Computer-based alternatives in higher education--past, present and future

Many thousands of animals are still used annually in tertiary education despite efforts by enthusiastic teachers to reduce this number by developing and making available to their colleagues a range of alternatives. Technology-based alternatives which support replacement and reduction are at the forefront of these efforts. Persuading teachers to use them is critical and strategies to raise awareness and support the integration of the alternatives into teaching are described. Many of the existing computer-based alternatives were developed in the early 1990s and rapid changes in the technologies used to deliver them have rendered them difficult to use and in some cases obsolete despite the fact that their content and educational design are still valid. A project, using a learning object approach to development, which aims to preserve the content and educational design, improve the flexibilty of delivery and enable teachers to edit the content, is also described.