Courseware Development at Assumption University

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Courseware Development at Assumption University
Prof.Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman President Computer
Association of Thailand Under the Royal
Patronage of HM the King
charm_at_ksc.au.edu
www.charm.au.edu
Invited paper presented to Open and Distance
Learning Systemat SEAMOLEC Office, Jakarta,
IndonesiaMarch 24, 2008
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Co-Author.

• Dr. Taminee Shinasharkey.
• Associate Program Director,
• Master of Science in ICT
• Assumption University
• of Thailand.

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Courseware Development at Assumption University.

• Introduction.
• Courseware Format.
• Courseware Development Process.
• Content Expert Roles.

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Courseware Development at Assumption University.

• 5. Course Coordinator Roles.
• Courseware Preparation.
• Courseware Reviewing Process.
• Courseware Financial Consideration.
• Concluding Remarks.

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1. Introduction.

• Prof.Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman drafted the first
  eLearning decree in Thailand which was published
  in the Royal Gazette in the years 2005,
  allowing all Thai universities to offer degree
  program in eLearning mode.

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Introduction (Cont.)

• The decree states that the eLearning web must
  include1) Homepage.2) Content Presentation.3)
  Learning Resources.4) External Resources5)
  eLaboratory.6) AV Center.

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Introduction (Cont.)
7) Assessment. 8) Web Board. 9) Chat
Room.10) eMail.11) Frequently Asked
Questions.12) Personal Profiles.
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Introduction (Cont.)

• All the 12 requirements can be implemented by
  use of an LMS (Learning Management System) or
  LCMS (Learning Content Management System).

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Introduction (Cont.)

• Assumption University has its own LMS developed
  from Moodle and called it SCITplus to indicate
  that it was developed at SCIT Srisakdi
  Charmonman IT Center(www.scit.au.edu).

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Introduction (Cont.)

• Srisakdi Charmonman, S., Anaraki, F., and
  Bunchua, S. SCITplus The LCMS developed at the
  College of Internet Distance Education of
  Assumption University. Proceeding of the Fourth
  International Conference on eLearning for
  Knowledge-Based Society, 2007. pp. 7.1-7.9.
  (www.elearningap.com/eLAP2007/proceeding2007.htm)

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Introduction (Cont.)

• The college has two types of instructors -
  Content Expert.- Facilitating Instructor.

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2. Courseware Format.

• According to the Rules and Regulations, a
  3-credit course includes 15 lessons with 3 hours
  each, totaling 45 hours.

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Courseware Format (Cont.)

• Each course can be divided into two major
  sections 2.1 Content of the course. 2.2
  Student activities.

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2.1 Content of the Course.

• 1 hour or 1/3 of a lesson.
• This section is for the student to use the
  on-line multimedia sound/video presentation
  created for each lesson in the courseware.
• The multimedia sound or video clip will be an
  hour long.

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Content of the Course (Cont.)

• Each clip will consist of a lecture from the
  subject expert.
• The student will be able to find and download
  additional reading materials provided in the
  Course Syllabus.

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Content of the Course (Cont.)

• All the content for the course will be developed
  by the content expert.
• The details of the tasks and responsibilities of
  content expert are discussed in a later section.
  
• The content section may be also referred to the
  Virtual Classroom of the LMS system.

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2.2 Student Activities.

