Dynamically adjusting to learner's competencies and styles in an online technology course

Abstract

This paper explores the process of designing and creating a course that is somewhat remedial in nature but is offered at the masters level to provide basic knowledge and experience in key information technology areas required for matriculation in a masters degree in this program. The course is useful to learners of varying levels of competencies in information technology, but whose skill set is not sufficient to enter the program directly because it automatically adjusts the delivery of instruction to the style and learning capability of the students. . Characteristics of adult learners and related theories of instructional design are considered in the development of this course. The capabilities that new learning technologies and standards (i.e. Sharable Content Relational Model (SCORM) and Learning Management Systems (LMS)) offer in the design and implementation of this course are also discussed.