Creating Effective and Engaging Modules: Top Tips for New Starters

Whether you are an experienced academic or a new starter, there are crucial steps you can take to ensure that your modules are not just informative but truly engaging, motivational and supportive for your students.  Here are some key strategies to help you design modules that will resonate with your learners, support student engagement, and help them foster deep understanding.

1️⃣ Constructive Alignment: The Foundation of Effective Modules

One of the first steps in developing a module is ensuring that it is constructively aligned. This means that your learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessments are all aligned in a way that supports students in achieving the desired outcomes. Think about the following elements:

✅ Learning Outcomes: Start by writing clear and measurable learning outcomes. These should articulate what students are expected to know, understand and be able to do by the end of the module. When writing these consider referencing frameworks like Bloom's Taxonomy or the SOLO Taxonomy to ensure that your outcomes are pitched at the appropriate cognitive level for your students. For instance, at Level 4 you might focus on knowledge and comprehension, whilst at Level 6 you emphasise critical analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  For further guidance on aligning your learning outcomes to the appropriate level, refer to the FHEQ level descriptors (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications). These descriptors provide a clear benchmark for what is expected at each level in higher education and can be a valuable reference when designing your modules.

✅ Relevant Tasks and Activities: Once your learning outcomes are set, design engaging and innovative tasks and activities that directly support students in achieving them. Each activity should be scaffolded to build on previous knowledge and skills, ensuring coherent and sustained progression across the module.  To effectively scaffold learning, consider incorporating Gilly Salmon ’s 5-Stage Model (see: gillysalmon.com). Gilly’s model provides a structured approach to e-learning and online discussions, but its principles can also be applied to face-to-face and blended learning environments. The five stages are:

1. Access and Motivation: Ensure that students can access the learning environment and are motivated to engage.
2. Online Socialisation: Facilitate activities that help students become comfortable with the learning environment and each other.
3. Information Exchange: Design tasks that encourage students to share information and collaborate.
4. Knowledge Construction: Guide students in constructing their understanding through discussions, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
5. Development: Support students in applying their learning to new contexts, reflecting on their progress, and developing autonomy.

These stages help ensure that students are gradually introduced to more complex tasks and that their learning is effectively scaffolded.

✅ Assessments: Your summative assessments should provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their attainment of the learning outcomes. I will cover assessment design in a future blog but be creative and focus on developing authentic assessment opportunities. It would be remiss of me not to mention the role of AI at this point, but I will come back to this in a later blog.  Having thought about your summative assessment, consider how you are going to incorporate formative assessment opportunities to gauge students' understanding and provide feedback that can further guide their learning.

2️⃣ Focus on Context Over Content: Moving Beyond Delivery

A common pitfall in module design, especially for those new to teaching, is to focus too much on content delivery.  This is something that we stress quite strongly at the University of Portsmouth and we remind staff that we are not Amazon or Deliveroo and don’t deliver teaching.  It is important to remember that effective teaching is not just about transmitting information; it’s about creating meaningful and interactive learning experiences.  Remember Ceefax?

It's very easy to get caught up in the content. I can remember in the early years of my teaching career, I had a penchant for using one too many acetates on the overhead projector (OHP), focusing perhaps too much on delivery to cover a significant amount of content. This experience taught me a valuable lesson: the critical thing when designing modules is not just to think about the content, but to carefully consider how that content is contextualised within engaging activities. Think about the following:

✅ Contextualised Learning: Instead of seeing your role as simply delivering content, shift your focus to how you can create activities that allow students to engage with the content in a meaningful way. This could involve case studies, problem-solving tasks, role play or scenario-based learning that requires students to apply their knowledge in real-world contexts.  The key is to focus on designing activities that allow students to interact meaningfully with the subject matter. This involves carefully selecting the essential concepts and then building interactive experiences around them that encourage deeper understanding and application. By creating opportunities for students to actively engage, you can ensure that the learning process is dynamic and retains student interest (as well as your own!).

✅ Supporting Engagement: In addition to in-session activities, consider how pre-session or post-session tasks can further support students' understanding. These tasks, which students can complete asynchronously, provide a balance that helps sustain engagement throughout the learning process. By structuring these activities thoughtfully, you can create and sustain a learning environment that consistently involves students and keeps the momentum of learning going. 

✅ Active Cognitive Tasks: I would highly recommend reading Mary Jacob 's chapter in Wendy Garnham and Isabelle Gower's new book, Active Learning in Higher Education. In her chapter, Active Cognitive Tasks: Synthesising Frameworks for Online Active Learning, Mary provides a compelling discussion around creating active cognitive tasks (ACTs). An ACT has three essential elements:

1. Task: Students undertake meaningful activities that require more than just passive absorption or routine execution. The focus is on what students do and how they engage with the material.
2. Cognitive: The task must involve active thinking - engaging with new ideas and reinforcing connections that move information into long-term memory. This aspect is crucial for constructing knowledge where students develop their understanding by forming and reinforcing mental connections.
3. Active: The task must empower students to take ownership of their learning. This involves building mutual trust and giving students the agency to drive their learning experience.

