The Problem
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) created the Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities Program, which was specifically designed to enhance students' learning by offering online courses. The major obstacle was providing varied learning experiences to accommodate the needs of all students. Although they recognized that the internet provided an unlimited amount of potential that could truly engage each student in a more intimate and less intimidating environment, the resources for such a program limited them to simple, static HTML content.
As for any website, creating rich interactive content can be a time-consuming, daunting and expensive process. This is why many school systems choose to create plain, text-only web pages - because they feel the need to offer their students something that is online, despite the quality of the content. However, static web pages can be a tedious and dull form of learning for most students, especially when today’s online users demand various multi-media outlets to sustain their interest.
The Solution
Having heard about the vast amount of work Mindgrub has done with several Adobe products, MSDE came to us for help developing exciting new formats of learning for their online courses. The initial project was to convert existing PowerPoint presentations and text content into Adobe Captivate in order to create an engaging interactive experience and allow for cross-browser/cross-platform compatibility.
After the success of the Captivate work, we developed a new product called Reusable Learning Interactions (RLI), which uses Flash as the front-end display and is configured by a simple XML file on the back-end. The XML file gives a school and/or school system the ability to customize their own games from our selection of RLI’s, including a multimedia player, drag & drop interaction, inline answer, sorting games, matching games, and Venn diagram functionality.
Each RLI allows for a variety of text, graphics, animations, sound and video presentations to be embedded into a webpage where static text used to be. They maintain the students’ interest as they continue to play learning games or replay video clips and animations, drawing the student into the content more effectively and making it an excellent choice for online learning.
The Results
Our Reusable Learning Interactions have been an extremely successful product that is now being used statewide in several online courses offered through the Maryland State Department of Education. We are continuing to work with their content authors and educators to upgrade and enhance each of the RLI’s as new features and ideas are requested.
