Section 1 of the UCL Digital Education Baseline focuses on Moodle Structure and Navigation, highlighting the importance of clear course layout, consistent structure, and well-organised content.  While these recommendations may initially appear to focus on visual tidiness, their value becomes clearer when we consider how students read, navigate, and make sense of text on screen.

Research from the Nielsen Norman Group (Moran, 2020), based on decades of usability testing, shows that people scan and skim web content rather than read every word. Similar patterns appear in higher education, where Naomi Baron (2017) observes that students multitask and read selectively on screen, while Y.–C. Jian’s (2022) eye-tracking research shows that students rarely re-read, moving quickly through text rather than reading line by line.

These behaviours mean that course design cannot assume careful, linear reading. Instead, it must guide students’ attention to what matters most for learning.

In Moodle, students typically encounter two types of onscreen reading:

1. Navigating through the course structure: headings, sections, activities.
2. Longer-form content: journal articles, instructional text, task descriptions, feedback.

In the first case, scanning is a natural and helpful behaviour as it can help students orient themselves and find information quickly. In the second case, when deeper comprehension is needed, scanning becomes problematic and can create the “illusion of learning”. As Baron (2017) notes, students often feel they are learning effectively on screen while actually engaging with the text more superficially.

This blog explores how intentional design can turn the challenges of onscreen reading into opportunities that help students stay focused, avoid distraction, and engage more deeply with what they read.

Let’s explore each of the four recommendations in Section 1 of the UCL Digital Education Baseline, with examples of how they can be applied in practice.

1.1 Use a consistent template with headings and grouped resources and activities.

A template provides the high-level organisation of the course, setting out where key elements like the overview, weekly content, and assessments are located. When each section of a Moodle course follows a predictable layout, students don’t have to re-learn how to navigate each time. This reduces unnecessary mental effort caused by how information is structured and presented (known as extraneous cognitive load in cognitive load theory), which draws working-memory resources away from the material to be learned. As a result, students can focus on the task rather than searching for it. (Chen, Kalyuga, & Sweller, 2016).

A recurring heading such as “Seminar preparation”, provides a consistent cue, helping students locate information quickly and set expectations. Similarly, grouping related items (for example, a reading, its video, and a discussion forum) helps students see how resources and tasks connect, supporting a clearer sense of purpose. People rarely read sequentially online; they scan the screen looking for information that meets their purpose. The Nielsen Norman Group (Moran, 2020) describe this as goal-driven reading: users move quickly through digital content, trying to find what matters most. For students, the goal might be as simple as “How will I be assessed?” or “What do I need to read this week?”. When this information is buried in long pages or hidden behind several clicks, poor design choices can turn the advantage of scanning into searching, increasing extraneous cognitive load.

Templates, headings, and logical grouping do more than organise content. When thoughtfully applied as learning design cues, they take advantage of how students naturally read on screen, focusing attention and reducing cognitive strain.

1.2 Organise content with descriptive and short titles and overviews to convey purpose and relevance.

Descriptive titles and short overviews are powerful learning design cues because they support how students scan for relevance and decide where to focus their attention. As Nielsen’s research shows (Moran, 2020), the depth of attention readers give online depends on several factors, and a sense of relevance plays a key role in whether they slow down and engage. That’s exactly why purposeful titles and concise overviews matter: they signal relevance immediately, helping direct attention and encouraging students to shift from scanning to meaningful engagement.

Compare these two examples:

Example 1: Slides: Week 3  – Read the slides and complete the exercise

Example 2: Week 3 Slides: Tort Law – Negligence and Liability

• Review the slides to consolidate your understanding of duty of care, breach, causation, and damage.
• For each of the three cases in the slides, identify the facts that relate to each element. Use the template provided and bring your notes to the seminar.

Example 1 gives students no sense of what the slides actually cover or how the exercise connects to the week’s learning. The instructional text gives no context and fails to signal relevance. By contrast, Example 2 makes scanning effortless: the purposeful title and short overview act as cues that guide attention and reduce the mental effort needed to work out what students are expected to do – a simple but powerful form of cognitive support.

Using a standard naming convention across all activities and resources helps students recognise patterns and orient themselves more quickly. Imagine a Moodle page where one resource is called “Week 2 Quiz,” another is “Answer the questions,” and a third is just “Understanding this week’s readings.” All three might be quizzes, but how is the student supposed to know that at a glance?