• Student Activities through
• the courseware for 2 hours (2/3 of a lesson)
• Each student will be assigned activities by the
  facilitating instructor of the particular
  subject.
• Samples of activities that can be assigned
  through the courseware are listed below.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 1) Case Study.
• Students will study and analyze the assigned
  Case Study.
• This activity could be either an individual or a
  group activity.
• This activity will be assignedby the content
  expert.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 2) Exercises.
• Students must complete all the exercises given at
  the end of each lesson.
• 3) Assignments. 
• Students must complete both individual and group
  assignments.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 4) Chat.
• Students will be required to be online and
  interact with the instructor or their classmates
  as per the class schedule.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 5) eMail. 
• Students will use e-mail to remain in contact
  with their instructor.
• The instructor must respondto any
  question/concerned within 24 hours.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 6) Shared Folder. 
• Students will upload useful files so that the
  other students can access or download them for
  further study.
• 7) Group Meetings. 
• Students will also participate in the assigned
  group meetings.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 8) Message Board. 
• Content expert, Instructor, and/or Students can
  post questions related to the topic posted on
  the message board.
• Students will then research the topic and post
  their questions/answers.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 9) Quiz. 
• Students will complete the online quizzes.
• 10) Report.
• Students will submit their report through email
  attachment to the instructor or by uploading
  the report through the system.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 11) Poll Vote. 
• Students will also give comments and vote for
  the topicsthat they are interested.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 12) Exam. 
• Student will be able to submit their Take-home
  Exam to the instructor through email or through
  the system.

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Student Activities (Cont.)

• 13) Others
• The content expert could assign any of the
  appropriate activities through the courseware.
• To assign students with the online course
  activities, the study tools given in the system
  menu may be employed.

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Others (Cont.)

• The study tools menu consists of the activities
  discussed earlier.
• The tools are located on the menu bar.

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3. Courseware Development Process.

• There are 6 steps
• Step 1 Agreement for the Production of
  Courseware.Step 2 Request for CV and
  Submission of Course Syllabus.Step 3
  Submission of Lesson Plans (15 lessons).

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Courseware Process (Cont.)

• Step 4 Submission of
• PowerPoint (15 lessons).
• Summarization of each chapter.
• Questions, answers and assessment guidelines for
  exercises, quizzes, and/or reports according to
  the course assessment.

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Step 4 (Cont.)

• Glossary Index.
• Sets of the final examinations (7, 9, or 12).

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Courseware Process (Cont.)

• Step 5 Recording Process
• Make an appointment for VDO recording. (Lessons 1
  and15) (1 day)
• Make an appointment for VDO recording. (Lesson 2
  to 14) (2-4 days)

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Courseware Process (Cont.)

• Step 6 Planning and Reviewing Process
• Production planning with the production team.
  (Lessons 1-2) (During recording process)

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Step 6 (Cont.)

• 1st production review (Lessons1-2) with the
  production team and correction. (8 days after
  the meeting of production planning)

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Step 6 (Cont.)

• Submission of lessons 1-15. (Approximately 30
  days after the completionof recording process)
• Comments from the content expert and revision by
  the production team. (Revising until the
  courseware is ready to be delivered)

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4. Content Expert Roles.

• In developing and delivering the courseware,
  four major parties will be involved (a)
  Content Expert.(b) Course Coordinator.(c)
  Facilitating Instructor.(d) Students.

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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)

• Content expert is the one who develops the
  courseware and also the one who will deliver
  the lesson.

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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)

• Content expert will be assigned the following
  responsibilities
• 1) Create contents of the course. (15 lessons
  which is a 3-credit lesson)
• 2) Record the videos and audios for the online
  lessons.

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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
3) Create the Course Syllabus including
(1) Course Description.(2) Course Objective.
(3) Required Texts/Materials. (4) Additional
Readings.(5) Course Assessment. (6) Topics
Subtopics.
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
4) Create Lesson Plan 5) Create PowerPoint
Slidefor all the 15 lessons. (20 40 slides
for each lesson) Each slide should include the
main ideas(Approximately 8 lines for each
slide).
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
6) Sheets/Handouts (if any) or students to
download. 7) Assign online activities according
to the Course Assessment. Online Media such as
Chat, Email, Conference, Discussion Board,
and Poll Votes will also be used.
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
8) Assign content activities according to the
Course Assessment. The activities such as
Exercise, Assignment, Report, Quizzes will be
created and scheduled. 9) Create assessment
guidelines for all activities for the
facilitating instructor (one who will run the
course.)
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
10) Summarize the contents of each lesson. 11)
Develop 7-12 set of the final examination which
will be used one set for each semester. 12)
Create Glossary with the help of his/her course
coordinator.
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
13) Create Index with the support from his/her
course coordinator and the production team. 14)
The courseware creation may take approximately
2-3 months to complete all of the process.
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Content Expert Roles (Cont.)
15) Modification and improvement in the
courseware will be made in collaborating with
the content expert, course coordinator, and the
production team until the courseware is finally
ready for delivery.
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5. Course Coordinator Roles.

