advantages of coursework guide and video guides

• Why StoryTagger
• Customer stories
• How StoryTagger works
• Campaign Manager
• Storytelling Apps
• Subtitle Studio
• Downloadable guides

The benefits and challenges of using video in elearning

by Cheryl Clemons | Articles

There are many benefits and challenges with using video in elearning. From creating engaging learner experiences and recording employee video stories to video drama and tackling the challenges of team capacity, there’s no doubt that video elearning comes with both drawbacks and great rewards.

One thing is clear, with 58% of people in 2020 using video-based elearning to gain new skills, learning and development teams have no choice but to explore video as an effective way to reach their goals. To help you understand the pros and prepare for the cons of video elearning, we’ve pulled together key research and customer insights.

Why use video in elearning

Video has always been a popular format, but recent years have seen it achieve new heights. Research.com has highlighted that use of video streaming services increased by 12% in 2020 . Mobile use is also on the up. Statista reports one of the most popular mobile activities is viewing video .

People watch video for a variety of reasons, but video for learning is gaining momentum in the corporate world. Smart companies are choosing video elearning to provide their employees with learning experiences that connect to their needs and wants. In fact, according to Google, 58% of the people surveyed in 2020 reported using video to learn new skills . And it’s not surprising, as research highlights just how effective it is. Viewers retain as much as 95% of a message when they watch it on video , compared to 10% when reading a text-based version.

6 key video elearning approaches

Of course, a video learning course comes in various guises but there are six effective elearning video approaches that help employees master the skills they need:

Video drama

Interactive video.

• User-generated video

Lecture videos

• Software Tutorials
• Demonstrations And How-Tos

Drama can be used to tell stories, understand different viewpoints and show the impact of actions.

• Pros: Effective drama can bring stories to life and engage learners’ emotions
• Cons: Involves film crews, actors and editors – to name just a few – which makes video drama an expensive option. Plus, it doesn’t have the authenticity of real employee stories

Want to see what video drama can do for digital learning? Check out this great Nice Media example .

Interactive video enables learners to make decisions and see the impact of their choices in an environment where they don’t have to worry about failure.

• Pros: Putting learners in the hot seat boosts knowledge retention and increases confidence
• Cons: Interactive video can be complicated and time consuming to produce. Although it can use real employees and stories, interactive video tends to involve actors and scripted drama

Looking to explore interactive video learning? Here’s a brilliant example from the authoring tool Elucidat .

Employee and user-generated videos

User-generated content created by your employees covers everything from ‘how to’ guides to real life stories, and much, much more.

• Pros: Quick and cost effective to produce, videos created by employees provide authentic and relevant stories people want to hear. And with the right admin tools, like StoryTagger’s Campaign Manager, curators can widen their pool of video creators and crowdsource from across the organization so anyone can start producing video
• Cons: Employees don’t always feel confident in recording video and can struggle to share a story that’s on point. Providing encouragement, support and clear prompts through a user-friendly tool like StoryTagger can get everyone up and running

Ready to discover user-generated video in the workplace? Check out our StoryTagger example .

Using lecture videos to deliver information is a common approach to learning at work, allowing experts to present essential knowledge ‘live’ for learners to then watch when convenient for them.

• Pros: Lecturers can present information in a traditional classroom format and the content is made readily available for learners to watch in their own time, bringing in flexibility
• Cons: A lecture style format can struggle to engage learners and it can be difficult to include source materials needed unless given as a separate resource. There’s also the cost, time and complexity of recording the video: hidden factors like scheduling the lecture, recording and editing are often overlooked

Software tutorials

These days many companies are turning to video to teach their employees how to use the different software, platforms and tools. This is where software tutorials come in.

• Pros: Video software tutorials provide visual demonstrations of complex concepts. They can be a great way to show step-by-step walkthroughs to help learners gain practical skills and confidence. Having them in a video format also means learners can pause, rewind, and replay
• Cons: Tutorial videos lack the level of interactivity compared to some other formats. They often also suffer from information overload as complex software videos may overwhelm learners with excessive information

Demonstrations and how-tos

Another video elearning approach that L&D teams often use for elearning are demonstrations and how-tos. Similar to software tutorials, and as the name suggests, these videos are aimed at showing learners how to do a specific task or how a specific business process works.

• Pros: Similar to software tutorials, demonstration and how-to videos can be a good way to explain complex business processes. They also provide practical examples or real-life use and experience
• Cons: Creating high-quality demonstrations and how-to videos can be time-consuming and resource-intensive

Using video in elearning – the benefits and challenges

Whichever approach you decide to take, using video in elearning creates a lot of benefits, as well as some challenges. We spoke to a number of learning professionals to find out how and why they use video. They also highlighted their key challenges and how StoryTagger helped them.

1. Telling stories

According to the learning industry author Nick Shackleton-Jones ‘Human beings are storytellers. Our minds are finely tuned to the emotional significance of events – so much so that making words into a story can improve retention seven-fold .”

And whether it’s drama or talking heads, video is perfect for storytelling.

The benefit: Real, authentic human stories capture your learner’s attention and emotions. And that makes the information stick.

The challenge: How you tell the story can vary depending on what you’re trying to achieve, but an effective structure is essential. If you don’t get it right, the person telling the story will quickly go off topic and the resulting video will lose your learner.

How we can help: StoryTagger’s built-in frameworks, with question prompts to keep creators on-point, helps create a narrative arc to the story, compelling the viewer to keep watching.

“StoryTagger addresses the challenges by keeping the process ridiculously simple for the user while allowing a designer to structure the experience, ensuring a quality story.” Christopher Lind, Learning Sharks

Get this free guide

Storytelling at work

2. Creating microlearning

Short, sharp videos that can be easily accessed anytime, anywhere.

The benefit: Accessing learning in the moment of need and in the flow of work means it can be applied immediately.

The challenge: Longer videos can lose the viewers’ attention and make it harder to gain the necessary knowledge to apply learning on the job. Keeping it short and to the point isn’t always easy, but it’s vital for impact.

How we can help: StoryTagger structures each video into manageable, bite-sized parts. As well as section time limits, it helps employees to create short, succinct and effective videos.

“StoryTagger is a great way for students to share short, punchy video stories about university life with our communities” Nik Taylor, The Student Room

3. Responding to demand

User generated videos are quick and cost-effective to produce.

The benefit: Encouraging employees to create videos means you can respond to new skill gaps and learning requirements at speed. Once they’re recorded, simply pop them on your Learning Management System (LMS) or Learning Experience Platform (LXP) and the learning can start.

The challenge: Often employees aren’t confident in creating video. And, if they decide to give it a go, they tend to find it difficult to stay on topic. This means the key points that are of most value to others get lost.

How we can help: StoryTagger’s simple interface sets prompts to help people share something that’s relevant and authentic. By giving everyone the ability to tell their story in this way builds confidence and develops key competencies, like communication, storytelling and reflection.

“StoryTagger has been a god-send in this crisis with trying to get non-tech leaders to film videos to get back to us quickly, so happy to shout from the rooftops about it.” Adriana Neves, City & Guilds

Explore other ways to use video in our articles on 25 applications of user generated video and tips for repurposing content as video . Or take a look at our 5 best elearning video ideas and examples .

Free guide: Why you need an intentional strategy for curating employee-generated content. Download it today.

Final thoughts on video-based elearning.

Need to respond to new learning requirements at speed? Want to get people learning quickly and effectively? Looking to grab attention and engage emotions through storytelling? Video is your answer.

There are lots of approaches you can take to use video in online learning – each with different benefits and challenges. User-generated video offers an efficient and effective way to include video in your online courses. Not just because it’s quick and cost effective. But because your people are best placed to provide the authentic and relevant video-based learning your organisation needs. Don’t let employees’ lack of confidence and skills get in the way. Provide the support they need to master video storytelling and create effective learning experiences.

Ready to overcome these challenges and maximise the benefits of video in elearning? See what StoryTagger can do for you with a free trial .

Why you need an intentional strategy for curating employee-generated content

Related resources

Looking to use video in your elearning? Checkout these useful related resources:

• Elearning video tips and best practices you should never ignore
• 5 Best elearning video ideas and examples
• Best employee training and learning video software

The Pros and Cons of 7 Digital Teaching Tools

Explore more.

• Classroom Management
• Course Materials
• Digital Learning

O ne highlight of the last 18 months has been the level of experimentation I’ve seen among educators. They’ve explored new ways to teach in different environments and new technologies to keep students involved and engaged. As we move forward, it’s important that we learn from all this experimentation so we may deliver a learning experience that’s better than what we entered the pandemic delivering.

Simply rejecting all digital modes of teaching once you’re back in a physical classroom is not in your students’—or your own—best interest. There are many benefits to virtual learning that are worth keeping. In my own teaching, I’ve tried to incorporate the best learnings of pandemic teaching by using a four-step framework —struggle, structure, systemize, and synthesize—alongside different digital teaching methods and technologies that I’ve found work for me.

The precise way you use each digital tool and the extent to which you combine digital instruction with in-person instruction will of course depend on the needs of each specific course you teach. But to help you start thinking about how digital tools can remain useful to you, here’s a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of seven of the most common ones. I also share when I use each one to help spur your thinking.

1. Recorded Lecture Videos

Recording yourself giving lectures is perhaps the simplest digital approach. While these video recordings are easy to create and effective for sharing information quickly, production value is often less than ideal and the videos can be less than engaging. Overall, this approach doesn’t nearly reach the full potential that can be accomplished with digital learning.

Advantages of recorded lectures:

They let students consume course material on their own schedule and at their own pace, which students like.

They are more accessible—you can speed them up or slow them down—and you can easily add additional accessibility features, such as automated closed captioning or transcriptions.

Students can fast forward through material they already understand and rewind or rewatch material they are struggling with, unlike in a live lecture when wandering attention can mean missing a crucial point.

Disadvantages of recorded lectures:

They can be less than engaging.

They’re not interactive.

When I use them:

Truthfully, I don’t use them very often. They can be useful for exceptional circumstances that make it impossible for everyone to be in a live lecture.

Occasionally, I use them to set up a mini-case to initiate problem-solving thinking, or to provide information about key framework ideas before class discussion, but I tend to use edited video lessons (see next section) for that purpose.

2. Edited Video Lessons

Webinar: designing better courses.

Robert D. Austin recently delivered an HBP Education webinar, entitled Designing Better Courses: Blending the Best of Pre- and Post-Pandemic Pedagogy , to discuss his course design process and detail how—and why—he mixes digital technologies both asynchronously and synchronously throughout his courses. Watch the full webinar recording here .

Advantages of video lessons:

All the advantages of recorded lectures (e.g., self-paced).

Students have an opportunity to watch several short videos in a row, as their schedules permit.

Graphics and other illustrations can be useful for clarifying concepts.

Disadvantages of video lessons:

They’re more engaging than recorded lectures, but still not interactive.

Producing these videos requires extra time and effort.

To set up initial problem situations or present useful framework materials.

To add new information that may cause students to reconsider previous conclusions.

To teach a mechanical analysis approach, such as how to calculate a net present value.

3. Zoom Sessions

When courses are held fully remotely or in a hybrid setting (with some students participating in person and some participating virtually), most class sessions and discussions happen over Zoom or a similar videoconferencing platform. These live virtual sessions can allow for a synchronous learning experience enhanced by other digital tools, such as whiteboards and other display technologies, but they cannot be considered an exact replacement for in-person discussions.

For those teaching fully in person, Zoom can still be used for things like bringing in guests from afar and for exercises that involve the use of groups in the form of breakout rooms. I run a negotiation exercise for one of my classes that is actually a lot easier to run in Zoom than in person, because it involves rapid transitions between breakout groups and larger class discussion. Zoom is also great for students to use in coordinating project work outside of class.

Advantages of Zoom sessions:

Students can synchronously interact with each other remotely.

Technology allows for unique modes of interaction and discussion, such as breakout rooms , which can be configured instantaneously, as well as chat channels.

It’s easy to invite remote guest speakers who would otherwise be unable to travel to campus.

Disadvantages of Zoom sessions:

Students and educators alike can experience Zoom fatigue.

It can be hard to read interpersonal cues from those who are remote.

While Zoom calls are interactive, they still lack valuable opportunities for casual social interaction.

There’s no real substitute for students walking in the hall together, chatting about pretty much anything. At least not yet.

For case discussions that include remote guests.

For exercises that need fast transitions in and out of groups.

For group-based project work.

4. Online Discussion Boards

Many instructors have tried to replace in-person discussions with asynchronous online discussion boards. In my experience, however, online discussion boards are best used in conjunction with synchronous discussion (via Zoom or in person). You can pick up points or concepts introduced in an online discussion and use them as jumping-off points for a synchronous discussion—giving credit to the students who raised them, of course. It’s a flow that I find leads to greater understanding of the material.

Advantages of online discussion boards:

They encourage student interaction.

Students can participate on their own time.

There’s generally no limit to the number of ideas students can contribute—meaning more students can participate in these discussions.

Shy students reluctant to engage in live sessions can build confidence with online contributions, especially if you pick up their points and credit them in synchronous discussions.

Disadvantages of online discussion boards:

Although instructors can drop comments and questions into online chat, it’s harder to actively guide and focus the discussions (because you’re not constantly there), so there’s no guarantee that students will arrive at the desired conclusions.

Multiple unrelated, branching discussions can occur at once, making things confusing or unfocused.

Students may not enjoy these types of discussions; they can feel forced or unnatural.

To start students thinking in a particular direction with the intention of bringing it all home in synchronous discussions.

To allow shy students opportunities to make contributions and gain confidence that may carry over into live sessions.

To surface ideas that I want to pick up on and add to in subsequent synchronous discussions.

5. Simulations

Simulations, like case studies, are a way to immerse students in a very specific experience—but with simulations, information is unfolding in real time. We can then ask students to do the work of extracting generalizable propositions, frameworks, theories, and so forth under our guidance.

Advantages of simulations:

They invite students to interact directly with the course material—and often each other—to solve the types of problems they may encounter in a real business environment.

Students have the opportunity to take direct control of their learning . They reach their own conclusions, then connect those learnings to framework material you present to rescue them from their struggle with it—to help them structure and systemize.

They have narrative elements and cause students to change their minds; students tend to remember lessons from simulations in much the same way they remember an impactful dramatic experience.

They give students experience in organizing and making meaning from information that arrives in real time and out of any helpful order.

Disadvantages of simulations:

They can take up a lot of time; in my view, the real learning from a simulation happens in a debrief and you need to take the time to distill out general lessons , especially when the models that underlie a simulation are complex.

Preparing a simulation for use can be effort intensive for instructors.

Very much in the same situations I use cases—when I want to present specific problems or situations from which I want students to derive general lessons.

To mix learning modes, as a break from and enhancement of cases.

Sometimes, in conjunction with cases, to show students that it can be harder than they think to “walk the talk”—to do what they said they would do in a case discussion when confronted with a problem unfolding in real time.

6. Multimedia Content

There’s also a lot of great multimedia content available—and this is yet another way to mix things up and shift modes to keep students interested. Using video elements in multimedia cases , for example, allows students see and hear case protagonists as opposed to just reading quotations.

Advantages of multimedia content:

Multimedia experiences offer a change of pace, and they’re often highly engaging.

Disadvantages of multimedia content:

They still don’t facilitate casual social interaction.

When I use it:

When I want to offer alternative modes for introducing problems or management situations, much like my use cases for simulations.

7. Curated Content

Many of us were using curated third-party content—anything from TED Talks to podcasts to YouTube tutorial videos—before the pandemic. But going virtual has prompted me to search around and use even more curated material. This kind of content can be used for a variety of desired outcomes: to help students explore case studies more deeply, for example, or to complete projects in virtual workspaces, such as Miro or Google Jamboard, for which students may need a how-to assist.

Advantages of curated content:

It’s often quite engaging, and much of it is very professionally done.

Once you have located good content, there is relatively little an instructor needs to do other than cue it up.

Disadvantages of curated content:

When you use too much of this type of content, students can think that you haven’t prepared for their specific needs.

Some content isn’t research based, or it can even put forth theoretical ideas that are unsupported or flawed. You must verify the quality of the content for yourself.

Pretty much anywhere—interwoven amid asynchronous edited video content or in synchronous classes, whether online or in person.

Pulling This All Together: An Example

The thought of putting all of these pieces—and there are a lot of them—together can feel like assembling a difficult puzzle. But by taking a fresh look at these technologies and thinking through how these use cases may support your course objectives, you can land on some really powerful learning experiences for your students.

Here is an example of how I tried to get the mix right for a course called Managing Innovation that I teach in Ivey’s Accelerated MBA program.

Robert D. Austin, “ Designing Better Courses: Blending the Best of Pre- and Post-Pandemic Pedagogy ,” Harvard Business Publishing Education, July 21, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021.

To step through this in more detail, watch the video below to hear me talking though this sample implementation.

The New Normal of Teaching Includes Digital Tools

No matter how enticing it may be to return to your previous “normal”—a normal in which perhaps you didn’t incorporate all that many technologies or tools in your teaching—there are many benefits to virtual learning that are worth keeping, from better accessibility for all students to more opportunities for experiential learning that sticks.

By carefully considering the pros and cons of each available technology, you can choose the digital tools that will best support your lesson plans, making each stage of your course as effective and memorable for your students as possible.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK: Do you use other technologies in your online, hybrid, or in-person courses that aren’t on this list? We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] .

