Contents and materials

Watch the Contents and Materials video (2 mins) below to see the baseline standards in practice.

Baseline Practices

Within the ‘Unit Information and Resources’ section, students should be able to find: 

1. Written instructions or a short ‘unit tour’ video explaining how the course is organised and how you expect students to engage with it.
2. Information about teaching staff - their roles, contact details, availability, expected response times and how to arrange a meeting (in-person or online).
3. Unit aims and learning outcomes, written in a clear and simple way, and aligned with information provided in the Unit Catalogue.
4. A week-by-week schedule of all activities on a unit.
5. Links to relevant programme/school information (eg, handbooks).
6. A link to the unit’s Talis Resource List.
7. A link to the unit’s Re/Play Collection.
8. The ‘Help for Students’ guide with links to support resources and services, provided in the template.

Sections containing learning materials should include:  

9. An overview outlining the section focus, content and activities, ideally broken down into steps.
10. All materials relevant to a teaching session such as slides, handouts, lecture notes and preparation tasks, uploaded at least 48 hours before the session takes place (see Principles for inclusive teaching and learning).
11. Embedded or linked Re/Play recordings and Talis resources relevant to the week or topic.

Beyond the Baseline 

The ‘Unit Information and Resources’ section could also include:  

• A Discussion or Padlet board for students to ask questions about the course or get to know each other.
• A brief summary of each teaching session, along with any self-paced or alternative activities (this would be helpful particularly if sessions are not recorded).
• A link to an office hours booking system (see Introduction to Microsoft Bookings).
• Strategies and tips for time management and self-paced learning (eg, via a Padlet asking students to share their strategies).
• A link to the unit’s Teams space in Microsoft Teams (see Using Unit Teams templates).
• A visual representation of the course structure (eg, timeline, mind map).
• A schedule of activities on a programme level (consistent across all units).
• A list of FAQs, which can be created using student queries from previous years.

Sections with learning materials could also include:  

• Documents with different types of content blocks such as images, embedded videos and knowledge checks.
• Self-paced activities and pre-recorded video content relevant to the week/topic (eg, used for flipped-classroom approach or formative assessment).
• Handouts version of PowerPoint slides.
• A checklist of tasks to complete each week (what to read, watch and do).
• A glossary of words and phrases specific to the subject (this can be co-created with students, for example by using a Padlet board).
• A weekly informal roundup of what has been completed and what is coming next (this could be in the form of a short audio recording).
• A ‘preparation week’ section with guidance on what to do during this week.
• A ‘revision’ section with suggestions for question practice and/or past exam papers.