Developing course materials

The time and effort taken during the development and preparation of materials to support an audiographic teleconference are central to its success. To help expand a learner's routine approaches to learning, it is important to provide resources that integrate a variety of learning strategies. The techniques and strategies used should reflect the age of the learner, the material content and the context of learning. It is anticipated that the learner will be able to apply personally useful strategies to different learning experiences throughout his or her lifetime. Some of the techniques for consideration include:

• Providing suggestions for setting up one's study environment
• Increasing awareness of the relationship of what is being learned to 'real world' experience through journal keeping or a learner log.
• Providing a general framework for the course content-mind mapping, outlines, discussing the important features what is to be learned accompanied by a representation of the end product
• Structuring activities, assignments or questions that require students to apply the new knowledge in personally meaningful ways.
• Making suggestions as to how one might get started on an assign mentor learning activity. (Connop-Scollard,1995)

Distance education literature suggests that students working together to achieve cooperative learning goals perform better than those who are working in competitive or individual settings. Cooperative learning opportunities, both on and off-line, can be established through the integration of the student's learning goals into the course materials.

The collaborative approach to learning enhances both individual accountability and positive student interdependence. The role of the instructor in this model is to facilitate learning through observation, interviews, and feedback to allow the group to process their effectiveness.

Based upon the training to be delivered, in study materials design, then, it is important to address these questions:

1. What are the learning objectives? What are the teaching objectives?
2. What kind(s) of collaborative exercises will help the students integrate what needs to be learned into practical application?
3. How long will these activities take? Do they involve real life situations, e.g. tutoring practice?