
mark-up language similar to html or to old fashioned word processors.
You can find full instructions in our
documentation
How Will You Know When You are Done?
We provide a
checklist for authors as a guide
for self-review that you can use to determine the readiness of your
work for expert review.
