Systematic Approach of World Wide Web

Getting your course onto the gentlemans gentleman Wide vane (WWW) is best done exploitation a systematic approach. There atomic number 18 a number of steps that demand to be taken front to starting slightly(prenominal) of the actual network stool. Meetings should be held with various collections in spite of appearance your institution. Once the actual coursework is begun, at that adorn atomic number 18 whatever essential components and some optional components. There are item skills and talents that you either need to make headway or you need to portal. Each blade-based course is unique, more(prenominal)over they a great deal father legion(predicate) components in common. whatever are essential, others whitethorn be optional. Resources plunder be found on your campus, from the m any wind vane companies and from the tissue itself.World Wide Web, WWW, Distance didactics, HTML, Web-Based InstructionThe number of score credit courses uncommitted on the Worl d Wide Web (WWW) has increased at the equal astonishing rate as other activities on the WWW. There are some specific steps that laughingstock be taken that exit function to transport the professor from the idea stage to the address of a course over the WWW. Also, just like any other educational technology, web-based pedagogy works better for some situations than others. Web-based instruction is giveful when you requi station to create a virtual environment which is not easily or, perhaps, safely admission chargeible. An example is sending learners to a virtual nuclear lab or on a virtual tour of the Louver in Paris.Web-based instruction it on the wholeows learners to gain knowledge and skill more effectively than traditional methods. alone transferring material such as rag notes to the web is not using the technology to its best advantage. Lengthy schoolbook such as lecture notes are, in fact, best printed beca using up most learners experience eye strain and afferent dis sideline reading long passages of schoolbook on a screen. Some specific situations melt to lend themselves to web-based instruction.You indirect request to encourage communication through and through conferencing. Through net conferencing learners whitethorn participate in treations or group work with one another with or without the participation of the instructor. Role plays, simulations of historic events and confers are besides examples of how training cornerstone be facilitated through the conferencing option.You privation learners to use source documents to complete assignments such as conducting an synopsis or designing a project. These source documents may not be promptly avail able-bodied to learners or perhaps, based on the assignment, result not be equ in ally significant to all the learners.For example, you may ask learners to look for and prove issues pertaining to Canadian elections. To complete the assignment, various learners may access archived training such as newspaper and journal articles which specifically relate to their particular interest or blossom of view.One example is a locate operated by the University of Victoria (http//web.uvic.ca/history robinson/index.html) which contains letters, maps, biographies and newspaper articles close the murder of William Robinson committed on Saltspring Island in 1868. The information at the land site allows learners and the public to pursue their search as they please and to access original documents which are not in general available. Individuals are free to interpret the meaning of the documents and r apiece their profess conclusions.You want to provide maximum flexibility to allow learners to undertake learning and research in the order which best suits them. Because the web allows learners to move around at ordain, they do not need to follow a structured hierarchy. in the main learners need and want some direction but the web allows a more flexible approach.You wan t learners to pool data and/or analysis to find patterns and trends or to undertake further study.For a starting spirit level and to keep us on track in this paper, I leave alone dissertate degree credit courses delivered by the University of New Brunswick. I entrust assume that for your case there is ready WWW web access for the professor as well as web access for students. Again, for consistency, I expect my students to occupy at least Netscape 3 (or its equivalent), their own internet proceeds provider (ISP), and the skills necessary to access the WWW. These are my starting points but most concepts discussed ordain transfer across institutional lines.There a number of things that you should do before you begin to do any secret writing, detection or late night com ensnareer hacking. There are showdowns to setup, there is paper work to be done and decisions to be made. Then, and only then, do you get to play with the computer.I would advise that you consider the followin g brushs as part of your endeavors. They allow for religious service you set the ground rules, help you lift some of the mine-fields, and start you off on a operative consanguinity with groups that can be either wonderful allies or redoubtable combatants, and hopefully help keep you on track as you work towards a finished product.6.2.1 Your initial meeting with your own sectionI feel it is imperative for any relationship you and your delivering agency ( segment of Extension, Continuing Education or University of the World) to start with a good relationship with your own department.In this meeting you may need to get the approval of the supervisors of your department to be able to deliver in something other than the traditional grimace to face, on campus mode. Those in authority may do to guarantee the academic support for some period after the first start of pitch of the course (at UNB, the period is three years).At the University of New Brunswick, instructors delivering c ourses through the Department of Extension are recommended by the faculties. This is something you might also wish to discuss with your own department at this time. It is often assumed that the person(s) developing a course will be the one(s) that wish to teach the course and the one(s) that the cleverness will appoint to teach the course. This is not alship canal the case.You should also discuss possible sources of help for the training of your course. There are times when requital relief may be available from various sources. There may also be funds available from other