Designing of Course Material for E-learning in Photogrammetry

Distance learning via the Internet (e-learning) requires good course material and a high degree of interactivity. On the basis of an elearning course of the European Organisation for Spatial Data Research (EuroSDR, formerly OEEPE) about a photogrammetric research topic various tools for producing the user interface, the knowledge pages, multiple-choice quizzes, and interactive learning programs are described. The applied tools for the course "Automatic Orientation of Aerial Images on Databases" of the OEEPE/EUROSDR educational service 2002 and 2004 include standard software packages like "FrontPage", "QuizMaker", and "Flash MX" as well as programming tools like "Java", "ActionScript", "php-script", and "MathLab". The derived course material is either embedded into the Computer Conference System ("FirstClass"), which has to be installed on the client computer or is used within the browser "Internet Explorer". A specially designed template is the start page of the Internet-based course material. It serves as the user interface and integrates the knowledge pages, literature, assignments, self-assessment modules, and learning programs. Experiences with the repeated conduction of the course with international participants, the updating and maintenance of the course material, and the quality assessment by the participants are presented. The contents of the course material cover a recent research topic in photogrammetry, which will be summarized only. The described design and production of e-learning courseware can be applied to other fields as well, and the article can be considered as a technical guide for elearning and implementation of courseware. E-learning will increase in the next years and the recommendations in this contribution may be of help to all teachers and other people who wish to develop or have to develop educational material for use at the Internet.