ABSTRACT
There are a number of approaches to building web-based courses. The author can build the course from the ground up with simple HTML and graphics tools, use some higher level course authoring tool, or use standard pre-designed templates.
The first approach is the most flexible but the most time intensive except perhaps when the author is an expert at the basic tools. The second approach is generally somewhat less flexible but can still provide excellent options to a novice author. The third approach is the least flexible but can still provide some flexibility while giving a standard look and feel across courses, educing development time. These approaches can be mixed.
At CCISM in Athabasca we have been implementing 17 web-based COMP courses over a three year period (ending September, 1998). Our COMP courses must be in electronic format to keep the material current and to embed course materials in an environment for electronic communications. Early on we decided that this approach would provide a good learning environment while reducing costs and development effort.
For the first generation of most courses we settled on a template that provided a standard 'look and feel' across courses and kept some of the structure found in our print-based courses. Our first formative evaluation showed students often print much of the electronic materials. We wanted to phase in web based courses for students used to paper-based courses.
The templates provide structures for study guides broken into units. Units are further broken into objectives and activities in a format very similar to our printed materials. There are also templates for assignments, exercises, and quizzes among other components of the courses.
Taking a breadth first approach allows us to get all our courses in electronic format in a short period of time and then enhance them with more complex designs and elaborate multimedia.
As part of standardizing the look and feel, we provide a common front-end (or cover page) to all our courses. The cover page is located on our server. Wherever feasible we use global files that are common across courses to reduce development time, ease maintenance and increase modularity. Global files also include a virtual help-desk connection which includes FAQs, hints on printing materials, and ergonomic advice.
As part of the standard cover page there is an authentication system that students must pass before they can down-load materials (see online course materials on the cover page). Students reduce their online time by down-loading their materials. Students simply click on the down-loaded file to install the course. The most recent version allows the student to install on any drive and also supports MAC's. A standard directory system across all courses allows us to have the large stable part of the course (including any large graphics or video) reside on the student's disk and the smaller dynamic standard part to reside centrally.
Faculty are experimenting on the down-loaded parts of individual courses, moving away from templates that are similar to print-based materials, in order to to shape the next generation of courses and tailor the learning environment for their needs.
This paper outlines in more detail the systems described above including issues in coordinating the development of courses with team members working at a distance.
Keywords: hypermedia design, collaboration, situated learning, distributed courseware
At the presentation at Fredericton we will focus on answering questions we have received by electronic mail and questions generated on site. We will assume the entire audience has read this paper. In keeping with the theme of WWWDEV this paper has been developed primarily for WEB delivery and will not be as effective in print.
Course development at Athabasca University (AU) occurs in the context of a systematic institutional approach to program and course planning, development, and quality control. This is the result of the systems approach required by what is commonly referred to as the "industrial" model of distance education, as well as AU's distinct mandate. A brief tour of the AU environment is in order to provide a context for the activities described in this paper.
Athabasca University was founded in 1970 as a traditional, undergraduate, campus-based university by an order-in-council of the Alberta government. As university enrollments plummeted in the early seventies, development of a residential university was halted. Instead in 1972 a pilot project was established to produce and test new learning systems, to apply technology, and to develop new procedures.
Athabasca University is dedicated to the removal of barriers that traditionally restrict access to and success in university-level studies and to increasing equality of educational opportunity for all adult Canadians regardless of their geographical location and prior academic credentials. This translates into a mandate for "the provision of accessible, high-quality, individualized, distance-delivered university education and accreditation, and training."
This model was implemented through a system of high-quality print-based course packages developed in-house and supported by telephone tutoring. In practical terms this meant students working independently, setting their own deadlines within the course contract term, telephoning their tutors as required, sending assignments by mail, and writing proctored final examinations. A limited amount of face-to-face teaching was also done at AU's regional centres and at selected collaborating institutions.
Athabasca University currently offers undergraduate degrees, university certificates, and 2 graduate degrees. The university currently has approximately 12,000 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students accounting for about 25,000 registrations per year in approximately 400 courses. These numbers for July 1 1996 to June 30 1997.
