Showcase: Interactives
Interactives in digital education
What is an ‘interactive’?
Shorthand for ‘Interactive web content’, an interactive is a digital resource specifically designed to promote active learner engagement. This type of content is dynamic and requires learner input, and it can respond to the learner’s actions. It can be as simple as an onscreen button that you click to reveal more information, or as involved as a game that is playable within a webpage.
Why use them?
Underpinned by the QMUL 'ACE' framework interactives are a great way to provide student-paced learning activities to help deliver Excellence in Education, Excellence in Student Engagement, Excellence in Learning Environment, and Excellence in Student Employability.
Extensive web usability research demonstrates that learners engage with online content differently from how they consume it through hard copy. Online, attention spans are significantly shorter, increasing the risk of learner disengagement part way through the journey – known as ‘drop-off rate’. The correct response to this is not simply to ‘chunk’ large amounts of information into bite-size sections, but to keep the learners active in the process by engaging them with interactive content. If they have a sense of being an active participant in their own learning, rather than a passive observer of the information, there will be measurable improvements in engagement and completion rates.
In our learning design work with programme teams, we apply Laurillard’s Conversational Framework (2012) and her concept of “learning types”. When considering potential interactive content for your module, reflecting on what students need to be doing and how it aligns with these learning types can provide clarity.
Bespoke Interactive Development
We at DES use both ‘standard’ templated interactive assets, as well as bespoke interactive creation in-house. Bespoke or 'custom' interactives offer significant advantages over pre-built templates, allowing educators flexibility and creativity in aligning interactions and user experiences with specific educational goals from the outset, rather than retrofitting existing frameworks.
Case Studies
Decision-making game
Co-created with the MA Medical Education online team, and utilising game-based learning, Is That Ethical?! is a custom interactive that tests students’ knowledge and understanding of ethical issues related to educational research, based on a real world scenario.
Learn more about gamification and game-based learning.
AI chatbot
Another great way to personalise the experience for the learner is to leverage the benefits of AI to create personal assistant that will respond to an individual learning pathway.
Learn about the work the DES has done with AI powered personal learning assistants.
Interactives catalogue – creative showcase
Browse our interactives catalogue below to explore additional examples and the pedagogical benefits of each.
Contact the Digital Education Studio if you would like to know more about interactives.
Reference
Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. Routledge.