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Related Articles

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

• Review article
• Open access
• Published: 09 October 2017

A review of the benefits and drawbacks to virtual field guides in today’s Geoscience higher education environment

• Anthony David Cliffe   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2627-3678 1  

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education volume  14 , Article number:  28 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

22k Accesses

57 Citations

9 Altmetric

Metrics details

Virtual Field Guides are a way for educators to tackle the growing issue of funding pressures in areas of higher education, such as geography. Virtual Field Guides are however underutilised and can offer students a different way of learning. Virtual Field Guides have many benefits to students, such as being more inclusive, building student skills and confidence in a controlled environment pre fieldtrip and can increase engagement in the topic studied. There are also benefits to the educator, such as reduced cost, more efficient students on fieldwork tasks and the ability to tailor and update their field guides to suit their needs. However there are drawbacks in the challenge of creation and their outcome as educational standalone tools. This paper reviews the literature around the benefits and draw backs to the creation and incorporation of virtual field guides in geoscience education.

Changing nature of fieldwork

Fieldwork in Geoscience today has changed and developed due to the increase in technology and the need to keep up with the rapid pace of modern day life (Fuller, 2012 ). However, the pedagogical element of field courses has changed also, with a shift towards smaller numbers of students in groups investigating smaller scale problems that they can tackle (Simm & David, 2002 ). While fieldwork is undoubtedly important, it does not make an effective teaching and learning method in its own right (Lonergran & Andres, 1988 ). As detailed by Lonergran and Andres ( 1988 ), taking students into the field does not guarantee an enhanced learning experience. For this to occur, it must align to the curriculum of the course (Andrews, Kneale, Sougnez, Stewart, & Stott, 2003 ). This provides the students with the opportunity to transfer learning from elements in the classroom to real world scenarios and helps develop their future understandings of topics to come (Biggs, 2003 ). There should be an emphasis placed on the preparation of debriefing students, both pre and post fieldtrip, to continually assess the effectiveness of students understanding of the link between the course materials and the fieldtrip (Kent, Gilbertson, & Hunt, 1997 ). Students who carry out geoscience fieldwork indicate a ‘geographical reality’ while expressing more social benefits such as feelings of belonging to a group and increasing their interactions with peers and tutors (Fuller, Edmondson, France, Higgitt, & Ratinen, 2006 ; Marvelf, Simm, Schaaf, & Harpe, 2013 ). This geographical reality increases further when students partake in local based research. Studies by Rawlings ( 1981 ) and Garver ( 1992 ), have shown that during locally based studies, students have a better connection and understanding to their immediate environs. Due to this connection they tend to be more engaged and have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the need for fieldwork, while gaining an appreciation of the objective of the course compared to fieldwork carried out in a more distant and un-relatable landscape (McElroy, 1981 ; Slater, 1993 ; De Paor & Whitmeyer, 2009 ; Israel, 2012 ).

Fieldwork today

Fieldwork and the fundamental pedagogic approaches have changed along with the different type of delivery of the courses (De Paor & Whitmeyer, 2009 ). Today there has been a move away from the Cook’s tour model of fieldwork towards a more inclusive, diverse, and holistic approach to learning in the field, aided by new technologies (McCaffrey, Jones, Holdsworth, Wilson, Clegg, et al., 2005 ).

With the introduction of low cost airlines in the early 2000’s (Calder, 2003 ), ticket prices plummeted and locations for fieldwork became more accessible and more within budget (Fuller et al., 2006 ). For the first time university students now had the opportunity for fieldwork abroad that was not present before (Israel, 2012 ). With the introduction of the internet, ICT systems (ICT systems which include hardware, software and the people who use them) (Bowman et al., 2005 ) and more recently mobile technologies, the landscape of teaching in fieldwork has dramatically changed (Fuller & France, 2014 ). It has been over 30 years since Gardiner and Unwin ( 1986 ), first used computer based technology in fieldwork to analyse results collected, which is a standard practice today. Now many students’ possess mobile technologies which allows them to access data pre, post and during a fieldtrip (Welsh, Mauchline, Park, Whalley, & France, 2013 ). Such data and information is far in excess of the data students would have had access to in the early days of Cook’s Tour fieldtrips (Medzini, Meishar-Tal, & Sneh, 2015 ). With the rapid expansion and development of new affordable technologies and ICT in fieldwork, has enabled students and tutors to become more efficient in the field (Martin & Ertzberger, 2013 ). Technology such as mobile applications and handheld data collection devices e.g. tablet and handheld GPS have speeded up the data collection process (Wentzel, 2005 ). This means that fieldtrips can incorporate more learning objectives per trip than ever before (Welsh & France, 2012 ). Mobile technologies have also allowed a different form of teaching to occur on fieldtrips through the use of collaborative data collection, off campus learning and student guidance via social media (Chen & Huang, 2012 ).

Despite all of this new technology and its incorporation into today’s fieldtrips, there is still an intrinsic pedagogical need for physical field trips. Nevertheless there has been a continued decline in the number of fieldtrips taken in the UK due to a number of reasons (Leydon & Turner, 2013 ). Firstly, there has been a rapid increase in higher education student numbers in the UK (UK GOV, 2016 ) and Geoscience subjects continue to rise to record levels (Royal Geographical Association, 2016 ). This has placed enormous amounts of financial pressures on faculties along with staff time commitments to complete fieldwork (Welsh & France, 2012 ). Such pressures have created a dilemma where some institutions are opting to pay for compulsory fieldwork, while offering many alternative or extra fieldwork at the cost of the student (Fletcher & Dodds, 2004 ). This raises equitable concerns and places burdens on students who cannot financially afford such extracurricular activities (Fuller, Gaskin, & Scott, 2003 ). Students at an unfair disadvantage are also brought to light through the need for fieldtrips to be inclusive of disabilities and differing needs of students and genders (Rose, 1993 ; Hall, Healey, & Harrison, 2004 ). Technological advancements as mentioned previously have negated some of the need to leave the confines of the classroom, mainly through the introduction of GIS and video imagery (Fuller & France, 2014 ). Due to this, alternatives are being sought to fieldwork such as the introduction of the virtual field trip.

What is a virtual field guide?

The development of the internet and tools available such as mobile technologies for students to access information, has rapidly increased in the previous decade (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010 ). Now more than ever is there a notion of collaborative rich data sets created online in communities from amateurs to professionals, for which both educators and students, can access to enhance their learning environments (Litherland & Stott, 2012 ). Although, there is little argument in literature to deny the benefits of fieldwork, it does come with its challenges.

Virtual Field Guides (VFG), Virtual Field Trips or Virtual Fieldwork are terms used interchangeably throughout literature yet they are contested concepts with varying definitions (Litherland & Stott, 2012 ). Virtual Field Trips in essence try to capture the real world environment of a specific location or region through a collection of data, photographs, cartography and other technologies such as GIS, without the cost of physically being there (Carmichael & Tscholl, 2011 ). As argued by Stainfield, Fisher, Ford, and Solem ( 2000 ), the best examples of Virtual Field Trips are the ones which incorporates both old and new methods, yet allow participation and exploration of the environment and for students to develop the skills associated with those methods. E-learning, which is defined as “electronically mediated asynchronous and synchronous communication for the purpose of constructing and confirming knowledge” (Garrison, 2011 , p. 2) have shown to increase learning through active participation rather than passive (Fletcher, France, Moore, & Robinson, 2007 ). This model of learning is a key concept behind the educational benefits of using virtual field guides/trips in higher education teachings. It encourages the use of participation and engagement with the virtual environment with peers and tutors.

The aim of the Virtual Field Trip at present, has not been to replace the traditional fieldtrip but to introduce students to the fundamental skills needed to understand their environment before going on the ‘real’ fieldtrip (Gilmour, 1997 ). Due to the lack of “virtual” such as being immersed in a 3D augmented reality, the term Virtual Field Guide (VGF) will be used from here on, instead of virtual field trip.

VFG’s are often a repository of various data, yet what makes them more than just this, is often an element of educator led discussion situated within a framework of tasks to be completed (Stott, Litherland, Carmichael, & Nuttall, 2014 ). Some VFG’s try to create an opportunity of travel for the students without ever leaving the confines of the classroom. For example Jacobson, Militello, and Baveye ( 2009 ), created a VFG were the course was broken down into days and stops with specific tasks to be completed at each one, much like a real fieldtrip. Older VFG’s are more simplistic by just making available data such as photographs, maps or videos with tutor led commentary for students to get a feel for the environment (Baggott la Velle, 2005 ).

Spatial scale is of vital importance for geoscience disciplines and must be taken into account when considering VFGs (Jones, McCaffrey, Clegg, Wilson, Holliman, et al., 2009 ). The scale of virtual field guides often differ depending on their purpose and their aims (Ramasundaram, Grunwald, Mangeot, Comerford, & Bliss, 2005 ). Spatial scale in VFGs can be small scale providing large overviews of topographical data such as mountain ranges (Stott, Nuttall, & McCloskey, 2009 ; Eusden, Duvall, & Bryant, 2012 ) and national parks (McMorrow, 2005 ). Small spatial scale VFG’s can provide a student with a deeper understanding and situational awareness of the topic or location that they are studying (Jacobson et al., 2009 ). Often students do not maximise their time on fieldwork due to lacking the bigger conceptual picture (Falk, Martin, & Balling, 1978 ). Providing a large overview of a field location helps a student to formulate ideas and apply knowledge to how that field site sits within the wider world. Small scale VFGs however lack finer details, for example in the VFG designed by Arrowsmith, Counihan, and McGreevy ( 2005 ) students anecdotally mentioned that they misinterpreted the distances between sites and that steepness of gradients were vastly under estimated.

Larger spatial scale virtual field guides provide the opposite in the sense that they are highly detailed and can vary from meters of a walking path, to a smaller section of cliff face (Pringle, Westerman, & Gardiner, 2004 ). Larger scale VFGs are more practical as they replicate what would be seen if a student were to visit in reality (Jones et al., 2009 ). Details are more visible at this scale, with individual rocks and trees shown in high detail which allow students to explore and research in depth. At this scale it further facilitates students’ skill development by practicing skills here that they may use on real field work which would be difficult with a smaller spatial scale VFG. However, larger scale VFGs are large in terms of data size due to their high detail and so when creating a VFG there must be a trade-off of scale and detail (Arrowsmith et al., 2005 ).

One issue with VFGS is their lack of standardisation. While there is no agreed spatial scale for VFGs due to their varying purpose and nature as commented on by Arrowsmith et al. ( 2005 ) multilayers of VFG scale that are all linked to each other provide the best learning experience for students. In their study they had a three scale approach that incorporated small to large spatial scales. The first VFG was a small scale overview of an entire park, the second was a larger spatial scale of the area that they would conduct most of their fieldwork and finally a large spatial scale that was a site specific VFG was developed with a geospatial link between all three ‘nested’ models.

Benefits of virtual field guides

Stainfield et al. ( 2000 ), stated that VFG in terms of material for actual fieldtrips have many benefits over traditional handbooks such as;

Much easier to update VFG’s year on year and with last minute changes

Active links to different sources of all kinds from websites to videos

No real size or capacity limits

Cannot be physically lost on the field course

Portable, especially on today’s mobile technology

One of the main benefits and reasons for the drive behind the creation and implementation of VFG’s is their cost to outcome ratio. VFG’s are significantly cheaper to develop and implement in a course than it is to take an actual physical fieldtrip (Jacobson et al., 2009 ). Today’s higher education system is being squeezed for funding while resources such as staff time are being stretched. In addition, due to external pressures placed on faculties and staff time such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), it is becoming harder to justify fieldtrips in faculty budgets, or at least to justify the number of fieldtrips taken per academic year (Krakowka, 2012 ). Therefore VFG’s provide a potential alternative.

Development of student skills and efficiency in the field

Due to limited resources and time when on ‘real’ fieldwork, academic staff want to spend as much time as possible getting the most out of their environment for the students (Stoddard, 2009 ). VFGs therefore, permit introductory information about the field site to be learnt by the students before going to visit it for real (Spicer & Stratford, 2001 ; Kingston, Eastwood, Jones, Johnson, Marshall, et al., 2012 ; Litherland & Stott, 2012 ). As identified by Tuthill and Klemm ( 2002 ), combining VFGs with ‘real’ field work provides the students with prior knowledge of the site, what data they are tasked to collect, and how to analyse it and or have designed and developed their own projects before visiting the field site for real. VFGs not only include all students but they also allow them to develop their skills and enhance their confidence in implementing such skills, in a real world environment. Such confidence that can be developed before a real fieldtrip means a better quality learning and data collection process for the student which further enhances the benefits of real fieldwork (Killerman, 1996 ; Warburton & Higgitt, 1997 ; Bellan & Scheurman, 1998 ; Rozell & Garner, 2000 ). VFGs ‘supportive simulacra’ allow an environment, to in essence, scaffold students in building their own understanding of the tasks set both pre and post real field visit by incorporating their own and secondary data. This is arguably the key area in which VFGs can be used as online learning tools in geosciences education (Litherland & Stott, 2012 ).

Dykes ( 2000 ) evidenced a greater understanding and depth of knowledge in students via this dual approach and has encouraged the introduction of peer review and collaboration. Therefore when the students arrive at the field site they can get down to developing those skills in the field straight away, maximising their time for which Kent et al. ( 1997 ) stated makes successful graduates from the completion of real fieldwork.

Spicer and Stratford ( 2001 ) investigated how biology students felt about the use of a virtual field trip in relation to tide pools. Of their study, 80% of students showed a highly positive attitude towards the educational value of this VFG. Many students stated that the benefits of exploring an area before actually visiting, increased their confidence by being able to explore, make mistakes and allows them to use the materials and prior knowledge gained for their own virtual field note books to compare when in the field.

Inclusivity and student engagement

Although the cost element of fieldwork is more a faculty or departmental burden to deal with, students and specifically student engagement and inclusivity is a real issue that can be addressed by VFG’s. Today’s higher education environment allows and accommodates all different types of disabilities in students from the physically disabled to mental health issues (Seale, 2013 ). This inclusivity however is challenged when it comes to real fieldwork opportunities, especially in geoscience disciplines (Hall, Healey, & Harrison, 2002 ). Geoscience disciplines often have a low number of disabled students due to the emphasis placed on undergraduate fieldwork and research. Fieldwork can prove to be a barrier for certain students due to the inaccessible nature of some field sites. There may also be a reluctance from organisers due to increased insurance costs (Atchison & Feig, 2011 ). This leaves a student either being left out of that particular part of the trip or being advised not to attend at all (Hall et al., 2002 ). VFGs therefore eliminate the need for this inadvertent discrimination by reducing the need for physical travel. VFG’s are incredibly accessible for students of all types and all abilities (Klemm & Tuthill, 2003 ).

Cost and other issues

VFGs can potentially eliminate some of the issues that physical field trips can create. Traditional fieldtrips and principally those of an international nature have a number of disadvantages. The cost often means that not every student can afford to participate (many faculties ask students to fund at least part of the trip, with many now being optional) (Stokes, Collins, Maskall, Lea, Lunt, et al., 2012 ). There may be gendered issues, cultural and language barriers, logistical issues, security issues and problem in creating accurate risk assessments without prior visits by staff (Ternan, Charlkley, & Elmes, 1999 ). There are also issues around privileged, educated, and relatively affluent university students going to view and study underprivileged groups or locations in poorer societies, often without their consent (Robinson, 1998 ).

Seasonal change replication

One of the few negatives of physical fieldwork is that the location is only visited first hand at that specific time and date. While for some locations and purposes of fieldwork sites this is not an issue, for others the landscape dramatically changes depending on the seasons. For example the flora and fauna differ depending on summer or winter seasons (Forman, 2014 ). Many other locations and the processes that govern that landscape change depending on the seasons. The benefit of VFGs and the quick and easy options to update the field guides, allows a student to visit these sites in all of those different seasons, vastly reducing the cost of travel and in some cases mitigating against extreme weather (Tuthill & Klemm, 2002 ).

Drawbacks of virtual field guides

Some argue that VFGs cannot, and will not, replace the tried and tested method of real fieldwork (Arrowsmith et al., 2005 ). In contrast to the benefits of VFGs as stated by Spicer and Stratford ( 2001 ), when students were asked if they learnt more from an VFG and if a VFG should replace the traditional fieldtrip, they showed a significant disagreement to those statements ( P  < 0.001). They stated that although the VFG was useful it did not compare to the actual experience of a field trip. This was a similar notion discovered by Arrowsmith et al. ( 2005 ), whose students stated that VFGs do not provide the same experience or chance for students to develop the skills most developed on real world field trips such as team work and communication. ‘Real’ fieldwork exposes students to different environments by taking them out of their comfort zone, giving hands on practical experience which despite increasing technology such as augmented reality, as of yet, cannot replace this physically (Stainfield et al., 2000 ). Students on fieldwork often take away the experience of team work, bonding with fellow classmates and tutors, as one of the most successful parts of a fieldtrip (Dunphy & Spellman, 2009 ). The difficulty that VFGs have in replacing traditional fieldwork is the intrinsic nature of fieldwork which is to get out and explore the world around them (Bellan & Scheurman, 1998 ). While VFGs do allow for the exploration of sites, through data, maps and digital technologies they are not the same as visiting first hand (Hurst, 1998 ).

