Forced to Conform? Using Common Processes and Standards to Create Effective eLearning

Abstract

Abstract: Working on multiple large-scale eLearning projects forces teams to try and standardise processes and procedures. Tools such as XML allow us to manipulate and exploit content in ways previously impossible. However, no academic from any discipline likes to imagine that their content is standard. And terms such as 'reuse' and 'repurposing' make academics even less comfortable. And perhaps they are right. This article describes a formalised development methodology created by one eLearning development team based at the University of Oxford, designed as a generic system flexible enough to cope with a wide range of subjects and audiences. This paper will also set this development process in the broader world of academic eLearning development across the disciplines, looking especially at the role of standards to consider future directions and the applicability of any development methodology to wider learning development contexts.Editors: Stuart Lee.

Keywords

• e-learning development
• academic disciplines
• flexibility
• project management
• course design
• XML
• innovation
• technology in education
• educational technology