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Thursday, 15 July 2004: 9:30 AM-10:15 AM | |||
Australia 3 (Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel) | |||
L-4: Converting Existing Online Courses to Learning Objects in WebCT Vista | |||
| Detailed Description: | Online learning content is costly and time-consuming to develop. The University System of Georgia has addressed this problem by deconstructing established online courses and converting them into repositories of granular learning objects stored in the content repository of USG’s WebCT Vista academic enterprise system. Faculty can browse search, retrieve, mix, match, reuse and assemble these learning objects into new courses – dramatically reducing the amount of time and resources needed to develop digital course materials. | ||
| Presentation Format: | Showcase | ||
| Topic: | Enabling learning: Effective instructional practices and flexible design models | ||
| Target Audience: | Course Designers, Faculty and Other Instructors, E-learning Managers | ||
| Appropriate Audience Level: | Experienced WebCT users | ||
| Abstract Text: | Online learning content is costly and time-consuming to develop. The University System of Georgia (USG) has addressed this problem by deconstructing established online courses and converting them into repositories of granular learning objects. Faculty can browse search, retrieve, mix, match, reuse and assemble these learning objects into new courses – dramatically reducing the amount of time and resources needed to develop digital course materials. The USG currently offers 22 online courses as part of the eCore, an electronic core curriculum which is comprised of courses leading to the completion of the first two years of an undergraduate degree. Now, faculty within the USG may adopt eCore courses in their entirety however, they have expressed a strong desire to extract specific instructional resources from these courses. These resources may be items such as objectives, paragraph/s of content, graphics, animation sequences, test questions and so on. As a result, USG’s Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) department decided to determine the applicability of deconstructing these courses into modular components or reusable learning objects. A prototype was developed using a Math 1113 Precalculus course, which was broken down into a few hundred discrete components, including HTML pages, .GIF files, and interactive Flash animations. These learning objects were stored in the content repository of USG’s WebCT Vista academic enterprise system. Through Vista, the learning objects were organized by learning objective, making it easy and intuitive for faculty members to find the learning objects they need. The learning objects can be downloaded for reuse in any course management system or in any Web browser. They may also be used as digital resources for face-to-face instruction. This session will explore the benefits, success factors and pitfalls to avoid when converting existing online courses to learning objects. | ||
| Session Leader: | Marie Lasseter Advanced Learning Technologies University System of Georgia | ||
| Co-Presenter: | Taft Eaker Advanced Learning Technologies University System of Georgia | ||
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