• A Course Coordinator will be selected by the
  Content Expert and will be responsible for the
  assigned course.

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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)

• The assignments for the Course Coordinator are as
  follows
• 1) Collect the following materials from the
  content expert and place all of them on a CD
  format for CIDE (1) Content Experts CV. (2)
  Course Syllabus and lesson plans (15
  lessons).(3) PowerPoint presentations (15
  lessons).

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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)
(4) Chapter summary (15 lessons).(5) Course
activities and assessment guidelines. The
activities may include - Exercises. -
Quizzes. - Reports. (6) Seven sets of final
exams and assessment guidelines.
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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)
2) Create Glossary for the assigned course. The
requirement for glossary would be approximately
150-300 words. (10-20 words for each lesson)
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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)
3) Create Index of the assigned course by
working cooperatively with the production team.
The requirement for the index would be roughly
150-300 words. (10-20 words for each lesson)
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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)
4) Review courseware production with content
expert and make comments to the production
team.
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Course Coordinator Roles (Cont.)

• Course Coordinator may spend approximately 2
  weeks to complete the whole process.

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Facilitating Instructor and Student Roles.

• Facilitating Instructor will be responsible for
  facilitating the efficient delivery of the
  courseware developed by the content expert.

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Facilitating Instructor (Cont.)

• While students will have opportunities to learn
  on their own paces through the Learning
  Management System (LMS), the facilitating
  instructor will provide students supportsby
  giving feedback on assignments, quiz or
  examination.

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Facilitating Instructor (Cont.)

• In addition, facilitating instructor will
  promptly response to any questions related to the
  course.
• Students will be able to send email to their
  facilitating instructor anytime at their
  convenience, or to chat with the facilitating
  instructor any time at the chat room by
  appointment.

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Facilitating Instructor (Cont.)

• The major assignments of the facilitating
  instructor may be described as follows 1) The
  ratio of facilitating instructor.2) Regular
  Basis.3) Grading System.

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1) The ratio of facilitating instructor.

• One Facilitating Instructorto take charge of
  1-40 students.

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2) Regular Basis.
(1) Post the announcements and arrange the
activities and as assigned by the Content
Expert. (2) Monitor and encourage students
participation in both visualized lesson
(approximately 1/3 of the three-hour lesson
period) and online activities. (approximately
2/3 of the three-hour lesson period)
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Regular Basis (Cont.)
(3) Record students attendance and their
grades. (4) Set date and time on group meetings
for students and also between students/groups and
facilitating instructor.
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Regular Basis (Cont.)
(5) Create or assign student groups as assigned
by the content expert or as appropriated to the
activities. (6) Provide immediate feedback to
students through email or chat within 24 hours.
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3) Grading System.
(1) Score and grade online activities assigned by
content expert. Online activities may include
chat, web board, and/or polls. (2) Score and
grade each content activities assigned by content
expert. Content activities may include exercise,
assignment, report, and/or quizzes.
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Grading System (Cont.)
(3) Follow the deadline for assignment submission
as assigned by the content expert or as
appropriated. (4) Schedule date and time for
final exam and supervising the student grade.
(5) Assign final grade for students according to
the course assessment created by the content
expert.
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Student Roles (Cont.)

• Students attending eLearning program will be able
  to learn anytime and anywhere at their
  convenience.
• Students will take online courses available
  through SCITplus, Learning Management System.

