Exploiting Smalltalk Modules In A Customizable Programming Environment
Content Inside: An important influence in the design of OU
LearningWorks was the nature of the closely coupled
materials we deliver to students and hence the nature of
the team responsible for producing these. The distance
learning materials we have produced for students cover
some 440 hours of study, constituting a sixth of a degree.
The cross-media materials include some fifty illustrated
text documents (around thirty pages each), associated
software, web pages, nationally broadcast television
programmes produced in collaboration with the BBC, the
Smalltalk programming environment, communications
software, and computer conferences. The integration of
these materials involves the production and testing
several thousand individual multi-media deliverable
components and requires experts in all media fields.
Decisions about the use of one medium frequently affect
the use of another. For example, analysis of feedback from
testers of early versions of OU LearningWorks and draft
study texts were used to refine the design of the way in
which the various media would be integrated 2 . As a
result of this analysis, world-wide web technology was
put at the heart of a personal study manager for students.
This in turn influenced the design of the programming
environment, requiring the inclusion of an HTML
browser in all LearningBook modules. Ultimately, this
led to us moving much of our teaching of object-oriented
programming from printed text to HTML in
LearningBooks.
Source: mcs.open.ac.uk
Share it with your favorite bookmark service:
