Transforming open educational resources: An interactive AI Odyssey
An open educational AI resource has been transformed into an interactive ThingLink experience, improving accessibility, engagement and reflection while supporting meaningful AI discussions.
Transforming open educational resources: An interactive AI Odyssey
The need for meaningful conversations on AI and its uses in education has never been more urgent, making the flashcard set ‘Navigating our AI Odyssey’¹ an especially timely resource and a fantastic starting point for educators wanting to spark meaningful conversations around the topic of AI in the classroom. Its content consists of key ideas and reflective questions for the reader to consider, themed around characters from the Odyssey.
The original flashcard set format is a printable (74-page) PDF file made available under an open licence by the Imaginative Curriculum Centre, I wanted a way to share this amazing resource digitally with educators and offer an alternative to printing. With the author’s permission an accessible and interactive version was created using ThingLink², to minimise barriers and optimise engagement. The main challenge was to not over complicate the usability and stay true to the original visual design and written content of the flashcard set.
Navigating our AI Odyssey – ThingLink Main menu
If you’re unfamiliar with ThingLink, the in-browser software allows staff and students to create immersive learning experiences in an accessible way. In the context of the interactive Odyssey flashcard set it was able to provide the tools to develop a non-linear interactive experience that is easily accessible online, has clear visual navigation and which can also be embedded directly into Minerva modules or websites like SharePoint.
A faithful representation of the original content was a key goal when designing the resource, so there were no changes to the flashcards original wording or visual colour scheme. The original PDF structure was broken-down into one menu screen, with ‘theme’ and ‘Odyssey character’ selection laid out in a structured, easy to digest format - which leads the user directly to the flashcards ‘key ideas’ and ‘reflective questions’ content for prompting conversations. This structuring process changed the way the user accesses the information by dividing the content into a selection of manageable chunks of ‘pop-up text’, rather than one long scrollable PDF document.
This has allowed faster access to the discussion prompts and a more flexible way to jump between the different Odyssey characters and themes. If staff opt to use this digital version over a printed version, it could be shared more easily to support discussion or reflective activities in the classroom, workshops or training sessions.
While there was a fair amount of time dedicated to copying across text from the PDF to ThingLink, the process paid off – ThingLink’s built-in accessibility menu provides the user a variety of controls to adjust features such as text font, screen contrast and line spacing, with broader improved accessibility from reduced scrolling, content chunking and clearer navigation – allowing for a more inclusive and accessible experience for those who require it.
ThingLink accessibility menu
As AI continues to rapidly improve, staff and students should be given opportunities for structured reflection wherever possible, resources such as ‘Navigating our AI Odyssey’ provide a useful starting point for those wishing to question its use together in a meaningful way. The adaptation of resources into more interactive forms of content is one way of reducing barriers to engagement and creating a more inclusive learning experience where possible. This isn’t to say that existing educational resources need to be redesigned from scratch, but rather that rethinking the format and accessibility can provide greater value for staff and students through options in the way they view and interact with the content.
Go to the ThingLink resource - ‘Navigating our AI Odyssey’.
Dan McKinnie
Learning Technologist | Digital Education Enhancement Team
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
Digital Education Enhancement: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (sharepoint.com)
² As of the date of writing, all staff and students have access to an institutional ThingLink account (contact your Faculty Digital Education Enhancement Team for more details).
