An International Comparison of e-learning in Action - An Interactive Graphical On Line Teaching Resources [sic] for Residential Construction in Australia and a Blended Programme to Support Irish Entrepreneurs in Ireland

All individuals learn in different ways from listening, watching, questioning, doing and helping others to learn. For individual learning styles and preferences there are different on-line instructional strategies that are appropriate to accommodate the learning characteristics of these different learning styles. Given the intensive resource requirements required in the development of e-learning resources and the difficulties in accommodating different learning styles blended learning is suggested as an approach to address learning needs. The introduction of online teaching facilities in higher education institutions has led to an integrated approach to delivering course materials at QUT and WIT. This paper focuses on the delivery of a first year core residential construction subject at QUT & a blended learning programme for entrepreneurs in Ireland. Both use web-enabled teaching sites with online testing facilities to allow the students access to online tools and experiences. In the QUT development the interactive graphical computer-based teaching resource allows students, through experiential learning, to develop an understanding of the residential construction process from vacant land to a completed house. In the WIT development a blended programme that integrates online instruction with traditional classroom is outlined. The approach developed allows students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills through the use of the online testing units, as well as developing collaborative working areas to allow students to work together.