Blog Post #1 - Courseware & Me

Introduction To Courseware

How do you define courseware? Give a brief example or two of experiences you have had with courseware.

To me, a courseware is an instructional package that allows an individual to teach himself/herself or to teach another learner to achieve the learning objectives that the courseware was designed for. It is usually completed with an instructor/user guide, the media through which the course is delivered, some games/exercises, and teaching aids (if any). Courseware can be computer-based or non-computer-based.

I read that you can teach your children to read (or recognize) words from the time they are six months. I've used a few courewares by Glen Doman to teach Sonya and Ethan to read and count when they were very young. Glen Doman's English, Chinese and Maths coursewares come complete with a parent guide, a few sets of flashcards, and a certificate (for your child after he/she accomplishes the learning objectives). Following the instructions in the parent guide, I flashed words after words, day after day to Sonya and Ethan. Amazingly, they were able to read and understand the words. E.g. during a test, when I flashed the card that says "eye", they were able to point to their eyes (of course they can't read the word aloud at that time ... 10 months old I guess).

Another experience I had with a non-computer-based courseware is the Growing Kids God's Way courseware. I had acquired this courseware to learn parenting in a biblical way. This courseware comes with a user guide, a set of 10 videotapes (about 30 minutes each), an exercise book for you to follow as you watch the videotapes, and some aids like fridge magnets (to stick some words onto the fridge to serve as a constant reminder). This courseware is useful as I can go through the 10 lessons with my wife at our own pace, doing the exercise, practicing what was taught, and even review the tapes again.

A computer-based courseware I used was the Singapore Command and Staff College Officers' Handbook. It is a CDROM that encompasses all modules (and lessons) of the entire Command and Staff Course. Officers can learn the modules at their own pace by using the CDROM. Each lesson has some objectives, a few pages of instructions, some practices during the instructions, and an assessment at the end of the lesson.

An online courseware that I've used in 2000 was a package that taught E-Commerce. I registered it online, read the objectives, went through the lessons screen by screen, tooks some tests ... and was certified E-Commerce qualified. Paid a small fee, but was interesting to go through that online course (was using 56K modem back then).

How do you anticipate courseware affecting your career? What will you be doing with it?

In next phase of my career (and perhaps even after my retirement), I will be very intimately involved in training policies, and courseware application and development. Training plays a big role in my organization. There are many coursewares available for the employees development - most of these are computer-based. With the advent of computer and internet technology, I see a wider proliferation of computer courseware in my organization. Upon graduation from this course, I will be posted to my organization's training department/institute, where I will be actively looking at the training need of the organization and developing coursewares (or purchase them of-the-shelf, if available).

How about learning objects? How might they relate (or not) to your career?

Learning object is a new way of learning content ... probably with the advent of computer programming technology. The idea of learning objects is to modularize learning content into 'small chunks' of objects (not more than 15 minutes each). Each 'chunk' is self-contained and can be taken independently, reusable in multiple context for multiple purposes, can be aggregated to form a larger course content, and can be tagged with metadata (for computerized learning objects) for easy search.

In my organization with many training courses and different audiences, learning objects are very useful. The challenge lies with the courseware designer to see how the course content can be modularized, and how each module may be reused in multiple context for multiple purposes. It will also save the organization time and money to produce a wide array of courses.

What do you hope to learn from this course?

I hope to learn how to develop learning programs/activities using interactive multimedia courseware tools, especially delivery over the Internet. This is my passion and my hobby. I'm acquainted to Macromedia Director and Flash. I hope to learn more about html, audio and video tools and application.