What kind of Learn workspace supports student learning and is clear to use? HAMK’s digital pedagogy mentors and LeaD’s experts tackled the question and developed the HAMK Learn Clear quality criteria to help build workspaces. The criteria were created through an audit of Learn workspaces carried out during academic year 23-24. Teachers can use the criteria to develop their workspaces alongside other quality criteria that are already in use (Quality Criteria).
The HAMK Learn Clear Criteria contains four sets of criteria. Each of the sections sets out concrete digital pedagogical tools that should be taken into account when building workspaces. Based on the criteria, practical advice was selected from each of the entities and communicated in a four-part tip series during autumn 2024. The tips were published on HAMK’s internal channels and are summarised in this blog article. The tips relate to the four sets of criteria:
- learning assignments
- module as a whole
- guidance, feedback and evaluation
- accessibility and UDL.
HAMK Learn Clear – the full set of tips:
HAMK Learn Clear Tips, part 1: Assignment Template
The assignment template can be found in the Assignment activity in Moodle’s text editor. The template provides a clear and coherent structure to help students understand the assignment’s learning objectives and assessment criteria. Using the assignment template is also commonly agreed in the HAMK Learn Clear criteria.
Benefits of the template:
- Clarity and coherence: Consistency in assignments.
- User-friendliness: Clear instructions for students.
- Ease of use: Available in Moodle’s text editor in Finnish and English.
For more information and illustrated instructions, see the digipedagogical guideline Assignment template.
HAMK Learn Clear Tips, part 2: Completion Progress
The Completion Progress block is a useful tool in Learn workspaces that makes work easier for both student and teacher. It provides a clear picture of the progress of the course and enables more efficient studying and teaching. The use of progress monitoring is also one of the jointly agreed HAMK Learn Clear criteria.
Benefits for students:
- Visual picture of course progress: The student can see at a glance how he/she is progressing with the implementation.
- Increase motivation: Tracking progress helps students stay motivated and track their own learning.
- Time planning: Students can better plan their time when they know what assignments are still to be completed.
Benefits for the teachers:
- Monitoring student progress: The teacher can easily see the progress of students in the learning process.
- Enabling individual guidance: The teacher identifies students who need individual guidance.
- Development of teaching: Completion progress bar allows the teacher to monitor and assess the learning process and make necessary changes.
For more information and illustrated instructions, see the digipedagogical guidelines Completion Progress.
HAMK Learn Clear – Tips, part 3: How to Create Captions Easily
Captioning allows videos to be watched without sound and also allows viewers with special needs to watch videos. Captions also help when the audio quality of a video is poor.
Kaltura video service makes it easy and convenient to create automatic captions. Here’s how to do it:
- Log in to kaltura.hamk.fi and select the video you want to caption.
- Order the caption by clicking on the Actions drop-down menu and select Caption & Enrich.
- Select the language under Order Captions & Enrichment Services, click Submit.
- Go to Edit in the Actions drop-down menu in case you want to complete or edit the captions manually.
For more information and instructions, see the digipedagogical guidelines article: How to order captions/subtitles for a video.
HAMK Learn Clear – Tips, part 4: Tools for Co-Planning Modules
Module co-planning ensures that modules are coherent and clear for students. The teaching team creates a shared vision of the module’s content, timing, activities, guidance, and assessment.
Use these tools for planning:
- Blueprint and storyboard for module implementation.
- Student workload calculators by University of Helsinki and JAMK.
- Venngage for visualizing the process.
HAMK’s LeaD team and digital pedagogy mentors support and coach in the use of the quality criteria. Please contact us for digital pedagogical questions and participate in our coaching sessions.
Writers: Linda Kantola and Leena Mäkinen, LeaD, Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulu.
