Work processes for the development of integrated e-learning courses

Abstract

Published in: Schlusmans, K.H.L.A., Koper, E.J.R., & Giesbertz, W.J., (2004). Work processes for the development of integrated e-learning courses. In W. Jochems, J. van Merrienboer, & E.J.R. Koper, Integrated eLearning (pp. 126-138). London: RoutledgeFalmer.More and more training centres and educational institutes are introducing web-based education. This involves much more than just publishing educational texts on the web. There is a real need for those institutes to adapt their existing processes of course development to meet the specific requirements of high quality online teaching materials In this chapter we first describe a method for the development of web based courses which was designed at the Educational Technology Expertise Center of the Open University of the Netherlands. In this method there is a strong demarcation between the development and the delivery of materials. The development process itself consists of four phases: analysis, design, realisation and testing. This method of development promotes working in course teams and division of labour. In each phase of the development process different fields of expertise are required. The most important fields of expertise are concerned with instructional design, subject matter, educational modelling languages and project management. Finally we present two cases in which web based course were developed along the lines of the development method at the Open University of the Netherlands and at the Higher School of Hotel Management of Maastricht. These cases allow us to draw lessons from the experiences and to adapt our method