Developing a digital learning environment: an evaluation of design and implementation processes

The Alexandria digital earth prototype (ADEPT) Project (1999-2004) builds upon the Alexandria digital library project (1994-1999) to add functions and services for undergraduate teaching to a digital library of geospatial resources. The "digital learning environment" (DLE) services are being developed and evaluated iteratively over the course of this research project. In the 2002-2003 academic year, the DLE was implemented during the fall and spring terms in undergraduate geography courses at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Evaluation of the fall term implementation identified design issues of time and complexity for creating and organizing course domain knowledge. The spring term implementation added new services to integrate course content into class presentation formats. The implementation was evaluated via interviews with the course instructor, development staff, and students, and by observations (in person and videotaped) of the course. Results indicated that usability and functionality for the instructor had increased between the two course offerings. Students found classroom presentations to be useful for understanding concepts, and Web access to the presentations useful for study and review. Assessments of student learning suggest modest improvements over time. Developers are now applying lessons learned during these implementations to improve the system for subsequent implementation in the 2003-2004 academic year.