Developing a multimedia package for university teaching and learning : lessons learnt

A team of staff at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) were involved in developing a multimedia package, called Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture (SWAG), to assist the first and second year students to learn about the use, management and conservation of water in agriculture. A range of media techniques including text, sound, diagrams, pictures, video clips and animation were used to present the subject matter in an interesting, interactive and effective format. It also contained activities that students can undertake interactively to reinforce and test their learning. An important lesson from this project is that developing a multi-media package is a complex task and requires considerable time, effort and budget to develop an effective student learning package. It also requires a multitude of skills that are not always available in university lecturers who are more likely to be content experts than programmers of such packages. The effort, time and budget required for developing a multimedia package is another important consideration and should not be taken lightly. Further, to ensure success, due consideration must be given to make up and size of the project team and issues of compatibility of the package with the future hardware and software. Overall, the lessons learnt provide a starting point for academics who intend to develop similar packages for the first time. It may also help to handle some key issues and challenges that could occur in developing such packages more effectively.