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Project Details

Client

  • Shawn Dunning, Adjunct Lecturer, Assistant Dean for Finance and Operations
  • Andy Click, Distance Education Specialist
  • Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science
  • Wilson College of Textiles

Team

  • Ben Huckaby, Lead Interaction Designer/Developer, Project Lead
  • David Tredwell, Team Lead, Multimedia Development
  • Andrew Wiedner, Interactive Media Designer
  • Bethanne Tobey, Instructional Designer

Technologies

  • Virtual Viewer
  • HTML5
  • CSS
  • JavaScriptPHP
  • MySQL

Timeline

  • Fall 2019 - Fall 2020

TMS 211: Crafting a Virtual Microscope for Online and Blended Courses

The Virtual Viewer was originally developed as part of a DELTA Grant in the 2011-12 cycle and is still being actively used today in TMS 211 (Introduction to Fiber Science).  With browser support for Flash ending by the end of 2020, this project seeks to create an updated version of the Virtual Viewer that is future-proof, can be easily used by many courses across a wide variety of platforms and subject matters, and that has an easy to use interface for creating and managing content.  In addition, features such as assessment capabilities and mobile display will be explored for adding to the Virtual Viewer.

Instructional Challenges

  • Support student learning through the creation of a web-friendly visual comparison tool that is the next iteration of the existing Virtual Viewer.
  • Enable instructors to easily create and manage content for the Virtual Viewer.
  • Encourage widespread adoption of the Virtual Viewer.

Highlights/Solutions

  • A new, updated HTML Virtual Viewer that presents a cleaner, faster experience for students as well as adaptability for mobile devices.
  • For faculty, a new integrated authoring dashboard allows for easy creation and management of their courses and content in the Virtual Viewer system, including the ability to add co-contributors and TAs to assist in the development of the content.
  • Centralized hosting means that faculty are no longer required to set up and maintain their own instances of the Virtual Viewer, and they can edit their courses from anywhere.

Related Links

For more information about DELTA services, please contact LearnTech.