This document summarizes an online learning module created for a large compulsory commercial law course at the University of Auckland. The course has up to 1000 students split across multiple streams. The module aims to help students learn outside of lectures through interactive quizzes, diagrams, videos and other multimedia. It covers around 4.5 hours of course material. Creating the module presented challenges in navigating the content logically and getting students to use it. Feedback was generally positive but resourcing issues limited expanding the module. Overall it was an ambitious first attempt at an online learning supplement for a large course.

1. Online learning
environments for large
classes in a compulsory
commercial law course
Alex Sims
Josie Wirjapranata
Neda Zdravkovic
http://flexiblelearning.auckland.ac.nz/comlaw101/

2. Setting the scene
• Large compulsory course:
If you want to walk out with a Bcom you
need to pass COMLAW 101
Large numbers – up to 1000 per course
(split into 2 streams for lectures)
Offered three times per year (summer
school is only half the length of the other
two semesters)
• English as an additional language for a very
large proportion of students

3. Setting the scene (cont)
• Perception (unwarranted) that the course is:
too hard
boring
• Two librarians (one from law and one from the
main library) offered to help create an online
interactive/problem solving tutorial/module for
students to use in their own time and at their
own pace
• This module is the result of those efforts (joint
work between the librarians and me and a few
others)

4. Not my idea to have this
video up (let along
made)– but the librarians
were determined to have
it there!

5. Features
• Text is at a minimum (will see that as we go
through the presentation) – students don’t like
to read! (Although you can’t please everyone
as some people have asked for more detail)
• The quizzes (with comments on why answers
are correct or incorrect) are the most popular
feature – almost all questions taken from old
test questions. Indeed students want more
and more of them – but there is a danger in
quizzes

6. Example of a quiz

11. Features
• Information is delivered in a variety of ways,
ie:
– Text
– Photos
– Cartoons
– Videos
– Diagrams

12. Photos

14. Photos
http://flexiblelearning.auckland.ac.nz/comlaw101/12_2_3.html

15. Cartoons

21. http://flexiblelearning.auckland.ac.nz/
comlaw101/12_2_1.html

22. Videos

23. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOKT2lS_cas&feature=player_embedded

24. Diagrams

26. Features (cont)
• Not meant to be just a one way delivery – ie
ethics questions

30. Features (cont)
• Students (and others) are encouraged to post
feedback, pages have a comment section –
most comments have been on the quizzes

33. Challenges
• The main people involved in the creation of
the module had not used Coursebuilder before
• Didn’t appreciate the amount of work involved
– were only covering about 4½ hours of
material!
• Example of workload – creating the glossary of
key terms – first cut done by librarians, but I
had to go back and essentially rewrite the
definitions as most had been taken from
dictionaries and were explained in too high a
level for the weakest students – also glossary
crept into later parts of course and examples
used

35. Challenges
• Very practical issues of how to present the
material in a logical and concise way – ended
up with two main ways of navigating the
module, through:
– Mind map
– Tabs (some tabs down right hand side – others along
the top etc)

41. Challenges (cont)
• Actually getting students to use it! Feedback
from students who had used it was extremely
positive and they wanted the module extended
to the rest of the course
• Resourcing an issue – would be great to get a
learning technologist in
• Facilitating discussion amongst students

43. Reflection
• May be a little too busy – but good first
attempt
• Not really launched and promoted as well as it
could have been for the first semester it was
used for
• Bit too optimistic in what could be achieved,
was meant to include problem solving –
hopefully in next iteration