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April 16, 1998 © Kontos, G., & Olmstead, P. M.

ARE YOU READY FOR ON-LINE INSTRUCTION?

George Kontos, EdD and Phyllis Olmstead, EdD

[email protected]          Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

[email protected]         Zayed University, P.O. Box 4783, Abu Dhabi, UAE

[email protected]     Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

INTRODUCTION

On-line curriculum can be tailored to fit the needs and styles of learners, instructors, and subject matter. An entire program, study guide, assignments, and participation or just one small component of the educational process may be placed on the web.

Electronic mail (e-mail), web forms, chatrooms, webboards, and websites are all excellent on-line teaching tools. Webboards, historical discussion forums, also facilitate student and faculty collaboration and cooperative learning.

PARTIAL OR TOTAL IMPLEMENTATION?

On-line instruction can be offered as an entire system or as a mere portion of a specific learning opportunity. Do we only e-mail assignments? Do we have all course materials and instructional activities on the Internet? Some on-line instructional tools include: e-mail, webpages, Internet videoteleconferencing, Internet audioteleconferencing, chatrooms, document sharing, whiteboards, webboards, file posting and retrieval, videophone. Webpages may include: Internet links, lecture notes, syllabi, assignments, forms, tests, graphics, slide shows, audio and/or video clips.

Sample Course Formats

In one case a course is facilitated at a local site by a tutor, instructed via audioteleconferencing by the professor, augmented by text materials, and has an on-line webpage to link to important resources on the Internet and to a webboard (Olmstead & Kontos, 1997, August 8). In this situation the professor has added on-line experiences to an on-site and teleconferencing class. The Internet links allow the professor to guide the students to resources that they might have otherwise missed.

Another application example is the implementation of a total on-line curriculum and learning environment. One system of total on-line learning is the use of a self-contained service that controls access, permissions, organizational structures of classes and permits the use of an almost unlimited array of distance education modalities with just one connection to the Internet. The instructor can post curricular materials to the entire class simultaneously, including internal links to the Internet. She or he can send personal e-mail to individuals or cohort groups, engage students in audio- and/or videoteleconference sessions, have text-based chats, use whiteboards, upload and download materials or assignments, and conduct on-line testing, all within the boundaries of one dial-up environment.

Some fully on-line courses are facilitated through the university’s or college’s own server. Other on-line courses are provided via professional server companies. These companies free the institution to teach instead of maintaining and supporting a network. One example of an on-line educational service is Embanet Corporation (1997). The service provides 24 hour access to private educational sites with full support and numerous instructional modalities within one learning environment.

Instructional Tools
E-mail permits asynchronous communication between students and faculty or between groups of students (Olmstead, 1997). Casual communication can often augment instruction and aid in social relationships within the learning group. Instruction can be transmitted via e-mail or as attachments to e-mail messages. Students may also transmit completed assignments or examinations to the professor via e-mail. Faculty can provide individual or group feedback using this tool.

Web forms allow instructors to gather data, assignments, or test students via the Internet. The instruments can be in the form of open-ended questions (short answer, completion, or essay), selected items (multiple-choice or true-false), fill-in-the-blank, or pull-down menu selections. Tests can be e-mailed to the instructor or can be gathered in a database and then retrieved. Objective exams can be hand-graded upon receipt or can be computer-graded upon submission by the student prior to delivery to the instructor (Olmstead, 1998).

Chatrooms permit professors to hold instructional or advisement sessions in real time with one or more students (Olmstead & Kontos, 1997). The conversations are in text form only, but can be augmented by a web browser. The faculty member or the student(s) may lead the other(s) through relevant websites. The conversations can be one-to-one (private chat), one-to-many (auditorium/lecture style), or many-to-many (open chat). Some programs allow the faculty member total control over student access and the use of chat features (moderator status).

The webboard, an historical asynchronous discussion tool, allows the student(s) and professor(s) to enrich each other’s learning experience with the exchange of additional information and links to websites. A webboard is set up in outline style with topics and subtopics. Students or faculty may post a topic and reply to topics previously posted. The historical nature of webboards allows late enrollees the benefit of all preceding discourse and archives previous content for future review.

Olmstead, P. M., & Kontos, G. (1997, August 8). Computer Science Education CSE 650: Computer Network Management. [Webpage]. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved March 3, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://fcae.nova.edu/gtep/cse/650

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