In 2001, twelve academics from a range of disciplines and with a range of project ideas took part. In 2002, we scaled up slightly to support a maximum of 18 projects.

The WOCC programme used a combination of workshops, one to one consultation and lunchtime events to take participants through the various stages of putting together an effective online course. In the second run, we added lunchtime problem-solving sessions, case studies, internet discussion and online support.

The programme was intended to be flexible enough to cope with academic workloads and the specific needs of the subject material. While the key technologies used by participants were the same, the final online courses are often very different.

All the courses were developed within the same virtual learning environment (VLE), Blackboard, easing the support burden and enabling a self-support network of users to be developed. Blackboard is hosted for the purpose of these pilot developments on a centrally supported server. A range of other technologies that can enrich the VLE were addressed in additional workshops.

Some elements of the programme will be self study on the Web written within the same VLE that participants use to develop their own courses. These will act as examples and give staff an opportunity to see things from a learner's perspective.

Summaries of WOCC participants and projects in the first two runs of the programme are available in the Innovations section of the Warwick journal on educational technology, Interactions, Vol6,no.2 & Vol5,no.2
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/ETS/interactions/

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