Challenges of creation

When completing VFGs, students can sometimes get disoriented within the virtual world and this hinders their ability to learn effectively (Stainfield et al., 2000 ; Spicer & Stratford, 2001 ; Baggott la Velle, 2005 ; Garner & Gallo, 2005 ). Although VFGs are relatively cheap compared to actual field trips, they are not a simple task to create (Bertol & Foell, 1997 ). VFGs require technical expertise to create and make engaging, in a way that is beneficial to students (Ramasundaram et al., 2005 ). As outlined by Stott et al. ( 2009 ), the creation of VFGs can be challenging for tutors due to time pressures. Although an academic can retain complete control over the creation and updating of a VFG, limitations include time pressures from teaching and research. An academic is often unfamiliar with the software and requires extensive training which further increases the time spent on development. The creation of a VFG is stated to take approximately 50 h (Stott et al., 2009 ), which is similar to the completion time of an academic paper (Stott, Nuttall, Eden, Smith, & Maxwell, 2008 ). Even when a dedicated technician is employed to look after the development of a VFG, Stott et al. ( 2009 ) voiced the frustration of having to wait for sites to be updated and issues arise when such technicians leave their post.

Limitations of technology

VFGs have been limited by technology and have struggled to expand due to a lack of computing power and memory, a real problem which often occurs when conducting a VFG with large class sizes (France, Whalley, Mauchline, Powell, Welsh, et al., 2016 ). Due to this, the issue of scale vs detail is one that the creator must finely balance with regards to the objectives of the VFG and computing power that is available. Often VFGs are currently web based and often accessed through module pages on a University system. While this increases the portability and accessibility nature of VFGs it further limits their detail. VFGs have often struggled to become virtual in the sense that the technology for immersion was lacking and often required cumbersome body suits to place the user in the computer generated field (Jacobson et al., 2009 ). Currently it is impractical and costly to suit students up in motion capture technology to physically walk in the virtual environment and there is yet to be a completely affordable technology that allows for a student to be fully immersed in this virtual world. So while VFGs are very interactive and can be highly detailed, the student still sees that environment via a computer screen which limits its virtual aspect and thus its comparison to a real field trip. A summary table of the benefits and drawbacks to VFGs can be found in Table 1 .

Integration of future technology in future fieldwork and virtual fieldwork

Traditional and virtual field trips have the potential to be greatly enhanced by the rapid introduction of new and affordable technologies (Brown & Green, 2016 ). Such new technologies will further enrich the fieldwork environment and increases the efficiency of skill development (Whalley, France, Park, Mauchline, Powell, et al., 2015 ). Such new technologies are beginning to change the game of fieldwork again. As seen by the changing nature of fieldwork since the traditional Cook’s Tour methods in the 1960’s, it can be argued that in today’s digital and technological age, fieldwork may well be entering a new phase of development (Wall & Speake, 2012 ).

Technology is rapidly improving in both usability and affordability (King, 2011 ). Mobile technologies have been demonstrated to good effect in fieldwork through the use of podcasting, digital videos, remote sensing from tablets, geo-tagging and annotations (Jarvis & Dickie, 2010 ; Fearnley & Bunting, 2011 ; Welsh & France, 2012 ). Fieldwork is starting to move beyond the traditonal methods of data collection in both the physical and human aspects of geoscience (Medzini et al., 2015 ). One such example of this is the long established method of recording observations through field sketches and field note books. These items are still important for today’s students. Field sketches and note books allow students to analyse different aspects of the world around them by recording the scene, for which they can refer to such notes post fieldtrip (Kneale, 2014 ). Recording observations has often been completed on a physical paper note pad with a pencil, however times are changing. Technology such as digital cameras and mobile technologies such as portable smartphones and tablet computers, have given the traditonal field notebook a new look. Now, there is no need for a fieldsketch, instead a student can take a picture and annotate, draw and even include audio and video snippets, onto a single photograph (France et al., 2016 ). This enhances the learning for the student while making the whole process more efficient so that more sites can be studied within the time frame of the field trip (Fuller & France, 2014 ). This method is particularly useful for VFGs as digital field note books can be created within the VFG and then used and added to when on real fieldwork through for example, tablet computers.

There are not only benefits to physical geoscience with technology, but also the human side of the dicipline to. Questionnaire design, collection and analysis is a staple practice of any geoscience undergraudate degree (McGuirk & O'Neill, 2005 ). This can now be succesfully completed online, negating the need for a student to physically complete the questionnaire and further reduces any cost of creating the materials (Clifford, Cope, French, & Gillespie, 2016 ). With the advent of computer conference calls, such as Skype, students can now conduct interviews with anyone, anywhere in the world, increasing their scope for research and understanding (Deakin & Wakefield, 2013 ). Software advancements and development have aided students and tutors pre and post fieldwork. One of the biggest advancements in software has been the creation of Google Earth. Google Earth is a web based simulation of the Earth, composing of satellite images and aerial photogrammetry which allow the student to explore specific sites in high detail over a period of time (Google Earth, 2016 ). Google Earth has continued to develop and be improved, and is now a key element of most virtual field trips (De Paor & Whitmeyer, 2011 ; Fearnley & Bunting, 2011 ; Krakowka, 2012 ; Kingston et al., 2012 ; Whitmeyer, 2012 ). There has been an abundance of new educational applications and software for students to use on both the desktop computer and their mobile devices. From the technical such as ArcMap and GIS software, to more basic online tools such as Digimap and Ordinance Survey maps (Spronken-Smith, McLean, Smith, Bond, Jenkins, et al., 2016 ).

Future implications of virtual reality for VFGs

Such advancements and usability will increase the effectiveness of VFGs and we will see the virtual field guides moving closer in alignment to traditional field trips. This narrowing gap between the real and the virtual world will increase when technology for moving around a virtual environment becomes more main stream in the next few years. Virtual reality is one way in which this gap is narrowing. Virtual reality is a digital or computer generated recreation of the real world, often created by complex software to give a computer generated 3 dimensional view of that location (Lindsay, 2015 ). Virtual reality has seen many forms and is most noted in education for the application second life, for which some educators have tried to develop and utilise in their teaching and learning (Warburton, 2009 ).

In light of this, for a virtual field guide to become a true virtual fieldtrip, it must incorporate a true virtual reality world with elements of virtual reality (VR) and this is where this new technology is helping (Kamarainen et al., 2013 ). This is changing with the reduction of size, cost, and innovation surrounding VR technologies (Getchell et al., 2010 ). Today, VR technologies can be accessed by the general public and can be bought such as OCULUS RIFT and TOUCH ( https://www.oculus.com ) a high end VR headset for around the same price of today’s latest smartphone (£548 as of September 2016) or a much cheaper and rudimentary version, Google cardboard for £20 ( https://vr.google.com/cardboard/ ).

A report by Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report states that VR will become one of the fastest developing sectors in the technology industry and is one of the top ten consumer trends in 2016 (Ericsson Consumerlab, 2015 ). This is an important development for VFG’s if they do so wish to become more virtual in their design. This development is already beginning to take place with early reports indicating great potential for students in fieldtrips (Brown & Green, 2016 ). Google who have created the very accessible and cheap Google Cardboard (RRP £20) have also developed an expeditions package for tutor led VR field trips (Howard, 2016 ). The main benefit of this new, cheaper and more accessible VR is the use in not only the virtual field trip but also on real field trips. VR headsets allow the user to be mobile in an environment and not tied down to traditional VR which is often linked to a fixed desktop computer (Luckin & Stanton-Fraser, 2011 ). Such mobile realities means that learning both formally and informally can take place outside of the classroom and can serve as a link between the two, perfect for fieldwork teachings (Fitzgerald et al., 2013 ).

While this technology increases all the time the future for VFGs looks bright as technology begins to finally catch up with the idea of a fully virtual and immersive digital field trip. Moving forward and looking at the future of VFGs, there has not been and doesn’t seem to be any standardisation of virtual field guides at present. This lack of standardisation is however a strength and a weakness. The strength of this lack of standardisation is that it allows the creators to tailor their guide to their specific needs, allowing much greater flexibility. However, too much flexibility and lack of standardisation such as scale can overwhelm creators and may pose a challenge to new creators with a lack of established templates and guides. While no standardising of VFG content and style exists, there are common themes that have emerged from VFGs. They often have an overview with a smaller spatial scale, followed by a more detailed and in-depth larger spatial scaled VFG. Within this larger spatial scale there is often access to data such as photographs and videos.

VFG have their place in geoscience teaching despite their challenges in creation as they have many benefits to students and educators. Litherland and Stott ( 2012 ) concluded that VFGs should not replace field trips but it is suggested that VFG’s work best in a pedagogic sense when they are employed as a tool for students to use the data presented in them to support traditional field trips.

As shown, future technology is improving at a rapid pace and with this new technology and computing power could give new immersive life to the virtual field guide. New research is emerging around the use of augmented and virtual realities in the classroom and virtual field guides, along with using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to create 3D models for students to explore in this virtual world. The nature of fieldwork is rapidly changing due to new technologies in education and the continued financial pressures placed on departments will continue to drive the development and integration of VFGs in the classroom. The gap between the virtual and real world in terms of realism and accuracy is rapidly diminishing and at some point in the near future, those lines will start to become blurred. VFG therefore can provide an alternative tool to compliment current fieldwork exercises to make sure students develop their learning and skills when on real fieldwork and will continue to do so for some time.

Abbreviations

• Virtual field guides

Andrews J. R., Kneale P., Sougnez Y. G., Stewart M. T., & Stott T. M. (2003). Carrying out pedagogic research into the constructive alignment of fieldwork. Planet Special Edition , 5 , 51–52.

Google Scholar  

Arrowsmith C., Counihan A., & McGreevy D. (2005). Development of a multi-scaled virtual field trip for the teaching and learning of geospatial science. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT , 1 (3).

Atchison C. L., & Feig A. D. (2011). Theoretical perspectives on constructing experience through alternative field-based learning environments for students with mobility impairments. Qualitative Inquiry in Geoscience Education Research , 44 (2), 11–21.

Article   Google Scholar  

Baggott la Velle L. (2005). Virtual field trips. Journal of Biological Education , 39 (4), 189.

Bellan J. M., & Scheurman G. (1998). Actual and virtual reality: Making the most of field trips. Social Education , 62 , 35–40.

Bertol D., & Foell D. (1997). Designing digital space: An architect's guide to virtual reality.  London: Wiley.

Bowman H., Van Den Hoof B., Van De Wijngaert L., & Van Dijk J. (2005). Information and Communication Technology in Organizations. London: Sage.

Biggs J. (2003). Teaching for quality learning at university (2nd ed., ). Buckingham: Society for Research in Higher Education.

Brown A., & Green T. (2016). Virtual reality: Low-cost tools and resources for the classroom. TechTrends , 60 , 517–519.

Calder S. (2003). No frills: The truth behind the low-cost revolution in the skies (). London: Virgin Books.

Carmichael, P., & Tscholl, M. (2011). Cases, simulacra and semantic web technologies. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.

Chen C. C., & Huang T. C. (2012). Learning in a u-museum: Developing a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment. Computers & Education , 59 (3), 873–883.

Clifford N., Cope M., French S., & Gillespie T. (Eds.) (2016). Key methods in geography (). Sage.

De Paor D. G., & Whitmeyer S. J. (2009). Innovation and obsolescence in geoscience field courses: Past experiences and proposals for the future. Geological Society of America Special papers , 461 , 45–56.

De Paor D. G., & Whitmeyer S. J. (2011). Geological and geophysical modeling on virtual globes using KML, COLLADA, and Javascript. Computers & Geosciences , 37 (1), 100–110.

Deakin H., & Wakefield K. (2013). Skype interviewing: Reflections of two PhD researchers. Qualitative Research , 1468794113488126 .

Dunphy A., & Spellman G. (2009). Geography fieldwork, fieldwork value and learning styles. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education , 18 (1), 19–28.

Dykes J. (2000). An approach to virtual environments for visualization using linked geo-referenced panoramic imagery. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems , 24 (2), 127–152.

Ericsson Consumerlab. (2015). 10 hot consumer trends 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016, from Ericsson Consumerlab: http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/consumerlab/ericsson-consumerlab-10-hot-consumer-trends-2016-report.pdf

Eusden J. D., Duvall M., & Bryant M. (2012). Google earth mashup of the geology in the presidential range, New Hampshire: Linking real and virtual field trips for an introductory geology class. Geological Society of America Special Papers , 492 , 355–366.

Falk J., Martin W., & Balling J. (1978). The novel field trip phenomenon: Adjustment to novel settings interferes with task learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 15 (2), 127–134.

Fearnley C., & Bunting P. (2011). Understanding the potential new roles for mobile computertechnologies for teaching geography fieldwork: Using GIS and social networking to enhance learning opportunities. Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase Event, 2011 .

Fitzgerald E., Ferguson R., Adams A., Gaved M., Mor Y., & Rhodri T. (2013). Augmented reality and mobile learning: the state of the art. International Journal of Mobile and blended learning , 5 (4), 43–58.

Fletcher S., & Dodds W. (2004). Dipping toes in the water: An international survey of residential fieldwork within ICM degree course curricula. Littoral 2004: 7th international symposium: Delivering sustainable coasts: Connecting science and policy (vol. 1, pp. 305–309). Cambridge: Cambridge Press.

Fletcher S., France D., Moore K., & Robinson G. (2007). Putting technology into fieldwork education: A pedagogic evaluation. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 31 (2), 319–330.

Forman R. T. (2014). Land mosaics: The ecology of landscapes and regions. In F. O. Ndubisi (Ed.), The ecological design and planning reader (pp. 217–234). Washington: Island Press.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

France D., Whalley B. W., Mauchline A., Powell V., Welsh K., Lerczak A., … Bednarz R. (2016). Enhancing fieldwork learning using mobile technologies (Vol. Springer briefs in ecology) (). London: Springer.

Fuller I., Edmondson S., France D., Higgitt D., & Ratinen I. (2006). International perspectives on the effectiveness of geography fieldwork for learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 30 (1).

Fuller I. C. (2012). Taking students outdoors to learn in high places. Area , 44 , 7–13.

Fuller I. C., & France D. (2014). Fieldwork going digital. Geomorphological fieldwork, developments in earth surface processes , 18 , 117–128.

Fuller I. C., Gaskin S., & Scott I. (2003). Students perceptions of geography and environmental science fieldwork in the light of restricted access to the field, caused by foot and mouth disease in the UK in 2001. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 27 (1), 79–102.

Gardiner V., & Unwin D. (1986). Computers and the field class. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 10 , 169–179.

Garner L. C., & Gallo M. A. (2005). Field trips and their effect on student achievement and attitudes: A comparison of physical versus virtual field trips to the Indian River lagoon. Journal of College Science Teaching , 34 (5), 14.

Garrison R. D. (2011). E-learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice (). Oxon: Routledge.

Garver J. I. (1992). A field-based course in stratigraphy and sedimentology. Journal of Geological Education , 40 , 119–124.

Getchell K., Miller A., Nicoll J. R., Sweetman R., & Allison C. (2010). Games methodologies and immersive environments for virtual fieldwork. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies , 3 (4), 281–293.

Gilmour, I. (1997). Skiddaw virtual field trip. A study of thermal metamorphism. Retrieved from  http://ns2.ijmg.com/virtual-field-trips-preview.asp?id=188484

Google. (2016). Google earth. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from Google: https://www.google.co.uk/earth/

Hall T., Healey M., & Harrison M. (2002). Fieldwork and disabled students: Discourses of exclusion and inclusion. ransactions of the Institute of British Geographers , 27 (2), 213–231.

Hall T., Healey M., & Harrison M. (2004). Reflections on ‘fieldwork and disabled students: Discourses of exclusion and inclusion. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 28 , 255–280.

Howard N. (2016). Come along and ride on a google expeditions. Retrieved September 1, 2016, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ride-on-a-google-expedition-nicol-howard

Hurst S. D. (1998). Use of “virtual” field trips in teaching introductory geology. Computers & Geosciences , 24 (7), 653–658.

Israel A. L. (2012). Putting geography education into place: What geography educators can learn from place-based education, and vice versa. Journal of Geography , 111 (2), 76–81.

Jacobson A. R., Militello R., & Baveye P. C. (2009). Development of computer-assisted virtual field trips to support multidisciplinary learning. Computers & Education , 52 (3), 571–580.

Jarvis C. H., & Dickie J. (2010). Podcasts in support of experiential field learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 34 , 173–186.

Jones R. R., McCaffrey K. J., Clegg P., Wilson R. W., Holliman N. S., Holdsworth R. E., et al. (2009). Integration of regional to outcrop digital data: 3D visualisation of multi-scale geological models. Computers & Geosciences , 35 (1), 4–18.

Kaplan A., & Haenlein M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons , 53 (1), 59–68.

Kamarainen A. M., Metcalf S., Gotzer T., Browne A., Mazzuca D., Tutwiler M. S., & Dede C. (2013). EcoMOBILE: Integrating augmented reality and probeware with environmental education field trips. Computers & Education , 68 , 545–556.

Kent M., Gilbertson D., & Hunt C. (1997). Fieldwork in geography teaching: a critical review of the literature and approaches. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 21 (3), 313–332.