agencies.6.2.2 Your first meeting with your delivering agencyHaving gained the approval of your faculty, you should next meet with your delivering agency. In this meeting, you should discuss the ways that they can help you in the development of your course. They may also fortune with you what they know about possible funding sources.As Web-based learning is various from regular opposite lecture learning, they w ill want you to make use of good instructional design methodologies. This is often an playing area where they can help. present are some items you may wish to discuss at that meetinga. possible methods of web-based delivery for your course,b. method of payment to the instructor,c. ancillary support materials and their delivery to the students,d. how the materials, assignments, marks and communications flow between partiesg. on-going obstructionpoint meetings with your delivering agency.At regularly schedule intervals, you should meet with your delivering agency as they will wish to monitor the development of the course. Your delivering agency should be understanding with you to* keep abreast of your time lines. They need this to be able to best market your course and to see that it ingests the coverage it deserves,* escort the consistency of an Academia look and feel* ensure the consistency of any standards for web-based courseware development (for an example, please see http/ /www.unb.ca/home/webinfo/guide.html)* keep abreast of your necessitate and successes.These meetings are intended to insure the standards and formats consistent with the delivery of your institutes courses, and should in no way be an attempt to interfere with your teaching.There is an ongoing debate as to whether one should do all or some of the web work oneself, or if the work should be logical argumentbed out. I enjoy working with the web, I have instructional design training and have been mingled in courseware development for quite a fewer years and so, as long as I have more time than fiscal resources, I will do the work myself. There are many very good professional agencies that can be contracted to work courseware for you. These agencies can be contracted to do a wide fly the coop of the jobs necessary to complete any type of web-based application. There are probably agencies within your institution who specialize in instructional design and courseware development. These units should be consulted. For certain areas of the development that you do yourself, you will need some specific skills.You will need to be very familiar with these or will need access to people who are and can do these aspects of the job for you.7.1.1.1 HyperText Markup Language HTMLStands for HyperText Markup Language, and on a scale of one to ten, learning the basics of HTML is about a three. The web is a dandy resource (see the Resource list below), and there are a embarrassment of good books on the subject. I keep the most current variant of Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML in a calendar week by Laura Lemay near my computer. As with all aspects of the WWW, the print support is changing constantly, but the most recent edition is usually the best.Again, there a large number of excellent resources and my favorite is Jerry Kemps The Instructional Design exercise (New York Harper & Row, 1985). It is however, out of print, and this is one case where I do infer the ne xt edition was not as good as the first. some other good choice is, Robert Branchs Common Instructional Design Practices Employed by Secondary School Teachers, Educational Technology, 34, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ Educational Technology Publications, 1995).The more familiar you become with HTML, the more you will be able to grow your courses web site. This can be a good thing, and it can also be not so good. Adding components and extra bells and whistles to your web site should be done as a conscious choice to support your educational objectives and not just because the bells and whistles are there.Stands for Common Gateway Interface and is the coding that allows the information collected from forms on webs sites to be manipulated. This can be as simple as allowing students to send specific assignments to you, or can be as elaborate as on-line registration.Every Web-delivered course will have a number of components. These will vary depending upon your needs, your style and the degree of interactivity in the course. There are some components that should be part of your site, in order to make the course appealing to your customer. I feel that some components of a web-based course are essential and others are optional.These can be divided into static and dynamic.These components change very little. They can be put on your web site and only updated as needed.This will often come directly from your University calendar.This can be as informal or as formal as you like. What kind of first impression do you wish to make? How much do you wish to add? Do you wish to link to your own personal Web site (if you have one)?Again, this can often come from your university calendar. It is always a good point to specify any particular computing hardware, software product or skills that will be required for students to be able to take your course. here(predicate) is a nice place to put a scanned cover of the text along with the ISBN, the publisher and all of the information needed for your potential students to acquire this text. Here is a good place to put a link to your institutes bookshop assuming it has a web site.This is where you put as much information as you can about how students can reach you. Will you have office hours? Virtual office hours? Can they reach you via Email? How do they reach each other? Is there a listserv, a right server?Students all seem to want to know what they have to do to get a mark. This is a good place to tell them about assignments, quizzes, mid-terms and finals, and any other expectations you have of them.These components may change often. They might be updated, or supplemented once a week or every few days.This gets used much more in the first part of the class. As the class gets into it this seems to be used less frequently.These can be hardened on the web site before the class begins for all assignments, or can become readable at given times or as new assignments are given.These are the actual components of the web s ite that allow interactivity in the course. The real power of the WWW is global communication. And this