4 Start small. It is better to design a number of small, self-contained activities,
rather than to set yourself the task of adapting a large section of your course
to independent learning all at once. After you’ve piloted and polished your
smaller elements, it is relatively easy to integrate them together to make a
larger package.
5 Work out the intended learning outcomes for your materials. Work out
exactly what learners should be able to do after they have successfully
completed each set of activities. Express these learning outcomes in clear,
learner-friendly language. For example, ‘when you’ve worked through this
package, you should be able to...’ is much more intimate and involving than
‘the intended learning outcomes of this package are that students will be
able to...’
6 Focus hard on learning-by-doing. Effective self-access materials are not
just something for learners to read; they are something for them to work
through. Try to structure the tasks and activities so that when learners have
tried them, they can receive feedback on their attempts.
7 Think feedback. When structuring questions and activities, bear in mind
that your materials should give learners the most specific feedback possible
on the appropriacy of their answer. You need to be able to respond to what
each learner has actually done. Open-ended questions are not amenable to
this! Structured tasks, such as multiple-choice questions, allow you to
respond separately to learners who have got the task right, as well as to
learners who have chosen options representing different anticipated errors.
8 Include open-ended tasks, too. Their disadvantages in terms of feedback
are more than outweighed by their advantages in terms of task authenticity
and creative language use. Try to organize some class time for teacher and/
or peer feedback on open-ended self-access tasks.
9 Try out your tasks and feedback responses with live learners. You can
find out a lot about how well or badly your questions will work by watching
learners trying them out. If they struggle or get stuck, find out why, and adjust
the wording of questions and feedback until there is no longer a problem.
10 Write the introduction to each piece of self-access material last. The best
time to write your lead-in to each set of activities is when you already know
exactly what’s in it, and how well it works. The introductions are
particularly important when learners are studying on their own. There’s no
second chance to make a good first impression, and it is important to use
each introductory section to whet learners’ appetites for what is to follow.31 Supporting self-access from the classroom
Many institutions today have the benefit of a large self-access centre which may
contain highly sophisticated resources. Learners, then, require support to develop
the skills which will enable them to make best use of a self-access centre. The
IMPLEMENTING SELF-ACCESS 57