Killerman W. (1996). Biology education in Germany: Research into the effectiveness of different teaching methods. International Journal of Science Education , 18 , 333–346.

King N. C. (2011). Engaging students in practical work through new technologies. UK Centre forBioscience Bulletin , 33 , 6.

Kingston D. G., Eastwood W. J., Jones P. I., Johnson R., Marshall S., & Hannah D. M. (2012). Experiences of using mobile technologies and virtual field tours in physical geography: Implications for hydrology education. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences , 16 (5), 1281–1286.

Klemm E. B., & Tuthill G. (2003). Virtual field trips: Best practices. International Journal of Instructional Media , 30 (2), 177.

Kneale P. E. (2014). Study skills for geography students: A practical guide (2nd ed.,). New York: Routledge.

Krakowka A. (2012). Field trips as valuable learning experiences in geography courses. Journal of Geography , 111 (6), 236–244.

Leydon J., & Turner S. (2013). The challenges and rewards of introducing field trips into a large introductory geography class. Journal of Geography , 112 (6), 248–261.

Litherland K., & Stott T. A. (2012). Virtual field sites: Losses and gains in authenticity with semantic technologies. Technology, Pedagogy and Education , 21 (2), 213–230.

Lindsay S. (2015). Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality. Retrieved from AUGMENT: http://www.augment.com/blog/virtualreality-vs-augmented-reality/

Lonergran N., & Andres L. W. (1988). Field-based education: Some theoretical considerations. Higher Education Research and Development , 7 , 63–77.

Luckin R., & Stanton-Fraser D. (2011). Limitless or pointless? An evaluation of augumented reality technology in the school and home. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning , 3 (5), 510–524.

Martin F., & Ertzberger J. (2013). Here and now mobile learning: An experimental study on the use of mobile technology. Computers & Education , 68 , 76–85.

Marvelf A., Simm D., Schaaf R., & Harpe R. (2013). Students as scholars: evaluating student-led learning and teaching during fieldwork. Joumal of Geography in Higher Education , 34 (4), 547–566.

McCaffrey K. W., Jones R. R., Holdsworth R. E., Wilson R. W., Clegg P., Imber J., et al. (2005). Unlocking the spatial dimension: Digital technologies and the future of geoscience fieldwork. Journal of the Geological Society , 162 (6), 927–938.

McElroy B. (1981). Models and reality: Integrating practical work and fieldwork in geography. The Geography Teacher's Guide to the classroom , 95–103.

McGuirk P. M., & O'Neill P. (2005). Using questionnaires in qualitative human geography. In I. Hay (Ed.), Qualitative research methods in human geography (pp. 147–162). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

McMorrow J. (2005). Using a web-based resource to prepare students for fieldwork: Evaluating the dark peak virtual tour. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 29 (2), 223–240.

Medzini A., Meishar-Tal H., & Sneh Y. (2015). Use of mobile technologies as support tools for geography field trips. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education , 24 (1), 13–23.

Pringle J. K., Westerman R., & Gardiner A. R. (2004). Virtual geological outcrops-fieldwork and analysis made less exhaustive? Geology Today , 20 (2), 64–69.

Ramasundaram V., Grunwald S., Mangeot A., Comerford N. B., & Bliss C. M. (2005). Development of an environmental virtual field laboratory. Computers & Education , 45 (1), 21–34.

Rawlings D. (1981). Local issues and Enquirey-based learning. Geography 6–19, occasional paper no. 2 (). London: University of London.

Robinson R. (1998). Development issues: Sympathy and paternalism, empathy and realism. In R. Gerber, & J. Lidstone (Eds.), Developing skills in geographical education (pp. 152–155). Brisbane: Jacaranda Press.

Rose G. (1993). Feminism and geography: The limits of geographical knowledge (). Cambridge: Polity Press.

Royal Geographical Association. (2016). Geography in the UK . Retrieved September 6, 2016, from Royal Geographical Association: http://www.rgs.org/GeographyToday/Geography+in+the+UK.htm

Rozell E., & Garner W. (2000). Cognitive, motivation and affective processes associated with computer-related performance: A path analysis. Computers in Human Behaviour , 16 (2), 199–222.

Seale J. (2013). E-learning and disability in higher education: Accessibility research and practice (). Abingdon: Routledge.

Simm D. J., & David C. A. (2002). Effective teaching of research design in physical geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 26 (2), 169–180.

Slater T. R. (1993). Locality-based studies and the Enterprise initiative. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 17 , 47–55.

Spicer J. I., & Stratford J. (2001). Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field trip. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning , 17 (4), 345–354.

Article   MATH   Google Scholar  

Spronken-Smith R., McLean A., Smith N., Bond C., Jenkins M., Marshall S., et al. (2016). A toolkit to implement graduate attributes in geography curricula. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 40 (2), 254–266.

Stainfield J., Fisher P., Ford B., & Solem M. (2000). International virtual field trips: A new direction? Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 24 (2), 255–262.

Stoddard J. (2009). Toward a virtual field trip model for the social studies. Contempory Issues Technology Teacher Education , 9 (4), 421–438.

Stokes A., Collins T., Maskall J., Lea J., Lunt P., & Davies S. (2012). Enabling remote access to fieldwork: Gaining insight into the pedagogic effectiveness of ‘direct’ and ‘remote’ field activities. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 36 (2), 197–222.

Stott, T., Litherland, K., Carmichael, P., & Nuttall, A. (2014). Using interactive virtual field guides and linked data in Geoscience teaching and learning. In V. Tong, & V. Tong, Geoscience research and innovation (innovation in science education and technology ed), Vol. 20, 163–188). Dordrecht : Springer Science and Business Media.

Stott T., Nuttall A., & McCloskey J. (2009). Design, development and student evaluation of a virtual alps field guide. Planet , 22 (1), 64–71.

Stott T. A., Nuttall A., Eden N., Smith K., & Maxwell D. (2008). Suspended sediment dynamics in the Morteratsch proglacial zone, Bernina alps, Switzerland. Geografi ska Annaler Series A: Physical Geography , 90 (4), 299–313.

Ternan J. L., Charlkley B. S., & Elmes A. (1999). Long haul field courses: Lessons from the Plymouth experience working paper no. 4 . Plymouth. University of Plymouth: SEED Publications.

Tuthill G., & Klemm E. B. (2002). Virtual field trips: Alternatives to actual field trips. International Journal of Instructional Media , 29 (4), 453–468.

UK GOV. (2016). Expanding private higher education: Key issues for the 2015 parliament. Retrieved September 6, 2016, from UK Parliment:  https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament-2015/education/higher-education/

Wall G. P., & Speake J. (2012). European geography higher education fieldwork and the skills agenda. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 36 (3), 421–435.

Warburton J., & Higgitt M. (1997). Improving the preparation for fieldwork with ‘IT’: Two examples from physical geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 21 , 333.

Warburton S. (2009). Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology , 40 (3), 414–426.

Article   MathSciNet   Google Scholar  

Welsh K., & France D. (2012). Spotlight on… Smartphones and fieldwork. Geography , 97 , 47.

Welsh K. E., Mauchline A. L., Park J. R., Whalley W. B., & France D. (2013). Enhancing fieldwork learning with technology: practitioner's perspectives. Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 37 (3), 399–415.

Wentzel P. (2005). Using Mobile Technology to Enhance Students’ Educational Experiences. ECAR case study, 2, case study from the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research . Colorado. EDUCAUSE Centre.

Whalley B. W., France D., Park J. R., Mauchline A. L., Powell V., & Welsh K. (2015). iPad use in fieldwork: Formal and informal use to enhance pedagogical practice in a bring your own technology world. In N. Souleles, & C. Pillar (Eds.), iPad use in fieldwork: Proceedings of the 1st international conference on the use of iPads in higher education (ihe2014) (pp. 110–125). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Whitmeyer S. J. (Ed.) (2012). Google earth and virtual visualizations in geoscience education and research (vol. 492). Colorado. Geological Society of America.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr. Fran Tracy and Professor Tim Stott for their continued support throughout this PhD and for their encouragement of this paper.

Availability of data and materials

Author information, authors and affiliations.

Liverpool John Moores University, Faculty of Education, Health and Community, School of Education, I M Marsh Campus, Barkhill Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, L17 6BD, UK

Anthony David Cliffe

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony David Cliffe .

Ethics declarations

Authors’ information.

ADC is a first year PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, studying the pedagogical benefits of using unmanned aerial vehicles in geoscience fieldwork education. ADC will be using UAVs to create highly detailed 3D models of field sites that students in geoscience disciplines in LJMU will go on as part of their studies. ADC will place these models into Virtual Field Guides to assess if there is a benefit to the students learning, either pre, post or during fieldwork and will further research into the effectiveness of virtual field guides in higher education with this new technology. This current paper is part of his thorough literature review into the role virtual field guides play in geoscience higher education today.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not needed, however all research is approved by the Liverpool John Moores Ethics committee.

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

The author declares that he has no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Cliffe, A.D. A review of the benefits and drawbacks to virtual field guides in today’s Geoscience higher education environment. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 14 , 28 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0066-x

Download citation

Received : 22 March 2017

Accepted : 20 June 2017

Published : 09 October 2017

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0066-x

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Online Learning Success

How to succeed at online courses for interest or to benefit your career., advantages and disadvantages of online and classroom learning.

By Pat Bowden, published May 30, 2017.

Most of us are familiar with classroom learning from our schooldays but online learning is a new field. There are several differences between online and classroom or on-campus learning.

Online Learning Advantages:

• No need to travel, saving both time and money.
• Whenever and wherever you like: early morning, while commuting or eating, during work breaks or in the evening. At home, in coffee shops, or on the train. Take a break anytime to give your mind a short rest.
• Online learning usually includes pre-recorded videos. Sometimes these are simple recordings of lectures with or without accompanying slides. Other courses and MOOCs are dynamic learning experiences when videos are recorded in different locations or produced with green screen technology, sound effects, music and advanced graphics. Sometimes videos include embedded questions that students have to answer before continuing the video.
• MOOCs are self-contained. No need to buy textbooks although some MOOCs have optional texts.
• You can speed up videos during easy parts, and slow them down to understand more difficult concepts. This facility is particularly useful if you are not a native speaker of the language, or if your instructor has an unfamiliar accent that you have difficulty understanding.
• You can pause videos while writing notes or re-watch them as often as necessary. Many courses also provide transcripts for their videos. If an interactive transcript is provided, you can click on a relevant section of the transcript to watch that part of the video.
• If videos or transcripts can be downloaded to your device you will then have unlimited access to them.
• Many MOOCs provide recommended and optional reading materials and extra resources. These can include useful websites or papers freely available online.
• You can take free MOOCs over and over again without losing money if you need more time to succeed.
• In courses with dynamic discussion forums you can discuss issues with fellow students from all around the world.

Online Learning Disadvantages:

• No face-to-face contact with fellow students or course staff.
• No student facilities such as laboratories or libraries, although some MOOCs incorporate practical activities to be done at home, virtual laboratory experiments, reading lists of freely-available papers or temporary subscriptions to journals.
• It can be hard to find answers to questions or resolve difficulties, especially when discussion forum participation is low.
• You need effective self-motivation.

Classroom Learning Advantages:

• You can ask questions (assuming the instructor welcomes questions).
• You can discuss issues with fellow students.
• There is ample opportunity for social interaction and support.
• You have access to on-campus student facilities.

Classroom Learning Disadvantages:

• Travel time and cost.
• Attendance times can be restrictive or inconvenient.
• Shy students may have trouble approaching the instructor with questions.
• You usually have to sit through each lecture even if you already know most of the material.
• You may be required to buy compulsory textbooks.

How to Overcome the Disadvantages of Online Learning

Because humans are social creatures who generally love company, the solitary experience of online learning can be a major hurdle for some students. It can be lonely unless you have a friend who is taking the course with you. Many courses attempt to address this by encouraging discussions in course forums which can be general discussion forums where students can introduce themselves, as well as focused discussions on particular aspects of the course. Posting your comments and thoughts to the forums can be helpful to overcome these feelings of isolation, particularly in courses that use community mentors or teaching assistants to respond to student posts.

In some courses, participation in discussions is sluggish. To stimulate some online social interaction, write plenty of comments in the student discussion forums. Fellow students are more likely to engage with you if you have comments in several threads. You may need to be patient, though, because it may take days for replies to be posted.

Do you live in a large city? You may be able to join or start up a community meetup or hangout. Always keep personal safety in mind while meeting internet acquaintances.

Another option is to create your own support network amongst your family members and friends. Even if they aren’t studying with you, you may be able to talk about your study ups and downs. Every little bit of support can help!

If you are having trouble understanding something, have you listened to the videos more than once? Have you taken a break, perhaps left it until the next day to look at the material again. Sometimes when we look at it after a break, the meaning suddenly becomes clear. Is the meaning still eluding you? You can post your questions to the course forums, but sometimes it can take hours or days for an answer. Sometimes your question simply remains unanswered, so you may need a different strategy. Have you checked all of the course resources? Many courses have lists of supplementary materials. Books or research articles may be able to be ordered through your local library. Type your question into your favourite search engine. Read the results but be aware that not all internet posts are reliable, even Wikipedia. They can be used as a starting point, though, and cross checking your research with the course materials can help sort the wheat from the chaff. Google Scholar can be a useful source of reliable research papers.

Most of the above comments about online learning refer to MOOCs. If you are enrolled in a paid online subject as part of a small class, you should have online access to course staff who can answer your individual queries in online chat form or perhaps via Skype or similar. The very nature of MOOCs means that direct interaction between instructor and individual students is virtually non-existent. The only exception is if the instructor participates in the course discussion forums.

A Final Thought

As a student, make the most of all your course resources and the flexibility of MOOCs. Use every spare moment to look at your course and keep your motivation level high.

More from my site

The learning curve blog

Helpful advice for online course creators, businesses, and entrepreneurs, pros and cons of using video in elearning.

by Brett Trainor | Jan 23, 2014 | Tips & Tricks

Today, people are using video more than ever on their smartphones and laptops, in everyday life. With the evolvement of technology over the years, it has become more feasible for eLearning professionals to use videos in their online courses. Of course, using videos in eLearning has its pros and cons. Deciding whether or not you use video in your course depends on many factors, including time, budget, and subject matter. These are a few pros and cons to using video in eLearning.

• Keeps students interested and engaged
• Breaks up monotony and “page-turning”
• Reduces the reading load
• Reduces training time
• Helps visual learners retain information
• Enhances understanding
• Demonstrates easily
• More expensive
• Time-consuming to script, record, and edit
• Low quality video is more distracting than useful
• Uses more bandwidth and takes longer to load
• Logistics of scheduling the recording, editing, and the resources
• Video storage – many learning management systems allow you to upload or embed the video directly within their platform. However, if you are unable to do this, you need to consider where to house the video.

When should you use video?

It is important to always have a clear instructional purpose behind your online video. The cost of developing videos has gone down over the years, however, it still requires a large amount of time and resources. So, when should you use video in your online course? These are a few examples:

• To reduce the reading load for students
• To demonstrate how-to’s, a specific task, or a product use
• To emphasize an important concept or point
• When you need more emotional appeal than photos and text can deliver

Stay tuned for more video tips to improve your eLearning course! These are a few best practices for recording your video. Looking for a few screencasting tools? Check these 5 great ones out.

The DigitalChalk Blog:

Guidance to keep your business on the right course..

As part of our unlimited support offering, our blog allows us to write content with you in mind. Filled with tips and tricks, platform feature highlights, how-tos, related news, and much more, our blog is designed to hel pyou accomplish your goals. Sign up today to learn more about how DigitalChalk can help you, your business, and your students succeed.

Search Blog

Sign up for helpful advice and more for your business., you're in thanks for signing up..

Sign up now!

DigitalChalk uses the information you submit above to provide the most relevant resources and contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out our Privacy Policy .

Recent posts

• How do I get more employees using our LMS?
• How can I make eLearning courses more appealing to the visually impaired?
• How do I make eLearning accessible to all learners?
• When should I consider upgrading to a better LMS?
• Understanding DigitalChalk’s New Video Element: Revolutionizing Video-based eLearning 
• Announcements (92)
• Business Training (52)
• DigitalChalk (55)
• eLearning Tools (56)
• Marketing (78)
• Podcast (4)
• Tips & Tricks (267)

• Partner Testimonials
• Publications and Media
• Student Excel
• Career Express Portal
• Entrepreneurship Express Portal
• Panel Discussions
• Work With Us
• Ask a Panelist
• Donate Today

Boost Campaign Performance Through Video

Discover how to boost your next campaign by using video.

How to Create Effective Video Tutorials: A Guide for Online Courses

A video tutorial provides a way to transfer knowledge that’s more specific and interactive than a lecture or a book.

The tutor gives information to complete a specific task that comes from personal experience of doing the task.

Video tutorials offer one of the best ways to learn and are rapidly expanding across digital media to support users in accomplishing specialized tasks.

The Evolution of Video Tutorials

The term ‘tutorial’ originally referred to a period of tuition given by a university or college tutor to a single tutee, or a small group of tutees.

As e-learning has began to become more popular, the scope of tutorials has expanded to include all instructional resources and tools used to ‘tutor’ students individually.

Tutorials must have a strong online presence today as informal learners seek guidance in many different areas and activities.

