CAN ONE SIZE FIT ALL? THE CASE STUDY OF A CD ROM IN TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

In 2001, a video-based interactive CD ROM entitled BUILT ('Building Understandings in Literacy and Teaching', an ASCILITE award winner) was developed for use in teacher education at the University of Melbourne, in a mass education, cost effective context. BUILT was designed to address concerns about pre-service teachers ' knowledge about language and literacy across the school curriculum and year levels. This paper focuses on the challenges in designing, implementing, evaluating, redeveloping and re-evaluating BUILT, now that it has been used with 2 large cohorts (approx 1,000 each) of pre-service teachers from widely divergent disciplinary backgrounds. The key principles underpinning the design of the CD within a constructivist model will first be outlined, followed by an outline of how BUILT was evaluated and integrated into pre-service teaching programs in its first iteration in 2001, and its subsequent re-development into its second edition. Finally, a brief overview of the second evaluation of BUILT and its implementation will be outlined, highlighting key reasons for the marked improvement in student perceptions of the effectiveness of BUILT’s design and outlining challenges that face those responsible for teaching with it in 2003