Teachers as educational software designers: Industry/university co-operation

Funding was obtained in 1989 to develop a pilot elective in 1990 within the Graduate Diploma of Computer Education at The University of Melbourne. Entitled “Designing Educational Software”, the elective takes advantage of new authoring tools and multimedia facilities to introduce teachers to the philosophies and practicalities of developing software for the classroom.

This in itself is not innovative. However, the elective will be not only offered to teachers enrolled in the Graduate Diploma but to trainers from industry as well, particularly those involved in Computer Based Training. cbt is a career path for teachers that has not yet been exploited and at the same time, the cbt industry reports skills shortages. The elective has been designed in co-operation with the cbt industry.

A second aim of the course is to expose industry trainers to the educational philosophies behind school level software. From the interaction of schoolteachers and industry trainers, we shall attempt to develop broader models of cbt than the ones currently embraced by the training industry. Likewise, the development of school software should benefit from exposure to the more sophisticated facilities available in industry.

The pilot is continuing in 1991 and the teachers will be joined by a smaller number of enrolments from the training industry. By 1992, the percentage of teachers to industry trainers will be 50/50.