DESIGNING E-CURRICULUM BOOKS FOR UNDERGRADUATE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY: LESSONS LEARNT

The 2009 and 2010 enrolment of undergraduate occupational therapy students (years 1 to 4) at the University of the Witwatersrand received their curriculum guidelines and course information on compact disc (CD) as opposed to the tradition printed book. This marked the introduction of blended learning to this face-to-face problem based learning curriculum. The presentation showcases the development of the e-curriculum books over the 2 years and explores the lessons learnt through this initiative.

The e-Curriculum books provide students with their learning outcomes, relevant documents, links and content information. Students can access the CD on any computer that has a web-browser as it is designed in basic HTML. Students and lecturers have positively embraced the switch from paper to virtual, and find that the CD provides better cross-referencing within the curriculum and access to documentation than the traditional methods.

From a design perspective, the importance of sound navigation strategies is highlighted. It is important to create a design that provides the look and feel of the course so that students feel a sense of familiarity and community when accessing the CD.
From a management perspective, developing the CD’s for each of the four curriculum years is workload intensive for the weeks prior to enrolment. Co-ordinating and corroborating all the content from twelve lecturers requires content management strategies.

The Department of Occupational Therapy has decided to continue providing undergraduate students with the e-curriculum books as the resource is valued by students, tutors and lecturers.