Getting Online: The GO Project

Planning for technology is also a key part of content development. You will need to carefully consider and plan for the technology needs and abilities of your participants and your organization.

The Technology module on this website covers the various online learning technologies in detail and gives practical examples of how they can be used to deliver online content. Different types of online learning technologies offer unique features and possibilities for content development and delivery. Please consult that module for a detailed overview of online learning technologies.

Here are some questions to help your organization plan for content development, technology and participant needs.

• What are the typical learning goals and needs of our participants and what online learning content and technologies are most likely to meet these needs?

• Do we have the skills, knowledge and capacity to support the needs of our participants?

• What type of hardware and software would our participants typically have and how does this affect our choice of online learning technologies and the content we can develop?

• Will all of our participants have high speed Internet access and substantial bandwidth and if not how does this affect our choice of online learning technologies?

• How comfortable with technology are our participants likely to be and how does this affect the technologies we select to deliver content?

• What level of technical support might our participants require to be successful at online learning?

• If you are required to use a particular kind of online learning technology by your host organization (for example, a college that primarily uses BlackBoard), how can you best use that technology for content development and how can you best engage and support participants with that technology?

Answering the following questions would help your organization to plan for content development, technology and organizational needs.

• How can we effectively use technology to deliver content that is meaningful and relevant to our participants?

• What technologies are we able to use given our organization's budget for online learning?

• What technologies can we set up and support given our organization's technical abilities?

• What technical support can we offer to our participants? How does that impact the online learning technology we select?

• Given the technical abilities and skills of our instructors (or our ability to provide training to them) how does this affect the type of technology we can use to deliver online content?

• How might our organization develop enhanced skills in technology in order to effectively develop online content? (Or, in order to improve what we are currently offering).

• How can we keep up with the quickly changing world of technology?

• If our organization is already offering online learning how is our current technology working for us and what steps might we take to improve content development and delivery?

For more information on this important topic, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework has prepared an excellent overview of planning for content development called “Developing E-learning Content”. You can access this valuable resource at: http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/content.pdf.

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