This article discusses principles involved in developing course materials for technology-mediated Chinese language learning, with examples from a new course designed to take into account the needs of distance and independent learners. Which learning environment is most efficient for a given learning activity needs to be carefully considered. It…

With increasing international collaboration in the delivery of higher education e-learning programmes, the requirement for changes in institutional practice needs to be considered in relation to the creation of shared online resources. A group of academic and learning technologists involved in a US/UK project experimented with technology and a new…

Proposes a framework for designers and teachers to research better design methodologies for distance education and to choose the most appropriate technologies and design better instructional tasks. Presents a scenario in which inherent characteristics of technologies are merged with task characteristics to create positive and powerful educational…

This paper presents the challenges involved in designing a full set of online tutorial materials for a beginners' Spanish course for distance language learners utilising an online audiographic conferencing VLE for synchronous oral interaction. Although much has been written about task design and task-based learning and teaching (TBLT) in language…

This manual is intended to train distance education staff in how to develop and edit teaching materials. Addressed in the individual units of the guide are the following topics: appointing writers, preparing to write, developing a course outline, selecting the structure of a unit, presenting the subject matter, developing student activities,…

Reports on the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and its role in furthering the use of distance learning technology. Highlights include activities; telecommunications; educational media; training; planning and advice; strategic alliances and outlooks; public administration; student record/management system; institutional and material development; a…

This paper presents an approach for developing flexible Hypermedia Learning Environments (HMLE) and applies this theoretical framework to the creation of a layered model of a hypermedia system, called HyperDisc, developed at the German Institute for Research on Distance Education. The first section introduces HMLE and suggests that existing…

One obvious reason that teachers hesitate to create Web sites for their distance courses is the lack of computer/technology skills. Other teachers who know how to create a well-structured course site are put off by the fact that it takes a lot of time to maintain it. Thus there is a risk that the course site will be ill-structured and poorly…

This book is based on training sessions conducted by the author that focused on key issues in the design of self-instructional materials, including an awareness of the distinctive features of self-instructional materials, characteristics of the target audience, and coming to grips with the resources and constraints within which one must work.…

Open University course production involves a course team that is responsible for the initial planning, production, and presentation of the teaching material. Informal work sessions with other authors create an environment critical for authors' socialization into course production and the perpetuation of course team practice. This environment…

The 7th annual E-Learn world conference on e-learning in corporate, government, healthcare, and higher education organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) includes more than 600 papers. Papers from this proceedings come from contributors representing more than 50 countries, sharing their perspectives and…

Describes the development of a video for science instruction to be used for inservice teacher training in a distance education program in Italy. Production of the video by teachers, a scientist, and a professional production team is described; pupil activities are explained; and editing and evaluation of the video are discussed. (four references)…

This paper presents a framework for producing learning environments (LEs) on the World Wide Web that improves productivity and quality at a reduced cost for both designers and learners. The resulting LEs are germane to fractals. Changes in scale are likened to levels in LEs; each level expresses a given viewpoint on knowledge. Self-similarity…

This document consists of a booklet describing the Captured Wisdom project and transcripts of videos from the two CD-ROM disks. The booklet details how to get the most from the CD-ROMs with suggestions directed toward teachers, professional development providers, and administrators. Six Captured Wisdom learning sites are listed. The Captured…