IMS Global: Right
now, the focus in America's schools is on the idea of "No Child Left
Behind," providing an equal learning opportunity for all students. What
are the primary drivers in P-12 education right now in Australia and
New Zealand?
ST: The priorities
for Australian schools education are established by MCEETYA and the
Coalition of Australian Government. Major drivers
include:
- A
move towards more consistency across Australia in the curriculum
offered by States and Territories
- Focus
on numeracy and literacy education
- Enhancing
early childhood education
- Overcoming
a skills shortage in the Australian workforce
- Raising
the opportunities for indigenous students to access quality education
and employment opportunities
IMS Global: Let's
discuss for a minute the actual online content that is being produced
as part of this initiative. What form does it take and what are the
learning objectives? Is it largely self-paced or does it involve
interaction between students and teachers?
ST: In its
procurement program TLF has principally focused on two types of
content, learning objects, and digital resources . Both formats are
packaged as IMS content packages (see http://www.imsglobal.org/content/packaging/index.html)
but we are also able to publish and distribute content as SCORM 2004
packages.
A TLF
learning object is highly interactive content that draws on
constructivist pedagogy and its primary user is the student. TLF
learning objects are world recognized for their learning design which
is based on the principles outlined in the TLF Education Soundness
Specification
and refined through the user centred design methodology refined to
cater for TLF collaborative processes. The majority of TLF learning
objects are authored in Adobe Flash Player with a minority utilizing
Shockwave and Java Applets. A TLF learning object is self-contained and
able to be sequenced and will assist students to achieve a specific
educational outcome.
Digital
resources are a still image, moving image or sound file licensed from a
third party such as a museum or art gallery packaged with text that
provides information to enable a teacher to use the resource within
their teaching and learning context. All third-party material is
licensed for non-commercial educational use and copyright and moral
rights information is represented with the file. The primary audience
for digital resources is teachers. TLF, in collaboration with the
partner institution, researches and writes the associated educational
value statements.
Recently,
TLF has been creating collections consisting of both learning objects
and digital resources to assist teachers in discovering and using the
content. These collections are based on themes that are commonly used
by teachers and are discoverable in their own right.
