Allan Parsons, Director of Programs, Centre for Management & Leadership, UNE Partnerships, University of New England, NSW and Wayne Houlden, Director, Janison Solutions.
UNE Partnerships, the competency based training and professional development arm of the University of New England in NSW has been using the Australian e-Learning platform, Web Training Toolbox by Janison Solutions to conduct training globally. Our poster will demonstrate innovative web based educational content and development tools including embedded web page editing functionality, presence awareness (who's online with me now!) and group communication tools that allow us to dynamically develop, modify, deliver and evaluate educational training from internet connected browsers regardless of location. We will provide opportunities for attendees to participate in the creation and alteration of online courses and to experiment with how some of the 'presence awareness' and group collaboration tools work. We will also demonstrate the unique web mirroring features of the Web Training Toolbox that allow us to develop and deliver courses to individuals connected to local servers in the different countries. These individuals forming part of a development or study group that spans across hardware (web servers), national and international boundaries.
Distributed learning and skills gap focused training in alignment with business goals at an enterprise level, is a powerful strategic weapon that is being leveraged for competitive advantage in corporate environments where knowledge impacts heavily on one’s ability to conduct, sustain and grow business. Many enterprises now find themselves under constant pressure to provide relevant, up-to-date yet efficient competency based education and training in environments unrestricted by semesters, time and/or place. In Australia, large companies (100 employees +) have budgeted $3.2 billion dollars for formal training during 2001 with about a third of that sum going to outside providers for training products and services including $383 million for the development of custom materials and $212 million for off the shelf. 49% of these trainings will be designed by outside sources and 53% will be delivered by the same. While these numbers sound attractive commercially, they often come with a catch. To be part of this market, providers are increasingly required to deliver quality content, services and facilitation online and in shorter time-to-market production cycles. To do this, education and training providers must be capable of revising and re-purposing content rapidly and cost-effectively, simplifying the content creation process and distribution methods and building content dynamically.
UNE Partnerships, the competency based corporate training and professional development arm of the University of New England in NSW has reacted to this requirement by smart partnering with Janison Solutions, an innovative Australian e-Learning platform provider.This has allowed us to use the new and unique web mirroring and in-browser DHTML page editing features of the Web Training Toolbox to collaboratively develop and distribute enterprise wide corporate e-Learning across technical and geographical boundaries quickly and efficiently.
This paper will briefly describe how these tools have been used to service individuals connected to local servers in various locales.These individuals forming part of a development or study group that spans hardware (web servers) and national and international boundaries.
As a VET provider, UNE Partnerships web courseware is designed within a modular framework made up of functional, small, and independent library objects which are combined to align with performance criteria and competencies from national Training Packages. Courseware developers are assigned specific portions to work on, each knowing exactly what to cover since scope and content are clearly defined.This modular approach in conjunction with instructional style sheets, page templates and Web Training Toolbox embedded objects eliminate duplication of effort and allows content developers to work collaboratively regardless of location. By developing in a modular format, appropriate permission’s can be set at the page, module and course level allowing easy web page development and maintenance on the fly with few ripples in the flow of training and learning.In addition, extra library resources can be developed (ie industry specific case studies, links etc) and added dynamically to pages as needed depending on the learning context.
Many corporate clients with large networks require the delivery of e-Learning at multiple sites across large geographical areas. Where bandwidth issues occur in these networks, major problems can exist for learners who must access web sites across the network pipes. One solution is to provide e-Learning servers at each major delivery location, however this causes the need for the data and content to be replicated at each site. The Mirroring functionality of the Janison Web Training Toolbox is an effective solution in this situation for it allows a Master Server to distribute e-Learning by having it interact with a series of mirror servers strategically located to deal with user resource loading and bandwidth issues. These servers exactly mirror the master server’s data and content centralised course management and distribution to servers where users are located. Mirroring can be used across a range of intranet and Internet locations.
When content is changed on the Master or when the database is modified (new courses added, new students or new study groups etc) the Mirror servers automatically download the changes.In this way all content and information is managed and maintained from the Toolbox Master server. Managers can maintain one central database of all student and course details for their entire enterprise network.
