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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004 
  
use of a glossary the main text can be maintained at a level to 
suit participants familiar with fundamental concepts while 
allowing the less experienced participants to explore such 
concepts through pop-up glossary content. 
Graphic illustrations work best when three-dimensional in 
nature and where the user can manipulate the illustrations 
through appropriate navigational controls to explore the concept 
thoroughly. 
3. INTERACTION 
Students and course tutors interact within WebCT through: 
= Discussion board postings 
= E-Mail 
= Chat Room 
=» Calendar 
In each pilot course the discussion board and e-mail were used 
extensively, particularly for course announcements and the 
dissemination of additional reference material by way of 
attachments to messages. Such tools function well and are easy 
to use. 
Pilot course participants followed the course over a six-week 
period covering one theme per week. They checked discussion 
postings and mailings on a daily basis. Course tutors gave an 
undertaking to respond to messages within twenty-four hours. 
This proved difficult to sustain particularly in the case of pilots 
coinciding with a busy domestic workload. 
Students of eLearning courses, particularly distance courses, 
require and expect effective feedback to problems and queries. 
Designers of eLearning courses, therefore, must factor sufficient 
time per theme for monitoring and responding to student queries 
- in the authors' experience this amounted to two to three hours 
per theme. 
The effective use of the chat room for interaction between 
students and tutors is more demanding than the discussion board 
and e-mail tools. In the case of the three pilot groups, very few 
participants had used a chat room previously. In the initial two 
pilots the chat rooms were offered as an open discussion forum 
without structure. This proved to be unsuccessful. Participants 
who logged into the chat rooms did not have access to chat 
content up to that point in time and thus were faced with an 
empty room. This, coupled with a natural reluctance to use the 
tool, usually resulted in their logging out of the room. 
In the third pilot, however, participants received a discussion 
board posting two days prior to the chat session, in which the 
topic to be discussed was introduced. This system proved to be 
very successful and, provided a set of rules were established to 
regulate the flow of the many contributions from participants 
and tutors, effective discussions were enabled. 
The chat room tool was also used to conduct an on-line tutorial 
in two-dimensional co-ordinate transformations. It was used in 
conjunction with a previously available set of lecture notes in 
the form of PowerPoint lecture slides (pdf format) and an 
interactive whiteboard tool on which both tutor and learner 
could create and annotate illustrations. 
To properly conduct such a tutorial, however, it was necessary 
to prepare thoroughly in advance to ensure that all participants 
had access to the necessary material and to clearly design a 
logical sequence through it. It is, though, the experience of the 
authors that effective tutorials can be delivered in this way and 
that significant value is added to a distance learning course by 
so doing. 
4. EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT 
A series of self-tests was incorporated in each theme of the pilot 
courses in the form of multiple choice questions (MCQs). 
Participants reported mixed reactions to this feature. Some 
found them useful while most, however, felt that they were 
unnecessary and did not use them concentrating instead on the 
preparation and submission of assignments. From a course 
designer point of view MCQs are limited by the difficulty in 
composing sufficient non-trivial incorrect answers to adequately 
test the student. 
  
  
  
  
  
Question Possible Possible Possible 
answer answer answer 
Geodetic co-ordinates and astronomical co-ordinates are 
examples of geographical co-ordinate reference systems. 
Which of the systems requires the choice and location of a 
reference figure? 
  
  
astronomical | geodetic co- 
co-ordinate ordinate 
reference reference 
system system 
  
  
  
In the case of a geocentric Cartesian co-ordinate reference 
system based on planet Earth, the origin will be located at 
  
the implied 
centre of 
mass of 
a convenient 
local 
reference 
point 
the centre of 
the best-fit 
reference 
figure 
planet Earth 
  
In the case of a geocentric Cartesian co-ordinate reference 
system based on planet Earth, the Z-axis will be aligned 
  
  
vertically with the parallel with 
direction of | an agreed 
North axis of Earth 
rotation 
  
  
  
  
161 
Table 1. A selection of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) 
together with possible answers from Theme 1 of the DIT 
eLearning pilot course 'Co-ordinate reference systems for 
spatial information'. 
At the end of each theme participants were required to 
download, complete and submit a written assignment. Two of 
the assignments were designed as group assignments for the 
purpose of bringing participants together online using the 
various interactive and communication tools available. In 
addition to these tools, participants also used their own e-mail 
and telephone communication facilities. 
Feedback from course participants indicated that, where 
assignments lead to an awarded grade, they would prefer to 
work individually. In this way they have more control of their 
grades and are not as susceptible to problems of breakdowns in 
communications or an imbalance in the contributions of 
individual group members. 
Participant feedback also indicated a degree of surprise at the 
standard expected of them in assignment submissions. They 
initially expected assignments to be solely based on content