A Material-Framework-Object Model for Learning Material Management
Following problems have been found in traditional learning material management model based on courseware: common redundancy, the overlapped and desultory construction of the learning materials, and hardly adaptive to the diversity of the learning objectives and teaching methodologies. In the paper, a material-framework-objective model was proposed to improve the efficiency and quality of learning material management in the distance education by separating and recombining the basic materials, courseware, knowledge-points and learning goals. The model can also achieve the unification of the reuse, mobility and pertinence of the learning materials. A prototyping based on this model has been developed and taken into practice in Dongbei University of Financial and Economics.
Making flexible learning more flexible
As a response to the changing environment in which the educational sector operates today and, in particular, the increasingly diverse student population, many universities opt for flexible delivery of their courses. However, there is a tendency to focus too much on technology per se and not on the learning process. At the same time educational technology itself which still is lingering behind current developments in the information technology (IT) industry. We argue that educational technologies are still task-oriented rather than process-oriented and as such not capable of effectively supporting an integrated study process. We present a concept of Flex-eL-a flexible, fully integrated, workflow enabled, learning environment. We argue that flexible learning should be even more flexible and based on that premise, we critically evaluate the existing technologies for flexible delivery. Furthermore, we describe the main features of Flex-eL and discuss some important issues that we have come across during its pilot implementation.
A preliminary comparison of computer mediated training tools
Various factors are leading organisations to deliver flexible learning via the Internet. These pressures include the need to be seen to be using the latest technology, the demand from users away from traditional courses to ones that can deliver anytime, anywhere and lastly to escape from the need to provide expensive classrooms and laboratories. There are different proprietary and off-the-shelf solutions capable of delivering teaching material to the Internet and assessing students. Yet there has been little research on the effectiveness of these vehicles from the view points of course content, authors, instructors and students. The research evaluates two contrasting flexible learning sites drawing upon the experiences of authors and instructors and through surveying the students via the WAMMI questionnaire.