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Student Roles (Cont.)

• The system will enable students, as said
  earlier, able to learn on their on paces, which
  are appropriated to their knowledge and skills.
• However, students sometimes might feel isolated
  and need support from their peers, the
  facilitating instructors, and/or the call center.

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Student Roles (Cont.)

• Students will be assigned the following
  responsibilities
• 1) Students will learn content from virtual
  classroom (Visualized Lesson) provided through
  SCITplus system.

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Student Roles (Cont.)
2) Students will participate and must complete
online activities and the assignments assigned
by Content Expert. The activities will be
arranged, monitored, and gradedby the
facilitating instructor.
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Student Roles (Cont.)
3) Students must remain in contact facilitating
instructor during the 15 weeks of lesson period.
4) For additional information especially in
terms of the technical support, students may
contact M.Sc. Management Call Center available 7
days a week from 800-2400 hrs.
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Student Roles (Cont.)
5) Students will take final exam at the testing
center available in 15 locations throughout the
country under the supervision of a proctor.
Students may check the updated information
concerning the testing center available at the
website www.eLearningau.edu
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6. Courseware Preparation.

• Guidelines in Development
• of Courseware Materials.
• Based on the team experience throughout the
  courseware developmental process, we have come
  across with some tips and tricks on preparing
  the materials for eLearning courseware to be
  included in this section.

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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)

• We believe that the content expert will find
  these suggestions very helpful in speeding up the
  production of eLearning courseware.
• It will also help in minimizing the errors and
  expedite the editing process.

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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)

• Since PowerPoint presentation is the major
  component of every lesson, please observe the
  following guidelines to preventing inaccuracies
  during the production process.
• These tips also help increase operating
  efficiency by reducing the burden on the content
  experts during the editing stage.

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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
PowerPoint Presentation. 1) The PowerPoint for
each lesson should be approximately 20-40
slides. 2) Fonts (a) Use easy-to-read fonts,
such as - Times New Roman. - Arial. -
Tahoma. etc.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(b) Proper size font -- at least 18-point size
and different font sizes may be used for
headings as deemed appropriate.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(c) The texts in your PPT should include only
main ideas as outlined by bullets. Please
make sure that the texts is appropriate in
length, may be 7-10 lines per PPT slide.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(d) Please proof-reading for - Grammatical. -
Errors. - Capitalization. - Punctuation. -
Spelling.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
Graphics, Audio, and Video clips used in the
Presentation 1) The graphics, audio, and/or
video clips should be employed and attached
(with separate files) in order to enhance the
content concept and ideas..
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(1) For example, in a PowerPoint slide, you may
recommend a graphic or photo of a board room
meeting to emphasize on the concept of
organizational behavior. Please note your
suggestion in the PPT so that the production
team can create proper link to the
graphics/pictures.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(2) Please note that the production team will
use your PPT slides to synchronize with your
voice/explanations. The more accurate and
well-prepared your PowerPoints are, the less
burdensome the recording and editing process
will be.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
(3) The pause between each main ideas of the
PowerPoint slide (As outlined by bullets) may
be very helpful to the production team to
synchronize voice recordings with the PPTs.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
2) Simulated interactive modes during the
lectures are strongly encouraged. Content experts
may have an activities/a pop-quiz in the middle
of the presentation, in order to check for
students understanding of the section/topic.
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Courseware Preparation (Cont.)
3) Audio will be recorded in parallel with PPT.
The video clip of the content experts introducing
students to the course will also be recorded.
4) Please make full use of the lesson plans. You
may specify the suggested graphics, photos, or
video clips in the plans so that the production
team can refer to them as and when needed.
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7. Courseware Reviewing Process.

• Upon completion of the recording process, content
  expert together with courseware production
  coordinator should discuss the details of the
  preferred theme, colors and graphics of the
  production.

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Reviewing Process (Cont.)

