EdTech'98 Proceedings: Hart: CREATOR for online authoring and delivery of education and training programs

Melbourne IT CREATOR for online authoring and delivery of education and training programs

Graeme Hart
Manager, Education Services
Melbourne Information Technologies Australia

CREATOR is a next-generation authoring and management tool for online learning under development by Melbourne Information Technologies Australia (Melbourne IT) and due for commercial release in mid 1998.

CREATOR provides a unique authoring tool and integrated platform for education and communication via the Internet. Universities, schools and corporate trainers will be able to use CREATOR to easily create a wide range of online learning environments within the one platform. These can contain rich, interactive elements and facilities including video/audio-conferencing, newsgroups and chat sessions providing new ways for students and teachers to engage in and manage the online learning process.

CREATOR makes it easy for educators without programming skills in languages such as HTML or Java to author and update online course materials.

CREATOR provides five integrated online modules: Library, Learning, Discussion, Searching and Utilities with which users can create their own online learning applications - combining any of the features available in the modules in various ways.

CREATOR menu bar

Library
Text, images, animations, video, audio and other media objects are stored in a database for fast retrieval and efficient management.
Teachers can create different reference works from the same data, or can provide different views of the same work to individual students.
Objects cut and pasted into the resource palette can be re-used in other work.

Learning
Easy-to-use authoring tools are provided for teachers to create learning objects containing interactive multimedia components.
Collaboration between teachers is managed through a set of editorial tools.
Outputs from quiz and other assessment objects are stored in the database for reporting purposes.

Discuss
Provides the ability to easily create news groups on particular subjects supporting synchronous and asynchronous group discussion.
Allows for threaded discussion to simplify tracking of multiple mails.
Chat sessions, video/audioconferencing.

Search
The results from simple or complex searches can be added to individual Resource Palettes for later inclusion in Library and Learning objects.
Intelligent agents provide a variety of unique, powerful search features.
Includes a dictionary helper for inserting lengthy names into the search field.

Utilities
Provides tracking of student performance at a subject and course level, including the time a student spends on each activity.
A wide variety of graphical and text-based reports of assessment results, student activity etc. are available to teachers and administrators.

V1.0 - System Requirements


Client	Macintosh	Any Macintosh capable of running MacOS 7.5+ and Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 or Netscape Navigator V4 with: 16MB RAM Minimum Screen Resolution: 640x480 pixels at 256 colours.
	IBM-compatible	Any IBM-compatible capable of running Windows 95+ and Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 or Netscape Navigator V4 with: 16MB RAM Minimum Screen Resolution: 640x480 pixels at 256 colours.
	Unix workstations	Any Unix workstation capable of running Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 or Netscape Navigator V4
	Note: Users (such as teachers) with access rights to CREATOR authoring must have PCs that are capable of running a 100% Java JIT compiler from any vendor; or Java Applets running within browsers that support Java JDK V1.1. The preferred client PC requirement for these users is 32MB RAM and a Pentium processor for IBM compatibles.

Server	Any Intel Pentium® Processor or higher, or RISC-powered server capable of running Windows NT Server with: 2GB of available hard disk space 128MB RAM 2GB DAT tape backup and backup software internal CD-ROM drive and the following Microsoft licenses: MS BackOffice Server 2.5 MS Transaction Server 1.0

Creator was formally known as cMILE - customisable Multimedia Integrated Learning Environment

For further details, please contact:
Graeme Hart
Manager, Education Services
Melbourne Information Technologies Australia
207 Bouverie Street, Carlton VIC 3053 Australia
+61 3 9344 0897
graeme@melbourneit.com.au http://www.melbourneit.com.au/
The most recent information on CREATOR is available from: http://www.melbourneit.com.au/creator/
Please cite as: Hart, G. (1998). Melbourne IT CREATOR for online authoring and delivery of education and training programs. In C. McBeath and R. Atkinson (Eds), Planning for Progress, Partnership and Profit. Proceedings EdTech'98. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/creator.html

[ Proceedings Contents ] [ EdTech'98 Main ]
© 1998 The author and ASET.
This URL: http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/creator.html
Created 20 Jun 1998. Last revision: 21 Apr 2003. Editor: Roger Atkinson
Previous URL 20 Jun 1998 to 30 Sep 2002: http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/edtech98/pubs/abstracts/creator.html

Library	Text, images, animations, video, audio and other media objects are stored in a database for fast retrieval and efficient management. Teachers can create different reference works from the same data, or can provide different views of the same work to individual students. Objects cut and pasted into the resource palette can be re-used in other work.


Learning	Easy-to-use authoring tools are provided for teachers to create learning objects containing interactive multimedia components. Collaboration between teachers is managed through a set of editorial tools. Outputs from quiz and other assessment objects are stored in the database for reporting purposes.


Discuss	Provides the ability to easily create news groups on particular subjects supporting synchronous and asynchronous group discussion. Allows for threaded discussion to simplify tracking of multiple mails. Chat sessions, video/audioconferencing.

Search	The results from simple or complex searches can be added to individual Resource Palettes for later inclusion in Library and Learning objects. Intelligent agents provide a variety of unique, powerful search features. Includes a dictionary helper for inserting lengthy names into the search field.

Utilities	Provides tracking of student performance at a subject and course level, including the time a student spends on each activity. A wide variety of graphical and text-based reports of assessment results, student activity etc. are available to teachers and administrators.

Melbourne IT CREATOR for online authoring and delivery of education and training programs

V1.0 - System Requirements

Client

Server