Delivering content

• Uploading content
• File size and download times
• File size and media type
• Using prepackaged content

University policy regarding course materials

Staff need to familiarise themselves with the legal requirements outlined in the University's Student Ancillary Fees and Charges Policy.

See the Providing course materials online page for a summary of the issues

Uploading content

Content can be added in a number of ways to your MyUni site.

Text (with or without HTML mark-up) can be added directly into a textbox by simply cutting and pasting from a source file or typing directly. This is the best method for adding short simple content, instructions and descriptions of linked content.
How to use basic html to format text in MyUni

Media such as PowerPoint files, Word documents, PDF, TXT, GIF and JPEG can be added as a linked file. This is the best way to add larger files that have been created elsewhere.

Media in GIF, JPEG, MOV and SWF format can be a placed within a page using the 'Display Media' option. This option works best for small items that are best viewed along with text on the page.

Complete websites can be uploaded using the 'Unpackage Media' option. This is the best option if you have created self-contained web pages created elsewhere that you wish to use with minimal redevelopment.
How to upload a whole website into your MyUni course

File size and download times

File sizes are important as they affect how long it takes students to download and view the content that you place on MyUni. Working on campus it is easy to take for granted the download times associated with even moderately large media files. Many students at the University of Adelaide who access MyUni from home do so using a 56kbps modem connection and some of them may still use old 28.8kbps modems. Consider the download time of a 1 MB (1000KB) file:

If you do have large files that are going to take more than a minute or so to download, it is best to inform students of this before they have clicked the link. You can find a good download time calculator here:
http://www.numion.com/Calculators/Time.html

File Size and Media Type

File sizes vary widely with the type of media that is being delivered. Let's take a look at some example file sizes of various media types:

While it is true that rich content can make a powerful learning experience, the effort is wasted if students must wait too long to download files. So more complex media types should be used sparingly or delivered in an alternative way such as on CD/DVD or as streaming media. Contact the Helpdesk for MyUni for further advice.

Using prepackaged content

Virtually all textbook publishers offer some pre-packaged content for at least some of their book offerings. The content can consist of images, PowerPoint lectures, lecture notes, animations, movies, question pools etc. The quality of content and the technical quality range from excellent to poor. Many are new and no doubt the quality will improve with time. When considering the use of publishers content there are a number of issues of which you should be aware.

Recommendations

If you are considering using prepackaged content we recommend you do the following:

1. Talk with your subject librarian about digital resources that are relevant to your course.
2. Contact the publisher and obtain information about licensing, access to media, how students will access the online course material and whether the content can be copied and reused.
3. Obtain a copy of the media and test licence keys that can be used to install and access the content as an instructor and student.
4. Contact the technical team in ITS and arrange for all the test content to be uploaded into a test course. If you are satisfied with the test content arrange with the technical team for upload into the course where students are enrolled.
Some things to be aware of are:
5. You may not be able to modify some prepackaged content. For example you may not be able to export quizzes and modify them using Respondus.
6. You may be required to reinstall the prepackaged content for every course in every academic year. This may require you to purchase additional licence keys for every course.