Re‐use of current teaching resources at a dual‐mode university

Charles Sturt University (CSU) teaches over 18,000 students via distance education and another 10,000 students on campus. The students study the same curricula but teaching methods on campus necessarily vary from those used for distance. The differences are ameloriated through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching. CSU’s statistics show increases each year for both groups in the use of ICTs. Because campus students can, and do, purchase distance education study packages, it is obvious that a certain amount of convergence between the two modes has occurred. The university is currently examining the convergence to determine the ways in which a learning resource bank can support teaching in both modes so that neither group is disadvantaged. Issues around the pedagogy of learning objects (LOs) are currently being examined, as are technical issues concerned with the quality, type, size and standardization of such objects. This paper provides a short overview of the issues concerned with the development of a learning resource bank that can manage records and act as a depository for LOs.