As Moort (2025) notes, online readers must interpret multiple layers of text, links, and multimodal information to locate what is relevant and meaningful. When the structure or signals that guide this process are unclear, cognitive load increases because readers must work harder to orient themselves and interpret how information connects.

To support learning, titles and overviews must do more than label content; they must make its purpose clear, so students instantly understand why it matters.

1.3 Help students track their progress independently by enabling completion tracking.

One challenge of online learning is the absence of natural progress cues such as physical page counts or classroom reminders (Baron, 2017; Nichols, 2016). Without these markers, it becomes harder for students to plan their study time or judge how much remains.

Completion tracking in Moodle turns progress into visible information rather than something students must remember or reconstruct, freeing them to focus on planning and learning.

As Sweller (2005) notes, instructional design can act as an external organiser that reduces the need for learners to hold or reconstruct structure in working memory. Instead of thinking, “Did I do that reading?” or “Have I completed the Week 3 quiz?”, students can see their progress immediately, freeing up mental capacity to focus on the learning itself.

Over time, these visual cues can support the development of self-regulated learning, especially when students use them to reflect on their progress, plan next steps, and manage their workload (Zimmerman, 2002).

1.4 Avoid overloading the course homepage or including excessive text-based content.

When a course is crowded with dense text, too many options, or visual clutter, students must spend extra mental energy just figuring out where to begin. This can lead to two different challenges:

1.When too much information is presented at once, students may struggle to absorb it.

Cognitive Load Theory reminds us that working memory can hold only a small amount of information at a time when dealing with new material; therefore, reducing extraneous load is a key strategy to support understanding.

Chunking can help with managing information load. However, chunking isn’t about splitting long text or formatting alone; it’s about organising information around key concepts or stages in the learning process.

When students are told simply “Read this article”, they must decide for themselves what the key ideas are, why it matters, and how it connects to the week’s learning. That ambiguity increases extraneous cognitive load before learning has even begun. A short scaffold, such as a two-sentence overview or guiding questions, directs attention and  and helps students process the material more efficiently.

Turning a continuous wall of text into “chunks” controls the pace of reading, counterbalances scanning, and reduces unnecessary processing, creating better conditions for students to connect ideas (Sweller, 1988).

2.On-screen environments naturally invite multitasking, and divided attention can disrupt the sustained focus needed for comprehension.

Building on Sweller’s (2005) work showing how digital and multimedia formats can increase cognitive load, Nichols (2016) highlights how scrolling, navigation, hyperlinks, and other distractions can trigger multitasking, making it harder for students to process and retain information.

Keeping essential links close to the relevant idea where their purpose is immediately clear and moving optional ones to the end of the section, helps maintain attention and reduce the mental effort spent navigating rather than learning (Sweller, 2005).

Final thoughts
When courses are cluttered, inconsistent, or hard to navigate, even high-quality materials lose their impact. Providing structure isn’t about tidiness, it’s about recognising that the digital medium shapes how students read, search, and make sense of information. When we design with that in mind (accounting for scanning, filtering, and the limits of attention and working memory) we can use structure, clarity, and cues to create conditions that support focus and understanding.

Reference:

1. Baron, N. S. (2017). Reading in a digital age. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(2), 15-20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721717734184 (Original work published 2017), (Accessed: 29 October 2025).
2. Chen, O., Kalyuga, S. and Sweller, J. (2016) ‘When Instructional Guidance is Needed’, Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 33(2), pp. 149–162. Available at: doi: 10.1017/edp.2016.16. (Accessed: 10 October 2025).
3. Jian, YC. Reading in print versus digital media uses different cognitive strategies: evidence from eye movements during science-text reading. Read Writ 35, 1549–1568 (2022). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10246-2  (Accessed: 20/10/2025).
4. Moran, K. (2020) How people read online: New and old findings. Nielsen Norman Group. Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-people-read-online/ (Accessed: 20/10/2025).
5. Nichols, M. (2016) “Reading and Studying on the Screen: An Overview of Literature Towards Good Learning Design Practice”, Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 20(1), pp. 33–43. Available at: doi: https://jofdl.nz/index.php/JOFDL/article/view/263. (Accessed: 29 October 2025).
6. Sweller, J. (2005) ‘Implications of Cognitive Load Theory for Multimedia Learning’, in R. Mayer (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology), pp. 19–30. Available at: Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning – Sweller – 1988 – Cognitive Science – Wiley Online Library (Accessed: 29 October 2025).
7. van Moort, M.L., de Bruïne, A. and van den Broek, P. (2025) ‘Reading comprehension in an online world: Challenges, opportunities, and implications for education’, Teaching and Learning in Action. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.70006 (Accessed: 29 October 2025).
8. Zimmerman, B. J. (2002) ‘Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: An Overview’, Theory Into Practice, 41(2), pp. 64–70. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4102_2 (Accessed: 20/10/2025).

