What is Challenge WORKBOOK? (was CHALLENGE FRAP)

Challenge WORKBOOK is a client-based rich-text editor, which facilitates reporting of activities by task visualisation and association. Its use produces an assessable electronic document (a workbook) which can both guide and record student activity as they work through an exercise. Hyperlinking and embedding of media is supported, along with HTML, PDF and WORD export.

It can be used by teachers and students in any educational setting; later primary, secondary or tertiary.

A WORKBOOK file is constructed and assessed using the Challenge WORKBOOK editor.  As the students document their tasks or findings using this software, they can add their content to nodes in the WORKBOOK editor and save these in the WORKBOOK document.  These nodes can represent locations, activities or objects.  The placement of these nodes relative to one another presents a visual record of their investigation.  The content of these nodes can be filled in with their findings and reflections pertinent to its title.  Tutors can add date-stamped feedback to each of these observations. 

The image below shows a WORKBOOK document prepared by a student when working through literature review assignment.

WORKBOOK Templates

Tutors can elect design and provide a WORKBOOK Template to students to get them started.  This may have a pre-existing collection of activities (i.e. nodes) to guide the student during the exercise along with explanatory text.  Students could expand on the activities or delete those they did not use, replacing the pre-existing text with their own. Some example templates are provided.

Publications

A couple of papers pertaining to an earlier version of the software called CHALLENGE FRAP have been produced. These are available in PDF format:

• Stewart, T.M., MacIntyre, W.R., Galea, V.J. and Steel, C.H., 2007. Enhancing Problem-Based Learning Designs with a Single E-Learning Scaffolding Tool: Two case studies using Challenge FRAP. Interactive Learning Environments 15 (1): 77–91
• Galea, V.J., Stewart, T.M. and Steel, C.H., 2007. Challenge FRAP: An e-learning tool used to scaffold authentic problem-solving processes. Proceedings of the Ascilite Conference, Singapore 2007.309-320

Note: Challenge WORKBOOK and Challenge FRAP was derived from a more complex piece of educational software called CHALLENGE (now discontinued). See the archive link opposite for details. The CHALLENGE suite has now been superceded by SBL Interactive.

Terry Stewart
11th December, 2007