The earliest video-based learning experiments happened in World War 1 for military training and were used afterward mainly in education television. Today MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) provide many students with the opportunity to attend free online courses from anywhere in the world.

Video tutorials are often included in online courses because they are widely recognized as a powerful tool in online teaching activities.

Why Video Tutorials are important for Online Courses

Videos present knowledge in an engaging way that stimulates the attention of students and motivates them to participate, which ultimately improves learning outcomes.

Online tutorials are proven to be highly effective in university courses in technical areas like engineering.

Some of the main benefits of videos in online courses include the appeal to different learning styles, self-pacing, round-the-clock availability, and cost-efficiency.

Hybrid learning takes place in many classrooms today, with students watching video lectures as homework with in-class learning all about exploring concepts presented in the video lecture.

Videos appeal to both visual and auditory learners, and a combination of visual and oral materials is known to enhance memory and cognition because it activates two separate but interconnected neurological systems.

Bringing together video based-learning and learning-by-doing , video tutorials offer a unique tool for acquiring knowledge and developing skills.

Video tutorials are also a strategic resource in large-scale educational projects as they ensure scalability, uniformity of delivery and cost-effectiveness. Video tutorials can also be accessed via a range of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones and tablets.

How to make a Video Tutorial: Complete guide for Online Courses

Video tutorials available on YouTube today are amateur products in which users address other users in an informal learning context.

These video tutorials are not always carefully scripted or edited and as a result, they may lack cohesion and coherence. The audio performance with the videos often features typical characteristics of spontaneous speech, such as hesitations and repetitions.

When you want to create a video tutorial for online courses, videos that people will pay to watch.

It is imperative to be as professional as possible.

You not only have to deliver great content but do so in a way that offers a great user experience. This doesn’t mean you should be intimidated but it means putting some effort into your video production for your online course.

Proper planning ahead of time can help you to develop a better video tutorial.

Here are the steps on how to make a tutorial video for your online course:

1. Choose the right topic

When considering a topic for your online course , you need to think about what you know well and are passionate about that you could teach others.

You also need to know your audience so you can find out what they want to know. Your online course should provide the audience with some kind of solution they feel it’s worth paying for.

2. Plan the content and format

Write a course outline and decide how to structure it in a logical sequence.

Think about what kind of lesson materials and instructional videos you will need for each part of your online course.

Create an online course outline by posing the following question to yourself:

What do you want students to know at the end of each topic?

How will you assess what the students have learned from your online course? 

3. Practice speech and presentation techniques

You have to be comfortable on camera to make good videos.

Although this comes more naturally to some people more than others, practice can help you to improve and appear more natural in the videos tutorials.

Students will pick up immediately if you feel uncomfortable. Your video script should consist of short sentences that are not too technical and the tone should be conversational.

Here are some tips to help you improve:

• Don’t move your arms and hands around too much as this can be distracting.
• Warm-up your voice before recording.
• Try to reduce your accent if you have a strong one.
• Wear neutral, comfortable clothing so your clothes don’t distract students.
• Watch other video tutorials made by people you admire and pick up some tips from them.

Remember that everyone brings something unique to what they teach

Allow the camera to capture not only your words but your personality and your passion to teach the online course.

4. choose the setting.

You don’t need a professional studio for the videos but the setting must look professional and organized.

The background setting for your video must have enough light and not be cluttered.

Viewers should focus on you for the duration of the video and not on the objects surrounding you. The environment should be noise-free as any noise will interfere with the audio quality.

5. Prepare the equipment

Creating an online course can be done with relatively simple equipment.

It is worth getting your hands on a good microphone as it will provide better sound quality than the one built into your computer.

As well as using the right type of camera can also make a difference for your online course.

6. Do a test run

Before you start creating worksheets, videos and other resources, you may want to think about creating a mini-course for your test run.

With an initial test run you could deliver a free mini-course that you created to your email subscribers. This will help in testing the reactions of your target audience while also receiving honest feedback about your mini-course.

If you can make modifications according to the feedback you receive, you have the best chance for success for  your online course.

7. Create your videos

It’s important to create a compelling introduction for the videos. You can create an introductory video using animation where you introduce an animated character who will guide students through the course.

Creating tutorials by recording a video of your screen as you perform various steps is another popular form of video tutorial.

If you make a mistake while recording the screen, don’t start all over again. You can edit it out later.

Interactive elements in videos, such as quizzes or tapping on a screen to learn more about a specific element, increases student interaction. 

8. Edit your videos

Taking some time to edit your videos can play an important role in the final result. There is plenty of free software online you can use to edit videos.

Visual aids such as subtitles , icons etc., can all add value to your videos.

If you use a soundtrack for videos, make sure the music does not compete with your voice.

Today you don’t need expensive equipment or a videographer to make videos. By using available platforms, software and tools, you can create a simple but effective online course.

Keep your online course and video content secure with Video Asset Management (VAM) .

Is there a difference between Tutorial Videos and Online Courses?

From YouTube to sophisticated Learning Management Systems (LMSs) , it is possible to access video tutorials relating to a multitude of different topics.

While online courses are available that deliver learning through a variety of methods, such as using videos, PDFs, live streaming etc.; video tutorials refer only to training delivered in video format. Using video tutorials in an online course is a perfect combination to create an engaging and information online course for your students.

When you think about creating an online course, you may worry about many things, especially when it comes to creating videos, but it is not as difficult as you may think due to all the software and tools available today.

There are many advantages to creating online courses.

• Online courses make training available online that can reach people globally without the logistics and cost of in-person training and traveling.
• Audiences can access video training at any time and from anywhere so considerations like location and time zones don’t apply to online courses.
• Creating online courses guarantees that everyone gets the same consistent learning experience. There are many formats to use online but video is best format for many audiences as it has the power to engage and enhance attention.
• Using a presenter to create video tutorials humanizes learning and has a proven high retention rate.
• Another advantage video offers when creating online courses is its flexibility.

To host your online course, you need to choose an online course platform with all the video resources you need, such as the following:

• Customization: How easy is it to customize the visual identity of your online course?
• Automatic Content Delivery Network (CDN) : Do clients have immediate access to start classes once payment is confirmed?
• Video Analytics: Do you have access to analytics that show you a clear picture of the performance of your online course?
• Online payment system: Is there a way to receive payments from different credit card companies?
• Support: Will you have easy access to support if you have questions?
• Student management: Can you track the progress of students and their performance in real-time?

Forums: Is there a space where students can communicate and you can answer questions?

How Video Features and Integration can help you to Increase Engagement with Tutorial Videos

Branding, engagement, security and the viewing experience are extremely important when creating online courses with videos.

You need a video hosting platform that gives you complete control over all the aspects in an online course. 

Video platforms should be optimized to make it easy to upload, publish and share videos to your online course.

Security and tracking systems should also be part of the video hosting platform with security features that include at minimum IP restrictions, domain restrictions, and registration pages with password protection.

Here are the features that you need from a video hosting platform for online courses to increase user and student engagement with your videos:

Mobile-ready interactive video

A video player should fully support all types of screens and offer interactions such as chapters, annotations, and quizzes to enhance learning.

Powerful, actionable Video Analytics

You should be able to access insights into how specific videos are performing. Syncing studio video completion and viewing data with LMS reports enable you to understand how video tutorials are impacting progress and grades.

A video analytics dashboard can give you access to graphs and detailed data.

AI-powered Digital Asset Management (DAM)

It is extremely important that all the videos you create and upload are easily searchable according to access permissions you can set and it is possible with a DAM solution .

Automatic closed captioning and auto-tagging enhance accessibility and search. A video hosting solution should provide closed captioning and auto-tagging feature for your videos.

Live streaming capabilities

Live streaming has become one of the favorite ways to connect with audiences in an engaging and personal way.

The video hosting platform you choose should have the option of live streaming and making live streaming videos instantly available on-demand .

Live stream delivers from one to many so it’s essential that thousands of viewers can watch at the same time with little to no latency.

A Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) ensures optimized bandwidth consumption and a better viewing experience for viewers with no buffering.

This is because servers are situated worldwide and can cache and offer content to viewers nearest to them. 

Flexible deployment options

You can choose deployment on-premise, or in the public and private cloud, or a combination of the two depending on what suits you best for your online courses.

Integrations

It’s an integrated world and your online video platform must offer integration with other platforms in your technology stack.

You need to look for integrations with learning management systems (LMSs) , leading marketing platforms etc. For example, if your video platform integrates with your email marketing, you can send email subscribers early-bird promotions and discounts for your online courses.

Effective video tutorials form an integral part of online courses.

Video tutorials create engagement that text alone does not offer. Video also accommodates visual and audio learning styles and can be tailored or personalized according to requirements of the audience.

Using the right video hosting platforms, software and tools has made it much easier to create video tutorials today.

Cincopa is a video hosting solution that provides secure video hosting to online course creators and enterprise publishers alike. Find out how our video hosting solutions can help you optimize your online course  platform with videos. 

Keep learning

What is video-based learning and how to implement it, how to measure and improve online learning engagement, everything you need to know to maximize your website with multimedia , the power of video testimonials in building brand trust, 5 features from the best video analytics solution for online courses, how to leverage your video analytics for online learning, didn't find what you were looking for.

Coursework vs Exams: What’s Easier? (Pros and Cons)

In A-Level , GCSE , General by Think Student Editor September 12, 2023 Leave a Comment

Coursework and exams are two different techniques used to assess students on certain subjects. Both of these methods can seem like a drag when trying to get a good grade, as they both take so many hours of work! However, is it true that one of these assessment techniques is easier than the other? Some students pick subjects specifically because they are only assessed via coursework or only assessed via exams, depending on what they find easiest. However, could there be a definite answer to what is the easiest?

If you want to discover whether coursework or exams are easier and the pros and cons of these methods, check out the rest of this article!

Disclaimer: This article is solely based on one student’s opinion. Every student has different perspectives on whether coursework or exams are easier. Therefore, the views expressed in this article may not align with your own.

Table of Contents

Coursework vs exams: what’s easier?

The truth is that whether you find coursework or exams easier depends on you and how you like to work. Different students learn best in different ways and as a result, will have differing views on these two assessment methods.

Coursework requires students to complete assignments and essays throughout the year which are carefully graded and moderated. This work makes up a student’s coursework and contributes to their final grade.

In comparison, exams often only take place at the end of the year. Therefore, students are only assessed at one point in the year instead of throughout. All of a student’s work then leads up to them answering a number of exams which make up their grade.

There are pros and cons for both of these methods, depending on how you learn and are assessed best. Therefore, whether you find coursework or exams easier or not depends on each individual.

Is coursework easier than exams?

Some students believe that coursework is easier than exams. This is because it requires students to work on it all throughout the year, whilst having plenty of resources available to them.

As a result, there is less pressure on students at the end of the year, as they have gradually been able to work hard on their coursework, which then determines their grade. If you do coursework at GCSE or A-Level, you will generally have to complete an extended essay or project.

Some students find this easier than exams because they have lots of time to research and edit their essays, allowing the highest quality of work to be produced. You can discover more about coursework and tips for how to make it stand out if you check out this article from Oxford Royale.

However, some students actually find coursework harder because of the amount of time it takes and all of the research involved. Consequently, whether you prefer coursework or not depends on how you enjoy learning.

What are the cons of coursework?

As already hinted at, the main con of coursework is the amount of time it takes. In my experience, coursework was always such a drag because it took up so much of my time!

When you hear that you have to do a long essay, roughly 2000-3000 words, it sounds easily achievable. However, the amount of research you have to do is immense, and then editing and reviewing your work takes even more time.

Coursework should not be over and done within a week. It requires constant revisits and rephrasing, as you make it as professional sounding and high quality as possible. Teachers are also unable to give lots of help to students doing coursework. This is because it is supposed to be an independent project.

Teachers are able to give some advice, however not too much support. This can be difficult for students who are used to being given lots of help.

You also have to be very careful with what you actually write. If you plagiarise anything that you have written, your coursework could be disqualified. Therefore, it is very important that you pay attention to everything you write and make sure that you don’t copy explicitly from other websites. This can make coursework a risky assessment method.

You are allowed to use websites for research, however you must reference them correctly. This can be a difficult skill for some students to learn also!

What are the pros of coursework?

Some of the cons of coursework already discussed can actually be seen as pros by some students! Due to coursework being completed throughout the year, this places less pressure on students, as they don’t have to worry about final exams completely determining their grade.

Some subjects require students to sit exams and complete some coursework. However, if a student already knows that they have completed some high-quality coursework when it comes to exam season, they are less likely to place pressure on themselves. They know that their coursework could save their grade even if they don’t do very well on the exam.

A lot of coursework also requires students to decide what they want to research or investigate. This allows students to be more creative, as they decide what to research, depending on the subject. This can make school more enjoyable and also give them more ideas about what they want to do in the future.

If you are about to sit your GCSEs and are thinking that coursework is the way to go, check out this article from Think Student to discover which GCSE subjects require students to complete coursework.

What are the cons of exams?

Personally, I hated exams! Most students share this opinion. After all, so much pressure is put on students to complete a set of exams at the end of the school year. Therefore, the main con of sitting exams is the amount of pressure that students are put under.

Unlike coursework, students are unable to go back and revisit the answers to their exams over many weeks. Instead, after those 2 (ish) hours are up, you have to leave the exam hall and that’s it! Your grade will be determined from your exams.

This can be seen as not the best method, as it doesn’t take student’s performances throughout the rest of the year into account. Consequently, if a student is just having a bad day and messes up one of their exams, nothing can be done about it!

If you are struggling with exam stress at the moment, check out this article from Think Student to discover ways of dealing with it.

Exams also require an immense amount of revision which takes up time and can be difficult for students to complete. If you want to discover some revision tips, check out this article from Think Student.

What are the pros of exams?

Exams can be considered easier however because they are over with quickly. Unlike coursework, all students have to do is stay in an exam hall for a couple of hours and it’s done! If you want to discover how long GCSE exams generally last, check out this article from Think Student.

Alternatively, you can find out how long A-Level exams are in this article from Think Student. There is no need to work on one exam paper for weeks – apart from revising of course!

Revising for exams does take a while, however revising can also be beneficial because it increases a student’s knowledge. Going over information again and again means that the student is more likely to remember it and use it in real life. This differs greatly from coursework.

Finally, the main advantage of exams is that it is much harder to cheat in any way. Firstly, this includes outright cheating – there have been issues in the past with students getting other people to write their coursework essays.

However, it also includes the help you get. Some students may have an unfair advantage if their teachers offer more help and guidance with coursework than at other schools. In an exam, it is purely the student’s work.

While this doesn’t necessarily make exams easier than coursework, it does make them fairer, and is the reason why very few GCSEs now include coursework.

If you want to discover more pros and cons of exams, check out this article from AplusTopper.

What type of student is coursework and exams suited to?

You have probably already gathered from this article whether exams or coursework are easier. This is because it all depends on you. Hopefully, the pros and cons outlined have helped you to decide whether exams or coursework is the best assessment method for you.

If you work well under pressure and prefer getting assessed all at once instead of gradually throughout the year, then exams will probably be easier for you. This is also true if you are the kind of person that leaves schoolwork till the last minute! Coursework will definitely be seen as difficult for you if you are known for doing this!

However, if, like me, you buckle under pressure and prefer having lots of time to research and write a perfect essay, then you may find coursework easier. Despite this, most GCSE subjects are assessed via exams. Therefore, you won’t be able to escape all exams!

As a result, it can be useful to find strategies that will help you work through them. This article from Think Student details a range of skills and techniques which could be useful to use when you are in an exam situation.

Exams and coursework are both difficult in their own ways – after all, they are used to thoroughly assess you! Depending on how you work best, it is your decision to decide whether one is easier than the other and which assessment method this is.

Create Your Course

The advantages and disadvantages of learning in online classes in 2023, share this article.

Whether you’re taking a school class remotely or trying to learn a new skill just for fun – online classes can be a great option. They work well for people that can’t always commute, those who work better independently, or simply if you can’t or don’t want to be around a group of people all day. But, it’s not to say that online classes are designed for everyone either. In this blog, we’ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of online classes, as well as help you decide if online learning is the best choice for you. 

• Advantages of online classes
• Disadvantages of online classes

Are online classes for you?

Read more: Top Challenges with Online Learning For Students (and Solutions)

8 advantages of online classes

The explosion of online learning has been a fantastic shift for many people. Students who may have had to waste hours commuting to class can now attend right from their homes. And anyone struggling to take in content at the same speed as a class can now go at their own pace – in a way that works best for their learning requirements. The pros of online classes make learning a positive experience for countless students. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages here !

1. Accessible to anyone with an Internet connection 

More than 20 million new users signed up to a Coursera course in 2021, for a total of 92 million users on the platform! Since online courses are accessible to nearly anyone with an Internet connection, it’s helped to close the global education gap significantly. 

Online classes make learning accessible to those with disabilities and cognitive delays. For example, deaf students can simply turn on closed captioning (CC) to read the conversation and participate in class online. Many video conferencing platforms and learning management systems (LMS) support accessible hardware technology to further increase engagement in online classes. 

Students with cognitive or motor skill disabilities have the option to work at their own pace or take lessons when it is convenient for them. For example, if a student with dyslexia is having a difficult time reading assigned textbook chapters, they can choose to listen to it instead with an option like audio textbook versions. 

