Survey of Software Used to Develop and Teach Online
Courses
Coordinator of
Instructional Design
Copyright
2005
Please email Bobbi
Dubins to request permission to use.
Background:
This survey was conducted in an
effort to determine how various software packages are being
utilized in the development and delivery of online courses. The survey was conducted online from the period
of October 1 –
The maximum number of respondents
from the same institution was 11 (occurred once),
however, most institutions had only one respondent.
Multiple responses were allowed for
most questions and are so indicated.
Summary
Respondent Demographics and Background
Respondents were primarily from
higher education institutions, had experience teaching online, or directly
supported online instruction, and were well experienced in their current
positions. Of respondents who indicated
they taught online, the majority of them indicated they also developed their
own online course. (Questions 1-3)
Role at institution
(Question 1) Multiple
responses not allowed.
·
Instructors teaching online who had created their
own course (34%)
·
Instructors teaching online, did not create their
own course (7%)
·
Distance Learning Director/Coordinator/Administrator
(23%)
·
Instructional designer (18%)
Institution Type (Question
2) Multiple
responses not allowed.
·
91% of respondents were from higher education
institutions
Experience (Question 3) Multiple responses not allowed.
·
79% of respondents had at least 2 years of
experience in their current DL jobs
The
vast majority of respondents were employed by institutions that provided formal
support for distance learning in the form of a Distance Learning Department, an
instructional designer(s) (or similar person), and formal training for faculty
members. Institutions of all sizes were
represented in the survey, with total enrollment of less than 2,000 students to
over 8,000 students. (Questions
4-8)
Formal distance learning
department support (Question 4) Multiple responses not allowed.
·
65% of respondents indicated their institution had a
formal DL department
Formal training available
for instructors (Question 5)
Multiple
responses not allowed.
·
67% of respondents indicated their institution
provided formal training for instructors interested in teaching online
Instructional designer
support (Question 6) Multiple
responses not allowed.
·
76% of respondents indicated their institution had
an instructional designer or similar person who could help them with developing
and improving their online courses.
Number of online courses
offered by institution (Question 7) Multiple responses not allowed.
·
43% of respondents indicated their institution
offered less than 51 online courses per semester
·
20% of respondents indicated their institution
offered between 51 and 100 online courses per semester
·
29% of respondents indicated their institution
offered more than 100 online courses per semester.
Size of institution (Question 8) Multiple responses not allowed.
·
Institutions of all “sizes” were well
represented in the survey.
Use of Software
1.
Creating
Digital Presentations/Lectures
The most common software used to create digital presentations/lectures
was by far MS PowerPoint (133). The second
most common software was Flash (by Macromedia) (63). Other software identified by 10-35
respondents included Camtasia Studio, Adobe Premiere,
Real/Helix Producer, Snag-It, Apple Quicktime Pro, Robo products (Robodemo, Robopresenter), Authorware,
Windows sound recorder, and Windows Media Encoder, MS Producer, and Final Cut
Pro. Various other
software was identified by fewer than 6 respondents. (Note: Digital presentations were defined as
“anything you would use in an online course to ‘substitute’ for a face-to-face
class lecture”.) (Question 9) Multiple responses allowed.
When asked what software they would like
to use, the most popular software identified was Flash and PowerPoint. However, there also was interest in many
other software packages, although none were favored by a majority. (Question 10). Multiple responses allowed.
2. Use of Video and Audio
Slightly more than half of respondents indicated
their digital presentations included at
least some video. 42% of respondents
indicated that none of their presentations included video. Only 2% indicated all of their presentations
included video. (Question 11) Multiple responses not allowed.
The most
common audio file formats used to save audio files was .WAV, followed by
Real Audio, MPEG, .SWF, and .MOV. (Question 12) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those indicating they would like to
save sound files in a different format, the majority (73 out of 107) were not
sure what format they wanted to use. (Question Q13) Multiple responses allowed.
3. Streaming vs. Non-streaming
Digital
presentations were provided to students in streaming format by 31% of
respondents, as a downloadable file on the Internet by 26% of respondents, and
on CD/DVD by 18% of respondents.
Approximately 12% of respondents indicated they provided digital
presentations using some combination of those methods. (Question
14) Multiple responses not allowed.
