6.3.3 Adaptability of Advanced Courseware
[Refer to Technical Characteristics, Adaptability column in Table 6.1.]
At some point during each project, the adaptability of the software for
availability or change became a critical issue. One important concern
was the long term and wide spread availability of the chosen hardware and software.
The unavoidable nature of change in distributed computing environments was a second
issue which was emphasized often across all sites. Some possible ways to help
weather the changes while providing for wide availability were found for each
of the five main types of software needed to support educational endeavors.
Stability was an issue that emerged as an important third consideration in
the complex interrelated environments characterizing the new distributed paradigm.
Future courseware developers should take advantage of the hard earned technical
lessons revealed during this study. They should not forget that, while the new
distributed environments will provide powerful tools for collaboration,
mistakes will prove to be unpleasantly expensive. Educators who consider
investing in either constructing their own courseware or investing in that
constructed by others should make sure that what they buy will be in a
standard format adaptable to computing environment changes. Because
requirements changing rapidly, it is advisable to seek advice from technically
knowledgeable people about these issues before making large investments.