Individual academics and professionals at AU have been investigating and prototyping computer mediated course delivery and support since the mid-80s. Several detailed and comprehensive proposals for "electronic interfaces" to AU were made during the late 80s and early 90s, and a number of "one-off" systems were put in place during this time. CCISM implemented its first online course in 1991, supporting delivery with computer conferencing, email, and file transfers. An online system was also used to automate quizzes in this and several other courses.
It was not until 1995, however, that a change in administration resulted in the recognition that information and networking technologies were likely to change forever the face of distance education, and that institutional planning for computer-mediated course delivery and support was a high institutional priority. Academic and service departments were mandated to plan for the transition from predominantly print-based curricula to curricula presented in electronic format, print format, or both, depending on the appropriateness of the medium.
The Centre for Computing Information Systems and Mathematics CCISM) offers three programmes (the University Certificate in Information Systems, a B.A. in Information Systems, and a B.Sc. in Computing and Information Systems (CIS). All of the programs have a more applied focus that a Computing Science curriculum. There are 161 students in Certificate, 226 students in B.Sc. and 27 students in BA's and about 1200 course registrations per year. There are a number of non-program students.
Three years ago we decided to migrate our materials to electronic format for world wide web (WWW) delivery. We took this approach approach for three reasons.
Course development for distance education separates product and process - courses are seen as products that are one component of the system. Course packages persist over a number of offerings of the actual course. The course author is often not the tutor. Certain economies of scale come into play - distance education, within limits, becomes more cost-effective with larger numbers of users.Course development for distance education is systematic by necessity involving many kinds of expertise. Distance education consists of subject matter provided through media and delivered by technology. While there are subject matter experts who have both instructional design skills and knowledge of technology, these three areas of expertise are generally provided by different specialist individuals or groups.
Course development at AU is a seven-phase process designed to ensure adherence to institutional and program priorities, and to facilitate resource planning (academic and support), and quality control. The phases in the course development process are: Institutional planning. Program planning. Detailed course proposal. Course development. Course delivery. Evaluation. Revision. Phase 3, the detailed course proposal is of critical importance. This document, generally written by the course coordinator (faculty member responsible for the course), specifies not only the subject matter content and structure, but also how the course will be delivered and the institutional resources required. Other faculty review this document for academic concerns, administrators for institutional issues, and service departments for resource requirements. Actual course development proceeds only when all parties are satisfied with the proposal.
Course development at AU is also a team process, with resources supplied jointly by the academic centre and the Educational Technology Group. For low enrollment courses the team will consist of the course coordinator and/or the subject matter expert, and an editor who generally coordinates the production schedule. The services of instructional designers and visual designers are also available. The course team for WEB-based course development involves significantly more people and expertise.
There are a number of approaches to building web-based courses. The author can build the course from the ground up with simple HTML and graphics tools, use some higher level course authoring tool for developing Web instructional materials, or use standard pre-designed templates The first approach is the most flexible but the most time intensive except perhaps when the author is an expert at the basic tools. The second approach is generally somewhat less flexible but can still provide excellent options to a novice author. The third approach is the least flexible but can still provide some flexibility while giving a standard look and feel across courses and reducing development time. Obviously these approaches can be mixed.
For the first generation of most courses we settled on a template template that maintained provided a standard 'look and feel' across courses and kept some of the structure found in our print-based courses. We wanted to phase in web based courses for students used to paper-based courses so that our basic templates were modelled very much on our printed materials. For example we kept our basic format of a study guide divided into units and sections with objectives within each section. Having made that decision we then refined that look and feel on the basis of feedback from an editor, an instructional designer, two students, the course author, and the HTML designer. We tested that model in several informal and one formal field-test evaluation. Although the basic design was not perfect, there were few complaints from students and we decided to expedite the conversions to electronic using the first course as a model for the template. We iteratively refined the template with each successive course. We adopted a breadth first strategy of rapidly get all our courses into a relatively simple and standard format and linked to institutional systems. We are now entering a second phase to experiment with new designs and to add more advanced technology such as Java and video.
