Presented at the World Conference of the Web Society, October 16-19, 1996, San Francisco, California.

Use of the Web as a Tool for Interactive Learning

Eugene S. Takle and Michael R. Taber
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011

1.Introduction

Eli M. Noam (1995) asserts that the university as we know it has outlived its usefulness and that traditional university functions, such as a repository for information and a meeting place for scholars, are rapidly being taken over by other institutions (e.g., websites and professional societies, respectively). A third function, transmission of information, which includes the teaching role, also is likely to be partly supplanted by electronic alternatives. This change comes not necessarily on the basis of superior methods but, rather, due to lower costs. Traditional classes that simply involve transfer of information will be the first to be replaced, leaving primarily contact-intensive programs as survivors in university residence curricula. Although these assertions are highly speculative, they have an element of credibility.

The student clientele also has changed and will continue to change. A higher percentage of students seeking university level courses will prefer to receive courses outside the traditional campus classroom and outside the weekday, daytime class schedule. Some will want to move at a pace other than that typical of the conventional university term. Even traditional students, having a broader selection of course options, likely will avail themselves of alternative course offerings. Furthermore, students enrolling in college courses will have more variable academic backgrounds and may not have the expected prerequisite courses.

Finally, as developing countries enter the information age and recognize the need to learn the latest technologies, they will create a new market for US higher education offerings, an opportunity likely not to be overlooked by university administrative officers seeking new sources of revenue.

We are developing an Internet-based course with goals of both scalability and asynchronous delivery, while maintaining a level of personal contact typical of a class of 50 students. Student-centered web-interactive exercises challenge the student to use and interpret current environmental data. We assert that the Internet offers unique possibilities for addressing university strategic goals while offering flexibility and scalability to our teaching.


2. Global Change Course

We have experimented with the world-wide web as a platform for a course on Global Change. The course has evolved from a conventional 3-hour-per-week lecture course with hand-outs and writing assignments to one in which we have attempted to preserve desirable features of the conventional course and add web-based capabilities. The course has a homepage (URL: http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gcp/gcp.html) which contains a syllabus summary, each item of which can be pulled up with a mouse click. These include links to course information and grading, schedule of lectures, list of students enrolled with e-mail addresses, required reading, reference lists, student assignments, other related homepages, recent pertinent news releases, a forum for student-with-student and student-with-expert dialog, information on national and international global-change meetings, a forum for exchanging ideas about teaching on the web, and a panic button for navigational help. Some highlights of this technique are described in the following sections.


3. Course Objectives

The course begins with a survey of observed evidence that our environment is changing on global scales. After a brief survey of global atmospheric circulation patterns, the course addresses issues in atmospheric chemistry, stratospheric ozone, global warming, deforestation, and desertification. Patterns of population growth and energy consumption are described, and implications of global change for plant physiology, landuse characteristics, and agriculture are discussed. Finally, the course considers the economic, societal, and public policy implications of these changes. A key objective of the course is to demonstrate the interconnectedness of components of the earth system. A second objective is to instill in literature on global-change issues. A third objective is to engage students in dialog among themselves and with outside experts on the economic, social, political, and ethical implications of these changes.


4. Information Retrieval

Ability to access to a wide range of imagery and time-sensitive material in real time is perhaps the most powerful feature of the world-wide web. Harland Cleveland (1985) pointed out that information is a resource like oil or gold and that by accumulating and effectively using it (i.e., extracting knowledge from it in the case of information), a person, group, or nation can gain a competitive advantage. Unlike oil or gold, however, information is a leaky resource that cannot be contained, and its value changes with time and general availability. The Internet has made Cleveland's observation even more evident. The capability to quickly accumulate and process information and extract knowledge are at the core of the educational process. The web, together with the computer, bring new speed and functionality to data processing and information passing, which facilitates the creation of new knowledge.

The course uses the Internet to link to a wide variety of sources of information. These include time-sensitive databases such as current global weather patterns, sea-surface temperatures, stratospheric ozone measurements, and vegetation indices. Others include conference information (e.g., homepage for the UN Conference on Population and Development), authoritative modules assembled by government laboratories (El Nino modules of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory), and other information normally found in textbooks, but also available on the Web (e.g., geographic maps, instructions on reading weather maps). The disposition of students to learn a concept increases if use is made of current data. We have tried where possible to use current data in pre-lecture activities to help the student to develop an experiential base and in post-lecture activities to demonstrate principles discussed in the lecture.

Transcripts of the lectures, (including visuals) are posted for later review by students. In a future expansion, we intend to supplement the text and images with audio.

We have established a link to the Parks Library at Iowa State University from which student are able to search all the library resources on the campus and link to other on-line library resources.


