Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide
a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assignment-related resources are provided below.
Slow internet could be a realistic scenario for students studying online, so the following checklist is designed to help you optimise your FLO site and enhance the student experience.
For every embedded video on the page, there is significant data downloaded every time the topic page loads. The only video that should be embedded on the homepage is the welcome video.
How to check:
Scroll down your topic page and count the number of embedded videos you have.
If your topic is using grid layout, turn editing on before you start your count. Although a student only sees one module at a time, all of the content in the modules loads in the background every time the topic is loaded.
Images can have large file sizes if they haven’t been saved for viewing online. All images should be resized and optimised before inserting into FLO.
The image dimensions and quality and file type all contribute to file size. JPG or PNG file formats are ideal:
JPG will allow better quality with smaller file size, particularly for photographs or images with many colours.
PNG is a good file type for icons or illustrations with limited colour palettes.
How to check:
Review the file size of all images used in your FLO site.
If you are using the Firefox browser: right-click the image and select ‘View Image Info’ from the pop-up menu. This will provide file size, pixel dimensions and the file type.
If you are using the Chrome browser: right click the image and select ‘Open image in new tab’ from the pop-up menu. The tab title will provide the filename (type) and pixel dimension (hover the mouse pointer over the tab to see full image details).
Right-click the image and select ‘Save as’ to determine the file size.
How to fix:
Right-click the image and save it to your computer.
Open the image using graphic editing software – all Flinders staff can download SnagIt from the IDS Support Portal | Install Software.
Edit the FLO site and replace the image with your new version.
What to check: Images used for headings or titles
Images use up more data than text. Additionally, any text in an image can not be read by screen readers, which may be used by some students with vision impairments.
How to check:
Can you highlight letters and words with your cursor? If yes, then it is text.
Can you click on the heading and start to drag it? If yes, then it is an image.
If you right-click the item does the pop-up menu have image related options? If yes, then it is an image.
Be mindful of the file size of files such as PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, etc. The larger the file the slower it will download. Ensure the file size is displayed to students. Aim for 5-10 MB, the smaller the better, whilst retaining the
file readability.
How to check:
All uploaded files display the file type and size after the link name.
Reduce PowerPoint and Word file size by compressing images. (tip: choose the option “Apply to all pictures in this file”).
This will also reduce the size of PDFs created from these files.
There are indications that progress bars can have an impact on load times. If your students are reporting problems loading your site, you may need to consider removing progress bars.
How to fix:
Discuss with your eLearning team if your students complain of slow page load times
What to check: Video content
If your students are reporting extremely slow internet and problems accessing video on your site, you may need to consider offering a text-based or audio-only alternative for video resources.
How to fix:
For videos in Kaltura - create a transcript (turn on auto-captioning and download transcript). Add the transcript to your FLO
site as a page or a file.
For other videos – source an article or another resource that addresses the same content
