Developing a multimedia package for university teaching and learning

Multi-media package development is demanding

Developing the package contents

The development of a multi-media package is demanding in terms of time and effort and involves a number of key steps (Figure 4). There was often a 'trial-and-error' component in deciding which illustrations, photographs or video clips to include as visual material for conveying specific messages in the package. Collecting relevant photographs and video clips and taking photographs and shooting videos involves considerable investment of time and effort as it requires elaborate planning and co-operation of people outside of the project team. At times, the quality of the visual was insufficient and image manipulation became a major task in the production of sharp and contrasting images. Inclusion of animations in the package made the presentation of concepts interesting and clear but their development required enormous effort to conceptualise a design that worked in terms of programming and student learning. Writing and implementing the computer code for animations was also quite time consuming. For example, in some instances, the complete development of an animation consumed the equivalent of a person’s working week or more.

Figure 4. Main steps in developing the SWAG package.

The task of script writing required careful consideration to ensure that the message was conveyed accurately and clearly but in plain English. The voice over also had to be synchronised with the visual and the audio segments of the multimedia package. This meant ‘learning’ the script and practicing its presentation before it was ready for sound recording in the studio.

Organising the team with multitude of skills

By its very nature the development of a multi-media package requires a multitude of skills and expertise including conceiving an idea, developing visual material and the script, and production and editing of the final product. All these skills are traditionally not available within a science school like ours and not easily accessible within the university’s teaching and learning unit. The package also needed to be rich in variety (e.g., photographs, video clips and cartoons) if it was to be interesting, stimulating and effective. This demanded substantial effort from the project team, considerable time at their disposal and substantial resources (including cash funding) to carry out the task. This aspect should never be underestimated when venturing into the development of a multi-media package.

Engaging with commercial partners

Multimedia packages are also not something that a commercial company specialising in programming can readily develop. It is an academic pursuit that needs to be supported by people who have a range of expertise to develop the product. In the development of any effective multi-media package, there is a critical role for a person who has teaching experience and is passionate about innovative student learning. However, multimedia package development is a challenge in the current environment of resource constraints in universities (Cairns, 2007; Marks, 2002; Pollard & Chan, 2006) and currently the funding opportunities for producing the packages are often extremely limited. This means that, unlike publishing a book, a strong partnership between the multi-media publishing house and the university is required to work closely with authors, and this usually means commercial partners need to invest substantially more resources to publish multimedia teaching and learning materials than is usually the case for printed material.

Size and commitment of the project team

The project team consisted of four lecturers with expertise in different aspects of the multimedia package contents. All team members have a substantial teaching experience in a self-directed experiential learning program at tertiary level. The work of the package development was shared among team members based on their individual expertise and time available to them. The project team was supported by a Project Reference Group consisting of another four lecturers, an information technology specialist, subject matter specialist from industry and five students. Thus, the members in the Reference Group represented a range of expertise and interests, particularly the commercial farming and rural land use, soil management, management and implementation of self-directed learning program, interactive multi-media techniques and sustainable use of land and water resources.

The genuine commitment of all team members is important for successful package development due to a range of skills and expertise that must be integrated and coordinated to prepare the complex subject matter such as the one chosen for this project. Our experience gained in the project revealed that a small team of two or three team members, together with supporting staff whose knowledge spanned the range of technical support required (e.g. programmer, technical coordinator) was the most efficient approach to ensure that the outcome achieves its aims. More members in the project team (especially content experts) results in a wider range of ideas, but to harness their energy and maintain their interest and commitment is often challenging. With a large number of enthusiasts in the project team, there was often no shortage of academic ideas but the price of this is often limited progress towards a tangible project outcome. Our team suffered from this syndrome but we soon recognised and cured the problem by limiting new ideas and focusing on actions or ideas previously generated. This is confirmed by Davis and Fill (2007) who experienced that a large team combined with initial slow progress often leads to self-doubt and loss of confidence in the project. Furthermore, ‘side-tracking’ and confusion as a result of superabundance of ideas, if allowed to continue without clearly defined boundaries, may slow progress without necessarily enhancing the outcome.

Programming support

Multi-media development requires trans-disciplinary skills and the ability to work with people from very different discipline areas. It is often difficult for the subject experts in the project team to comprehend the technical aspects of package development. For example, available multi-media software, such as Authorware Professional™, requires a significant level of training and subsequent practice before a multi-media package can be developed successfully. However, the basic workload of academics has increased substantially in recent years and so time is limited for activities such as developing multi-media packages and, as result, such development may only occur at very irregular intervals. With the speed of advances in computer technology and the number of support programs being released and/or upgraded, it is unlikely that most academics will ever be proficient across the range of skills required to develop such packages. Therefore, the role of professional multi-media programmers in the package development can not be underestimated as there are tasks (e.g., developing animations) that are beyond the scope of expertise and experience of an average academic.
The recruitment of a suitable programmer at reasonable salary is often difficult because of the disparity between industry and academe and the short-term nature of the task. However, despite the expense involved, in general, experienced multi-media programmers and designers are imperative for a professional outcome. In this project, our strategy for recruitment of key project staff was to advertise for a part-time programmer in industry networks and particularly looked for someone who was a keen team player, had a reasonable experience in developing a similar package and willing to learn with the project team. We also recruited two undergraduate students who were studying multi-media design and information technology course at University of Western Sydney. This strategy helped us to recruit appropriate staff within the funding constraints of the project.

Another issue in the area of programming is that the software used for the package development may change, with new more complex versions with additional features introduced at any stage of the multi-media package development. Within the 18 months that it took to develop our package, we saw three major versions of a particular software program, although it was easy to learn, and achieve proficiency with the increased complexity of subsequent new versions. The expense of software upgrades also acted as a drain on resources available in the project. An alternative would have been to persist with the original version purchased for the project, however, with this option there is a risk that the package may not incorporate some important feature, it may not operate properly due to some 'bug' that existed in the older version of the software or switching over to a newer version at a later stage may prove time consuming.