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Getting ready to adapt your face-to-face course to an online or blended format? Organizing Content for E-Learning is just what you need to get started. Learn how to organize your subject-area content into Units and Subunits.
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Organizing Content for E-Learning
Presented by:
Mark A. Van HeckeEducation and Training ProfessionalE-Learning SpecialistEast China, [email protected]
Principles of Knowledge Organization
Draves (2002) identifies four principles of online content organization.
They include:
In reading traditional textbooks, students often begin reading from the beginning of the text to the end. Students acquire minimalknowledge of many different concepts within the content area defined by the textbook.
Principle I. Vertical Organization of Content Knowledge
Principles of Knowledge Organization
The exploration of knowledge on the Internet moves vertically across
different pages within a website and different URLs for a deeper under-
standing of specific content
Principles of Knowledge Organization
Knowledge and content units of learning objects become portable-
able to used in other schools and taught by other teachers
Knowledge and content information also become reusable and can be updated as soon as they need to be.
Principle II. Knowledge and Information are portable, adaptable and reusable across subjects and sites
Principles of Knowledge Organization
Original sources of knowledge and information are more readily available.
Principle III. Knowledge and content information are no longer confined to textbooks and classrooms.
Teacher controls all delivery of content knowledge deciding what is
taught- and what is not taught
Students access content knowledge from the world
wide web in various formats including written, audio and
video
Principles of Knowledge Organization
Principle IV. Online courses, curriculum and the learning objects
they use to deliver instruction become permanent assets
of schools and districts
In this way, control of content development and delivery will begin to shift away from governments and textbook publishers and to local school districts and their teachers
Content Organization in E-Learning
Information on a web site is organized in much the same way that
you teach students to outline a textbook chapter or prepare a written report
HomePage
Category 1
Category 2
Category 3
Content Organization in E-Learning
In a traditional outline, all Roman Numerals indicate distinctcategories of importance in the content area.
In a high school zoology class, you might use the following categories to distinguish different kinds of vertebrate animals.
I. FishII. AmphibiansIII. ReptilesIV. BirdsV. Mammals
Content Organization in E-Learning
Capital letters are used to indicate large sub-categories that existwithin each of the major categories identified by the Roman
Numerals.
In a high school zoology class, you might use the following sub-categories to distinguish different kinds of fish.
I. Fish A. Class Agnatha B. Class Chondrichthyes C. Class Osteichthyes
Content Organization in E-Learning
Numbers are used to further categorize information within each of
the sub-categories identified by the capital letters
In a high school zoology class, you might use the following sub-categories to distinguish different kinds of fish belonging to the Class Agnatha.
I. Fish A. Class Agnatha 1. Hagfish 2. Lamprey
Content Organization in E-Learning
Finally, you can use small-case letters to organize content within
the sub-categories identified by the numbers.
In a high school zoology class, you might use the following sub-categories to identify different features of Hagfish that belong to the Class Agnatha.
I. Fish A. Class Agnatha 1. Hagfish a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
Content Organization in Websites
Content in a website is often organized in a similar fashion
I. FISH
A. Agnatha B. Chondrichthyes
C. Osteichthyes
1. Hagfish a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
1. Sharks a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
1. Perch a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
Parent Page of pages A, B and C
Child of Page I and Parent of page A1
Child of page A
Content Organization in Websites
Each ‘child’ page would provide more specific information about the
topic identified in its ‘Parent’ page
I. FISH
A. Agnatha B. Chondrichthyes
C. Osteichthyes
1. Hagfish a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
1. Sharks a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
1. Perch a. Habitat b. Morphology c. Reproduction d. Species
I.A.1 would provide specific information on the habitat, morphology, reproduction and species of Hagfish
I.C.1 would provide specific information on the habitat, morphology, reproduction and species of Perch
Content Organization in E-Learning
Curriculum is a term used to identify a set of related courses that
comprise an entire course of study.A Course is a complete course of study with a beginning and an end.
An online high school biology curriculum may consist of the following courses:
• Introductory Biology• Genetics and Heredity• Microbiology• Botany• Zoology
Content Organization in E-Learning
A Unit refers to a set of 5-15 independent lessons each having a different theme or focus
Subunits are smaller breakdowns of content with a single focus
UNIT
LESSON 1
LESSON 2
LESSON 3 3a
3b
3c 3d
1a
1b
1c 1d
2a
2b
2c 2d
Subunits for Lesson 1
Subunits for Lesson 2
Subunits for Lesson 3
Content Organization in E-Learning
A Unit on Fish in an online high school zoology course may consist of these lessons and subunits:
a. Habitatb. Morphologyc. Reproductiond. Species
UNIT 5Fish
ClassAgnatha
ClassChondricthye
s
ClassOsteichthye
s
3a
3b
3c 3d
1a
1b
1c 1d
2a
2b
2c 2d
a. Habitatb. Morphologyc. Reproductio
nd. Species
a. Habitatb. Morphologyc. Reproductio
nd. Species
Content Organization in E-Learning
Subunits of knowledge and information can be organized into SCOs or Sharable Content Objects
UNIT 5Fish
ClassAgnatha
1a
1b
1c 1d
a. Habitatb. Morphologyc. Reproductiond. Species
SCOs can be reused at different times and in different courses that use similar content
Content Organization in E-Learning
For example, information related to the reproduction of Hagfish might be useful in a unit on invasive species in an environmental science class
UNIT 5Fish
ClassAgnatha
1a
1b
1c 1d
a. Habitatb. Morphologyc. Reproductiond. SpeciesZoology
Course
UNIT 8Invasiv
eSpecies
Reproduction of
Invasive Species
1a
1b
1c 1d
a. Zebra Musselb. Lampreyc. Hagfishd. Ash Borer
Content from the subunit on hagfish reproduction in the Zoology course is transferable to a unit on invasive species in the Environmental Science class
Environmental Science Course
Content Organization in E-Learning
Ideally, Sharable Content Units should be organized as follows according to Draves:
• SCOs should be no more than 10-20 minutes in length in written, audio, video or other form
• Has a minimum of 5-15 learning interactions taking place within each
• Satisfies a small number of learning objectives• Can be accessed by a different learning
management systems and formats
Summary
In viewing this short presentation, you should have learned how to:
• Organize knowledge and content for your e-learning course into units, and subunits
If you have any questions or have ideas to share, e-mail me at [email protected]
Visit my website at www.vanheckescience.com for insight and ideas as well
Resources
I’d like to thank William Draves for his book Teaching Online that I used to provide much of the background for this presentation. Although it was written in 2002, it still provides a lot of great information and ideas for launching your e-learning program
