Contemporary trends & practices
Models of course development
E-learning environments, with their wide range of resources, separate conferences for group interaction, experts to contact, and places for small group work forms the backdrop against which an online learning community comes together.
These learning communities are not very different from those that exist in conventional educational settings. They are, however, different in the way they emerge, and nurture themselves.
Many of these learning environments are the result of a team effort, which brings together a wide range of expertise including subject matter experts, web developers, graphic artists, and systems engineers to produce one or more courses. Not always the most successful approach, the team approach has been widely used especially by distance education institutions.
There are less collaborative approaches as well, in which a single subject matter expert might be able to do everything.
Choosing an approach
The choice of a particular approach to the development of an e-learning course is based on several factors including the academic tradition and resources available to the organization. Institutions that are dedicated to the provision of online and distance education have tended to adopt a more collaborative course team approach, while conventional campus-based educational providers have tended to adopt a lesser collaborative approach. The development of an e-learning course comprises a new experience for many. It calls for new skills and some de-skilling as well (i.e., shedding off of old habits). Old habits die hard, and when faced with circumstances that render some of one's previous experience "irrelevant" there is quite a lot of uneasiness, loss of confidence, disillusionment, hostility, and at times withdrawal from the activity altogether.