Paper presentation at the Interactive Computer aided Learning conference (ICL 2001), Villach, Austria, September 2001. This paper presents an initial analysis of the duration and effort data collected during the migration of WinEcon, a large-scale CAL package to WWW-based delivery. The paper reviews the data collected during the initial development of WinEcon before presenting the preliminary data collected during the recent migration. The data presented represents a snapshot of the data collection process towards the end of the migration project including an overview of the raw project data in terms of cost, duration and effort. Initial lessons learned from the project will be presented along with the potentially controversial view that conversion of large-scale projects, while feasible, may not represent the most efficient use of resources. The authors will argue that in many cases it may be more efficient to start again rather than migrate and reuse exiting tools and technology.

1. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
1
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Cost of Migrating Large-Scale
Computer Assisted Learning
(CAL) Software to Web Delivery
Simon Price - University of Bristol
Ian M. Marshall - University of Abertay

2. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
2
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Overview
• Introduction
• The Problem and Solution
• Original WinEcon Project
• Migration to WWW Delivery
• Conversion Issues
• Conclusions

3. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Introduction
• “… technologies come and go, leaving very
little except store cupboards full of obsolete
hardware, and a small selection of non-
transferable courseware.” Marshall et. al.
• Now it is the turn of CAL/Multimedia
developed in the 1990’s
• It is useful but …

4. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
The Problem and Solution
• End-User Requests:
– “… it’s very good but does it work on the Web?
– “… sorry but we now only use products that run on
WebCT.”
– “Do you have a WWW-based version?”
• Find the money to migrate!

5. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Original WinEcon Project
• October 1992 – September 1994
• Core design team in Bristol plus 7 other UK
universities
• HEFC TLTP Funding £1,000,000
• Developed in Asymetrix’s Toolbook
• PC/CD ROM or Network Delivery
• Used by 85% of UK HE Economic
Departments + 250 sites worldwide

6. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology

7. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
WinEcon Metrics (1994)
Sizing factors
– Screens 4113
– Interactions 456
– Lessons 25
– Objectives 150
– Media Objects 620
– SLOC 134,844
– Learner hours 69.7
Measures
– Elap. time (d) 1170
– Dev. time (h) 26,045
– Effort (Dh) 35,651
– Team size 111
– FTE developers 34.05
– Cost (£) 1,000,000
– Productivity 0.0020

8. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
8
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Migration to WWW Delivery
• March 1998 – July 2001
• Core design team in Bristol plus 9 other UK
universities (original 7 + 2 new)
• HEFCE TLTP Funding £250,000
• Migration to browser environment (plug-in)
• Intranet/Extranet delivery
• ‘Componentisation’ and emerging standards
• 937 HTML pages, 697 tutorial screens

9. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology

10. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Conversion Issues
• User interface issues
• Browser screen real estate
• Legacy code (DLL) and parent window
• Deployment and support
– Managed desktops and plug-ins
– Plug-in version management
• Other people’s bugs (MS+Asymetrix)

11. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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12. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
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Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Conclusion
• Successful… eventually! (2 years late)
– Externalities: other people’s bugs
• WinEcon is a best case
• This is only a partial migration and
further project needed to go fully WWW
• Migration rather than origination may be
more expensive in the long-run?

13. The Institute for Learning and Research Technology is a national centre of excellence in the
development and use of technology-based methods in teaching, learning and research
13
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
Further Information
• WinEcon
http://www.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk/winecon
• Authors:
– Simon Price simon.price@bristol.ac.uk
– Ian M. Marshall i.marshall@abertay.ac.uk