As part of standardizing the look and feel, we provide a common front-end (or cover page) to all our courses. The cover page is located on our server. Within the frame for each course where possible we use global files that are common across courses to reduce development time, ease maintenance and increase modularity. These files include hints on reading courses and general information on services such as the library. The icon links in the border of the cover page include links to other cross course resources including a virtual help-desk (with resources and FAQ's), and a generic Resources in Distance Education (RIDE) page. A student author was instrumental in the development of the standard cover page. In the future we envision replacing making the cover page generic for all courses with a single cover.htm file. Within that cover page each student will find a individualized table of courses based on the the course they are enrolled in along with other individualized materials (see Future Developments).
Along with the common cover page we wanted to make the bulk of materials so that students could down-load them to their local computer reducing their ISP connect time. At the same time we wanted to maintain links to some centrally located files such as the virtual helpdesk, computer conferencing, and smaller parts of the course that are likely to be revised frequently. Given this task one of our student authors developed a system using a commercial search and replace tool (SR), a small C program, and the use of some html features that allowed us to pack our courses and let the student install them locally while maintaining links to the central site. As well as developing the process, the student prepared documentation and trains central staff.
Students reduce their online time by down-loading their materials. Students simply click on the down-loaded file to install the course. The most recent version allows the student to install on any drive and also supports MAC's. This system along with a standard directory system across all courses allows us to have the large stable part of the course (including any large graphics or video) reside on the student's disk and the smaller dynamic standard part to reside centrally.
An other student setup as part of the standard cover page there is an authentication system. Students must pass this system before they can down-load materials. With the help of our central Ed-Tech department this systems is set up to validate with the central student record system. The student can connect to Athabasca University pages maintained by the Educational Technology Group and pay by visa over the WWW and later the same day could down-load the course materials.
Obviously the entire development process is a team effort with team members living from Northern British Columbia to Winnipeg, Manitoba. We maintain pages devoted to project management and manage the geographically disperse teams by computer conferencing
After paying by credit card the student can immediately down-load the course materials. The quality of those materials is very important. Thus a critical aspect for both development and delivery is the field testing of courses. The first course evaluation with a small number of students was taken into consideration in the design of the templates and the development of subsequent courses. We are entering a second round of course development and evaluation will remain an important part of the process. In fact we are currently involved in a national research network to evaluate our courses in other settings. An important aspect of course delivery is having the support for student users set-up ahead of time. Miscellaneous items such hints on printing materials and tips on ergonomics can help prevent problems. The virtual helpdesk manned by students provides resources, FAQ's, chat, and email support to other students. Senior COMP students have help-desk evening hours in a "chat" facility where students requiring help can talk interactively. The virtual helpdesk staff also respond to electronic mail. At the present time there is no course related support by other students as supplied by the peer support system at University of Saskatchewan. but we are investigating this in terms of our tutors . With conversions the tutor work has changed from a three block of telephone contact to ongoing email and conference contact. Tutors are provided the new orientation by tutor guidelines.
Along with the virtual helpdesk students from across Canada participate in the development of our programme in a number of ways that help both the students and the program. A number of student projects have databases for images, laid ground work for courses designed a MOO, developed a shared workspace system taught mapping to college students, explored object oriented design for the WWW, and in one case two students created the initial virtual helpdesk pages. Students have been involved in field-testing courses in and we would like to expand their involvement in field-testing in a more formal way. Students have also been significantly involved in the teams development of courses from coding HTML, writing cgi-bin programs, developing HTML standards and file naming conventions, and developing the packing procedures.
The student involvement exemplifies "emergent benefits" that cannot be predicted when switching to a new media. Such benefits as community building, and work experience occur at a different level of analysis than course specific objectives.
Future Developments The next iteration of WEB-based course development in CCISM is occurring. Several general considerations governed the design choices for aspects of course design, development, and delivery for the next generation.
CCISM's first WEB-based courses were HTML adaptations of the print-based course structure in use at AU. These HTML template made it possible to quickly put the CCISM curriculum online. Although evaluations to date have been positive we are now exploring different approaches to structure and organization that will take more advantage of the electronic media.
