A secure platform allowing for active exchange among learners was critical and LearningSpace, a Lotus Notes product, appeared to fit these criteria. It is also designed to be simple for faculty to use in administering and monitoring course activities and creating content. Developing courses for asynchronous delivery requires a new approach to instructional design. Those who think they can just post their lectures to the web are in for quite a startling experience. ALN requires a focus on the collaborative learning experience.
Students work together to solve problems and explore concepts.
Instructors must be able to create an environment that allows students to create learning communities. We opted to identify our first offering of courses as a pilot program. This gave us an opportunity to critically analyze what we were delivering and how it was meeting the needs of the learners. We have developed a series of evaluation techniques. A team of faculty then evaluates it for appropriate content and for ease of learning.