Online learning resources offer opportunities for expanding your audiences. Good quality learning materials that can be used in a classroom, in addition to supporting a site visit, can inspire a new generation. MyLearning currently receives around 2 million hits a year, from users all over the UK and indeed, the world.
How do I contribute?
Your contribution may be as simple as adding content to an existing resource, or it may extend to creating new material to complement our extensive range of topics and themes. Alternatively, you may have existing materials hosted on your website that you would also like to appear on MyLearning. If you need help creating resources, please contact us so we can discuss your requirements.
Once created, each new learning story is evaluated to ensure it meets the needs of teachers and learners. Any adjustments are then made before the resource is published to MyLearning.
Please bear in mind that while we charge for our services (to cover costs), if your organisation is very small or wholly volunteer-run, it may be possible to work with us for free.
To discuss the creation of resources and / or fees, please contact us.
What kind of content are you looking for?
Below is a guide for creating new or re-purposing existing content to be hosted on MyLearning. Resources should contain enough information to be useful to non-specialist teachers and the assets provided should allow for flexibility in their use. We do not host structured lesson plans, rather we host the information and resources for teachers to use in their own way. A learning story should:
Say something new
The resource should ‘fill a gap’ within MyLearning i.e. cover a subject that hasn’t been covered, or explore an issue not yet discussed on the site. The resource could be designed to complement or tie in to existing content.
Have a great story to tell
Learning resources should be focussed around a great story, with one or more fascinating objects, artefacts or documents.
Have clear links to the Curriculum*
The resource should be written with a clear objective in mind and link to one or more aspects of the English National Curriculum.
*If you have a very short resource that doesn’t necessarily fit with the National Curriculum, but is a fantastic story or showcase an amazing object, we may host it under our ‘Museum Snapshot’ collection.
Include high quality, re-usable assets
The vast majority of the content on MyLearning is hosted under one of the Creative Commons non-commercial licences. This means that teachers can use the resources in their lessons, but does not allow for commercial use. All learning stories need:
- Good quality photographs, images of objects, scans of documents.
- Contextual information (When? Where? What? How?)
- Discussion and activity ideas.
- Links to other relevant websites to aid further investigation of the topic.
Additional supporting media such as videos, audio files, downloadable activities, powerpoints and interactives, are desirable but not essential.
Diversity and Inclusion
Our Diversity and Inclusion information can be found here. If you have any queries regarding your content and this information, please get in touch.
Reaching audiences
We want your learning story to reach as many teachers (and therefore students) as possible. To help get the word out about a newly published resource, we:
- Highlight it in our half-termly newsletter, with a direct link through to the learning story itself.
- Advertise the story on our Twitter feed, with a direct link to the resource.
- Include it in our ‘Featured Content’ carousel on the Home Page for a period of time (at least 4 weeks)
- Provide Google Analytics reports on page visits and dwell time on request.
In addition we may, as appropriate throughout the time the story is hosted on MyLearning:
- Link to it in our newsletter and twitter feed when relevant to particular national events, such as Fairtrade Fortnight, British Science Week, World War commemorations, Black History Month, etc.
- Link to it in our Twitter feed when relevant to particular social media campaigns, such as #HumanRightsDay, #InternationalWomensDay #World EnvironmentDay, etc.
- Include the learning story, or assets from it on themed Work Boards we create on MyLearning to help teachers find a selection of resources quickly and easily.
Contact MyLearning to discuss your contribution
If you have any questions about contributing to MyLearning, or want to talk about costs, please contact us.