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The Playlist course template

A course template for authors using the Playlists blended learning model.

Caitlin Foran avatar
Written by Caitlin Foran
Updated over a week ago

What is a learning playlist?

A playlist is where learners work through a series of individual activities to achieve a learning outcome. To find out more about playlists check out our blog post on Playlists for blended learning.

What's in the playlist course template?

We've structured the template to have just a few welcome pages and then a separate section for each playlist.

Screenshot showing the sctructure of the template: 1.1.1 Welcome 1.2 What and how you'll learn 1.2.1 What you'll learn 1.2.2 How you'll learn 1.2.3 In-app support 1.2.4 Get started! 1.3 Playlist 1: [Title] 1.3.1 Overview of playlist 1 1.3.2 [Playlist item 1 title] 1.3.3 [Playlist item 2 title] 1.3.4 Summarise and segue 1.4 Playlist 2: [Title]

In creating your playlist, the tasks will of course be unique, but we thought they would often fall into common “categories” of playlist items. So, we have created a subsection within the appendix with a range of example pages for each of these categories.

You can drag and drop pages to where you need them in your course and use Starred pages to save time if you want to add a copy elsewhere in the course.

Things to read/watch

You might be directing learners to readings, videos, or perhaps your own uploaded lecture slides or recorded presentations. So we’ve got template pages for each of these content types.

Below is an example of a presentation page:

Essay task below presentation asks learners to make notes focusing specifically on defining [concept] in their own words and understanding how [concept] relates to [occurence].]]]

Active reading/watching

Learning is enhanced when learners are active in their learning, that is when they have things to do, rather than things to read/watch. So we’ve included a section full of ideas that help learners engage with what they’re reading/watching. For instance, this task below which supports learners to reflect on what they have learned from a resource.

Example essay task which asks learners to give a reponse to these questions after reading an article: "What surprised you?, What was new to you?, Did the article change your opinion about [subject/event]? Why? Why not?, What implications do you see for [area] from this article?". The task then has a space for learners to type their response. And, once they submit, learners are shown some automatic feedback below their response.

In this task (as with many of the tasks in the template) we’ve also included template autofeedback (shown below “Learner response…”) that shows when a learner submits their answer and can further support learning and metacognition.

Checklists for offline tasks

If you have a list of tasks you want learners to complete as part of the playlist we’ve included options that re-purpose a multiple choice task as a checklist.

Example multiple choice task used as a checklist where learners can select (to show as complete) the different items they've completed. E.g. in a text/workbook "Read these pages closely", "Make notes on Z", "Complete questions a-d".

Using these checklist tasks allows you to see easily who has done what.

Embedded items

Embedded items could be things to interact with or collaborate on. We’ve got template pages for a range of common embedded items based on these categories:

  • Whiteboard and wall tools

  • Mind mapping tools

  • Word cloud tools

  • Presentation tools

Here is an example of an embedded Padlet.

Example embedded padlet showing images of the sun and planets in the solar system, with facts about them below each image. In the right corner a new fun fact is being added by someone using the Padlet.

Tasks to support recall and understanding

The template has a range of different short “have I got this” tasks to keep learners engaged and help them build their skills before working on a larger piece of work for feedback.

Example matching task wherelearners can drag and drop definitions to the matching terms. Then below this task is an example cloze with dropdown task where there are blanks for learners to fill in (within an explanation) and learners can choose the words that best fit from the each dropdown.

Example highlight task where learners are asked to select the words that show the mistake(s) in a given definition.

You can even bundle these together in a quiz to help stop that forgetting curve!

Check-in points

Often playlists have clear check in points for formative feedback - A chance for learners to check their understanding and progress and get some guidance on next steps. We have given some generic formative feedback tasks and some options for encouraging reflection and metacognition.

Example audio recording task where learners are asked to record themselves reflecting on these questions: "What are the two most [significant/central/useful/meaningful/sursprising] things?, What question(s) remain in your mind?, Is there anything you would like guidance on?"

For these tasks, facilitators have the option of adding written feedback, or even audio or video feedback which can be really powerful!

Summary

As with all our templates, this template is entirely customisable. You can change all the text, tasks and images to suit your particular context.

For instructions on where to find these templates, check out How to use a template.

If this particular template isn't quite right for you, why not check out our full list of iQualify templates, or, create your own!

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