2. Flexible scheduling

A major benefit of online learning is the ability for students to attend classes from anywhere. This means students in rural areas no longer waste time driving long distances or riding the bus to get to school. Or , students who need to work to support themselves through school also have an easier time fitting both class and work schedules into their lives. 

This also applies to adult learners that may be juggling responsibilities such as children, work, home management, and more. With busy schedules, it might not be possible to make time for an in-person class. Beyond the time to commute, busy adults might need to be on standby for their children – something that is much harder to do when they’re in a physical classroom. 

The flexibility of online classes has a huge benefit for mental health. It’s been proven that job autonomy leads to mental well-being in employees . For full-time students, schooling is much like a job that takes at least 40 hours of the week. Having the autonomy to choose when and where they attend class can help mitigate common mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Better mental health leads to happier students – which is definitely something teachers, parents, and students alike should all strive for!

3. More affordable than in-person classes

Online learning makes higher education like university much more accessible to the wider population. University degrees offered online are an average of $10  to 11,000 cheaper than in-person equivalents . This number does not take costs like on-campus food or housing into account – it only reflects tuition differences. So you can imagine how significant that difference would become with all expenses accounted for! 

Learning management systems like Thinkific and Udemy are great places to look for affordable (and sometimes free) classes. Industry experts, entrepreneurs, and coaches all offer their knowledge through self-created courses, meaning these courses are often more accessible in terms of pricing while also providing super relevant and realistic course lessons. Students can go directly to the source of knowledge, rather than having to pay expensive tuition fees to big institutions .

There is also a huge amount of free knowledge on websites like YouTube. Channels such as Crash Course and Khan Academy provide high quality content at no cost!

4. Ability to connect globally

It’s possible to connect with teachers and learners all around the world with online courses. Before online learning was widely accessible , you would have had to travel to Hawaii to learn about Hawaiian traditions and cultures, for example . Now, you can join Ka hale Hoaka online school and learn right from your home. 

Even if you’re learning something that isn’t necessarily culture or country-specific, learning with people from different backgrounds can lend fascinating perspectives and discussion to the topic. With so many courses implementing learning communities, it’s easier than ever to connect with fellow students and hear different points of view. 

Read more: 10 Different Types of Online Learning Communities

5. Facilitated peer and teacher interaction

At first , it might seem like students don’t get a lot of interaction in an online course as compared to in-person classes. This can definitely happen – but there are many online courses that prioritize student interaction with each other, and with the instructor. 

For some students, it is easier to communicate through virtual mediums such as forums, discussion boards, or direct messaging than it is to speak up in an in-person class. Through these channels, they still get the benefits of group discussion without having to sacrifice the flexibility of online learning. Dr. Michelle Gottlieb, a psychologist and owner of EMDR Professional Training , also engages with her students by frequently commenting in her course’s online communities and providing advice to students as needed. Many instructors even offer 1-1 coaching sessions for students that are looking for additional learning support ! 

6. Encourages independence and self-pacing

Many online courses offer students the option to take the course at their own pace. This can take away worries that the student might not have time in their hectic life to fit multiple hours of coursework in each week consistently . Self-paced courses are extremely adaptable to busy schedules. However, it does take a fair amount of self-discipline to actually complete self-paced courses.

If students find they are lacking discipline and are unable to complete courses that are self-paced, there are online courses that put students into cohorts with set deadlines. This is a great option for students and teachers that benefit from a more traditional class structure. Instructors that follow this model will often use the drip method, a microlearning approach , to release content at a slower pace. 

Read more : 2023 e-Learning Trends Report

7. Improved tracking and facilitation

If you’re easily disorganized or have trouble remembering what you learned last week, online classes can help you in this area. Most online classroom systems will keep track of which topics and resources you’ve already read, and will point you to which ones you need to do next. It will also automatically file your assignments, keep track of your grades, and calculate your total GPA to date. In comparison, learning through a physical classroom would require you to manage a lot of papers, heavy textbooks, and physical equipment.

Online classrooms also have the ability to launch virtual labs, which makes it easier to facilitate interactive learning sessions. Quizzes and feedback surveys can also be launched through the learning management system  by the teacher, and you can see your results almost instantly. Overall, it’s much faster to see information and results in virtual classrooms.

8. Adaptive to multiple learning styles

Everyone has a slightly different preference when it comes to how they interpret information. There are generally three types of learning styles:

• Auditory learners – who prefer to learn by hearing. This includes listening to podcasts, lectures, and audiobooks. Any verbal explanation goes a long way for this learner!
• Visual learners – who prefer to learn by seeing. Animations, movies, hand movements, drawing, and writing are useful tools for this type of learner.
• Kinesthetic learners – who prefer to learn by doing, or using their hands. Any opportunity to touch, feel, build, and see something in 3D will help this learner interpret information well.

Most people have some combination of learning style, making them hybrid learners. With online classes, there are a lot of ways that students can choose to take in information. For example, a course may offer a video (appealing to visual learners) with a voiceover (for auditory learners) and instructions on how to do the science experiment with home materials (for kinesthetic learners). 

Launch your online learning product for free

Use Thinkific to create, market, and sell online courses, communities, and memberships — all from a single platform.

6 disadvantages of online classes

While there are many advantages to online learning, it’s important to also consider the disadvantages. Some people may find that online learning isn’t for them, so let’s explore some of the reasons why. 

Often requires a lot of screen time

Staring at digital screens all day long has a myriad of negative effects for both adults and children. These effects include eye strain, disrupted circadian rhythm, headaches, and neck and back pain.  Learners taking online classes need to take measures to avoid symptoms of too much screen time, especially if they are already working remotely , in addition to taking classes. Some ways to prevent the negative effects of screen time include:

• Using blue-light glasses
• Taking a break every 20 minutes to look at something different
• Change up your working environment every few hours
• Avoid turning up your screen too bright
• Lower the contrast on your screen

2. Less opportunity to connect with peers

While online classes can actually be quite social in nature, the fact is that you’re still usually completing them on your own most of the time . This can be a major disadvantage – especially for students that already spend a lot of time by themselves at home. Students can combat this feeling of isolation by working on their online classes in coffee shops or libraries where there is a more lively environment . Additionally, they can sign up for classes that have thriving online communities to connect virtually with other students. 

It’s important to keep in mind that many people enroll in university, college, or even community classes as a way to meet friends. Proximity to the same people is a leading indicator that you will befriend those people – just because you see them a lot! If you’re taking classes online, you’ll miss that natural proximity and connection with your peers. It will take more effort to form real-life friendships with online peers (but it is still possible). One way to get a similar level of social interaction in online courses is by opting for a class that has a lot of group project work.

3. Harder to access technical equipment

At a minimum, students need a device with an internet connection to take online classes. Realistically, students will need a device they can also type assignments on such as a laptop or tablet with a keyboard. It’s costly to purchase these devices upfront , especially if you have multiple children in online classes who each need their own devices to complete school work. 

More often than not , in-person classes have a responsibility to provide equipment so students can participate. This keeps class accessible for lower-income students. To circumvent this issue with online learning environments, some school districts provide laptops or tablets so that students can participate even if they can’t afford to purchase devices themselves. Unfortunately, this is in no way a global solution as many school districts don’t have the funds to provide devices. This problem is even more true for students with learning disabilities who require specialized accessibility hardware.

4. Creates extra work for teachers

Teachers become teachers because they love to teach – not necessarily because they have an affinity for technology. This became extremely clear when teachers were first tasked with moving entire courses and curriculums into online formats . For many teachers, this meant lots of extra work recording lectures, moving tests and assignments online, and organizing video call live lessons and homework submission portals. However, once the courses are built, there is only a small time requirement to maintain the content with up-to-date material. 

Teachers might also run into issues with students not participating as much online and not having as much opportunity to collaborate. While there are online solutions to both of these issues, it is a learning curve for teachers to adapt to online teaching. It may take extra time to collect feedback from students in these early learning stages, but this time commitment should decrease over time.

5. Requires more self-control and harder to focus

Online learning can certainly make focusing for long periods of time a challenge. Students are no longer in an environment dedicated to learning and are surrounded by distractions like phones, delivery people , or chores like doing some laundry or walking the dog. The lack of structure means students need to be good at their own time management. This is an added challenge on top of learning that students don’t need to think about during in-person classes. 

Students may also find they run into challenges or don’t understand the material when learning online. Hopefully, the instructor has set up a way to contact them to answer questions, but if not, this will become frustrating for students and will likely cause them to lose motivation for learning. 

6. Lack of hands-on learning

Certain information lends itself better to online learning than others. For example, learning math or biology online will be relatively easier online since it involves a lot of visual or auditory explanations. However, learning things like medical examination, dental work, or even pottery or another trade might be tough because of the hands-on components. For kinesthetic learners, it might be more practical to learn in-person or purchase the training equipment you would need to practice your new skill hands-on at home.

After reading through the advantages and disadvantages of online classes you probably have a good idea if online learning is for you. If you’re disciplined, self-motivated, want to learn something that doesn’t need hands-on practice, or if you need flexibility, online learning is right for you! However, if you need lots of structure, want to learn a hands-on concept, and want to meet people face-to-face , you would probably benefit more from in-person classes.

This article was originally published in 2022, it has since been updated in March 2023 to include the newest info. 

Maddie is a content marketer at Thinkific. When she isn't zealously writing about all things online learning, you can find her glued to a good book or exploring the great outdoors.

• 7 Top Challenges with Online Learning For Students (and Solutions)
• The 5 Most Effective Teaching Styles (Pros & Cons of Each)
• What Is Microlearning? The Case For Shorter, Bite Sized Learning
• 11 Best Free Online Course Platforms (2024)
• 12 of the Top Social Media Courses to Level-Up Your Marketing

Related Articles

New features for your online courses.

New features for your online courses. More customization, categorize your courses, create courses with downloads, create courses from audio & mp3 files

How Branded Apps Build Brand Loyalty: Research and Options

Explore several app-relevant definitions & compare branded vs unbranded apps. Backed by compelling new research on the role of branded apps in brand loyalty.

Increase Sales and Impact 💸

Discover the exact step-by-step to deliver hook-worthy headlines, content value with lead magnets, and measure your conversions with data analytics. Increase sales and impact.

Try Thinkific for yourself!

Accomplish your course creation and student success goals faster with thinkific..

Download this guide and start building your online program!

It is on its way to your inbox

• Free Samples
• Premium Essays
• Editing Services Editing Proofreading Rewriting
• Extra Tools Essay Topic Generator Thesis Generator Citation Generator GPA Calculator Study Guides Donate Paper
• Essay Writing Help
• About Us About Us Testimonials FAQ
• About Coursework
• Samples List

Counting toward a final mark or grade, coursework considers one of the most crucial assignments during the class. It involves two main stages: doing research or experiment; presenting findings, and freshly acquired knowledge in a digestible form. While the first phase excites students, the second one strikes fear in the heart and causes real trouble. Let us get to the basics of this type of assignment to nail it no matter what.

What Is a Coursework?

Coursework is work assigned to students or trainees to improve specific skills and upgrade their learning experience. Basically, it involves two main stages. The first one includes practice, experimentation, or research. The second stage implies writing a coursework essay or completing writing assignments such as dissertations or book reports. It can be seen in all fields of study, from Business to Computer Science to Literature.

As a rule, coursework accompanies exams and is crucial when determining overall course scores. However, unlike final tests, it provides students with plenty of time for completion, from a couple of days to several weeks. On top of that, students are welcome to use any help they can find during this process.

Importance to Write a Coursework

Writing coursework is crucial for every student because of providing these benefits:

• It broadens knowledge.
• It enhances research skills.
• It demonstrates a person's ability to discuss, reason, and construct practical outcomes from learned theoretical knowledge.
• It improves communication skills since some work is done in groups, so students need to learn how to collaborate to achieve a common goal.
• It inspires confidence in a person's ability to do a grand job.

Main Obstacle of Producing a Top-grade Coursework

Recent surveys show that in the majority of cases, students do not find issued tasks challenging, even though some of them are daunting, tricky, and even controversial. What they have found difficult is the proper presentation of the final work.

Indeed, over 80% of postgraduates believe the first phase, which involves experiments, research, and acquiring new knowledge in the field, to be quite exciting. However, the second stage, which implies expressing your thoughts, presenting results, and convincing the teacher that you have done a great job using the only written word, is believed to be a true nightmare and a challenge. The reason for that is simple; not everyone has good writing skills. Plus, almost everyone experiences a writing block that slows down the process and causes stress.

To make matters worse, students have to handle some other bumps on the road to success, for instance

• They need to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
• They need to avoid focusing on external approval because it may shut down creativity.
• They need to meet strict deadlines.
• They need to balance education and personal life, including work or volunteering.
• They need to do extensive research.
• They need to finish other assignments.

Where to Get Coursework Help?

Coursework help may come in different forms. It can be coursework assistance provided by the teacher or instructor during lessons or special meetings in high school. Alternatively, it can be an online coursework help provided by tutors through digital means of communication.

Pandemic and its severe restrictions have boosted many services whose task is to provide coursework help online. Let us consider the classification of these platforms to know what help you might get.

Types of Coursework Help Services

Coursework help services come in all shapes and sizes to meet teachers' most sophisticated needs and highest expectations. Let us consider the most popular ones:

• Custom coursework help.
• Creating coursework from scratch.
• Rewriting coursework.
• Proofreading coursework.
• Review coursework to get vital feedback for improvement.
• Citations help.
• Creating supporting PowerPoint presentations.

Whatever problem or issue you have, you may undoubtedly get professional help with coursework regardless of its niche, subject, requirements, and deadline.

But, what if you do not need any assistance provided by coursework services and all you crave is just a little push and guidance to do this task yourself. Then you can opt in favor of an oldie but goodie collection of professionally written and edited coursework examples since they meet those needs and offer so many benefits without compromising your time, effort, and budget.

Benefits of Using Coursework Examples

Getting cousework help through exploring coursework samples offers a bunch of benefits. For instance,

• They show what you need to score that top-notch mark.
• They give insights on how to improve the reading experience.
• They help to infuse your work with some unique and exciting passages.
• They offer an alternative view of the topic that may generate new ideas.
• They display the ideal order of the content and adequate evaluation of evidence.
• They show how to organize arguments and counterarguments to support students' positions and opinions.
• They give insights on how to create a smooth transition between abstracts making one idea flow into another without tension and using words that are understandable by people at any level.
• They demonstrate more up to the point writing.
• They ensure no unnecessary deduction in marks that may occur due to incorrect formatting.
• They have correct grammar and the right tone of language that students may easily imitate in their papers to level them up.
• They stick to format rules showing the right way to implement instructions to meet university standards and teachers' instructions.
• They help students to focus on their tasks without losing nerves.
• They ease stress and help students avoid drama and mental issues.
• They save students precious time, letting them focus on more critical tasks or dedicate their efforts to experiments and social work that may improve their coursework with real-life experience.
• They give a much-needed boost to kick off the work and, most importantly, overcome writing block.

All you need to enjoy all those benefits is to find a reliable platform that offers college coursework help. Though, this is not a problem because there are a bunch of them in the wild.

How to Write Top-Grade Coursework? Best Practices

Completing coursework is a hard nut to crack; however, making it worth a top grade is even harder. However, no obstacle is insurmountable if you know what to do. Many teachers and top-level postgraduates suggest using as much help as possible and following the best practices.

Therefore, consider these tips shared by professionals to help you in this matter:

• Stop trying to write a good completely free essays online . Let your creative juices flow.
• Take your time and do extensive research.
• Ask yourself, "What surprises me about this subject the most?" Focus on your answer and build your story around this finding or discovery.
• Write three to five sentences covering your most crucial points.
• Quote sources liberally throughout your paper. If you are not allowed to quote, you can re-phrase what has been said in your own words and give proper credit. Also, make sure 60% of the content belongs to you, while 40% are quotes or paraphrases from your sources to avoid sounding too "source" heavy.
• When creating a draft, write in this order: first – body, then – introduction, after that – conclusion.
• Reach the required word count. Stay to the point but be descriptive and argumentative.
• Make sure your arguments flow smoothly from one idea to another.
• Last but not least, if you feel something is wrong with your paper or requires some polish, do not be afraid to check and proofread it on platforms that offer coursework online help.
• Studentshare
• Document Types

Examples List on Coursework

• TERMS & CONDITIONS
• PRIVACY POLICY
• COOKIES POLICY

Student Resource

Details Coursework Guide

Explore the theme of details through works in our collection

Andrew Grassie Tate New Hang 8 (2005) Tate

© Andrew Grassie

Andrew Grassie Tate New Hang 6 (2005) Tate

This image of an art gallery may look like a photograph – but it is actually a painting. This type or painting is sometimes called photorealism – because it looks as real as a photograph. By scrutinising and meticulously painting the details, including shadows, reflections and even the rough marks on the stone of the sculpture in the foreground: Grassie presents us with an image that looks like a camera must have captured it. The way the gallery is framed within the picture – so that some artworks are cut off at the edges of the paper, also make the painting look like a photograph.

Details in nature

James Ward First Compositional Study for ‘Gordale Scar’ (1811) Tate

James Ward Sketch for ‘Gordale Scar’ (c.1811) Tate

James Ward Sketch for ‘Gordale Scar’ (1811) Tate

Artist James Ward looked closely at details – and nature was his inspiration. In these drawings and sketches he uses dramatic lines and sensitive marks to capture the jagged details of rocks and textures of the undergrowth. You get the feeling that he didn't take his eyes off the scene, losing himself in the details and following the shapes he saw with his pencil, feeling his way around the forms.

