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Visiting Professors in Engineering Design for Sustainable Development
Learning Industries are working with Jim Poole, the Visiting Professor in Engineering Design for Sustainable Development at Cardiff University, to develop online teaching materials for undergraduate teaching.
Royal Academy of EngineeringThe Visiting Professors scheme is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The purpose of the scheme is to develop teaching materials, based on case studies produced by leading industrialist, which will enhance both the understanding and the practice of the teaching of Sustainable Development.
Jim Poole is the Sustainable Development Manager at the Environment Agency Wales and has recently been appointed as Policy Advisor of Cynnal Cymru, the Sustainable Development Forum for Wales. Jim has a wealth of expert knowledge and practical experience in developing engineering schemes within a framework for sustainable development. Under the Visiting Professors scheme, Jim is drawing upon his experience to develop case studies for engineering undergraduate teaching.
Learning Industries are working closely with Jim to convert his case studies into online teaching resources. Learning Industries are repackaging Jim's material for online delivery, providing a flexible delivery framework and developing the electronic content and media for the online versions of the courses.
In order to ensure the widest possible use of this content, Learning Industries are developing modules capable of being packaged for delivery across a wide range of e-learning environments (such as Blackboard, WebCT, FirstClass, tecknical, etc) as well as standard electronic distribution platforms (such as the Web, intranet or CDROM).
Learning Industries' Web-Based e-Learning Delivery Shell has been adapted to support the development and delivery of the case study material. The Shell effectively converts a standard Web browser into a dedicated online learning interface. It compiles online courses from individual, self-contained pages of content to provide both a robust, cross platform technical solution and a highly flexible framework that facilitates future updating and repurposing of the online material.
The resulting packages will be capable of being delivered via the Web, downloaded and installed onto local networks or computers, or distributed on CDROM. Alternatively the approach adopted is compatible with a range of international e-learning standards (IEEE, IMS, SCORM) and courses developed within the Shell can be packaged to enable them to be imported and used within a wide range of proprietary e-learning environments.
The online materials produced under the project will be available, free-of-charge, to all UK universities and Engineering Schools.
Royal Academy of Engineering Website
Sustainable Development Website
20 May 2004
