Developing Digital Content for The classroom: Best Practices for Curriculum Development in the Digital Age

Abstract

In the post-pandemic era, digital technologies are an important part of the classroom experience. The presence of digital technology in the classroom has grown in the last 20 years to include learning management systems, social media resources, and e-mail. However, the COVID-19 pandemic challenged educators to use digital tools in new ways to keep learning going such as Zoom or Skype. In the post COVID-19 era, educators are still seeking ways to infuse digital technology into the classroom experience. However, the challenge remains on how to develop digital content effectively and how to make connections to the curriculum.

This session will discuss how a digital lecture series developed into classroom curriculum to provide relevant and updated learning material. The series began as a live lecture series by experts in their fields and evolved into learning modules utilized in an Introduction to Sociology course. The presenter will discuss how to develop this series into Universal Design for Learning approved teaching tools and share best practices in this design. This session will also discuss the connections between the academic disciplines and how to use digital tools to develop course content. This innovative approach will address the challenges that educators are facing when developing content, find the resources on how to develop the content, and share how this can benefit the curriculum and the students.