Vija Celmins Ocean (1975) Tate

© Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins also focuses on the natural environment in her meticulously detailed drawings. The subjects she chooses are so vast – skies, galaxies, desserts, the sea – you would think they would be impossible to capture. But by taking a section and focusing on the mesmerising repetitive details of waves, stars, stones, clouds, we get a sense of their hugeness. They seem to stretch on forever beyond the edges of the paper.

Details around us

Paul Noble Lidonob (2000) Tate

© Paul Noble

Andreas Gursky Chicago, Board of Trade II (1999) Tate

© Courtesy Monika Sprueth Galerie, Koeln / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn and DACS, London 2024

Paul Noble also creates dizzyingly intricate drawings of vast places. His drawing Lidonob is one of a series of artworks in which he depicts the buildings, locations and stories that make up an imaginary city called Nobson Newtown. It shows the swimming pool which is surrounded by a zigzagging wall of geometric protrusions resembling rock formations. The pool’s diving platform spells out the title of the work. The huge drawing (it's more than four metres across!) is crammed with minute detail, reflecting the detailed fictional narrative that Paul Noble has created about his imagined city. The urban vision he presents is a melancholic one. It is full of nightmares, excesses and weirdness. The artist has said: ‘The truth is that wherever man goes, destruction and sadness aren’t too far behind’.

Andreas Gursky 's large colour photograph depicts the trading floor of the Board of Trade in Chicago. Seen from above, the floor is a dense hive of activity. The intense details become almost a blur, suggesting the extreme busy-ness and hectic nature of the scene. To create the image Gursky took several pictures of the trading floor and scanned them into a computer where he merged and manipulated them. He uses digital technology to heighten images so they reflect his impression or memory of a scene. In this way the photographs become more than a document – they also carry the whole experience of being somewhere and seeing something.

Details in making

Peter Davies Small Touching Squares Painting (1998) Tate

© Peter Davies

Details don’t have to come from things we see around us in the real (or imagined) world. They can be abstract marks or patterns. This painting looks at first like a sea of blurred, wavy coloured lines. But in fact the canvases have been painstakingly covered in line after line of tiny, hand-drawn squares which touch at their corners. Each square is filled with colour. Peter Davies is interested in the optical effects of colour and ordered pattern. His works look a little like the optical art of the 1970s, but also reminds us of the mesmerising effects of computer-generated designs.

Raqib Shaw Jane (2006) Tate

© Raqib Shaw

Raqib Shaw creates detailed patterns, and uses glitter and plastic beads alongside paint and pencil marks, adding to the painting's rich intricacy. He also uses some rather unusual techniques to create the jewel-like details – such as using the quill (or spike) of a porcupine to dot the surface with tiny pools of enamel paint. The inspiration for Shaw’s intricate patterns comes from a range of sources including Japanese wedding kimonos, Kashmiri shawls, medieval heraldry, Persian miniatures, carpets and jewellery. Beneath the beautiful, exquisitely detailed glittering surfaces and textures of the paintings however, lie darker themes and meanings. He uses a range of factual and fiction sources to create disturbing fantasy worlds.

Bernard Cohen Matter of Identity III - The Trace (1977–9) Tate

© Bernard Cohen

A mass of tiny details seem to be scattered and repeated across the surface of this painting. We can make out certain shapes – an aeroplane, a paw mark, a paddle, an explosion and a window – many of which look as if they have been doodled onto 'post-it' notes. These motifs have a personal significance to Cohen, who describes the painting as 'covered with stories'.

Fiona Banner Break Point (1998) Tate

© Fiona Banner

At first glance this looks like an abstract painting. But if you look more closely you will see that what look like tiny marks are in fact words. Fiona Banner explores detail in two ways. Not only does the text create the visual look of an intricately detailed artwork, but the work is also ABOUT details. To make the work Banner describes the scene from an action movie Point Break 1991. She uses detail to change the nature of the scene and how it comes across to the audience. By describing the scene in detail the pace of the action is slowed down as viewers are forced to read the narrative.

Tom Phillips [no title: p. 11] (1970) Tate

© Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips [no title: p. 228] (1970) Tate

Tom Phillips [no title: p. 300] (1970) Tate

Tom Phillips [no title: p. 343] (1970) Tate

Tom Phillips creates new meanings from details in his Humument series of prints. By covering up most of the words on pages of a book we focus in on the words that are left – which say something very different from what was originally on the page! By getting rid of things to create new details, Phillips shows us that details can be about what you leave out as well as what you focus on.

James Rosenquist Marilyn (1974) Tate

© James Rosenquist/VAGA, New York and DACS, London 2024

Joe Tilson E - Erotic - Earth - Eyes (1969–70) Tate

© Joe Tilson. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2024

In these works, James Rosenquist and Joe Tilson have also removed sections of an image to highlight details. Pop artists were inspired by popular culture. Themes such as celebrity, pop music, fashion and shopping found its way into their work. They also often used details from imagery found in printed objects – such as advertisements or magazines. Joe Tilson has used images of womens madeup eyes from glossy magazines. Rosenquist uses details from photographs of film star Marilyn Monroe. In both works, features like the mouth, eyes, nose and hand are fragmented and placed alongside fragments of printed text. What effect does this have?

Here are some ideas to get you started exploring different kinds of details in your art:

• Use photographs to capture details of things you see around you and use these to inspire abstract patterns and surfaces.
• Try photographing or drawing ordinary places or things and cropping the images to create details. How does this affect what you see?
• Explore other photorealist artists. Try painting a photograph. Look closely and work out ways of imitating the minutest details you can see, using paint.
• Draw a landscape or cityscape scene. Look closely at the shapes and details and experiment with lines and marks to suggest the forms and textures. Try drawing without looking at your paper. Look closely and follow the intricate lines of forms and shapes with your pencil.
• Collect samples or images of fabrics and make sketches of the patterns. Think how you could use these in your artwork to create a sense of detail. Patterns could be used in clothing in portraits (like Raqib Shaw has done), or you could use them to create dream-like fantasy landscapes.

Related Art Terms

Collage describes both the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric and other ephemera are arranged and stuck down onto a supporting surface

Airbrushing

Airbrushing is a painting technique which uses an airbrush to give an even and consistent surface, often used to create a high level of realism

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain, drawing inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture. Different cultures and countries contributed to the movement during the 1960s and 70s

Décollage is a French word meaning literally to unstick, generally associated with a process used by artists of the nouveau réalisme (new realism) movement that involved making art from posters ripped from walls

An embossed surface is a raised or depressed surface created during printmaking processes

A mosaic is a picture made up of small parts which are traditionally tiny tiles made out of terracotta, pieces of glass, ceramics or marble and usually inlayed into floors and walls

Matter painting

Matter painting refers to the technique of using thick impasto paint into which other materials such as sand, mud, cement and shells have been added

Trompe l'oeil

French phrase meaning ‘deceives the eye’ used to describe paintings that create the illusion of a real object or scene

More for students and teachers

Research skills and exam support.

Designed to inspire ideas for research in the gallery, classroom and everyday life

Find out what's on for students and teachers

Find out about workshops, courses and other opportunities for students and teachers at Tate Britain, Modern, Liverpool and St Ives

• Free essays

What is Coursework

What Is Coursework: A Helpful Guide

What is coursework? This is a common question that students ask. Here is a common coursework definition: practical work or assigned research that students are required to complete as part of their training or in order to obtain a degree. Coursework requiring fieldwork, designed studies, and lengthy coursework writing is not uncommon. Independent coursework is also typical, although different types of coursework can also involve group projects. Finally, high school coursework or college coursework can also involve arts and crafts, speaking tests, and demonstrating an understanding of coursework topics related to your area of study. If you are still asking yourself, “What is coursework in college?” We have a student’s guide to coursework writing that you are sure to find helpful.

Coursework Structure

Understanding the coursework structure is essential if you want to succeed in your academic coursework. The first step is to pick a topic and determine the objectives of your college or university coursework. When thinking about creative writing coursework ideas, make sure to choose a topic that is of great interest to you and something that you understand well or are motivated to learn more about. While you want to avoid choosing a topic that is way too obscure or for which there is a lack of information, you also do not want to select a topic that has been researched over and over again since you are not likely to make any new discoveries.

If you are stuck, look through high school, college or university coursework examples to serve as a guide. You could also opt for a coursework writing service if you are willing to spend a bit of money to receive customized coursework from a freelance academic writer. If you prefer to write it all yourself, get in touch with your instructor, particularly the advisor who will be supervising your coursework. They should be able to provide you with creative writing coursework examples and can help you pick a topic that is relevant and constructive. Note that every academic institution and even departments have their own coursework service requirements, so you should familiarize yourself with the guidelines even before you get to the “what is coursework writing” question.

How to Do Coursework

Not sure how to do coursework? Here is how to start a coursework. Here are some general tips that can help you stay on the right track:

✎  Pick a general topic and do some research on ideas that you find interesting

✎  Narrow down the topic to something more specific but for which you can find enough information

✎  If you are writing a lengthy paper project, make sure to plan the structure well

✎  Write the proposal or summary for approval from your advisor or instructor

✎  Make sure you do a thorough job of researching your topic. Collect relevant data and record important facts.

✎  Even as you start writing, keep in mind that the research is always on-going, especially if you find information that alters the direction of your research.

✎  Edit, proofread, and check for plagiarism.

✎  Properly cite all sources based on your advisor’s formatting preferences.

Coursework Examples

As you think about coursework examples that will ultimately become your project, focus on these conceptions:

• Keep it Original. There is no point in doing coursework on an idea that has been beaten to death. It is bound to be boring, it will not undercover anything new or interesting, and you are not going to get a very good grade. Original ideas will provide strong motivation and make the project fun! You might even make an important discovery in the process!
• Identify the Problem. If the purpose of your coursework is to find solutions to a problem, it is important to identify those specific issues that need to be solved. Obviously, it is important to clearly understand the problem well.
• Avoid Plagiarism. Every coursework research project has to be unique. Make sure to properly cite every source. If possible, do as much primary research as possible, which includes designing questionnaires, surveys and other data collection methods.
• Provide Insights – This is perhaps the most important aspect of your coursework. The purpose of your paper is not to merely write down what you find, but to apply it. This means expressing how you believe the findings are impactful. You can even speculate or make arguments as long as it is based on logic, reason and credible sources.
• Discuss the Outcome and Make Recommendations. Once you have reached your conclusions, make sure to discuss the usefulness of the outcomes. Provide analysis and present data. You can also make suggestions for future research based on what you have uncovered. In this way, not only are you making a contribution, another student or even a researcher can apply it for another important and useful purposes.

Final Thoughts

When students are assigned coursework, their reactions can differ greatly. Some savor the opportunity to make a contribution and make new discoveries. On the other hand, there are students who are not all that thrilled with the idea of doing coursework, especially since it involves so much research and writing. But keep in mind that once you get out into the real world, your related coursework will be extremely important. What is related coursework? It is the academic work that you will include on your resume related to the job you are seeking. Since you are not likely to have much work-related experience, your coursework will be immensely important.

• Plagiarism and QA report
• Professionally-qualified writing experts
• Top-quality, at a great price - guaranteed
• Commitment to deliver papers by deadline
• No limit of revisions a customer can request

With that in mind, put as much effort as possible into the public opinion polls, surveys and other observational work that you might incorporate into your project. Focus on things like appropriate sample sizes, the methodologies that work best for your research, and make sure to phrase questions in a way that do not result in bias. Likewise, if you coursework involves a lot of secondary research, you will want to be as careful as possible. This means making sure to choose scholarly journals and peer-reviewed journals so that your coursework is as credible as possible.

Authorization

How to Write an Incredible all Dissertation Chapters

Main Types of Research Papers

Our Advantages

• Custom Writing on Any Subject
• English-speaking Writers
• Only Original Papers
• Affordable Prices
• Complete Confidentiality
• BA, MA and PhD Writers
• Up-to-date Sources Only
• Any Citation Style

Paper Features

• You choose font face
• 12 point font size
• Double-spaced pages
• 300 words/page
• Text aligned left
• One-inch margins

for more than

Section 3: Coursework

3.1 about this section.

In this section, you will find information on:

• Submission and preparation of coursework;
• Penalties that may be applied to coursework that is submitted late or incorrectly;
• Academic integrity and academic misconduct.

3.2 Preparation of Coursework

3.2a referencing.

Referencing refers to acknowledging the sources used in producing a piece of work. Referencing correctly allows you to:

• Demonstrate how widely you have researched the topic;
• Show the basis of your arguments and conclusions;
• Acknowledge the work of others;
• Avoid plagiarism.

3.2b Referencing Style

For modules in Leeds University Business School students should use the official University of Leeds version of the Harvard referencing style.

Guidance on how to source citations within the text and how to reference different types of material is available on the referencing pages of the Library website.

Marking of all submitted coursework will be informed by this guidance and will correspond to the style outlined on the Library’s referencing website pages.

3.2c Group Work

If you are working in a group but are expected to submit an individual piece of work, then the coursework you submit must be your own work, even if the group shares the data or ideas obtained as part of a team.

Copying or paraphrasing another student’s work constitutes plagiarism.

Supporting documents for Business school students can be found on the Forms Guidance & Coversheets page of the Leeds University Business School online Student Guide.

3.3 Submission of Coursework

3.3a coursework deadlines.

Deadline times are set to ensure that you can submit your work well within office hours. Your teaching School will avoid, wherever possible, setting deadlines on:

• Fridays, the last day of term and the first day of the formal assessment period.

When you submit your work electronically, the time of submission is automatically logged.

It is your responsibility to ensure that work arrives by the deadline.

The deadline for submitting work is normally by 12 Noon UK time on the specified day.

3.3b Declarations of Academic Integrity

You must complete a Declaration of Academic Integrity for all assessment submissions. The statement reminds you of the University’s definition of academic integrity and the consequences of academic misconduct.

3.3c Submission of Coursework

Students should check the work that they submit carefully and are responsible for ensuring the correct work is submitted. The School will only accept the coursework which is submitted by the deadline, regardless of whether a student accidentally submits the wrong coursework or an incomplete draft.

Students should ensure that their uploaded assignments have the standard front cover sheet, available from the Forms Guidance & Coversheets page of the Leeds University Business School online Student Guide.

Detailed advice about how to submit can also be found on the Leeds University Business School online Student Guide Assessment section

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they leave sufficient time to complete the online submission process, as upload times can vary. Accessing the submission link before the deadline does not constitute completion of submission. Students must click the ‘ CONFIRM ’ button before 12 noon for the assignment to be classed as submitted on time. If the deadline is not met students must submit to the Late Area and the assignment will be marked as late.

Students must click the download icon to download a digital receipt. Students are advised to save the receipt in a safe place as this is the only accepted proof of submission.

From within the document viewer, click the “Download” icon to download your digital receipt.

Save your receipt in a safe place as this will be the only accepted proof of submission.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the correct file is uploaded to Minerva, and that it has been uploaded successfully.

3.3d Penalties for Exceeding Word Count

All coursework assignments that contribute to the assessment of a module are subject to a word limit, as specified in the online module assignment brief in the relevant module area of Minerva.

The word limit is an extremely important aspect of good academic practice and must be adhered to.

Unless stated specifically otherwise in the relevant module handbook, the word count includes everything that is included in the main body of the assignment including summaries, subtitles,  tables, and supportive material (whether this is in the form of footnotes or in-text references) It does not include the main title, the reference list and/or bibliography and any appendices.

It is not acceptable to present matters of substance, which should be included in the main body of the text, in the appendices as this is deemed appendix abuse. In addition, it is also not acceptable to attempt to hide words in graphs and diagrams; only text which is strictly necessary should be included in graphs and diagrams.

You are required to adhere to the word limit specified and state an accurate word count on the cover page of your assignment brief. Your declared word count must be accurate and should not mislead.

Making a fraudulent statement concerning your submitted work could be considered as academic malpractice and investigated as such.

If the amount of work submitted is higher than that specified by the word limit or that declared on your word count, this may be reflected in the mark awarded and noted through individual feedback given to you.

3.3e Penalties for Late Submission of Coursework

If you submit your work past the deadline, penalties will be applied.

The penalty is deducted from the mark for the individual piece of work that has been submitted late. For every period of 24 hours or part thereof that your assessment is overdue, you will lose 5% of the total marks available for that assessment component. This includes weekends, Bank Holidays and University closed days. The deduction is applied before any conflation with other marks (i.e. with other assessment components for the module) to give the overall result of the module. If your assessed work is over 14 days late, the submission will be deemed to have failed for non-submission (a day being a single 24-hour period).

Online Time Limited Assessments with a duration of 48 hours or less must be submitted within the time period stated. Late submissions will not be accepted in any circumstances.

If you have not left sufficient time to submit, you may have to submit your work to the Late Area in Minerva and you will incur a late penalty.

If you have not received a receipt for your coursework submission, this may be because your submission has not successfully uploaded. If this is not rectified before the deadline time, you will incur a late penalty. Please see section 3.3c for further information about timely submission and obtaining a receipt.

If you fail to ensure that you have uploaded the correct file to Minerva, it will be deemed that you have not submitted and if this situation is not corrected before the deadline, you will incur a late penalty.

