A web-based tool supporting ODL courses with OER
Abstract
The use of proper multimedia educational materials in education facilitates and advances the learner's personal way to the knowledge, a process which is fundamental in ODL. Today there is an evolution in the production of Open Educational Resources (OER), as well as, New Media appropriate for use in education. In this paper the properties the educational portfolio (coursepack) should fulfil in order to be suitable for ODL are initially presented; afterwards, the Lionarakis' typology (Lionarakis, 2001) is presented and adopted. The use of OER in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and a methodology for building an ODL course's reading portfolio based on OER is proposed. A detailed syllabus and a study guide complete the resources and integrate everything organically in a system. Finally, a web-based tool called Course Builder is presented, which facilitates coursepack authors to build an ODL course according to the Lionarakis' model, based on OER as well as, traditional educational materials in digital format. Applications of Course Builder include: the structured delivery of ODL courses exploiting OER; the guided transformation of plain educational material into an ODL educational portfolio; the easy adaptation of available learning materials to various needs, programmes and learning styles.
Article Details
- Section
- Articles