A given structure of course materials can be used by the instructor and students in many different ways. This discussion will consider some of the options that are available. It will look, first, at several categories of course components and some of the ways these components can be used. Then, it will look at the particular choices that an instructor might make in order to teach a particular type of course, such as a distant learning course.
Options for Components
One of the two basic concepts on which this course rests is that it can be delivered by the instructor and taken by the students almost entirely on-line. However, this approach presumes that substantial technical resources are available, both inside and outside the classroom, and that institutional policies and procedures support this mode of instruction. These conditions may not always exist. Even if they do, individual instructors may not elect to use some on-line components because of personal preferences. Thus, while we have made every effort to enable instructors to teach the course entirely on-line, they should realize that they have considerable flexibility in deciding which materials to present on-line and which to present in some other way or not at all.The discussions that follow outline some of the choices that can be made for four categories of materials. They will make frequent references to the section on organization.
Administrative and Other Handouts
Several course pages are similar to the kinds of materials that are normally handed out prior to, at the beginning of, or during a conventional course. They include an abstract, course description, schedule, assignments, and exams. The big advantage of the on-line versions of these materials is that they are always available and, thus, students' cannot lose them. The one form of information that is probably best distributed in printed form is exams, although they may also be posted on-line after all students have taken them.If the instructor does not wish to use the on-line versions, he or she may print them in HTML formatted form or save the HTML versions in a file and reformat them to suit the instructor's taste.
Resources
Resources refers to the discussions of technical topics, such as Perl's CGI facilities or Java Events. Many include samples of computer code that can be executed through a Web browser as well as read. All of these pages are suitable for use in class as visual lecture material, analogous to slides or overhead transparencies. However, this use requires that the classroom have Internet access and some form of computer display whereby students can see the materials as the instructor discussing them.If the instructor cannot or does not wish to use these materials for in-class lectures, they can be used in several ways out of class. They can serve as out of class reading assignments. Since they can be easily updated, their flexibility offers several advantages over conventional textbooks. Out of class use would be particularly appropriate for distant learning courses that do not include a scheduled lecture. Like the on-line "handouts," resource pages can be printed and distributed, but this is not recommended.
Student/Project Pages
The on-line version of the course includes a student page that lists each student enrolled in the course and links to their respective coursepages where they present their course work. A similar list of projects and project pages can be included if the course includes team projects as a requirement. As a result, student work is accessible on-line by both instructor and by other students.There are two advantages to this organization. First, it greatly simplifies the job of grading course work. The instructor (and/or teaching assistant) does not have to collect and manage student assignments. Instead, he or she can view assignments, including executing code, through a browser. This is especially helpful for students taking the course from a distance. Second, students can learn from one another. After an assignment due date has passed, they can review other approaches to a problem or see presentations of other projects. However, this requires a strong honor code tradition. If this is a problem, some classes may elect not to put student work on-line at all or not until after all participants have turned in a hard copy version to document the student's or team's completion of the assignment.
On-line Tools
On-line tools include forums, chatrooms, and search engines; other tools may be added as they become available and prove their usefulness. The forum is especially helpful not just as a vehicle for asynchronously posing questions and receiving answer but as a repository for shared knowledge developed by the group during the course. The chatroom supports a form of synchronous communication. Currently, the chatroom is especially well-suited for distant learning courses or conventional courses that use scheduled sessions, such as question and answer sessions with the instructor or teaching assistant. It may be replaced in the future by tools that support auditory conversation, such as netphone or netmeeting tools. Search engines provide access to course pages through keyword search. A class search engine has an advantage over the standard services, such as Altavista, in their restriction to just class materials.The primary limitation on use of on-line tools is likely to be availability of resources. The course must have access to sufficient computing power to support them. However, some instructors may view them as a distraction. That has not been the author's experience, but if the instructor wishes, they may be omitted from class materials.
Types of Courses
In the preceding discussion, use of materials was discussed by category of component. Here, the discussion will briefly summarize particular patterns of use that may be appropriate for several types of classes.On-line
Throughout this manual, the discussion has emphasized resources available for classes trying to maximize on-line access. These include full use of on-line administrative and "hand-out" materials, lecturing in class from on-line resources, inclusion of student and project lists with accompanying student and project pages for individual work, and extensive use of on-line tools. Indeed, this is the presumed format of the course, as it was designed.Distant Learning
There are a number of variations on distant learning formats. The on-line version of the course is well-suited for most. Since students either are not on-campus or include a mix of both on- and off-campus participants, having most of the material on-line simplifies coordination and communication. If the course does not include a scheduled lecture, use of forums and scheduled chat sessions can enhance instructor-student and student-student interaction. If the course does include a scheduled lecture, the on-line lecture materials can be used conventionally during the lecture. These sessions are likely to be supported through some form of video conferencing. In the past, this has required special high bandwidth resources. In the near future, much lower cost Internet-based tools may enable students at remote locations to follow a lecturer' s browser and see/hear the lecture through low-bandwidth streaming audio/video facilities. Having course materials available on-line through the Web will greatly facilitate this form of distant learning.Off-line
At the opposite end of the spectrum from the on-line and distant learning versions of the course is the off-line version. This is not, of course, the intended mode of use, but showing how the course materials could be used to advantage for such an offering illustrates the flexibility of the materials.The instructor would make maximum use of handouts, including all exams and assignments. These would be printed directly from the HTML formatted pages supplied with the course. Students would not present their work on-line, either individually or a teams, but they would read resource discussions on-line prior to the lecture. No use of on-line materials would be made during the lecture. And no on-line tools would be used. Thus, in this version, course materials would function like a conventional textbook, but include handouts that can be printed and/or modified for distribution.
Field of Choices
The on-line and off-line versions of the course represent opposite ends of a spectrum. There are numerous possible uses of materials between these two extremes. For example, an instructor may wish to take advantage of all of the on-line options except for students' presenting their work on-line. The important point is for the instructor to recognize the flexibility he or she has and to tailor the course materials to his or her needs and preferences.