Bridging the Academic Divide: A Collaborative Production Model for Learning Objects in Workforce Development

Abstract

There is a commonly held perception in industry that the academic community is out of touch and irrelevant. Surely, there must be a way to bridge this perception gap and leverage academe’s disciplinary and instructional expertise to benefit the commercial workforce. This chapter presents a collaborative development model that accomplishes this goal, specifically relating to the production of self-paced, Web-based learning objects, catalogued within workforce development curricula. The model provides a roadmap that maximizes the expertise of college faculty, industry managers, and multimedia production specialists to meet the needs of government sponsors, commercial corporations, nonprofit postsecondary institutions, and individual learners.