"A Story of Online, Multimedia Learning Design "

The proliferation of tools like Articulate and the resulting production and sharing of interactive, multimedia learning objects is changing teaching. It is providing opportunities to create inverted classrooms, online classrooms and blended classrooms. All of these models focus on interaction over content and learning over teaching. This paper tells the story of how one online Masters programme has been learning how to design for this type of environment. The Masters programme in Software Engineering & Database Systems is offered online and jointly by NUI Galway and Regis University since 2004. It offers students paced access to learning objects, virtual labs, an e-library of research journals and hundreds of reference books which are available 24x7. Online discussion is the glue that binds these elements together into a cohesive learning programme - accessible from anywhere in the world. Over the past year, the team has been working on enhancing the core learning objects and integrating them more cohesively with the other programme components. 'Learning Design' in this context then, is more than just the creation of individual learning objects; it is the design of an integrated set of activities that lead students to meet their learning objectives and develop core competencies.