is what makes web-based courses so exciting. Your courses communications may include any number of the followingThese use standard Email to allow all members of the class to send and receive messages from any other member of the class, including the instructor. Messages are automatically sent to all of the individuals personal Email addresses.These are places where people can interact. Student-to-student, student-to- instructor and teacher-to-student or teacher to the entire class. These are sections on the web that students go to and are able to read messages and participate in on-line, asynchronous conversations.7.2.1.2.6 Interactive real time bipartite audio or movieThere are numerous pieces of software available now that allow desktop two-way video and audio. These tend to require very high bandwidth, and because they are real-time they require the participating parties to a ll be on the web at the same time.This is a place where your marking scheme can be listed. It is also a place where you can post marks or assignments in (if you have a secure server that only your class can access).As each week progresses, or just prior to each weeks work, students may need to have the equivalent of lecture notes to supplement what is covered in the text book, or what has been assigned on the web. Some web software will allow you to put the all the notes on the web site and as certain dates arrive, students then have access to the notes.These may be essential, depending upon your requirements.These may be as sound files (.WAV or .AU), audio streaming (Real Audio, Soundstream, Shockwave) or MIDI files.These may be as animated .GIFs, QuickTime, Shockwave or coffee berry applications.7.2.2.3 Quizzes, especially self-correcting quizzesThese may be as part of a web educational software (WebCT) or can be developed by yourself or your institution.These may be as included as text pages or may be referenced to other sites. This is one area where right of first publication can really come into play. The cost of clearing copyright on a set of Harvard business case studies can be out of the question.These may be as QuickTime video or may be done with the new Real Video that allows real-time video streaming.These will allow you to maintain and provide access to databases over the web.These may be as simple as step-by-step instructions for any topic with branching provided to additional sites. They can also be we well-informed tutorials with on-line interactive testing.An open server will allow anyone, anyplace on the web to access your information.A secure server will only allow persons with some type of authorization code to access your information.(This list does not constitute an endorsement on anyones part. These resources are a jumping off points to help you get your course on the web.) occupy do not overlook the many resources on your own campus. This site has links to courses, resources, helper sites that aid you in choosing which type and format of media to use, sites that check your HTML for errors or idiosyncrasies, and much more.http//www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/resources.html8.2 Conferences, on-line or face to faceNAWeb 98 The Virtual Campus (October 3-6, 1998). This international conference is in its fourth year. It is intended solo for those developing courseware for delivery on the WWW or for those delivering courseware over the WWW.http//www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/naweb98/8.3 Books, listservs and associationsBadrul Khans Web-Based Instruction (Englewood Cliffs, NJ Educational Technology Publications, 1997) is quite good.I master of ceremonies the WWWDEV listserv. This listserv forcess the NAWeb conferences, and has 1400 members from around the world developing for delivery over the WWW or actually delivering courseware over the WWW.The DEOSNEWS listserv is involved in all aspects of distance education. You can join that one by sending this messageDEOS-L is a serving provided to the Distance Education community by The American Center for the discipline of Distance Education, The Pennsylvania State University. Opinions expressed are those of DEOS-L subscribers, and do not constitute endorsement of any opinion, product, or service by ACSDE or Penn State.The Canadian Association for Distance Education (CADE) can often helpThe Association for Media and Technology in Education Canada (AMTEC) is another favorite of mine. use of goods and services every and any resource you can. Join groups for support, and support others in connatural projects. This is a rapidly emerging field, and it is evolving and growing just as exuberant as it is emerging.Here is where you add ideas you pick up at the conference.This site has links to courses, resources, helper sites that aid you in choosing which type and format of media to use, sites that check your HTML for errors or idiosyncrasies, and much more.http//www.u nb.ca/web/wwwdev/resources.html8.2 Conferences, on-line or face-to-faceNAWeb 98 The Virtual Campus (October 3-6, 1998). This international conference is in its fourth year. It is intended altogether for those developing courseware for delivery on the WWW or for those delivering courseware over the WWW.http//www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/naweb98/8.3 Books, listservs and associationsBadrul Khans Web-Based Instruction (Englewood Cliffs, NJ Educational Technology Publications, 1997) is quite good.I host the WWWDEV listserv. This listserv hosts the NAWeb conferences, and has 1400 members from around the world developing for delivery over the WWW or actually delivering courseware over the WWW.The DEOSNEWS listserv is involved in all aspects of distance education. You can join that one by sending this messageDEOS-L is a service provided to the Distance Education community by The American Center for the mull over of Distance Education, The Pennsylvania State University. Opinions expressed are t hose of DEOS-L subscribers, and do not constitute endorsement of any opinion, product, or service by ACSDE or Penn State.The Canadian Association for Distance Education (CADE) can often helpThe Association for Media and Technology in Education Canada (AMTEC) is another favorite of mine. use every and any resource you can. Join groups for support, and support others in sympathetic projects. This is a rapidly emerging field, and it is evolving and growing just as dissolute as it is emerging.Here is where you add ideas you pick up at the conference.