Some staff want to do as much as possible themselves, and in these cases we assist by providing guidelines and written procedures that will help them go about the task efficiently and avoid many of the pitfalls. At the other extreme, some staff want the minimum involvement themselves and prefer to hand over the work in full. The complexity involved in producing internet-based courseware ranges widely. At the most basic level it can involve simple file conversion and perhaps some re-drawing of graphics. At the other extreme, pages can be generated dynamically from a database of component parts, according to the response of the learner and the learning style exhibited.
Components can include animated sequences, video and audio clips.
Advice on On-line Teaching and Learning CRAL staff include graphic designers and programmers who are specialists in the field of remote teaching and learning via the internet. They can save you time by showing examples of what is possible within a given budget and explaining how the success of some approaches will depend on the age and familiarity with IT of the the learners. They can advise on the appropriate use of interaction, animation and the use of multimedia. They can give examples of best practice in student support and proven methods of assessment. New techniques such as dynamic page generation, automatic marking of assignments and linking to bespoke student hardware can be developed.