3.3f Penalties for Academic Misconduct

The University takes all forms of academic misconduct very seriously. You may be excluded from the University without award if you present coursework in breach of the University’s rules on academic integrity.

The Academic Misconduct Procedure is available on the Student Cases website page .

3.3g Proofreading

The University policy on proofreading provides definitions of proofreading in the University of Leeds context, and guidance to help avoid contravening the policy, and possible consequences of doing so.

You are required by the University to proofread your own work. Guidance on proofreading is available from the University Library website .

3.4 Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct

Academic integrity is a commitment to good study practices and shared values, which ensures that your work is a true expression of your own understanding and ideas, giving credit to others where their work contributes to yours. This University definition of academic integrity recognises that each individual has a responsibility to contribute honestly within our academic community.

Breaching academic integrity standards can lead to serious penalties.

Guidance on Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct can be found on the For Students website pages .

Definitions of specific integrity breaches can be found in the Academic Misconduct Procedure on the Student Cases website page.

3.4a Academic Integrity Tutorial and Test

There is a compulsory online academic integrity tutorial and test for all students.

The tutorial comprises a series of short units and an associated end of tutorial test explaining good study habits (e.g. good note taking and referencing) as well as practices that undermine the integrity of academic work (e.g. plagiarism, collusion and third-party authorship).

If you are new to study at the University, you must complete all the units and correctly answer all questions in the associated test. You should complete this within your first few weeks of teaching, following the timetable specified by your School, and before submitting any formative or summative assessed work. Completion will be monitored by your School.

Further details are available on the Minerva Support website page .

3.4b Academic Integrity Education

All taught programmes provide specific advice regarding academic integrity and good practice in writing and, where appropriate, the production of other forms of academic work. You will also be directed to information that explains how and why such forms of behaviour are not consistent with academic integrity, and the consequences of academic misconduct, such as plagiarism, collusion, reliance on others to do your work for you and unauthorised use of artificial intelligence. The compulsory online academic integrity tutorial will provide advice and guidance on these topics. The Library also provides detailed guidance and training materials related to academic integrity in the Academic Skills section of the Library website.

Leeds University Business School has an Academic Integrity Officer who is a nominated member of academic staff responsible for ensuring consistency within the Faculty in relation to the implementation of plagiarism procedures and practice and the investigation of suspected cases of plagiarism.

The role of the Business School’s Academic Integrity Officer is to ensure equity of treatment of all students. The role holder is also responsible for plagiarism education, including raising staff and student awareness of plagiarism issues.

Leeds University Business School takes plagiarism education very seriously. Good academic practice advice is embedded into induction sessions for all students. Students are directed towards the Academic Integrity Tutorial and Test (see 3.4a above) and are directed to the LUBS Referencing & Presentation Guidance information at the start of their programme.

All students have access to study skills sessions directly via skills@library

Guidance on academic referencing is integrated into selected modules on every taught programme.

Further information about referencing can be found on the Skills@Library referencing pages .

3.4c Re-using Your Own Work

Submitting or re-submitting the same work or part of the same work, in exactly the same form, to satisfy the requirements of more than one assessment is considered misconduct, even if the work is for a different module or qualification. This is because it is unfair to reward the same work twice.

This includes work that you may have completed at school, college, or at another University before coming to Leeds. There may, however, be exceptions to this rule where an initial submission is intended to help you to develop a second, usually larger, piece of work. You will receive specific instructions where this is the case.

If there are other instances where you feel that a further exception is justified, you must have specific written permission from the University staff concerned.

34d Advice from Staff

It is your responsibility to work with academic integrity. Where the School agrees that you can submit a draft for initial advice and feedback, if evidence of academic misconduct is found in the draft, staff will advise you on academic integrity, but it is not their responsibility to identify and highlight academic misconduct in draft work.

Whether or not you have submitted a draft, and whether or not the School has identified academic misconduct in the draft, you remain responsible for the submissions you make.

3.4e Draft or Erroneous Submissions

You are responsible for assessment submissions. If, after making a submission, you claim that you mistakenly submitted a draft or the wrong version, your original version will be treated as the submission.

If the School finds that it contains academic misconduct, it will attract penalties.

3.4f Cheating

Cheating in University examinations is taken very seriously by the University. If you are found to have breached the University’s rules governing the conduct of examinations , you are likely to be permanently excluded from the University with no award.

3.4g Artificial Intelligence in Assessments

Content generated by artificial intelligence assistance tools and presented as your own work does not comply with the University’s definition of academic integrity and would be considered an academic misconduct offence. You will be clearly advised when it may be appropriate to make use of artificial intelligence assistance tools and you will need to clearly acknowledge when you have made use of artificial intelligence tools in developing your work.

The latest statement of principles of academic integrity and good study practices is available on the For Students website pages .

3.5 Checking for Academic Misconduct

The School uses a number of ways to check for academic misconduct, including manual checks from the staff marking your work as well as electronic tools.

3.5a Explanation of Turnitin

The University uses an internet-based text-matching service called Turnitin to provide evidence of originality of electronic coursework submissions. The tool compares text submitted with a wide range of electronic material, including journals, websites and student work from current and previous years, from Leeds and other UK universities.

The software highlights if you have submitted the same or similar text as another student, or published material, or if you have submitted the same or similar text for more than one assessment.

3.5b Use of Turnitin

Your School will provide you with an introduction to Turnitin during your first semester of study to support your understanding of academic integrity.In your first year as a Level 1 Undergraduate or Taught Postgraduate you may be allowed one opportunity to see a part of a Turnitin originality report, based on an example assignment. You may also be allowed one opportunity to see an originality report for a draft assignment you have written, as long as this is under academic supervision.

At level 2 and above, you will not be provided with an originality report.

3.5c Turnitin and Academic Misconduct

Whether or not the School has used Turnitin routinely for a particular assessment, if the person marking your work is suspicious of academic misconduct, that piece of work will be submitted to Turnitin.

3.5d Originality Reports

The originality reports created by Turnitin are considered for possible academic misconduct as part of a review of a submission. However, it is your School, and not the software tool, that will decide whether or not academic misconduct has taken place; Turnitin is just one element of the evidence used to make this decision.

Your School will check all originality reports for work submitted electronically through Turnitin for plagiarism, regardless of the percentage match indicated by the similarity index.

Leeds University Business School checks all assessed coursework for plagiarism using the Turnitin software. The Module Leader is generally responsible for undertaking this check. Where this process identifies sufficient concerns about the originality of content within a piece of work, an investigation will be initiated to explore the academic integrity of the work. The mark and feedback will be withheld until the investigation is complete. In cases where the outcome of that investigation is suspicion of plagiarism or academic malpractice, the student will be required to attend a meeting with the Plagiarism Panel.

3.6 completion of Coursework

You are expected to submit all coursework associated with modules, including formative assessment. If you persistently neglect your studies or repeatedly fail to submit coursework within a reasonable time, the School may begin disciplinary proceedings which could result in you being excluded from assessments and/or required to withdraw from the University.

The School will follow the University’s formal procedures for this.

Resources for all subjects

These resources cover a wide range of subjects. This might be a good place to start choosing a course. If you find a subject which sparks your interest, check out our related subject guide!

What does 'exploring your subject' really mean?

Strong applicants to all competitive universities have often explored their chosen subject through wider reading and enrichment work outside of their A Level (or equivalent) studies. There are no specific requirements for wider reading, and the best applicants spend time researching topics which particularly interest them. This sort of self-motivated research should ultimately be enjoyable, so if you are not interested in reading about a subject, you are unlikely to enjoy studying it at university! For Oxford and Cambridge specifically, wider reading and enrichment should be the focus of your personal statement, and may be the basis of conversation during your interviews. The idea of 'exploring your subject', also commonly referred to as 'wider reading' or 'supra-curricular activities', can seem intimidating and mysterious. These resources should provide a good starting point if you're not sure where to look.

Resources produced by Oxford and Cambridge

Apply: Cambridge 🔗 🌟 This initiative is Cambridge Admissions Office. The programmed will consist of a series of interactive sessions, mentoring and guided independent learning. Applications close in May 2023 for the 2023/4 application cycle.

Cambridge HE+ 🔗 🌟 This website is extremely useful. Resources for each subject are clearly divided into specific topics, compiled by Cambridge post-graduate students and high-level research academics. Each topic contains guided activities, questions to consider and suggestions for further reading. The main subject pages also provide an insight into what it would be like to study the subject at university level.

Oxplore 🔗 🌟 Similar to HE+, Oxplore is a fun and easily accessible initiative run by the University of Oxford University, which allows you to learn more about a variety of subjects. Its focus on 'big questions' reflects the type of logical and critical thinking which you will encounter in any university course.

Oxford Digital Resource Hub 🔗 Oxford have produced an extensive Digital Resource Hub, with resources categorised by age groups. For 16-18 year olds, this includes resources that enable further exploration of passions and interests, as well as how to discover more about Oxford.

Staircase 12 🔗 🌟 Organised by University College, Oxford, Staircase 12 is an online hub of resources and information for students thinking about applying to top universities. It consists of a Reading Bank, containing book recommendations and reviews by students and tutors, and a Resource Hub, with links to lectures, podcasts and recently-published academic articles.

The Queens' Access Podcast 🔗 🌟 A fantastic podcast series produced by undergraduates at Queens' College, Oxford, with each episode discussing a different aspect of Oxford life such as welfare, tutorials, and social life!

Choosing a Subject advice 🔗 This page, produced by King's College, Cambridge, guides applicants through the process of choosing a degree and factors to consider.

Super-curricular suggestions compiled by the University of Cambridge 🔗 🌟 For each undergraduate course at Cambridge, a list is given with suggestions of resources to expand your subject knowledge beyond your school curriculum. Although this list is compiled by Cambridge, it is important to emphasise that nothing is compulsory and you should focus your reading or interview preparation around your specific interests.

University of Oxford suggested reading 🔗 🌟 Once again organised by subject, the resources listed are intended to give applicants an idea of the kind of material Oxford students engage with during their studies.

Suggested reading list by Christ's College, Cambridge 🔗 Another list of suggested resources, which are not exhaustive and definitely not mandatory (and not intended solely for applicants to Christ's College!) Some things are quite general, and all the resources are relevant for applicants to similar courses at both Oxford and Cambridge.

Oxford podcasts 🔗 A great library of fascinating podcasts covering many subjects, given by lecturers at Oxford.

Blogs and YouTube videos

That Oxford Girl 🔗 A blog with a range of posts written by current Oxford students about their applications, interviews, and life at Oxford.

Student Q&As by St Edmund Hall, Oxford 🔗 🌟 A range of Q&A videos with current Oxford students speaking about their degree subjects.

Jamie Miles: 'Applying to Oxford or Cambridge' 🔗 A former Oxford PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) student presents a fun and informative video series that covers the application processes at Oxford or Cambridge. (Note: certain aspects may be or become out of date.)

Simon Clark: 'Oxbridge Application Guide' 🔗 A former Oxford Physics student provides information and tips on the Oxford and Cambridge application processes.

Wi-Phi Critical Thinking videos 🔗 🌟 Short for 'Wireless Philosophy', Wi-Phi is an engaging video series which seeks to help applicants learnt to think better. Critical thinking is crucial for any university course, and the content of these videos is relevant far beyond academic philosophy.

Free online courses

Coursera 🔗 Opportunities to undertake free, world-class learning online. Coursera collaborates with over 200 universities and companies, and combines different styles of learning including lectures, reading and accessible videos.

EdX 🔗 Courses at EdX are hugely diverse and include hundreds of niche and interesting topics, which are useful for narrowing down your specific interests within a broader subject.

FutureLearn 🔗 🌟 Lots of FutureLearn courses are entirely self-paced, meaning you can complete the lessons in whatever time frame you have available.

MIT OpenCourseWare 🔗 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) uploads hundreds of course materials, including video lectures, lecture slides and notes, problems, and exams, online for free!

Other application resources

Target Careers: A Level revision resources 🔗 A huge range of resources designed to supplement your A Level (or equivalent) revision, split into subject areas. These may be used to aid your current studies, or learn something new in preparation for university.

The Complete University course guide 🔗 🌟 Here you can find a huge range of subjects and very broad overviews of what studying each subject might involve - a good place to start for ideas.

Gresham College online lectures 🔗 🌟 A truly amazing selection of pre-recorded lectures on a huge variety of subjects, so you're guaranteed to find something which interests you! You could discuss a lecture you found interesting on your personal statement, as evidence of exploring your subject beyond the school syllabus.

Cambridge University Students' Union Guide to Personal Statements 🔗 A guide covering a range of personal statement content and how to include it, from subject-area specific advice to writing about work experience. While you ideally should be exploring your subject for enjoyment and to gain an insight into university-level study, it is also important to include your wider reading in your personal statement to demonstrate your interest in the subject.

Tips and advice

Expect to find things challenging! Some of these resources are university-level content which you have understandably never covered before. Instead of being deterred by the difficulty level, spend some time thinking about the topic, and how you could find the answers to your questions about it.

When reading around your subject, focus on the topics which interest you. Most courses have some opportunity for specialisation, so don't discount a subject simply because you don't particularly enjoy one element of it. Equally, don't worry if you haven't located your specific interests straight away - you'll spend three years studying the course; there's plenty of time!

Where to go next - look in footnotes and bibliographies. If you enjoyed a book or article, look at the bibliography and try to read one of the texts referenced there. Alternatively, if the writer criticises another writer's argument, read both interpretations to get a sense of the wider debate and consider your own perspective. At university, you are strongly encouraged to have an opinion on things you've read or seen, so think about what your view is and which sources have influenced your interpretation.

Did you spot a typo or formatting issue? Let us know by emailing us at [email protected] .

The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment

• Published: October 10, 2021
• Updated: October 10, 2021
• University / College: UCL
• Level: Bachelor's
• Language: English

The advantages and disadvantages of work assessment Introduction Assigning work is the most common criteria of conducting assessment all over the world. In almost every school, college, university, course works are given substantial percentage of the total marks of any course. Importance of coursework cannot be denied, however, it has certain drawbacks as well. Advantages Attending classes in schools is essential but it’s of no use if the subjects learnt at school, are not being practiced at home. The primary purpose of assigning coursework is to provide learning tasks to students for self-studying. It helps students in: Brainstorming Enhancing learning skills Promoting student’s creativity Promoting student’s motivation Assigning coursework helps teacher in analyzing each student’s strengths and weaknesses. Some students are good at speaking while others are good at writing. Course works also save time of both student and teachers. Teachers cannot be with students all day long, but assigning course works helps teachers in assessing each individual student’s capabilities. Coursework increases student’s participation which through selection of data, formulating it in appropriate manner, revising it and then evaluating the completed assignment. Disadvantages As I see, invention of internet is the main problem of coursework. No longer children portray their own viewpoint in regards to their assigned tasks and cut and paste the ideas, facts and figures of others. Before the advent of internet, assigning coursework to students used to be very successful as it helped them in illustrating their own creativity in their coursework, but nowadays, course works are more inclined towards plagiarizing. At times, even the student doesn’t know what he has written in assignments. As a matter of determining how much information a student has attained from a coursework, in my opinion, is a useless tool. The focus is more on presenting the assignment instead of learning something out of it. In actual, there’s little learning taking place in coursework scenarios and the tendency of peers to copy each other’s assignment is higher. Due to the reason of copy paste phenomena, universities, schools and colleges are now more concerned in investing in plagiarism detecting software so that anything which is lifted from the internet can be detected. Recommendation Coursework has always been the most beneficial and effective tool to enhance the capabilities of students, but the advent of internet is making it ineffective. It is necessary for teachers to design and allot the coursework in a way that there are lesser chances of plagiarizing and higher chances boosting student’s skills. Perhaps, by the little modifications it will be feasible to restore the effectiveness in coursework. References Winter, Richard. (2003). Contextualising the patchwork text: addressing problems of Coursework assessment in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 40(2, 112-122.

This work "The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment" was written and submitted voluntarily by your fellow student. You can use this sample for research and reference purposes to help create your own paper. The use of any parts of the work without proper citation is forbidden.

If you are the owner of this work and don’t want it to be published on NerdySeal, request its removal.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

NerdySeal . (2021) 'The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment'. 10 October.

NerdySeal. (2021, October 10). The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment. Retrieved from https://nerdyseal.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coursework-as-a-means-of-assessment/

NerdySeal . 2021. "The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment." October 10, 2021. https://nerdyseal.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coursework-as-a-means-of-assessment/.

1. NerdySeal . "The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment." October 10, 2021. https://nerdyseal.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coursework-as-a-means-of-assessment/.

Bibliography

NerdySeal . "The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment." October 10, 2021. https://nerdyseal.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coursework-as-a-means-of-assessment/.

"The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment." NerdySeal , 10 Oct. 2021, nerdyseal.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coursework-as-a-means-of-assessment/.

• The narrative voices between the works of lucine finch and gladys marie fry
• Abolishing Grading System
• Othello Coursework
• Dracula Coursework
• Brainstorming for Research Proposal
• Windsor coursework
• Btec Business Coursework
• A200sam Coursework Assignment Report
• Beacon hill coursework
• Coursework essay

If you have any idea how best to write about The advantages and disadvantages of coursework as a means of assessment, please contact us immediately. We would like to know more: [email protected]