The E-learning Curve at Edublogs

I recently authored a series of posts on developing e-learning content using an open source environment where I investigated the potential for creating and delivering e-learning using either free to use or freely available content authoring applications. In that series, I deliberately excluded mentioning tools to enable the capturing and post-producing demos and simulations, [...]

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Having discussed in some detail individual elements of the content development process, in this post we’re going to see how all the pieces come together in the Open Environment for E-Learning.
Figure 1. Inputs and Outputs[Click to enlarge]
Here’s the end-to-end development process (see Figure 1):1. Content authors agreed course structure according to the structure outlined in [...]

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Modifying previously-produced content using for use in an Open E-Learning Environment
A topic I’ve touched on briefly in the past is that of repurposing content already developed in a different format. In my view, one of the more common (and unsatisfactory) processes used to develop courseware is to use Microsoft PowerPoint as the primary courseware authoring [...]

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Operationalizing a Shareable Content Object-based (SCO) instructional design:
Based upon the the instructional model discussed in previous posts, I recommend designing a course to the following parameters (see Figure 1):

Section: a sequence of 5±2 Lessons related by core Learning Objectives
Lesson: a sequence of 5±2 Learning Objects
(Reusable) Learning Object (LO): a learning objective [...]

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Courseware Content Specification
After yesterday’s discussion of a learning object-based approach, we can begin to develop a specification for on Open Environment e-learning course. At a high level, the specification for such a course could include:

Content to be based upon previously-agreed curriculum of content
The content be developed according to a Reusable [...]

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In reaching a satisfactory definition of learning objects, a search through the literature revealed three broad characterisations:
The main idea of ‘learning objects’ is to break educational content down into small chunks that can be reused in various learning environments, in the spirit of object-oriented programming.

(Wiley 2000)
[A]ny entity, digital or non-digital, that may be [...]

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Theoretical approach – content delivery
Today’s post discusses an approach to the delivery of multimedia content in an open (or indeed any) e-learning environment.
As Richard Mayer observes:
Multimedia messages that are designed in light of how the human mind works are more likely to lead to meaningful learning that those that are not. [...]

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Phase One: Using a Constructivist Theoretical Approach
Bruner’s 1966 text Toward a Theory of Instruction described the key principles of constructivism (p.225):
Table 1 Principles of constructivism

Principle

Definition

Readiness

Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn

Spiral organisation

Structure.

The content must be [...]

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Phase One: Requirements gathering - Developing the Instructional Design
In 1996, ISD guru David Merrill et alia asserted that there were indicators to demonstrate that educational instructional design (ISD) had gone awry:
Too much of the structure of educational technology is built upon the sand of relativism, rather than the rock of science. When winds of [...]

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Microsoft Producer for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, the current version of this popular add-on for Microsoft PowerPoint, is a freely available application that facilitates the capture, synchronisation, and publishing of audio, video, slides, and images. The primary reasons for choosing this application for content integration were it’s low learning curve for non-media experts, as well [...]

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