What Personalisation Means for Providers

What tags shall we use?

Details of the resources that are available for teaching can be stored in a database, so that future users can quickly locate them by doing various searches. ( “I want a resource to help use with level 2, Health and Safety in Plumbing…what have we got? ” )

Tagging resources can be time-consuming initially but can give great time savings in the long term. Thinking of some additional tags when you are part-way through tagging needs to be avoided for everyones sanity…so some planning is needed.

Which of the following tags might be useful for resources in your organisation? Are any key tags missing?

Possible tag / Note / Use this tag? (yes / no)
Course / May need a yes/no field for each course you run.
Topic / A text-field that can be searched, or a pick list.
Content (eg data or resource sheet, task sheet) / Could be a pick-list, but many resources are mixed content, so a series of yes/no boxes would be preferable
Author / Initials can get confusing. Initials plus surname may be preferable
Creation date / Have a common format that is quick to type 01/10/06 rather than “1st October 2005”
Intended audience (eg student, teacher) / A pick list of these, with an option of “both”
Group size (eg whole class, small group, pairs, individuals) / Could be a pick-list, but many resources can be used in several ways so a series of yes/no tick-boxes would be preferable
Time required to complete / A ball-park figure is fine. After-all, these will be used by professional colleagues who understand that it’s difficult to make this an exact science.
Other resources required to operate (eg access to IT, other equipment, particular venues) / A text field would be fine
Level of demand / This can be a basic guide to the usefulness of the resource, but perhaps a place for users to add their comments, feedback and hints would be more useful.
Language / Is the resource available in other languages? This could be several tick-boxes or a searchable text field.
Format (eg website, electronic document, paper document) / Could be a pick-list, but many resources use several formats, so a series of yes/no boxes would be preferable
Location / Perhaps a text-box description of where the resource is kept.