Time Savers: share and reuse materials

Choose to reuse

Assignments from obsolete courses can sometimes be reused for current courses, if there is sufficient overlap. A few things to consider when contemplating reusing assignments are:

• Does the emphasis of the assignment reflect the emphasis of the course for both content and learning objectives?
• Is the assignment not so recent that students in the course may have done it in previous years?
• Does any reworking or updating of the assignment take less time than it would to create an assignment from scratch?

Update

Updating of assignments includes making sure that assignment is up-to-date with current research and knowledge. However, it also means that any examples and references are current and in line with the lived experiences of this cohort of students.
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Watch out for

• If relevant, any cultural references that may have become obsolete (e.g. names of people in the news, technologies, TV shows, etc. )
• Any studies that my – for whatever reason – no longer be available for students
• Any more recent studies that could or should be included in the assignment
• Any required previous knowledge or skills that have disappeared from the curriculum and that students no longer possess
• The correction work involved , as some older assignments tend to be more feedback heavy
• Possibilities for breaking up a longer assignment from the past into multiple shorter ones
• Any positive or negative effects of  technological advances and accessibility of information on the assignment, such as whether it it has become easier to do for students or quicker to assess for teachers

Choose to reuse

Some rubrics and assessment forms are more generic, such as those for judging a presentation; these are often already reused. Others are more tailored towards specific assignments, and were designed with these in mind. The possibilities for reusing these are sometimes overlooked. Yet, with a few adjustments, they can function quite well for assignments of a similar type.

Update

Updating rubrics and assessment forms usually involves identifying assignment-specific issues and incorporating these into the rubric or assessment form. It is also makes sense to look at awarded points or partial grades, and see if the various components are weighed fairly in light of the learning objectives. More specifically:
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Watch out for

• If relevant, any cultural references that may have become obsolete (e.g. names of people in the news, technologies, TV shows, etc. )
• Any changes in rules about reporting results
• Any missing comments in the rubric relating to issues specific to the current cohort of students
• Any required previous knowledge or skills that have disappeared from the curriculum and that students no longer possess
• Any necessary adjustments in expectations if the rubric was previously used for a course on a different level
• Any positive or negative effects of  technological advances and accessibility of information on the assignment, and what this means for expectations and grading

Choose to reuse

When designing new courses, many of us use an older workbook or course manual as a template. Often we use the same one all the time, or we use the most recent one we can find. However, it can pay off to first go through your own course history or even that of colleague in search of courses that have aspects in common with the course you are designing. The number of weeks a course runs, the general topic of the course (whether it is a methods course, or a themed course, for instance), and the level it is aimed at are all worth considering. Sometimes multiple older course documents can serve as the starting point for your new course.

Update

Although using older documents as templates will save time, the effort required to update these should not be underestimated. These are important go-to documents, and students will understandably hold you to account over misinformation or mistakes. The list below can hopefully help you in checking and double-checking your course manual or workbook.

Watch out for

• Any official rules and regulations that may have been updated or changed (.e.g. plagiarism rules, Binding Study Advice, complaints procedures , calculation of study load, etc.)
• Differences in ECTS between courses over the years, even if they last the same number of weeks
• Differences in student expectations between years/levels, if the document was used for a lower or higher level previously (what do they know, what can they do, how many pages can they read, etc.)
• The dates in your weekly planning and any holidays that may occur during the course
• If relevant, any cultural references that may have become obsolete (e.g. names of people in the news, technologies, TV shows, etc. )
• Any links that may – for whatever reason – no longer be available
• Any studies that my – for whatever reason – no longer be available for students
• Any more recent studies that could or should be included in the course
• Any required previous knowledge or skills that have disappeared from the curriculum and that students no longer possess
• Any consequences for your workload if the student numbers have gone up
• Any positive or negative effects of  technological advances and accessibility of information on the assignment, such as whether it it has become easier to do for students or quicker to assess for teachers

Choose to reuse

Increasingly, digital examination tools allow teachers to build a database with exam questions. In addition, many of us have kept our exam questions from previous years and previous courses, regardless of the technology of the day. Because they tend to focus on a small aspect of a course, they are often reusable in newer courses or in a changed curriculum that overlaps with an older one.

However, whether they are reused verbatim or used as inspiration for an updated version, it is important to have some understanding of how recently they were last used. Especially if you share a question pool with colleagues, there is a danger of the same students being asked the same questions for different courses or in subsequent years. While this may not be an issue for the odd multiple-choice question, when this happens often or for more complex, larger questions, this can become problematic.

For this reason, updating or rephrasing is always preferred, unless you have some fail-safe way to ensure a minimum of , say, 3 years before a question is reused.

Update

Updating exam questions includes making sure that the question (and its proposed correct answer) is up-to-date with current research and knowledge. However, it also means that any examples and references are current and in line with the lived experiences of this cohort of students.
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Watch out for

• If relevant, any cultural references that may have become obsolete (e.g. names of people in the news, technologies, TV shows, etc. )
• Any additional opportunities that come with digital examination, such as the possibility for students to access any audio-visual media you want to, as part of the question
• Any more recent studies that could interfere with a question and answer
• Any required previous knowledge or skills that have disappeared from the curriculum and that students no longer possess
• possibilities for rephrasing an older question in the light of a newer phenomenon or development
• Any other positive or negative effects of  technological advances in the broadest sense

Choose to reuse

PowerPoint lecture slides can often be reused, as long as the end result is not a mishmash of different styles and single-slide topics. Note that the way people use PowerPoint can be highly individual, both in use of language and in the use of visuals. Combining these without due care can lead to confusion among students. In addition, you may break up your own natural flow during the lecture. Using other people’s slides as inspiration may be worth it, if the ideas are good, but it often requires making a version that is wholly  “your own” and that sits comfortably among the rest of the material.

Using slides from your won previous courses, however, can be a real time saver. For best results, it helps if you reuse a sequence of subsequent slides on a single topic. Within the end result, this will feel more like a logical whole and promote the flow of your narrative.

Update

Making PowerPoint slides seem fresh and up-to-date, is partly about language and the examples you choose. However, more so than in any other medium we tend to use, visuals are extremely important. They add flavour and interest to your slides, and can function as a memory aid for students.

Watch out for

• Any official changes in style requirements and logos – is there an up-to-date PowerPoint template that needs to be used?
• Any changes in copyright rules for using slides in educational settings, and making them available afterwards. Pictures, photo’s , quotations, etc. increasingly need due referencing in this type of medium , unless drawn from copyright-free sources
• Differences in student expectations between years/levels,; these may require subtle differences in tone and choice of visual material
• Any important dates mentioned in the slides (obvious, but easy to forget)
• If relevant, any cultural references that may have become obsolete (e.g. names of people in the news, technologies, TV shows, etc. )
• Any links that may – for whatever reason – no longer be available
• Any studies that my – for whatever reason – no longer be available for students
• Any more recent studies that could or should be mentioned in the slide
• Any required assumptions about previous knowledge or skills on the part of the students
• Technological issues that may come up when trying to use older slides in a newer versions of PowerPoint, or compatibility with current student versions of the sofware
• Any increased possibilities for integrating PowerPoint slides into other platforms and media (such as Canvas) and for embedding external media and files into PowerPoint (such as Mentimeter).

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