The D2LLO Project: A Successful Collaborative

Project Using Learning Objects

Lorna Wong – UW-WhitewaterNicholle Stone – UW- Stout

Merlot Conference, August 2004

Who we are …..Who we are …..University of Wisconsin SystemUniversity of Wisconsin System

UW-BarronUW-Fond du Lac

UW-Fox Valley

Is made up of :Is made up of :

26 Institutions– 13 Four Years Campuses– 13 Freshman-Sophomore campuses– and UW Extension

Common systems– Enterprise SIS– Enterprise Library – Enterprise HR– Enterprise CMS – Desire2Learn (D2L)

LTDC – Learning Technology Development Council– Instructional Technologists from each campus

Adopting D2L as our CMSAdopting D2L as our CMS

UWS adopted Desire2Learn as a system wide Course Management System

There is an immediate need to create training material for both faculty & students

This offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate and share resources among campuses

JELLO? JELLO?

D2LLO stands for D2L Learning Objects A project inspired by:

– The need for generating commonly used training material quickly

– The importance for shareable training material with flexible formats

– The enthusiasm of a group of dedicated LTDC folks to do a real application in learning objects

no, D2LLO no, D2LLO

Forming the D2LLO group Forming the D2LLO group

12 instructional technologists from the campuses participated

The ADL-Colab “SCO Days” conference in Madison on June 2003 provided an opportunity to hone technical skills, brainstorm and do group planning

UWS sponsored the group to attend the conference and supported the ongoing work

D2LLO Project GoalsD2LLO Project Goals

Create learning objects that cover all major areas of D2L for faculty Training

Keep these learning objects small, granular, and standards conformant

Ensure the LOs can easily be incorporated into training material of various formats

Open these learning objects to all D2L trainers at UWS or beyond

D2LLO ProcessD2LLO Process

Divide the group into 5 teams, each with a lead person – Each responsible for a functional area faculty uses

Each team maps the tasks needed to comprehensively understand the function– Decide on the granularity of each LO to match a task

Communication during the project – Email– Conference calls– F2F work sessions ( 3 times total)– Spreadsheet for tracking LO mapping and progress

Collaborative Design & Collaborative Design & PrototypePrototype

A prototype of a learning object was designed & created as a group effort– During our SCO Days face-to-face meeting

A detailed 32 pages step-by-step documentation on creating a LO was developed– key to consistency in the construction of the LOs

A common D2L course is used for creation– Key to ensure common look and feel

D2LLO Repositories & D2LLO Repositories & DisseminationDissemination

Use D2L as a central repository for LOs & documentation– Created a D2L course site at UWS as a testing

ground A website was designed to organize the LOs for

easy access and distribution

Project TimelineProject Timeline

June 2003 - SCO Days– F2F team meeting to develop prototype

June-August 2003 – refine prototype and documentation– F2F meeting to work through LO development process

August – January – LOs created and deposited into D2L course site and external website

January 2004 – Retreat to finish production March – June 2004 - Edit and final polish

– Proofreading and editing to flush out inconsistency– Modification and cleanup

Using the D2LLO Using the D2LLO Learning ObjectsLearning Objects

Incorporated into various training materialDirectly linked to the D2LLO repository

websitePresented as an organized training resource

inside D2LEmbedded into the HELP tool in D2L

Anatomy of a Learning Anatomy of a Learning ObjectObject

Anatomy of a Learning Anatomy of a Learning

ObjectObject - behind the scenes- behind the scenes

Detailed specification sheet– File naming conventions– Typeface, sizes, use of styles– Use of colors, logo

Consistent wording and level of detail in captions SCORM conformant

Tools for CreationTools for Creation

RoboDemo - (now Macromedia)– Screen captures, animation export, text/image export

Word - (Microsoft Office)– Editing text/image document

Dreamweaver (Macromedia)– Index file, SCORM runtime wrapper, imsmanifest

WinZip (or OS provided)– Packaging for import into D2L

Using RoboDemoUsing RoboDemo

Screen capture software•Screenshots•Mouse movements and clicks•Captions•Flash (.swf) output•Text/image output (Word)

Using Dreamweaver MXUsing Dreamweaver MX

Index page

SCORM Runtime WrapperSCORM Runtime Wrapper(extension)(extension)

IMS ManifestIMS Manifest

Edit XML file directly in Dreamweaver

Project documentation guidelines

Packaging, ImportingPackaging, Importing

Compressed to Zip format

Import into D2L, unpackaged as a content topic with title

Use D2L files area as repository

Tool/File IntegrationTool/File Integration

Why this Format?Why this Format?

FlexibilitySuit multiple learning stylesGreater accessibility of formats to audience

Our ChallengesOur Challenges

The steps involved in the creation of each LO are rather complex

Each participant faces an overload of duties, including conversion of previous CMS to D2L on each campus

D2L released new version and major patches during the year – Participants need to relearn the platform – LOs need to be modified

AccomplishmentsAccomplishments

Created 150 LOs on 5 major functional areas for faculty training

Learned new skills on the tools and understanding of LO and SCOs

The LOs was a welcome training supplement within the UW campuses and other institutions

This LO concept is adopted by the vendor as a model for building its own learning community resources

Lessons LearnedLessons Learned

The project was too labor intensive for the already overloaded instructional technologists– started with 12 participants, only 6 active

members left Incentive can keep interest

– Stipend help to sustain the group Keeping consistency and organization of an end-

product created by a diverse group of authors is not trivial

D2LLO - Editing PhaseD2LLO - Editing Phase

Single editor (multiple authors) Check for consistency

– Styles– Caption wording

Next StepsNext Steps

Phase 2 – learning objects for student tasks Updates as new versions are released SCORM 2004 Tracking & Sequencing Updates to documentation as SCORM changes How do we deal with the next phase?

– Hire students– Collaborate with other institutions– Continue with the SWAT team approach

How do we evaluate and assess the usage of these LOs ?

The Active People in D2LLOThe Active People in D2LLO

Cheryl Diermyer – Whitewater Pat Fellows – UW-Colleges (co-ordinator) Cid Freitag – Madison Molly Immendorf – Extension Kathy Konicek – Madison Sherri Post – Stout (documentation) Nicholle Stone – Stout (technical testing) Simone Vuong – UW-Colleges (editor) Lorna Wong – Whitewater (coordinator, website manager)

A Collaborative LTDC group at UW System campuses

More ExamplesMore Examples

How to add a link in the NavBar How to Add a Discussion TopicAdding Feedback to students in the

DropboxSetting up Quiz Layout & questions

Questions?Questions?

Contact usContact us

Lorna Wong – wongl@uww.eduNicholle Stone – stonen@uwstout.edu

D2LLO website- http://www.uww.edu/d2l/

This presentation will be available at:

http://ltc.uww.edu/merlot/d2llo.ppt