International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004
of too much leeway where the user can easily become lost or
taken away from the subject areas.
Both Ferreira er al. (2002) and Höhle (2000) have looked
extensively into distance learning and how these courses are
received and studied by their participants. Much of what applies
to pure distance learning can be taken and applied to onsite
combined learning courses. What is important when doing this
and when developing any type of eLearning course. as
Mühlhauser (2002) writes, is that the courses aren't just "shiny
welcome screen facades" of uncompleted projects offering
incomplete content or un-updated content, but that the material
is used, updated and, most importantly of all, educates.
The technique of combined or blended learning is being used to
develop IPI's courses. Singh and Reed (2001) propose a good
definition for blended learning: “Blended learning focuses on
optimizing achievement of learning objectives by applying the
“right” learning technologies to match the "right" personal
learning style to transfer the "right" skills to the "right" person
at the "right" time." This definition focuses importantly on the
learning objective and not the method of delivery. Singh and
Reed also acknowledge the fact that many different personal
learning styles need to be supported to reach a broad audience.
Although content is the main element of any course, good
testing and practicals are also key components which should be
present to supplement course content. Users can monitor their
progress and lecturers are able to see how course material is
being learnt and whether the pace of the course is correct for
particular learners. Kónig and Weser (2004) propose a new
database system for supplying test questions to students based
on their ability. Their ability is graded on a three-tiered level -
low, moderate and high - from answers given in an initial test.
The questions they are supplied with are then individually
tailored to suit their ability. As this knowledge increases so
does the difficulty of the questions.
3. BUILDING COURSES
The IPI courses being currently developed are in the area of
image analysis, image orientation and close range
photogrammetry and are being built into already existing
lectures. This is important for many institutions that are either
unable to make wholesale changes to existing courses or who
wish to keep existing course structures fixed. The new learning
techniques are being developed to fit into the current
curriculum. This technique of combined learning methods or
materials is most commonly known, as referred to above, as
blended learning. To make the blended learning technique more
powerful it is important to start looking at the media as options;
classroom lecture hall training, web based training, “webinars”
(web equivalent of seminars), CD/DVD materials, videos and
simulations. What we are also trying to do however is not to
forget the traditional and equally important materials such as
books, documents and PowerPoint slides. “The best courses
offer a combination of more complex media with one or more
simpler media" (Bersin and Associates, 2003).
IPI 1s developing a number of different media levels; the
lecture, interactive lecture notes, archived multimedia lectures
(figure 1), course books, links to course material from other
sources, script based material, online tests and interactive
practicals. With all of these materials it would be possible to lay
down the grounds for a distance learning course, however we
are seeking to maintain the close link between the student and
lecturer.
+ | TE NENENM "b
|, ve
Pei a t Atti n i
Figure 1. Development of a good quality lecture archive with
the possibility for subsequent web streaming.
By not pursuing distance learning but investing in interactive
on-campus courses the quality of teaching coupled with the
progress of the students can be closely monitored and feedback
quickly received and implemented. This method also reduces
some of the data and licensing problems encountered
particularly in photogrammetric and remote sensing areas,
where large and expensive data sets and software packages are
required for practicals and examples.
A user friendly course design on multiple levels is being
developed, whereby the material the learner is introduced to
first is a graphical slide version of the course. This graphical
slide version provides the learner with all of the key
information without large volumes or paragraphs of text. The
idea behind this is that many learners when faced with a page
full of text will print the material out and the learning loses its
interactivity. With more graphical based pages the learner still
has the opportunity to print the material out but it is more user-
friendly to read on the screen than large amounts of text. A
number of icons have then been designed to lead the learner to
more in depth information in a more text based description of
the complex topics. The design of the course with the icons,
text size, colours is being maintained throughout the courses so
to give the learner a familiar setup in which to work.
4. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Once the forms of media were decided finding a suitable
learning platform upon which to base the media was required.
Together with a self built platform a number of different other
options were considered and investigated including; IBM Lotus
Notes ®, CLIX ® Campus, ILIAS, Blackboard ™, WebCT and
Hyperwave ®. Although building a learning platform would
ultimately lead to increased flexibility it was not a feasible
option within the constraints of the project and so the
Hyperwave ® Learning Platform (figure 2) was chosen on the
basis of two reasons. Firstly, the platform was supported and
well established in one of the projects IPI is involved in.
Secondly, the Hyperwave ® Learning Platform offers what was
felt to be the most user friendly structure, in both navigation
and file structure, for students and lectures. The Hyperwave ®
Learning Platform offers the ability to handle multiple forms of
