Course development – Laurie Trepanier's ETEC 565A Blog

DVD Authoring

I would normally have my instructional materials created at work by a small team of developers – technicians trained to create instructional materials under my guidance. As I have a limited supply of educational technology in my personal collection, I decided to complete this activity by creating a family scrapbook at home. This scrapbook includes some family photos, a video of my children ice skating, and some updates on the “family life” for the grandparents. I figure that this is akin to instructing our family on what we are doing in Cold Lake, AB since the big move (from Ontario) this past summer!

For the activity, the materials I selected includes several Word Documents (my children’s’ creations from school), a basic HTML document that the grandparents can open on their computer within a Browser and a three minute video. The word documents and the video are embedded in the HTML formatted document. The DVD creator I used was the Toshiba Disc Creator. I wanted to experiment with the off-the-shelf version that anyone would have at their disposal.

Reflections:

While the creation of the DVD was relatively easy, I was not impressed by the number of files present on the disk. My first instinct was to attempt to open all the files and see if there was anything interesting in each. Strange since I was the person that burned the files! I would prefer to have all the files hidden, with the exception of the one html file that supports all of the others. Perhaps I can do this at home, but I have yet to discover how.

Please leave a comment if you have any ideas on hiding the other files from the viewer when creating a DVD from home on this type of software.

Laurie

Reflection on Online Courses

During the last week, I was on a business trip to CFB Bagotville, near Chicoutimi, Quebec. During this trip, I worked long days and was limited in my evening movements. Unfortunately, the base does not offer any Internet access during the evenings, so my academic work was essential put to a stop. This had the effect of limiting my participation in group work and discussion forums, as well as a lingering feeling of “lost”.

I often complain to course developers who provide online training of their lack of flexibility and for not offering more consideration to the students’ situations. CF members – and many private and public sector employees – are called upon travelling, often for week-on-end. This often results in the student been penalized as a result of limited Internet connectivity. I would assume that the MET program has student who also travel. (In my experience there have been a few.)

For many students, the choice between in-house courses and online courses boils down to flexibility; flexibility of access, assessment, participation and content. My last week has reinforced that the students’ situations must be given careful consideration when developing online materials.

Laurie 🙁