• After a week or so, the production team should
  present 2 lessons, Lesson 1 which is a video
  format, and Lesson 2, in the audio/sound format
  to the content expert.

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Reviewing Process (Cont.)

• After the review and comments from the Content
  Expert, the production team will revise the
  lesson/s according to the guidelines given by the
  content expert.
• Upon the successful completion of the
  courseware, the following materials should be
  made available for the production team.

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Reviewing Process (Cont.)

• The package should include the following
• 1) Course syllabus. (Required format available)
• 2) Lesson plans.
• 3) PowerPoint Slides containing 30-40 slides for
  each lesson.

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Reviewing Process (Cont.)
4) Glossary. 5) Assignment. 6) Quizzes, tests,
report, and/or midterm exam. 7) Document links
or URL links. 8) Content experts
picture/photograph. 9) Content experts CV.
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Reviewing Process (Cont.)

• The reviewing process should include the
  following
• Steps 1 The production team will send a CD or
  provide the URL link to the content expert.

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Reviewing Process (Cont.)
Steps 2 The content expert will make
suggestions/comments for the production team.
Steps 3 The Content Expert and the production
team will get together to revise the lesion for
the courseware.
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Reviewing Process (Cont.)

• In addition to these steps, the following table
  of comments, as well as the courseware
  evaluation survey form should be used to frame
  content expert comments/suggestions, and to
  evaluate the steps/actions taken.

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Example Lesson 2 Comments. (from the content
expert)
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Courseware Evaluation Survey Form.
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8. Courseware Financial Consideration.
8.1 Expenses. 8.2 Income. 8.3 Gross Profit.
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8.1 Expenses.

• Roughtly, the expenses are - Subject
  Expert 180,000 baht per course.- Coordinator
  10,000 baht per course.- VDO Production 5,000
  baht per hour. 15 hours 75,000 baht per
  course.
• Total initial expenses
• 265,000 baht per course.

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8.2 Income.

• Each student 3,500 baht per
  credit.or 10,500 baht for a 3 credits course.

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8.3 Gross Profit.

• To recover the initial expenses we need 265,000
  /10,500 25.24 or 26 students.
• The courseware is used 3 years with 3
  trimesters/yr, totaling a trimesters.

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Gross Profit (Cont.)

• With an average of 26 students per trimester
  for 3 years, the income is 26 x 9 x 10,500
  2.457 millions baht.

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Gross Profit (Cont.)

• The recurring cost for facilitating instructor is
  1,000 baht per hour or 45,000 baht per
  trimester.
• For 9 trimesters, the facilitating instructor
  cost is 9 x 45,000 405,000 baht.
• The gross profit is 2.457 - 0.265 - 0.405
  1.787 millions baht.
• With 12 courses or 36 credits for the M.S. the
  gross profit is 12 x 1.787 21.444 millions
  baht.

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Gross Profit (Cont.)

• If the courseware is used 5 years or 15
  trimesters and the average number of student is
  400.
• The income is 400 x 15 x 10,500 63 millions
  baht per course.
• The expense is 265,000 baht plus (400/40) x 15 x
  45,000 6.75 millions baht.

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Gross Profit (Cont.)

• The gross profit per course is 63 6.75 0.265
  55.985 millions baht.
• With 12 courses or 36 credits for the M.S. the
  gross profit is 12 x 55.985 671.82 millions
  baht.

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9. Concluding Remarks.

• The College of Internet Distance Education (CIDE)
  has developed its own LMS and produced
  courseware.
• With the average number of students being 26 the
  gross profit for 3 years is about 2 millions
  baht.

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Concluding Remark (Cont.)

• When he proposed the eLearning programs to the
  Board of Trustees of Assumption University,
  Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman said he dreamed
  that in about 10 years CIDE would have 100,000
  students.

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Concluding Remark (Cont.)

• If each student pays 100,000 baht per year CIDE
  would get 10 billions baht and if the profit is
  50 , it would be 5 billions baht per year.

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Thank You