Master of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology)

This dissertation describes the evaluation and re-development of a web-based instructional courseware on Banking Secrecy. Banking Secrecy is a set of rules and regulations that constitute a section of the Banking Act established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The Banking Act was revised recently and it officially came into force on 20 July 2001.

The old version of the courseware was developed using Macromedia Director in 1999. In order to reflect the changes in the Banking Act in the area concerning Banking Secrecy, it was necessary to revise the contents of the courseware. MAS required all banking staff in Singapore to know the rules and regulations of Banking Secrecy. It is a serious offence to contravene Banking Secrecy rules such as divulging customers' information without prior consent from the customer concerned.

The Bank used CD-ROM and the Local Area Network (LAN) in our computer training rooms to deliver the old version of the courseware. One of the aims of this project was to examine the limitations of using these delivery methods. The report also looked at the advantages of delivering the courseware through the Bank's intranet, the challenges we encountered by doing it and how we overcame these challenges.

Surveys and interviews were conducted to determine the profile of the target audience and their skill gap.

The type of authoring tools to use, the learning strategies to apply and the evaluation methods to implement were also determined after performing the subject matter analysis. A team of subject matter experts, trainers and bank staff were identified to provide expert knowledge, support and advice for each of the tasks involved.

A project plan was created to show the tasks breakdown structure and major deliverables. Project risks were identified to make interim and contingency plans and a Gantt chart was produced to illustrate the project schedule and the critical path. The Training Manager wanted the new courseware to be completed and implemented by 31 October 2001.

An evaluation of the completed courseware was carried out by performing a user acceptance test while learner evaluation was performed using Kirkpatrick's model.