Future Dreams
The Payoff
Will I ever make any money off of all of my hard work? I really don't know. I like to think I will, but it may not happen. I do get a sense of reward when a project is completed so in a way that is my payoff. Some of my collegues have graciously put up with me running down the hallway and showing them my programs. Right now my payoff is the pats on the back I get from them and my department chair as they show interest in my programs. I would like to earn a few bucks. I have dreams of not having to ask my husband for money when I want to buy my kids new clothes. I would also like it if on days when I don't have time to pack a lunch I can just say that is okay, I will eat out. I could do all of that now, if I didn't need to save almost every penny to support my technology needs and my athletic needs. So how does one earn a living at this when no schools in the area are paying anyone to develop learning objects? Publishers only seem interested in having folks make entire online courses with their own LMS to enhance their books.
Someday, I hope to develop my programs enough that others will want to use them in their courses and be willing to pay for them. Even better would be if someone else who enjoys running a business more than me, were decide that they need a learning object developer and would want to hire someone such as myself to do that kind of work. I would love to stay in academia, so the ideal position for me would be if a school such as LCC were to decide that they need someone on staff to support faculty by make learning objects. All I know right now, is I don't yet have the skills needed to convince anyone to hire me or buy my products. Once I start making my software SCORM compliant and then make the many other improvements that I have planned, I will be well on my way. I will hold off worrying about how to earn a living at this until after that happens.
Needs of the Future
I think that someday, schools, publishers, and businesses that make educational software for college and secondary use will see the need for learning objects. The problem with most of what is out there today is it is all or nothing. There are a few companies selling entire online courses. Publishers have separate sites that students need to go to in order to use the website support that comes with their textbook. When I talk to students they tell me they don't want to go to another site to get course materials. Teachers may only like a handful of the programs on one publisher's site. Our school has already purchased a learning management system and given each instructor a site on it for each course taught. Why should my students visit both my site and then have to go to another site to take advantage of the publisher's support. Teacher's ought to be able to pick and choose what programs they think will work best in their class and put them directly into their course site. This is where SCO's come in. If everything is SCORM compliant, and it is modularized, then I might say hey, I really like the programs this company made on topic A, but this other company has a really nice program related to topic B. I found still another program on topic C. Why should I have to buy a whole course from any of these companies when I only want to choose a few of their products. Why not just purchase the products I want. This is analogous to music lovers downloading only the songs they enjoy from a singer instead of buying a whole album just to get at the one or two songs they like. SCO's seem like the wave of the future to me. I just hope this future is realized while I am around to be part of it.