Proceedings of the Informatics Education Europe II Conference IEEII 2007 266 © South-East European Research Center (SEERC) Pedagogical Considerations in Courseware Development: Supporting School “Comeback” Thanos Hatziapostolou 1 , Iraklis Paraskakis 2 1 City College, 13 Tsimiski Str, Thessaloniki, Greece, a.hatziapostolou@city.academic.gr 2 SEERC, 17 Mitropoleos Str, Thessaloniki, Greece, iparaskakis@seerc.info Distance learning has reached a sufficient level of maturity that it has made it acceptable. Online teaching environments, multimedia educational systems and numerous forms of technology allow distance learners to engage in the learning process. However, adult students who are not very familiar with technology and have been away from school for many years may still experience difficulties especially during the beginning of their studies. This paper describes the design and development of courseware for an introductory course for a distance learning undergraduate computer science program. It discusses the pedagogical strategies and design decisions for providing sufficient and efficient support as well as instructional activities that can engage and motivate the novice learner. It proceeds by presenting the individual components of the courseware and how the design strategies were incorporated and finally it presents the architecture and technologies that were used for the development of the learning environment. Keywords Adult learning, distance learning, lifelong learning, courseware development 1. Introduction In today’s knowledge-based economy lifelong learning and continuous update of knowledge and skills is instrumental. One of the most established methods supporting lifelong learning is distance learning. Despite the advances in our understanding of distance learning as well as advances in ICT supporting and facilitating this mode of instruction, certain challenges, especially at learner’s start-up stage, still pertain. A recent study [1] that has been conducted at the Hellenic Open University (HOU) concerning student dropout rates and dropout causes of the distance learning undergraduate Computer Science programme, identified the following as primary challenges facing adult distance learning start-ups: 1. lack of time devoted to their studies 2. engaging back in the learning process 3. basic skills in using ICT HOU in its attempt to assist the students’ learning process decided to introduce a self- learning foundation course called ‘Introduction to Computer Science’ (PLH0). PLH0 comprises of numerous different components that deal with topics that are required by the HOU distance learning undergraduate CS programme. These topics range from simple use of ICT tools to essential problem solving skills, as well as, some basic mathematics. HOU also specified that the courseware material of the PLH0 foundation course had to adhere to the following requirements: