DEALERDistance Education And

Learning Repository

The First Draft Idea

Zlatan SabicSarajevo, July 1998

Soros Foundations Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina

MIT Center Sarajevo

Basic presumptionTo support educators by

interactive distance learning technologies

WE should NOT think of ways how educators SHOULD work,

but think instead how educators REALLY work

What are their PROBLEMS?

How can we help solve them?

Modern Educator’s Problems Need for rapid updates in curricula Curricula more complex Audiences more complex High preparation costs Multiple learning sites (class, home..) Technology innovations continuous Teaching cooperation needed to manage complexity

Need for rapid updates in curricula Knowledge and technology continuously

changing Innovative education demands continuous

change in course curricula Rapid updates critical PROBLEMS

– high costs for high quality updates – need high quality content– need rapid and timely access– need ‘digestible’ formats

Curricula more complex

Some critical technical content may be needed across several courses

PROBLEMS– core content may be difficult to parse

across multiple contexts – organization of core content within

different contexts

Audiences more complex Even if the content is located only in one

course, different audiences require different approaches

PROBLEMS– small changes in lessons produce

"versions" confusion– lessons need to be well-organized to

recognize small differences

High preparation costs

"Construction" of new courses based on existing and new material needs to be fast

PROBLEMS– too much time ‘removing’ the updatable

core lessons from needed context – problems with course scope and sequence

can become critical

Multiple learning sites

Teachers and students work on computers in classrooms and at home

Distance learning creates multiple course sites

PROBLEMS– Different learning environments may need

different approaches and materials

Technology innovations continuous It is hard to survive as modern and

successful educators without continuous adopting of new technologies

PROBLEMS– technology dependant teaching materials

are too time-expensive (need for structure and technology conversions)

– educator has to spend some time to learn the use of technology

Teaching cooperation

The most of the topics are too complex for only one educator

Cooperation synergy can be very "profitable" PROBLEMS

– cooperation coordination– again context dependance of lessons– incompatibility of formats (technology

dependance)

What to do?

Develop smaller units with more complex organization

Downsize lessons– make content loosely coupled with context– make content easy to access and update

More complex organization– use multiple criteria to classify modules– faster searches for appropriate lesson– design more rapid ways to update curriculum

Downsizing lessons

Small Can Be Beautiful !Small Can Be Beautiful !

A lesson can be constructed using

a Learning Module formata Learning Module format(comparable to 15 min.- 1 hour of instruction)

Each lesson can contain

commercial and/or professionally-created materials and/or commercial and/or professionally-created materials and/or digitized objectsdigitized objects

in hardcopy, on the Internet or on CD ROMin hardcopy, on the Internet or on CD ROM

Continuous innovation creates an instructional dilemma

Classification by topics (Project Scheduling Software)

– more appropriate in dynamic environment and for smaller lessons

– Topics updated often

Classification by courses (Project Mgt)– more appropriate in static environment and for

larger lessons

Example - Classic Hierarchy Classification by Courses Course: System Analysis and Design

– System Analysis Methodology Preliminary AnalysisProblem Detection

...– System Analysis Techniques Interview

...– System Design– Project Management– ...

Course: Strategic Use of Information Technologies– TPS, MIS, DSS Basic Concepts– System Analysis (partly)– Interview (in different context)– Group Technologies (partly Groupware lesson)– ...

Course: Short Seminar on MIS and Groupware– MIS Basic Concepts (partly TPS, MIS, DSS lesson)– Groupware (partly Group Technologies lesson)

too big

too big

too context sensitive

Example - Classic Hierarchy Classification by Topics Topic: System Analysis

– System Analysis Methodology ...– System Analysis Techniques ...– ...

Topic: System Design– Coding System– Database Normalization– ...

Topic: Project Management– Project Definition and Planning– Leading the Project– ...

Topic: Group Technologies– Group Work and Behaviour– Groupware– ...

•Instructional dilemma•too big and context

sensitive to be easily updated

•but if context is removed, instruction less useful

•in a dynamic environment hierarchical organization can become quite complicated (Gopher v. WWW)

Problems with classic hierarchy classification They have rigid classification relationships Unique not multiple search criteria Need for multiple connections creates

redundancy Unstable in dynamic environments such as

teaching team curricula design Continuous adjustment is expensive Matrix or Hypertext concept more flexible

Organizing Lessons

Learning Modules can be classified: Statically

– always on topic criteria– time independent

Dynamically– on course criteria– time dependant

1. Define topic(s)Generic topics

...Topic 2Topic 1 Topic 3

2. Learning modulessmall and somewhat context insensitive

...Topic 2Topic 1 Topic 3

...LeM 11

LeM 12

LeM 13

LeM 14

LeM 21

LeM 22

LeM 23

LeM 24

LeM 31

LeM 32

LeM 33

LeM 34

... ... ... Cla

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3. Enhance context through choice and sequence

...Topic 2Topic 1 Topic 3

...LeM 11

LeM 12

LeM 13

LeM 14

LeM 21

LeM 22

LeM 23

LeM 24

LeM 31

LeM 32

LeM 33

LeM 34

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Course 1

Course 2

Course 3

...

Classification by CoursesClassification by CoursesLINEAR-NO HIERARCHYLINEAR-NO HIERARCHY

StaticDynamic

Small Modules + Matrix Structure Simple Flexible Low maintenance Technology independent Can be created dynamically,

step-by-step Can be created and used by more

than one educator

Creating Courses

Can be designed and updated quickly

Complex but not too complicated for users

Could be highly automated Easy to test

Learning Modulescould have two possible structures: Small context free module Another independent matrix structure:

Marketing Managemen

t

Practical Use of PC

Financial Managemen

tMarket

Marketing Communic.

MS Word

Basic Terms

...

...

Build Modules Using Digitized Objects Learning Module can be

– text on paper– HTML text– MS Word document– PowerPoint presentation

Can contain digitized multi-media objects

– Picture .GIF, .JPG, .TIF...– Excel graphs– Audio Clip .WAV, Video Clip .RM, ...

•Courses contain LM with instruction

•LM contain digitized objects

•for use the number of adopted standards must be small

System management

Need to organize teaching groups Small set of materials, use "paper" database

– very simple and effective

By computer database – simple to construct

– large scale of possible technologies (RDBMSs, ODBMSs, HTML+Java+CGI, macro languages, …)

In context of Soros DL Project Tri-level structures create the possibility for

immediate work on materials restructuring Structures are simple to communicate 1st level - unique materials and/or digitized

objects and limited context 2nd level- lessons with instruction and some

context 3rd level courses with rich context

Matrix structure for DEALER should be

the main principle in every segment of the

project:standards development, database development, materials restructuring,

communication, cooperation with other institutions (GLEN), ...

LEMON RepositoryLearning Modules

Network Repository

END

Zlatan SabicSarajevo, July 1998

Soros Foundations Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina

MIT Center Sarajevo