Although much has been written about hypermedia and hypertext and their potential benefits, very few attempts have been made to present or develop methodologies by which such media may be designed and organized. Investigations into the structure of instructional text led to the structured writing methodology developed in the 1960s by Robert Horn and collaborators (Horn, 1989)as a more effective way of authoring technical documentation and training materials. Structured writing procedures and techniques appear at this time to offer a comprehensive and powerful way of attacking the problems of structure and organization in educational materials. The basic component of structured writing is the information block that is a reader-focused unit of basic or core parts of a subject matter, and is itself part of a larger structure of organization called an information map.
Information technology is only the latest in a long history of technologies and media to be applied to education. The effectiveness of distance education courses is determined by a large number of factors: the student, the presentation of the subject matter, and the educational setting, all contribute variables that determine outcomes. While it may be unlikely that the choice of media or technology will greatly influence educational outcomes across all subject domains, the electronic media supports situated learning and collaborative learning underlying much of IS technology. (See also earlier comments on emergent benefits in the section on student participation).
Without the proper design and methodology (such as template models) the resources required to produce WEB-based courses are significantly greater than for print-based courses. This factor encourages object oriented approaches including the re-use of material across courses and for course revisions and upgrades. Modularity allows the substitution of case study components based on specific learner audience. Flexibility allows the same set of basic materials to be used in a variety of intended settings: individual home study (asynchronous), electronic seminar (synchronous components), as well as in support of face-to-face delivery. Good design will separate content and structure.
Information blocks need information maps to provide structure. Hypertext in itself is not instructional, and navigation is the primary source of complaints in hypermedia systems. Hyper-media courses involve the development and management of a variety of resources - text, images, video, audio and software. Object oriented approaches supply design tools and underlying database technology for various media.
Although there are articles exploring evaluation on the web , we feel that three main points are generally overlooked.
One course project led by Van Duren currently underway represents most aspects of the new generation of courses. COMP361: Systems Analysis and Design is a core course in the Information Systems curriculum as well as in related professional certification programs such as accountancy. The course was originally developed for print and telephone communications, but had lately been supported extensively through email and file transfers.
The required content revision facilitated the parallel revision of the delivery mode to adjust to the obvious realities of teaching computing and information systems in the current technological environment. Course materials were specifically developed for a hypermedia environment, and the course includes several software components. Internet access is no longer optional, but is required for a number of activities. Asynchronous conferencing will be a feature of both the self-paced home study version and the paced ("electronic seminar") version, while the latter will include team work on projects. Currently the course is "wrapped around" a textbook, but the structure is designed to allow a shift to other resources as they become available.
As with many others we will be incorporating more JAVA technology into our pages including in a senior course in Java that incorporates aspects of COMP361 and will open in January, 1998. To meet the national research network objectives this course is being designed to be offered in a variety of educational settings suiting several purposes. The course will be offered in unpaced-paced home delivery and also paced to students at a collaborating college. Modules of the course will be offered to private industry.
Java is also being used to develop a distributed system for keeping students local pages current in regard to central posted errata. In a related development we are aiming is to combine basic techniques from intelligent tutoring systems in regard to student modelling with object oriented design concepts to create individualized pages for each student. Within the generic cover page frame, programs will create menus of course that the student is enrolled in along with updated external links related to the students academic interests. The dynamic pages will be created using AI techniques with an object oriented database used for storage of components (paper under development by Holt and Shata).
This table provides on-line readers with a summary of links by section in the paper. To access the information, simply click on the appropriate highlighted text on the right-hand side of the table.
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This list provides links for readers of the printed paper.
Horn, Robert. Mapping Hypertext: Analysis, Linkage, and display of knowledge for the next generation of on-line text and graphics. Lexington MA: The Lexington Institute, 1989.
Peter Holt, Charles Van Duren, Karen Stauffer, Richard Bradley, Jane Gismondi, et al.
CCISM,
Athabasca U.,
Box 10000,
Athabasca AB.
T0G 2R0
VOICE 403675-6225
FAX 4036756186
holt@cs.athabascau.ca
http://ccism.pc.athabascau.ca
©,1997. The authors, Peter Holt, Charles van
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