Whitepaper

Authoring E-learning Content for WebCT Vista with Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
by Andrew Strombeck May 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Challenges of Online Learning Content 2 Bringing Web Design to the LMS 2 Authoring WebCT E-learning Content with Dreamweaver Conclusion
Learning management systems (LMSs) have become important tools for managing learning content in academic settings. While these systems excel in distributing and structuring learning content, however, they offer few options for page creation, incorporating only limited HTML editors. Faculty have solved this problem by turning to the Macromedia suite of web design tools, which supplement the LMS with full-featured design environments for creating compelling learning content. The LMS extension for Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 enables WebCT Vista users to develop sophisticated content using Dreamweavers rich feature set and then deploy this content directly to WebCT Vista. This document provides an overview of the benefits of using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 to author content for WebCT Vista, along with an overview of the steps in the content-authoring process. A more detailed version of this process is available in the how-to guide Importing Dreamweaver Learning Content into WebCT Vista.
Challenges of Online Learning Content
The advantages of online learning are well documented. For learning content to be effective for both faculty and students, it needs to meet multiple challenges: It needs to be easy to manage and access, so that neither faculty nor students waste time trying to find what they need. It needs to be affordable to produce, since budgets are always limited. It needs to be reusable. Once faculty create rich, compelling content, they want to repackage this content for multiple courses. It needs to be interoperable across different online systems, since faculty may, for example, need to post the same content to both a department web server and a learning management system. Learning management systems like WebCT Vista meet many of these challenges, providing structured systems to manage and deliver learning content. These systems excel at enabling faculty to develop and implement online courses with full-function, if simply designed, learning content. However, these systems include only limited HTML editors, which present several obstacles for faculty: Content design is restricted. Built-in HTML editors are difficult to use. Content cannot be repackaged for other use. Content cannot be reused from other contexts, such as Word documents. Content may not easily address accessibility issues.
Bringing Web Design to the LMS
Web technologies offer a nearly limitless potential for creativityand faculty have a deserved reputation for expanding their students imaginations with innovative content. By supplementing your LMS with the rich design features of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, you can create educational content that takes full advantage of all that the web can be. Design Potential Building content in Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 enables you to create reusable, highly interactive, and beautifully designed content. Using Dreamweaver in conjunction with WebCT Vista offers you the structure of an LMS with the flexibility of a rich web design environment. This combination expands the capabilities of WebCT Vista by enhancing both the quality and reusability of course content. Reusable Content Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 makes it easy to both package existing content for online use and reuse in different contexts the content that you develop. For example, using Dreamweaver, you can quickly convert content developed in Microsoft Word to HTML. These HTML pages are extremely flexible; you can import them into WebCT Vista or reuse them elsewhere. Having a full-featured web design tool at hand promotes the creation of content that can be reused in a variety of contexts and allows you to take full advantage of the flexibility of web technologies. Once you create, for example, a table listing chemical properties or historical dates, you can easily reuse this table in multiple web pages. Accessibility Assurance You can quickly check to see if content meets accessibility standards using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 before you import your material into an LMS such as WebCT Vista. A single command lets you identify and correct accessibility problems so you can meet the needs of students and faculty with disabilities.

Authoring WebCT E-learning Content with Dreamweaver 8
Macromedia has developed the IMS extension for Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 to bridge Dreamweavers design environment and WebCT Vistas learning management system. Once you create e-learning content in Dreamweaver, the IMS Course Packager Extension packages this content into WebCT Vista learning modules. By formatting Dreamweaver e-learning content for WebCT Vista, this extension allows these two technologies to work together smoothly. This section provides an overview of this authoring process. For specific steps, refer to Importing Dreamweaver Learning Content into WebCT Vista. To use Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 to develop content for WebCT Vista, you follow the steps shown here.
Authoring E-learning Content for WebCT
To use WebCT Vista with Dreamweaver, you first install the IMS course packager extension for Macromedia Dreamweaver 8. Once the extension has been installed, you can create new e-learning content or take previously created e-learning content and, from within Dreamweaver, package that content as a WebCT Vista learning module. After you import the content into WebCT Vista, you add the learning module to your course home page. Students can then access the material through WebCT Vista.

Conclusion

Learning management systems like WebCT Vista help faculty meet many of the challenges of online learning, but limit both the design and reusability of learning content. Using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 in conjunction with WebCT Vista enables faculty to create compelling, beautiful, interactive pages that can be repackaged for future use. With the IMS course packager extension for Dreamweaver, faculty can create whole course units in Dreamweaver and import them directly into WebCT Vista. The combination of these two technologies provides faculty with the resources to create professional-looking content that will ensure success for both them and their students.
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