Podcast series: Behind the scenes of curriculum design

Listen to the episode: Humanising online learning through podcasting

“Presence” is one of the most powerful yet overlooked elements of online teaching. In many digital courses, significant attention is given to content, structure, and assessments, while less attention is paid to how students experience the teacher’s human presence.

In this episode, I talk with Caitlin Mullin, former producer of UCL’s flagship climate podcast Generation One. We explore how podcasting can support presence in online learning and what transforms a simple audio file into a podcast, highlighting the intentional choices that help audio feel personal, engaging, and meaningful for learners.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, podcasting is a simple, flexible way for educators to reach students and create a more human learning experience. This episode is an invitation to academic staff developing online courses to experiment; even small, imperfect beginnings can add value to students’ sense of connection.

This is my first attempt at podcasting and far from perfect, but that’s exactly the point: creating something small, learning from it, and improving with the help of expert advice.

How I made this episode

• I used MS Teams to record the conversation, both of us used a UCL standard headset with microphone.
• I converted the MP4 file into an MP3 using a free software called CloudConvert
• I edited the file using a free software called Audacity

Want to try podcasting?

• If you want to get started with podcasting, there is a session available in February as part of the DigiEd digital skills development . Alternatively, you can book a one to one session with Rebecca Wilson.
• You can also browse UCL Linkedin Learning for courses on Audacity and Podcasting.
• If you want to book the free podcasting studio, please contact the Educational Media team at video@ucl.ac.uk

Thank you to Caitlin Mullin, Rebecca Wilson, Matt Aucott and Ahmad Athar for their feedback and encouragement.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Online Learning is a rapidly expanding area in higher education around the world. While it became a necessity during the pandemic, an increasing number of students and short course learners are choosing to study their degrees fully online. Currently UCL offers around 40 postgraduate programmes with a significant distance learning component, just over half of which are delivered fully remotely.

As such, we’re setting up an Online Learning Community of Practice (OLCoP; catchy, we know) to bring together staff who teach and support online programmes, modules, and short courses at UCL.

At this stage, OLCoP is an informal group, and we hope to use regular meetings and the Teams space to:

• Share best practices in online teaching and learning
• Build a communication hub between academic departments, central, and local services
• Identify and recommend professional development opportunities
• Disseminate new and changing information relating to policy, quality assurance, pedagogies, technology, and more
• Ensure that issues relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion in online learning are properly represented
• Gather actionable feedback from staff and students regarding online learning experiences.

You can join our Teams space to see information about upcoming events.

We will be holding our first meeting of OLCoP on 13th March 2024 at 2:30pm.

This first meeting will take place as a hybrid event and act as an opportunity to get to know other staff teaching and developing online courses.

Those who wish to attend in person can join us at the training suite at the Anna Freud Centre, not too far from King’s Cross station, while those who prefer to join online can do so via Teams. We will have facilitators in both spaces.

You can register to attend using the form linked above.

We hope you can join us!

As some of you may be aware, a new Moodle integration is due to be released in the spring which has been designed and developed by the DLE Team to improve the process for transferring marks from Moodle to Portico. It is called the Moodle-SITS Marks Transfer Integration and we are currently trialing this with around 40 course administrators across the institution.

The pilot kicked off on 8 January and will run until 29 February 2024. The purpose of the pilot is to test the Moodle-SITS Marks Transfer Integration using the newly designed Marks Transfer Wizard and its marks transfer functionality that was developed following the Phase 1 Pilot, which took place with a very small group of course administrators at the end of last year. This wizard provides a more streamlined experience for end users by putting the core assessment component information at the centre of the tool which can then be mapped to a selection of Moodle assessments.

Pilot Phase 2 is the last pilot phase before an initial MVP (Minimal Viable Product) release into UCL Moodle Production in late March 2024. Currently, users can take advantage of the integration if the following criteria are met:

1. They have used the Portico enrolment block to create a mapping with a Module Delivery on their Moodle course.
2. Either of the following assessment scenarios is true:-
   1. Only one Moodle assessment activity is being linked to one assessment component in SITS.
   2. Only one Moodle assessment activity is being linked to multiple assessment components in SITS.
3. An assessment component exists in SITS to map against.
4. The Moodle assessment marks are numerical 0-100.
5. The assessment component in SITS is compatible with SITS Marking Schemes and SITS Assessment Types.
6. For exam assessments, the SITS assessment component is the exam room code EXAMMDLE.

The Marks Transfer Wizard currently supports the transfer of marks from one of the following summative assessment activities in Moodle:

• Moodle Assignment
• Moodle Quiz
• Turnitin Assignment (NOT multipart)

We intend to collect feedback on the new Marks Transfer Wizard from pilot participants to improve the interface and workflow for a general UCL-wide release in late March 2024 and also to prioritise next step improvements and developments following the launch.

So far informal feedback has been very positive: users say the assessment wizard works well and will save them a lot of time. The pilot has also been useful for exploring where issues might arise with Portico records or Moodle course administration as well as for gathering frequently asked questions and advice on best practice which will feed into our guidance for wider rollout.

A major challenge faced  by our learners studying online last year was simply orienting themselves; understanding what tasks to undertake next in a module and how much time to spend on them.

As we move back into more blended delivery, students will have to navigate a rich mix of online and campus-based activities. Clear ‘signposting’ of resources and activities becomes ever more important to reduce stress and guide learners though often quite complex teaching sequences. Pre-Covid, directions could be given verbally during on-campus sessions, but over the last 18 months much of this signposting has had to be provided via Moodle. In this sense, a Moodle course becomes a ‘map’ of the student journey, displaying the structure of each module while also allowing access to its online material and activities. 

We know students who are learning partially or entirely online may feel isolated or ‘disconnected’ from the learning process. It is not unusual for them to be unsure whether they have all the information they need and are doing the right things at the right times. A consistent and ‘friendly’ Moodle course design, with clear labelling of links will students help find specific resources quickly and easily. Learners also appreciate simple instructional direction, describing where, when (and why) to look for resources and how to complete activities. Students can especially benefit from suggestions on how long to spend on each task in order to prioritise and avoid overload. These simple adjustments can reduce students’ confusion and anxiety, enabling them better to focus on learning. 

To make this simple redesign even easier, many departments have aligned with the UCL Connected Learning Baseline which establishes the minimum expectations, or baseline, for Connected Learning in Moodle in 2021/22. Its 10 brief sections address the practicalities of how to arrange and present a course so that it is easy to use, how to help students get the most out of it, how to manage communications, as well as a digestible overview of legal requirements, particularly accessibility. A general, baseline-aligned template (see image) was created by Digital Education which has been adapted by many departments. While there is no requirement to present the course in a specific way, your Faculty Learning Technology Lead (FLTL) will be able to advise if a local template is available. 

Whether a template is used or not – and given everyone’s time constraints – we suggest focusing initially on the first five sections of the Baseline, covering structure, orientation, communication, assessment and resources. These five sections make recommendations for making your course more ‘friendly’, useable, and navigable.  For example, we know that simple welcome videos that provide an overview of the module and/or sections within it are much appreciated by our students. 

Beyond these basics, a real positive outcome of the last 18 months is that staff and students have become much better at using Moodle to its full potential, including for example using quizzes to help engagement and of course including pre-recorded short lectures in Moodle as a springboard for seminars (on campus or online). If you are interested these and other approaches, there is a wealth of help available online  (linked from the Baseline page) and again, your Faculty Learning Technology Lead (FLTL) or Digital Education Advisor should be able to assist. 

As you may know, UCL has access to LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com), a huge range of video tutorials supporting learning in software, creative and business skills – all free to UCL staff and currently enrolled students.

One of these is Learning to Teach Online, a recently-updated 48 minute long introduction to help instructors and teachers to understand the approaches and skills required to teach effectively online. 

As we are going through what is likely to be a significant shift to online learning at UCL, would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Although some of the ideas should already be familiar to UCL colleagues, the course provides a practical (and quick) overview. Most of the main points you need to know to get started are covered, and the course neatly highlights the difference between face-to-face, blended and online methods.

The emphasis on online organisation and communication, ensuring teacher presence, fostering collaboration, accessibility and so on are all particularity sound, and align with UCL’s E-learning Baseline. Much of the advice is in bullet-pointed checklists and only two theoretical frameworks are mentioned, the familiar Bloom’s taxonomy for learning outcomes and the rather useful SAMR model to help us think about technology integration.

I’d obviously suggest ABC to help structure the course, too, but all in all a worthwhile use of 48 minutes (or much less if you speed up the video, as I do!).