When a user accesses a Mirror server they view information stored on the actual Mirror server which is an exact image of the content on the Master, all of the essential database information is also mirrored on the mirror server. When a user answers a test, contributes to a forum or enters data on a web page, the Mirror server stores this information in its local database but this information is also updated back on the Master server via an asynchronous process. For more information on the Mirror technology, follow this link to our Powerpoint presentation (111K). To see Mirror in action, come and visit our poster.
UNE Partnerships has largely moved from a being a distance to a mixed mode provider based on client requests and expectations. As a result, our Production department, academic and multimedia developers now find themselves even busier producing a wide variety of paper and web based support materials to cover the different required modes. At the same time, faster development cycles due to time-to-market considerations are expected within this market. With programs covering large geographical areas, our content and development expertise is geographically dispersed. To date this had meant that production times have been constrained by the time required to send, receive, editing, upload and have the team comment on course resources. This has now changed with the introduction of a fully functional DHTML web page editor again designed and built by Janison Solutions to work with the Web Training Toolbox product we already had implemented. The editor allows trainers and developers to modify resource pages from within the web browser (Internet Explorer 4.01 and above). What is impressive about this tool is that for the first time a dispersed product development team such as ours, can access and modify their work live without the need, for third party web page design tools (for most asks) and without typical location constraints such as having to be on-campus or on the local network. All that is needed is an internet connected browser.
This means that development can now take place from any available environment, be it at home, the office or an airline lounge regardless of geographical location. Developers can type in text, drag and drop objects such as pictures and tables and insert interactive Toolbox components such as in-page discussion forums, directed email, file upload facilities and pre-assembled tests when creating or modifying their pages. No HTML skills are required.
The introduction of this tool has greatly reduced our courseware production cycle as developers and trainers find it easy to use and convenient. This in turn has enabled UNE Partnerships to better meet its clients needs within timeframes that were previously difficult to meet. The following graphic, shows a simple created page using the DHTML in-browser editor. It contains title, text and two in-page dynamic components - a discussion forum and a directed email. For the purposes of this paper it serves as an example but is not representative of an instructionally designed courseware page.
You can view the UNE Partnerships booklet: The DHTML Editor, by following this link (432K). It is an introduction to the tool and demonstrates how a page can be built within the browser environment. Alternatively, you can visit the Janison Solutions website at http://www.jansol.com.au to gain information about the toolset that UNE Partnerships is using. For a hands-on demonstration visit our poster.
One of the difficulties associated with any form of distance model, even within a mixed mode program, is the isolation and lack of 'community' that learners often feel. To counteract this, many facilitators and courseware developers design community spaces where learners can meet, collaborate, chat, discuss or socialise. However it is often the case that learners visit community areas only to find that they are alone and unsure of how to contact or interact with others informally. UNE Partnerships are now using the Presence Awareness tool within Web Training Toolbox in conjunction with encouragement from facilitators, to seek and communicate the presence of fellow group members online to each other. Visually each online participant in the group is represented by an icon which when 'moused over', provides their identity (as in the following images).
 |
 |
Although many formal 'meetings' are pre-determined within a course structure, there are numerous occasions where students are online, working with materials while at the same time oblivious to the presence of others. This integrated tool has now provided our learners with the ability (where desired), to seek and gain access to impromptu and informal social contact with peers - opening the opportunity to build 'community' and aid participant motivation. To communicate with an online member one clicks on their icon and chooses from a range of options as below.
 |
 |
 |
|
Once a request (either 'send' or 'call') is made to a particular member/s, their icon flashes alerting them that contact is trying to be made. Once they click on the flashing icon the message or invitation pops up providing them the opportunity to virtually 'meet'. Besides its use as a tool that aids informal community building, there are many teaching and learning occasions in which presence awareness can be utilised. For a live demonstration of this tool, visit our poster.
2001 Survey of Training in Australia, Appcon & Sun Microsystems, Sydney, Australia
Allan Parsons and Wayne Houlden, © 2001. The authors assign to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web.
