Step 1.6: Accommodating the Reality of Access When Selecting Technologies
Image credit: Susan Crichton, UBC Okanagan
In developing blended learning courses, we must consider the trade-off between production value and ease of access (in terms of bandwidth and storage required). Production value refers to the technical quality of the content (for example, resolution of images, quality of sound files, file size, use of multimedia). A high resolution online course might have large PowerPoint slide decks or high-res videos. Access to resources with higher production value depends on higher bandwidth, which not all students may have. Note that these issues apply to both to content provided by course designers and that provided by students, as well as to communication tools like Collaborate Ultra.
This blog post by Daniel Stanford (2020) gives an excellent analysis of communication technologies in terms of the bandwidth they require and their immediateness (ability to facilitate simultaneous interaction between student and instructor).