4. Video and audio conferencing
Very few respondents indicated they used
online video conferencing (53). Of those who did indicate they used online
video conferencing, there was no clear “most common” software. Netmeeting and HorizonLive were
indicated by 13 and 9 respondents, respectively. Others indicated were Webex
(3), Breeze (5), MS Office LiveMeeting (2), CuSeeme (3), WebTrain (2) and Paltalk (1). (Responses for question 15
and 17 are combined)
Multiple responses allowed.
There was substantial interest in using
online videoconferencing, but respondents were not sure what software they
preferred. (Responses for question
16 and 18 are combined). Multiple responses allowed.
Note:
Some respondents misinterpreted the term “video conferencing” to mean
discussion board, chat, or interactive video classrooms.
Online
audio conferencing was not popular technology used by respondents
(only 21 out of 163 respondents used it).
However, respondents seemed interested in trying it (124 out of 163). Of those indicating a preference for
software, WIMBA was indicated by the most number of respondents (18). (Questions 19-20)
5. Video screen capture
Approximately 56% of respondents
indicated they created video screen
captures (full motion screen captures with accompanying voice
narration). The most popular software
packages used were Snag-It (32 out of 108), and Robo
Products (RoboDemo, RoboPresenter,
etc.), (21 out of 108). Also somewhat
popular were Camtasia Studio (14) and Windows Media
Encoder (11). (Questions 21-22) Multiple responses allowed.
Note:
Some respondents interpreted “video screen capture” to be static screen
snapshots.
6. Graphics, animation and interactive games
51% of respondents indicated they didn’t
create their own animation (84 out of
163). Of those who did (79), Macromedia
Flash was the most popular software (67).
Other less popular software indicated was Adobe Illustrator (21 out of
173), Adobe Image Ready (19) and Fireworks (19). (Question 23) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other animation software, the many were not sure which software they
preferred. (Questions 24) Multiple responses allowed.
The most popular software identified for
creating graphics was PhotoShop (90
out of 152)). Other software identified
included Flash (39), Adobe Illustrator (37), Fireworks (34), Paint Shop/Pro
(25), and MS Paint (25). (Question
25) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other graphics software, many were not sure what software they wanted to
use. (Question 26) Multiple responses allowed.
PhotoShop was also by far the most
popular software used for editing digital
photographs (111 out of 154). (Question 27) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other photo editing software, many were not sure what software they
wanted to use. (Question
28) Multiple responses allowed.
The vast majority of respondents did not
create their own interactive
games/exercises/simulations (108 out of 163). Of those who did, Flash
was the most commonly used software 50).
(Question 29) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other software for creating interactive games, many were not sure what
software they wanted to use. (Question 30) Multiple
responses allowed.
7. Converting VHS videotapes
The majority of respondents did not convert VHS videotapes into digital form
for use in their online classes (67%).
Of those who did (54 out of 163), there was no clear “most common”
software. Some software identified was
Adobe Premiere (22), Real/Helix Producer (13), Apple Quicktime
Pro (9), Windows Media Encoder (9), Final Cut Pro (7), Pinnacle (7), Camtasia Studio (3), Vegas Video (2), Authorware
(2) and Avid (2). (Question
31) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other software for converting VHS tapes to digital form, many were not
sure what software they wanted to use. (Question 32) Multiple responses allowed.
8. Correcting student papers
The method most often used by
instructors to digitally “correct”
student submitted papers was to edit the student file using the same
software as the student. (For example,
if the student submitted the paper in the form of a Word document file, the
instructor made corrections/gave feedback by editing that file using
Word). (108 out of 134
responses). Only 3 respondents
(out of 134) used a digital pen to make corrections on student papers. (Question 33) Multiple responses allowed.
9. Creating CD/DVD’s
Of those who created instructional CD/DVD’s, the most popular method used to
create the navigational framework was web page creation software/HTML (50 out
of 122). PowerPoint was used in 12 out
of 122 responses. Various
other software was indicated with fewer than 5 responses. (Question 34) Multiple responses allowed.
Of those who indicated they would like
to use other software for creating navigational framework, many were not sure
what software they wanted to use. (Question 35) Multiple
responses allowed.
