Develop Engaging Instructional Materials

A Venn diagram describing the importance of quality instructional materials. The top says improving classroom engagement, the right says build teacher-student relationships, and the right says reflect instructor's effort and interest

In any course, there are key subject matter content concepts and skills that students need to learn. After clearly defining your course learning objectives and key assessments (i.e. how they’ll demonstrate what they’ve learned), the next step is to choose the instructional materials and learning activities that will lead students to achieve the learning goals (Wiggins & McTighe, 2012).

Quality instructional materials are fundamental to student engagement in your course, as they not only make the student experience more interesting and enjoyable, but also reflect the instructor’s effort and interest—and therefore contribute to building the student-instructor relationship. In choosing content (textbooks, anthologies, articles, videos, podcasts, digital course reserves, etc.) for students to read, watch or listen to, it’s recommended to consider the following criteria:

Accessibility: Ensure materials are accessible to all learners
Alignment: Ensure materials align with course learning objectives
Currency: Use materials that are up-to-date in edition, knowledge, etc.
Low or No Cost: Use free Open Education Resources (OER) or low cost options (i.e. some e-book publishers allow you to ‘cherry pick’ chapters to keep cost down).
Coverage: Ensure that resources adequately cover a particular topic
Diversity and Inclusion: Present unbiased representations of gender, race, ethnicities, etc. and varied perspectives
Multiple means of representation (Universal Design for Learning): Present content in multiple ways in order to appeal to students’ learning preferences
Readability: Review all content for clarity in definitions, examples, graphics, etc.

Best practices in Developing Engaging Instructional Materials

Examples of engaging formats include, but are not limited to:

Recorded mini-lectures
Infographics
Simulation-based learning
Case studies
Community service learning
Civic engagement opportunities

Students love to “see” you. So, whenever possible, it’s a great idea to create your own materials from scratch or remix materials from content found in OER repositories.

Regardless of the media and technology you use, the following best practice principles will guide you in developing engaging instructional materials for your online course.

Click each item to learn more.

Break long lectures into small videos (“Chunk It”)

Create a cycle of listening and doing

Use illustrations and real-life examples

Be personable and use humor

Take a “less is more” approach on the slides

Apply to your course: Resources & Tools

There are several ways you can integrate engaging learning materials into your course. See the chart below for ideas and resources for accessing them.

Content Type	Description	Tools/ Resources
Digital Course Reserve	Digital Course Reserves are digital course materials which the UMass Amherst Library has reserved for use in a specific class. Scans of book chapters and journal articles Links to databases and e-books These also include audiovisual materials, such as streaming film and music.	The material is freely available and accessible for students 24/7 from anywhere For more information on UMass Library Course Reserves, visit UMass Library Course Reserves
Recorded Mini-Lectures	Recorded Mini-Lectures Lecturing is another common method for delivering course content in person or online, during synchronous or asynchronous sessions. For live, synchronous lectures, Zoom is the most commonly used platform. For asynchronous lectures, you can use Echo360, Canvas Studio or VoiceThread.	Echo360 VoiceThread Zoom Canvas Studio
Open Educational Resources (OER)	Open Educational Resources are educational materials and tools offered freely for anyone to use and—under some licenses—to re-mix, improve and redistribute. They include: Learning content: full courses and modules, textbooks, lectures/ tutorials, collections, and journals. Tools: software to support the creation, delivery and improvement of open learning content. Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content.	Visit OER Commons to learn more about OER Check out Merlot and the Open Textbook Library for curated materials

Content Type

Description

Tools/ Resources

Digital Course Reserve

Digital Course Reserves are digital course materials which the UMass Amherst Library has reserved for use in a specific class.

Scans of book chapters and journal articles
Links to databases and e-books

These also include audiovisual materials, such as streaming film and music.

The material is freely available and accessible for students 24/7 from anywhere
For more information on UMass Library Course Reserves, visit UMass Library Course Reserves

Recorded Mini-Lectures

Recorded Mini-Lectures Lecturing is another common method for delivering course content in person or online, during synchronous or asynchronous sessions.

For live, synchronous lectures, Zoom is the most commonly used platform.
For asynchronous lectures, you can use Echo360, Canvas Studio or VoiceThread.

Echo360
VoiceThread
Zoom
Canvas Studio

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources are educational materials and tools offered freely for anyone to use and—under some licenses—to re-mix, improve and redistribute. They include:

Learning content: full courses and modules, textbooks, lectures/ tutorials, collections, and journals.
Tools: software to support the creation, delivery and improvement of open learning content.
Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content.

Visit OER Commons to learn more about OER
Check out Merlot and the Open Textbook Library for curated materials

References

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bergquist, E., & Holbeck, R. (2014). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Conceptual Model for CATs in the Online Classroom. Journal of Instructional Research, 3, 3-7.

Brown University: Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. Designing Grading Rubrics.

Cook-Snyder DR, Ehlinger DG. Adapting Case Studies for Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Courses. J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2022 Jun 1;20(2):A184-A190. doi: 10.59390/NFRQ7249. PMID: 38323062; PMCID: PMC10653226.

Douglas, T. A., Mather, C. A., Earwaker, L. A., James, A. J., & Murray, S. L. (2020). Supporting digital engage a Guide for effective development and facilitation of online discussion boards. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 1-10.

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement. Proceedings of the First ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale Conference - L@S ’14, 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556325.2566239

Lateef F. (2010). Simulation-based learning: Just like the real thing, J Emerg Trauma Shock, 3(4): 348- 52

The K. Patricia Cross Academy. Techniques Video Library.

TeacherStream LLC. (2010). Mastering online discussion board facilitation.

Traboco L, Pandian H, Nikiphorou E, Gupta L. Designing Infographics: Visual Representations for Enhancing Education, Communication, and Scientific Research. J Korean Med Sci. 2022 Jul 11;37(27):e214. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e214. PMID: 35818705; PMCID: PMC9274103.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

How to cite this page:

UMass Amherst IDEAS Team. (2024, September). Develop Engaging Instructional Materials. https://www.umass.edu/ideas/develop-engaging-instructional-materials