The educational value system at NUS has shifted in favor of instructors facilitating learning, nurturing critical, independent thinking, and inculcating life-long learning skills and habits. At the same time, developments in e-learning allow the University to leverage Information Technology (IT) in ways consistent with the shift in value system. While the development of IVLE has been a significant achievement, the system is principally a tool for disseminating course information (including course notes and lecture slides). There is a need to develop quality learning content: materials that present content in an engaging manner and that are interactive, requiring significant student input and interaction. These materials may be deployed via the Web, on CD-ROMs, or utilizing both channels.

The use of multimedia courseware as part of a teaching strategy has many potential benefits that relate to the learner, the instructor, the learning content, the learning process, and to access to learning. However, quality learning outcomes can only be achieved with the considered application of pedagogy to the design of the learning content as well as to the management of the learning process that revolves around its use. Instructors and instructional designers must pay attention not only to the creation of content but also to the broader embedding context within which the courseware will be used. Apart from using courseware to convey concepts/knowledge and getting students to construct an understanding of the materials, it is also essential that students be roused to generate learning products of some kind (eg. a critical essay; a project report; a slide presentation) so that they bring to bear critical and analytical mental faculties to learning tasks.

The design and development of good multimedia courseware is a considerable undertaking in terms of time, cost, and effort. Design and development require a team effort that brings together knowledge of content, technology, pedagogy, and human factors/user interface design. For the undertaking to succeed, it is imperative that there be strong management-level support and commitment.

In the current NUS education landscape, certain modules attract a large number of students because they are 1000-level modules, core modules, or cross-faculty modules. New general education modules are also likely to have large student enrolments. Subject to appropriateness of the knowledge domain, these modules present a natural opportunity for the use of multimedia courseware as a strategic component of the teaching approach.

It is proposed that faculties be encouraged to explore and, if found suitable, to adopt the use of multimedia courseware as a teaching approach/resource in modules with a large student enrolment. It is suggested that Deans and Heads be invited to propose one or two such modules per faculty for evaluation and, if found suitable, for development. Courseware development can be for an entire module or for selected parts of a module. (A sample of web links to multimedia courseware developed at other institutions can be found in the Appendix to the main paper.) The design and development effort will be shared jointly by Faculty CITAs, CDTL, and CIT.

A successful outcome to the proposed multimedia initiative will help NUS to accumulate a repertoire of respected multimedia learning content and establish the University as a key, mature player in the unfolding e-learning landscape. The bottom line is that students stand to gain from a broader and richer learning experience that not only helps them achieve their education objectives but which also makes learning an enjoyable and intrinsically rewarding experience.