The chapter highlights the importance of thoughtful pedagogical planning in developing tasks that truly engage students.

✅ Confidence in Activity Design: It’s also important to be confident in your ability to design these activities. Focus on identifying the core ideas that need to be explored in each session and then create complementary tasks that reinforce or expand upon these ideas. These activities might include opportunities for students to generate knowledge, explore new concepts, or test their understanding in a reflective manner.

✅ Assessment for, of, and as Learning: Consider the different roles assessment can play in the learning process. Particularly valuable is the concept of assessment as learning, where tasks are designed not just to measure learning but to facilitate it. By creating assessments that are integral to the learning process, you encourage students to engage deeply with the material.

To structure your activities, you might find it helpful to refer to Laurillard’s Six Learning Types. These types - acquisition, inquiry, discussion, practice, collaboration, and production - offer a framework for designing a variety of learning experiences. For example:

• Acquisition: Where students acquire knowledge through lectures or reading.
• Inquiry: Involves students investigating or researching a topic.
• Discussion: Encourages dialogue and exchange of ideas.
• Practice: Allows students to apply their skills in a controlled setting.
• Collaboration: Involves working with others to achieve a common goal.
• Production: Requires students to create something, such as an essay, presentation, or project.

Using a mix of these learning types can help ensure that your module is dynamic and caters to different learning preferences.  Laurillard’s Six Learning Types are integral to the enABLe design process we have developed at the University of Portsmouth (see: enable.port.ac.uk).

3️⃣ Technology in Task Development: Pedagogically Informed Choices

When developing tasks, it’s essential to think about the appropriate use of technologies that can enhance student engagement. Remember though, that the use of technology should always be pedagogically informed. It’s not about using every available tool but rather carefully selecting a small number of technologies that will consistently support the learning experience and encourage student engagement.

✅ Core Technologies: Identify a few key technologies that you plan to use throughout the module. Introducing students to these tools early on and using them regularly allows students to build their competencies and confidence in using them. For instance, you might choose to use a tool like Padlet for collaborative brainstorming sessions or Mentimeter for real-time polling and feedback. The choice between these tools should be driven by the specific learning goals you have in mind and how the technology will support engagement with the task.  Be clear with students at the start of the module about which technologies you will be using and why.  Think carefully about how technology can be used to promote inclusivity – a topic I will come back to at a later date.

✅ Avoiding Gimmicks: It’s important to avoid the temptation to use a different technology every week, as this can become a gimmick and create unnecessary stress for students who have to learn how to use new tools constantly. Instead, focus on technologies that add genuine value to the learning experience and align with your pedagogical goals.

✅ Non-Digital Engagement: Remember, engaging activities don’t always require technology. Simple tools like flip chart paper, post-it notes, or even Lego can be incredibly effective for fostering engagement, creativity, and critical thinking in a face-to-face setting. These methods can be particularly useful in promoting active learning and group collaboration.  Just because you have access to the technology it does not mean you have to use it! 

If you’re unsure which technologies to use, consult with your academic development teams. They can provide valuable insights and support in choosing and implementing tools that enhance your teaching.  You might wish to check out the Explore Tool we have created at the University of Portsmouth (see: explore.port.ac.uk) to help staff engagement with digital technologies.  Above all, be aspirational and think creatively about the activities you want to include, and don’t hesitate to seek help if you are unfamiliar with certain technologies. Use technology incrementally - try out a new tool, reflect on its effectiveness, gather student feedback, and refine your approach as you go.

4️⃣  Incorporating Student Feedback: Enhancing Your Module’s Effectiveness

To truly gauge the effectiveness of your academic practice, it is essential to gather feedback from your students.

✅ Ongoing Feedback: Regularly seek input from your students through informal conversations, mid or end-point module evaluations.  This feedback can provide valuable insights into how your teaching is perceived and where improvements might be needed.

✅ Student as Co-Creators: Remember that students are your partners in the learning process. Engage them in discussions about the types of activities they find most engaging or invite them to contribute ideas for class activities. This collaborative approach not only empowers students but can also lead to more innovative and effective teaching strategies.

💡Final Thoughts

Creating modules that are engaging, supportive, and constructively aligned is an ongoing process of reflection and refinement. By prioritising context over content, and actively seeking student feedback, you can develop modules that not only impart knowledge but also inspire and motivate your students. As you continue to refine your teaching practice, ensure that your approach is informed by scholarship and CPD, and remember to involve your students as active participants in the module design process.

University of Portsmouth