5. Electronic Dialog

A capability that adds a unique dimension to Internet courses is an electronic dialog that enables students and others (e.g., alumni, outside experts) to contribute to the course database directly from the homepage. Students can enter assignments, questions, essays, literature searches, arguments, or other information into databases organized by the instructor. Access to these databases can be changed depending on the purpose of a particular database. The electronic dialog has the effects of (1) extending class discussion beyond the lecture period, (2) encouraging student interaction with the instructor outside of class, (3) allowing students to dialog with outside experts on a particular issue, (4) allowing the instructor to organize and monitor student interactive exercises, and (5) engaging the students in helping to find new information (on the Web or otherwise) suitable for inclusion on the homepage. Examples of uses in the course are given below.

Pre- and post-lecture exercises
Some lectures have pre-lecture assignments on the Internet that engage the students in making observations, thereby establishing an experiential base for the lecture material. The opportunity for students to submit assignments as part of these pre-lecture activities is closed at the time lecture begins as an incentive for students to prepare before class. A post-lecture activity leads the student to apply the concept from lecture to a new situation or connects the lecture to a future lecture topic. After the lecture, the pre-lecture materials may be available for viewing but not modifying. Student responses to pre-lecture assignments may or may not be available for viewing by other students, depending on whether the assignment is to be part of the evaluation process. If the students are graded only on participation and not content of their responses, then generally all students will have access to all other student responses as a cooperative learning vehicle.

Student questions and observations
Each lecture has an electronic dialog page that allows students to pose questions or report information they have read relating to the topic. Responses may come from instructor, other students, or outside experts contacted specifically to address that issue. It also allows students from one university or country to interact with counterparts at other universities and countries.

Student reports
Students are required to read and summarize papers from the peer-reviewed literature. They also are required to write an essay on how global change relates to their particular discipline. In the Spring of 1996, students were given the option of publishing their papers on the web. Not all students chose to do this, but most of the top students viewed this as a way to showcase their work. These reports, by being generally available over the web, become part of the database for the course to which we can refer future students seeking more detailed information on a particular topic. It also is an extremely efficient method for an instructor to keep such a rapidly changing course up-to-date: students are scouring the latest literature for articles relating to course material. These summaries and references are archived and available from the homepage for use in subsequent years. References and student reports may become part of future reading assignments in support of the lecture.

Dialog on ethical issues
Ethical issues relating to global change are posed by the instructor, and students are asked to respond to the stated issue or to responses by other students. This has been one of the popular elements of the course and usually solicits some very thoughtful comments. It also has become the major source of electronic interaction among students because of the wide range of opinions expressed.


6. Interactive Audio/Video

We also engaged in an audio/video dialog with a remote expert during the class period over the Internet by use of CU-SeeMe capability. An internationally known author discussed his recent book (excerpts of which had been read by students in advance) with students for about half an hour. We feel it is critically important to ensure that students develop a respect for the expert in advance of the interview over the web. The picture quality at present is not up to television quality, and students not intent on interacting with an acknowledged expert will easily be disillusioned with the interview.


7. Student Reactions

Students participating in the course Spring semester 1995 were given an extensive survey to assess their reaction to this type of instructional platform. (Not all functionalities previously listed were available at that time). Responses were generally favorable, especially to the electronic dialog on ethical issues and audio/video dialog with an international expert. Several impediments were cited, most notably the data transfer time over the Internet. Students also disliked reading more than about 1-2 pages of text off the computer screen, and preparing for exams was more difficult. On the other hand, 84% of students likely would connect to the homepage at least occasionally after graduation from the University. This offers a wide range of continuing education opportunities such as retaining connectivity with graduates who become K-12 teachers and providing updated materials for course alumni needing such information in their employment.


8. Advantages and Disadvantages of Web-Based Courses

There are both technical and pedagogical advantages to having an internet platform for a course. We see the following technical advantages of teaching on the web. And the pedagogical advantages of teaching with web-based materials are as follows: There are some real and potential disadvantages to the use of this technology:


9. Team Efforts in Developing Web-Based Courses

How does an instructor get started to develop a web-based course given that he/she is likely to be given no additional release time for this purpose and may not be familiar with many of the tools needed to use the full potential of the web? From our own experience in going down this path we recommend the following:


10. Summary

We have experimented with the Internet as a means to improve the learning process for students and at the same time emphasize broader university goals such as global awareness, exposure to technology, and improvement in writing skills. Some advantages of an Internet-based course include making information more readily available, offering interactive student exercises, providing expanded accessibility, developing skills in public writing, giving students partial ownership of the course, and continuing contact with course alumni.

The functionalities we have implemented extend the traditional paradigm of instructor/text as the core of the learning process to one that offers the student access to a much more extensive resource and functionality base and allows the student to regulate the rate of and connections for information flow to match his/her learning rate, style, and potential.

Development of a new university course has traditionally been a solitary activity for a faculty member. From our experience, we recommend that a faculty member considering development of a web course team up with one or more other faculty members and involve students from the onset to provide support and encouragement through the process.


REFERENCES
Acknowledgments: Doug Fils of the International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics has provided invaluable assistance in establishing the advanced functions of the homepage, particularly the electronic dialog. Funds for expansion of this course were supplied by the Office of the Provost, Iowa State University.