Forum on Public Policy 1 Virtual Learning Worlds as a Bridge between Arts and Humanities and

Science and technology, when applied to educational excellence, have become part of the arts and humanities of tomorrow. The interactive multimedia technology tools available to educators today provide an opportunity to build into the distance or traditional course through learning objects, highly interactive experiential exercises that allow the instructor and the student to obtain an accurate image of the student’s level of understanding of the content throughout the course. The instructor can not only determine that a student does not understand some aspect of the content of the course, but may also determine exactly what part of the content the student fails to comprehend. Of more importance is the fact that students may also get an immediate and accurate map of their own mastery of the content. To create absorbing and successful traditional, blended, and online classes, a broader cooperative design structure that is as much art as technology is required. In this paper the concepts involved in the creation of course materials, through a cooperative partnership between Indiana University, ITT Educational Services, Inc. (the parent company for the 93 ITT Technical Institutes across the United States), Pearson Learning Solutions, and Arjuna Multimedia, are explored. They have resulted in a technological teaching environment in which sophisticated interactive computer technology may be incorporated into any classroom or distance course to provide the most effective learning experience. These techniques apply equally well in courses in arts and humanities and science an