Ready-made learning materials
This teachers blog text touches upon the topic of ready-made learning materials. The text is written by Fredrika Sourander, who used to work with this topic previously. You can find more information about what kind of ready-made learning material we have available at the university on Messi. If you want to learn more about how to use ready-made learning materials in your teaching or how to encourage students to use the materials as extra curricula, do not hesitate to contact the eduwasa team at eduwasa @uwasa.fi
There is a wide range of ready-made learning materials available for teachers to use in teaching. The materials can be integrated into the course curricula, or used as extra learning materials for students.
As a teacher with limited time on your hands, you might think that searching for relevant good quality ready-made learning materials is quite time consuming. Sure, it can be in the beginning, and of course you as a teacher have to decide for yourself if the content matches the topic you teach on your course and if the quality of the content is good enough. However, there are many ways ready-made learning materials can support learning, which makes it worth the effort. Providing ready-made learning materials for students as extra curricula, can also be highly beneficial for the students.
Using ready-made materials
Ready-made learning materials are great to use in for example flipped learning. Why not choose one or two ready-made case studies in your chosen topic and ask your students to complete the case studies in groups. After the students have completed the case studies you can get together in a classroom setting and discuss the topic and the questions the case studies raised. Another example of how to use ready-made learning materials is to choose a few ready-made lectures for your students to watch on their own and perhaps ask them to write some reflections, then come together at campus and discuss the topic, and the questions the lectures raised.
Extra curricula
Many platforms that contain ready-made learning materials also provide the possibility for students to earn badges or certificates, which are great for boosting the CV. A wide range of knowledge is required from today’s workforce. In order for students to be successful in their future jobs, it can be beneficial for them to have relevant skills also in other fields of study, then the one their degree represents. For example, a wide range of knowledge in various topics related to technology and digitalization is an advantage in today’s job market, regardless of your field of study. If a student with a major in marketing also can show certificates representing skills in AI and data science on their CV, it might increase the chances of landing a great job opportunity.
Socio-emotional skills
Furthermore, when it comes to work life relevance and preparing our students for the job market, today’s employers recognizes the importance of socio-emotional skills as a part of being successful in your work. Socio-emotional skills such as communication skills, groupwork skills, emotional self-regulation skills as well as intercultural skills are useful not only in your personal life, but also in a collaborative work environment. These skills help you understand your co-worker’s perspectives as well as understanding your own strengths and development areas. If you work in a leadership position, strong socio-emotional skills will help you recognize the individual strengths your employees have, and let them use their strengths in order to create a strong and well-being work environment. With the help of ready-made learning materials socio-emotional skills training can be added to the curricula, or used as extra curricula, in order to help students develop these essential skills.
There is a wide range of ready-made learning materials out there waiting to be discovered. Many of the learning platforms also arranges different challenges and hackathons directed towards students, which is a fun way to learn!
Fredrika Sourander
