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Subjects
Education & Development
Free courses
Teaching and learning tricky topics
Glossary

Course content

Glossary
Introduction
- What is a badged course?
- How to get a badge
Acknowledgements

Week 1
Introduction
1 Why don’t they understand?
2 Tricky topics as a practice-based application of threshold concepts
- 2.1 Identify your tricky topics
3 This week’s quiz
4 Summary of Week 1
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 1 quiz

Week 2
Introduction
1 What are tricky topics again?
2 What is it that students don’t understand?
3 Categorising trickiness in tricky topics
4 This week’s quiz
5 Summary of Week 2
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 2 quiz

Week 3
Introduction
1 Stumbling blocks and problem examples
- 1.1 Tricky topic of project planning
  - Atomic structure theory
2 The tricky topics process
3 Structuring tricky topics
- 3.1 From mind maps to structured mapping diagram
- 3.2 States of matter tricky topic
4 Different ways of conducting the tricky topics process
5 This week’s quiz
6 Summary of Week 3
Acknowledgements

Week 3 quiz

Week 4
Introduction
1 OU learning design
2 Hearing the student voice
- 2.1 Word wheel
- 2.2 Describing learning experiences
3 Student profiles
- 3.1 Creating a student profile
  - Tricky topic intervention
- 3.2 How to use a student profile
4 This week’s quiz
5 Summary of Week 4
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 4 quiz
Week 4 Student profile template

Week 5
Introduction
1 To the classroom
- 1.1 Why is learning design required?
2 Learning design classification
- 2.1 Activity profiles
3 Using activity types to plan interventions
- 3.1 Benefits of the activity type approach
- 3.2 Learning design applied to tricky topic interventions
4 This week’s quiz
5 Summary of Week 5
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 5 quiz
Week 5 Activity profile template

Week 6
Introduction
1 Innovating pedagogies
2 Targeted learning interventions
3 Planning an intervention
4 This week’s quiz
5 Summary of Week 6
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 6 quiz

Week 7
Introduction
1 What are tricky topic quizzes and assessment?
2 Creating a tricky topic quiz
- 2.1 Creating a question
- 2.2 Wording your question
3 Using the quiz
4 This week’s quiz
5 Summary of Week 7
Acknowledgements

Week 7 quiz

Week 8
Introduction
1 Developing yourself and your organisation
- 1.1 Cultivating communities
2 Tricky topics theories
- 2.1 Sharing relevant theory and research
3 The tricky topic process
- 3.1 Sharing what works
4 Learning design
5 Learning innovations
8 Summary of Week 8
7 This week’s quiz
8 End-of-course round up
Where next?
Tell us what you think
References
Further reading
Acknowledgements

Week 8 quiz
Glossary
Teaching and learning tricky topics File
teaching and learning tricky topics (epub) File
Teaching and learning tricky topics (word) File
Teaching and learning tricky topics (mobi) File

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24 hours study

Level 2: Intermediate

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Course content Course content

Teaching and learning tricky topics

Teaching and learning tricky topics

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

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Week1
Week2
Week3
Week4
Week5
Week6
Week7
Week8

Glossary

Sunday, 6 September 2026, 1:32 PM

Site: Open Learning

Course: Teaching and learning tricky topics (TLT_1)

Glossary: Glossary

D

Digital Storytelling

It enables computer users to become creative storytellers through the traditional processes of selecting a topic, conducting some research, writing a script, and developing an interesting story.

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