10. Voice recognition software
Very few respondents used voice recognition software (30 out of
163 respondents). Of those who did,
Dragon Naturally Speaking was the most common software
identified (21). MS Word was used by
7. (Question 36) Multiple responses allowed.
11. Course management systems
47%
of responses indicated they used Blackboard as their course management system (81 out of 171). 32% used WebCT (54
out of 171). The remaining respondents
used WebTycho (8), Desiretolearn
(3), Angel (2), Intralearn (2), eCollege
(2), and locally developed CMS or other package (20). (Question 38) Multiple responses allowed.
Of
those who indicated they would like to use another course management system,
most respondents (60 out of 108) were not sure which system they wanted to
use. Blackboard (19), WebCt (17) and DesiretoLearn (11)
were indicated by some respondents. (Question 39) Multiple responses allowed.
INDIVIDUAL QUESTION RESPONSES
Respondent Demographics and Background
4. Formal
distance learning department support (Q4)
5.
Formal training available for
instructors (Q5)
6.
Instructional designer support (Q6)
7.
Number of online courses offered by
institution (Q7)
Use of
Software
1.
Creating
Digital Presentations/Lectures:
3. Use of Video and Audio
a. Do
your digital presentations/lectures include video? (Q11)
b. What
audio file formats do you save sound files in? (Q12)
c. If
you would like to save sound files in another format, what format would it be?
(Q13)
3. Streaming vs. Non-streaming
a. In
what format are your digital presentations offered to students? (choose one)
(Q14)
4. Video and audio conferencing
b.
If you would like to use other
one-to-one videoconferencing software, what would it be? (Q16)
d.
If you use online audio conferencing
(no video) what software do you use? (Q19)
e. If
you would like to use other audio conferencing software, what would it be? (20)
5. Video screen capture
a.
What software do you use to create
video screen captures (example, software demonstration with accompanying
voice instruction)? (Does not include static screen snapshots). (Q21)
b. If
you would like to use other video screen capture software, what would it be?
(Q22)
6. Graphics, animation and interactive games
a.
What software do you use to create
animation? (Q23)
b.
If you would like to use other
animation software, what would it be? (Q24)
c.
What software do you use to create
graphics? (Q25)
d.
If you would like to use other
graphics software, what would it be? (Q26)
e.
What software do you use to edit
digital photographs? (Q27)
f.
If you would like to use other
software to edit digital photographs, what would it be? (Q28)
g.
What software do you use to create
interactive games/exercises/simulations? (Q29)
7. Converting VHS videotapes
8. Correcting student papers
a. If
you correct student submitted written papers electronically, what process do
you use? (Q33)
9. Creating CD/DVD’s
a.
What software do you use to create
the navigational framework for instructional CD's or DVD's (example,
menus)? (Q34)
12. Voice recognition software
a. If
you use voice recognition software, what software do you use? (Q36)
b. If
you would like to use other voice recognition software, what would it be? (Q37)
13. Course management systems
a. What
course management system do you use? (Q38)
b. If
you would like to use another course management system, what would it be? (Q39)
14. Optional
Information
a. Respondent primary job
function list
b.
List of institutions represented
Q1.
What is your role at your institution? (Choose one only) Number of people responding = 162
No
response = 1
“Other” responses:
|
Design, teach and provide
support Web enhance my course Publisher-online text TA for online instructor Coordinator Support
Services |
Director of Next Generation
Learning Faculty advisor mentor for
instructional design/technology Director, Academic and
Information Services Instructor teaching
web-enhanced in the classroom instructor |
nursing teacher Instructor teaching
in-class but also incorporating online materials professor -- teaching in
class Assistant Director Teaching
and Learning Support (Office of Information Technology) teacher using Blackboard to
supplement regular class |
Q2 Number of people responding = 162
No
response = 1
Q3. Number of people responding = 161
No
response = 2
Q4. Number of people responding = 162
No
response = 1
Q5. Number of people responding = 159
No
response = 4
Q6. Number of people responding = 156
No
response = 7
Q7. Number of people responding = 151
No
response = 12
Q8. Number of people responding = 158
No
response = 6
|
Q9. What software do you use (if any) for creating digital presentations/
"lectures" (anything you would use in an online course to "substitute"
for a face-to-face class lecture)? |
|
Number of people responding = 160 No response = 3 |
