This report details the development of an interactive study pack for the Dutch department. The work formed part of the Access to Core Course Materials Project, which seeks to explore the possibility of providing course materials in electronic format. Dutch required assistance with developing a pilot interactive study pack that could be used in a bid for further funding. The Project Officer designed a basic version of the pack, which was then developed by Media Resources. This report outlines the developmental process, the problems and challenges that it presented and an indication of the likely costs involved in offering such a service. An interactive study pack lies at the more sophisticated end of what the Access project hoped to achieve; consequently the actual service that will be offered may be less complex than the model outlined in this report. This document replaces the report that was produced in November 2000 to include details about the evaluation work that was undertaken in March 2001

Secker, J.

City Research Online

Access to Core Course Materials Project: the Dutch Study Pack Experiment report

Prior to the launch of the Access to Core Course Materials Project, the Dutch

Department approached Education and Professional Development (EPD) and asked

for assistance to develop an interactive study pack for their students. Dutch were in

the process of compiling a bid for funding from the Language Union based in The

Hague to develop interactive learning material. In developing a pilot version of the

study pack, they hoped to strengthen their chances of obtaining funding. The call for

proposals closed on 1st October 2000 and Dutch wanted students to be able to test the

pilot pack during the Autumn Term of 2000. These two factors led to a very tight

deadline for the work which eventually had to be extended.

The Access to Core Course Materials Project was launched at UCL in July 2000 as a

joint project between Library Services and EPD. The Project seeks to examine the

potential of providing course materials in a digital format and is interested in any

additional features that electronic materials could include, such as multimedia. The

pack envisaged by the Dutch department fell into the more sophisticated end of the

spectrum of what the Access Project was hoping to achieve and ideally a less

sophisticated model would have be pursued first. However, given the overlap of

interest and the enthusiasm from the Dutch department; the experiment was

incorporated into the Project. The work was undertaken over the summer of 2000

given the Dutch department's deadline of 1st October and it was decided the less

sophisticated model could be developed afterwards.

"The Dutch experiment", as it was referred to, was intended to be exploratory work to

demonstrate full potential of providing course materials in a digital format. The

second, less sophisticated experiment would digitise a selection of readings from the

teaching collection and make this available to students for a trial period. This work,

known as Teaching Collection Experiment will involve a second department. Staff

and students in the selected departments will test both experimental systems and

evaluation work will be undertaken. The pilot service launched as part of the Access

Project will then be designed using the real-life experiences of these two experimental

systems, in conjunction with the results from the needs analysis of departments across UCL. The service offered to departments during 2001 is likely to incorporate

elements from both the Dutch Experiment and the Teaching Collection Experiment

Access to Core Course Materials Project: the Dutch Study Pack Experiment report

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