When I first began this project, I thought "well I have all my content created, it is just a matter of moving it online". Wow, was I confused! The more I ascertain about how students learn in an online environment, the more I realize how I need to shift my thinking. A leading educational theorist, Seymour Papert, has studied the use of new technologies in learning extensively. One of his major findings is that new technology should not be used simply to relay the old information in a new way. Instead, technology should be used to create a new learning experience that is interactive and designed to enhance a student's creativity.
Thus, in order for the course to be the best learning experience for my students, I need to do more than simply narrate my PowerPoints and put them online. I need to develop online learning objects, sometimes called Reusable Online Learning Objects or RLOs. These will be interactive modules, they will engage students in the topic by requiring them to do more than just listen and/or read. Through the Articulate Studio products, I will be able to create Flash based presentations, quizzes, and interactive models. There may be other software available for developing these modules, but this is the program I am familiar with and being trained to used by our amazing e-learning staff.
As always, the biggest barrier to developing online modules is the time it will take to transfer my teaching to an online format. Now that I have recovered from the initial shock of how much time this will take to develop modules, I am excited about learning how to do this effectively and expand my student's learning experience and the vision for their future.
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