Planning for Publishing
Lecture Notes on the Web
Deirdre Hetherington
Educational Technology Unit
Why publish lecture notes on the
Web?
 Accessible at all times
 For revision purposes
 Adding an extra element
 Illustrate a process
 To engage the student with the learning
material
What will motivate the students
to go to your page?

Directly related to coursework

Related to the exam

Pre-class preparation
Once there, what will keep them
there?

Content



Useful, relevant information
Presentation & layout

Navigation

Consistency of style
And what will make them return regularly?

Keep content up to date, include new items

Continue to develop the site further
How do I get the students to engage
with the material as participants and
not just observers?

Question and feedback

Adopt a problem-based approach

Include an online experiment

Student contribution
How do students behave
online?

They check the contents



Ensure that a list of contents appears early in the
page
Use a table
They scan rather than read


Give key information early
Use everyday language
Considerations for the student
On the plus side:
 Access to lecture notes both at home and on campus at
convenient times
 Will not miss a lecture due to absence
 Greater variety in the learning environment thus
catering to a variety of learning styles
 Increased computer literacy
Considerations for the student
On the minus side:
 May be using a slow modem therefore resources take
time to download
 Access may require the use of plug-ins
 Access to audio and video files in open access centres
 Will have to bear the cost of printing
Looking at how others structure their
lecture notes
The Production Line

Plan



Prepare


Resources
Produce




State aims and objectives
Structure, layout, navigation
Using a conversion tool
Composing in HTML
Using an authoring tool
Publish

Using Queen’s Online
Using images in web pages




Gif, jpeg formats
Provide alternative text in the <ALT> field
Check the download time
Reduce loading delays

Reduce file size of image by
Reducing the physical size (number of pixels)
Reducing the number of colours
Making 'thumbnails'
Example: Bodleian Library
www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/imacat/in02.html
Maintaining your pages
 Review your overall design; there are some useful do’s and
don'ts at
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/coursematerials/webdesign/DosND
onts.html which you may find useful.
 Evaluate your work
 Update the content
 Check that links work. Proprietary software such as Site
Mill & Front Page will check links.
 Get access statistics to find out if your page is being used.
Consider………

Use Spellchecker

Include a “Last updated” date on your page

Include contact details?

Copyright

Data protection Act
http://www.qub.ac.uk/tap/admin_cler/Presentation%20Data%
20Protection%20Act%201998.htm

Check your page for browser compatibility

Check for accessibility
Going live
via Queen’s Online at
http://www.qnet.qub.ac.uk
Where next?

Follow-up workshops with the Educational
Technology Unit

Training Unit courses

Media Services
See handout
The End