Author: Stuart Hirst, s.hirst@leedsmet.ac.uk

JISC e-Learning Activity Area: Technology-enhanced Learning Environments

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism

This case study illustrates...an effect on learning, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, staff personal development

Technology Used

What technologies and/or e-tools were available to you?

Within WebCT I could deploy:

Assignments, Calendar, CD-ROM, Chat, Compile, Content Module, Discussions, Glossary, Image Database, Index, Language Selector, Mail, My Grades, My Progress, Organizer Page, Quizzes/Surveys, Resume Course, Search, Self Test, Single Page, Student Homepages, Student Presentations, Student Tips, Syllabus, URL, Whiteboard.

However, none of this seemed satisfactorily integrated. I decided to use Dreamweaver as an html authoring tool to completely change the WebCT interface and use a metaphor for delivery of the learning journey. That of a sailing ship (the Titanic to be specific). (The only reason that Titanic was used was the availability of copyright free materials from "Encyclopaedia Titanica" website). The intention was to give the students an impression of time and space. The WebCT tools would be mapped onto a graphical representation of the First Class Deck of the ship and over the period of 12 weeks of module delivery, the homepage would be changed and other features introduced to represent the passage of time on the voyage. Other packages for multimedia development were also used (Photoshop, etc.).

The initial homepage in week 1 looked like this: