A major strategy for effective teaching using educational software is provision of a range of activities and strategies to encourage learners to engage with the content. If the course designer provides feedback or commentary on these activities, then learners will experience a form of the discussion that takes place in lively classrooms.

Activities

• Activities are clearly sign-posted and learners know where each one begins and ends.
• Clear instructions help the learners to know exactly what they are expected to do.
• Instructions allow for students to understand the principles underlying them.
• Activities are related to learning outcomes.
• Activities are sufficient to give learners enough practice for confident use after using the software.
• Activities are distributed at fairly frequent intervals throughout the unit/section.
• Activities show a good range of difficulty.
• Activities are sufficiently varied in terms of task.
• Activities are sufficiently varied in terms of levels of interactivity (self, peer, group).
• Activities are life/work related.
• Activities are realistic in terms of time indications.
• Learners know which activities they have completed and when restarting on a new computer can easily locate their place.

Feedback to learners

• Feedback helps the learners to identify the errors they have made.
• Feedback provides a structured breakdown of the error and explanation of a correct procedure.
• Where calculations are required, the stages in the working are displayed and explained.
• Supportive comments are offered to learners.
• Feedback is offered immediately where appropriate.
• The software allows for multiple learning pathways to accommodate different learners with different needs and levels of competence.

Assessment

• There is an assessment strategy for the module/course as a whole, which includes both formative and summative assessment.
• The assessment tasks are directly related to the learning outcomes.
• The assessment strategy and the assessment criteria are communicated to the learners.
• Self-assessment tasks form part of the activities and where appropriate learners can track and view their progress (see feedback below).
• Software assesses students’ prior competence and allows for differentiated progress through the materials.
• Options to store and track learners use of the software and learning progress are available and support on managing this is provided.