Emojis in Ultra Docs

Headings, descriptions, and visual cues can help students detect where they are and what they need to do.

Why signpost?

Signposting uses phrases or visual cues to draw the learner's attention to:

• Required actions
• Important points
• Learning activities
• Key concepts

Constraints of using images

Selecting images for signposting that are easy to use and comply with accessibility standards is time consuming. In addition, images embedded in Ultra documents are automatically aligned to the centre of the document, and have undesired large (or small) gaps created around the images.  Therefore, the use of emojis (small digital images embedded within the font structure) in Ultra Documents (Docs) can overcome some of the disadvantages of using images for signposting, while helping students to visually connect with the learning material.

Using emojis

Using emojis for signposting in your Ultra Documents promotes consistent design across subject sites. In addition, emojis behave like text in the online environment and they inherit the styling from adjacent text. In addition, text can be inserted right next to an emoji, whereas "wrapping text" around an image is currently not possible in Ultra Docs.

NOTE: Emojis will look different depending on what operating system or browser they are being viewed on. An example of this can be found at the bottom of this article.

Recommended emojis

To maintain consistency we have selected a set of emojis to use for various signposting requirements. To place emojis into your Ultra documents, simply highlight the emojis below, copy, and paste them into your page as you build. You could also copy all of them and put them into a hidden page on your subject site for quick reference.

😊 Verb: Descriptive heading

^ Emoji Headings

Emojis are used in headings to give us some capability to break up pages and give visual cues to students about the sections on the page. Usually they lead on from the emoji with a verb, however, sometimes a noun may be used.

▶️ Watch: Descriptive heading for video

Add a video description. Point out any key takeaways or reflection points.

Add note about accessibility (captions/transcript available?).

[Video]

📖 Reading: Adult learning, adult teaching (Daines, Daines and Graham, 2006)

Daines, J., Daines, C., & Graham, T. (2006). Adult learning, adult teaching (2nd ed.). Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press.

Click here to access the reading/Refer to the readings list to access this reading.

Before you read:

As you read:

After you read:

✏️ Verb: Descriptive heading for activity

Add description.

Purpose:

Task:

Action:

Timing:

💬  Discuss: Descriptive heading for discussion

Add description

🧑‍💼 Profile: Dr XXXX XXXX

Add description.

📚 Resources/Readings List

• List resources in bullet list
• Like so

📝 Assessment Reminder

Add description.

Other emojis

🎯Intended learning outcomes

🔗 Digital tool/link: Use this for linking to external digital activities or tools.

➡️ Point: To add attention to a specific section of the course.

🎧 Podcast or audio: Use this above audio resources.

📄 Summary: Use this above a summary.

💼 Case study: Use this above case study questions.

🔎 Focus: Use this above content investigating an area in detail.

📥 Download: Use this above a download link.

☑️ Quiz: Use this for quiz/test.

💡 Think or reflect Use this above reflective questions. These need not be an interactive.

❇️ Wrap up: point Use this above practice points.

📈 Graph: Use this above a graph.

👥 Group: Use this above group work.

📰 News: Link to news articles.

🔧 Toolbox: Use this above a toolbox.

🚀 Module: Used for signposting modules in the 'Subject Content' overview.

⭐ Start: Marks the beginning point.

Other emojis

Alternatively, you can find more emojis by visiting https://emojipedia.org

Search and select your desired emoji (for example, "writing"), then click on the "Copy" button to bring your emoji into your Ultra Doc.

Image above: Screenshot example of the variations that can occur depending on the operating system or browser