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From Classroom to Computer: Web Development and Delivery
Susan M. Moncada, Ph.D., CPA
Indiana State University
As a result of being awarded a state-funded instructional development grant, I recently transformed my Not-for-Profit Accounting course (ACCT 410) for distance delivery. The entire process has been both challenging and rewarding. Reflecting on my experiences, I would like to share some thoughts about developing and delivering an online course.
What are some personal characteristics that make an instructor well-suited for the online environment? First, instructors must believe that the online environment can be a valuable learning experience. The traditional classroom cannot be mirrored using an online paradigm implemented with an authoring tool like CourseInfo or WebCT--compromises must be made. Second, web instructors should have proper credentials and should develop their own online courses. Online teachers should have some prior training in the use of web technologies and course design. Continued technical support should also be available. In terms of personality, I believe an individual must be open-minded, flexible, sincere, concerned and tolerant. Technology glitches are inevitable; in the online environment, Murphy's Law rules. Online teachers also must enjoy communicating in writing since discussion boards, chat sessions and E-mail messaging are the primary communication vehicles employed. Course documents and assignments are transmitted via the written page and feedback is provided in writing rather than orally. When personalized, even written feedback can make students feel part of a community. It is important to keep in mind that the online teacher is a role model when it comes to demonstrating the writing skills students are expected to use. Finally, the online teacher must be able to be online nearly every day in order to provide timely, quality feedback as well as encouragement to students. Effective utilization of the online environment demands well-focused organization and extreme attention to detail.
What qualities should a student have to be successful as an online learner? Attitude, skills, and commitment determine whether a student is a good candidate for online learning. Successful online students must believe quality learning can take place without going into a traditional classroom. Most importantly, successful online students must have good written communication skills and enjoy corresponding through writing. Questions have to be asked through written E-mail messages. Students must be willing to "speak up" when problems arise and must have the ability to express questions in a clear and specific manner. Someone who is apprehensive about writing is not suited to the online environment. Successful online students must be self-motivated and self-disciplined. They must enjoy reading and be able to meet deadlines. In many cases they will be working independently. Finally, students who believe an online course will be easier than an on campus course are usually mistaken. Courses may require a time commitment of 4 to 15 hours per week per course.
What are some aspects of instructional design to consider?
- Create a site acclimation activity to familiarize students with the use of the course management system. In this way access problems will be detected early.
- Have materials available in both downloadable and viewable formats. While the majority of traditional classroom students prefer the downloadable format, distance environment students report they prefer access to both formats.
- Take advantage of being able to provide non-graded assessments so that students can monitor their own learning.
- Realize that merely saving text from Word files is not an effective way to create web pages. Text should be formatted for screen viewing. Know that the two mediums are distinctively different.
- Consciously use white space to guide the reader and define important areas of web pages.
- Break up long passages with small graphics, horizontal lines, bolded topic headings, and tables to relieve eye fatigue.
- Avoid colors and combinations that cause eye fatigue. Do not use patterns or busy backgrounds.
- Choose fonts that most users will be able to view like Times Roman or Arial.
- Create web pages with a fixed left margin table to avoid horizontal scrolling problems that occur when a standard html document is viewed, for example, within Blackboard Inc.'s CourseInfo document viewing frame.
- Use software one version below the current version so all students can download materials.
- Limit the length of web pages to minimize download time and scrolling.
- Keep layering of web pages to a minimum to facilitate navigation.
- Use forward and reverse document links to help students navigate quickly through text.
- Consider creating a frequently asked questions list to minimize repeating answers to different students.
- Log on from a distance as a student would to learn first hand what they will experience.
- Beta test components of the site as an enhancement to an on-campus class to identify glitches prior to offering the course in the online format only.
- Take advantage of as much instructional support as possible.
How much time does it take to transform a traditional course? Obviously, the answer to this question will vary. According to Boettcher (1998), web development hours range from 5-23 hours with the average projected as 18 hours. While developing ACCT 410, I kept a log of the hours spent creating and transforming materials. On average, 15 hours of work were required to convert 1 hour of traditional classroom instruction. With the exception of uploading quizzes, tests and viewable PowerPoint slides, all course materials were personally developed and posted. My site includes lecture notes and PowerPoint slides for each chapter in both downloadable and viewable formats. Course information documents, a downloadable syllabus, eight original homework assignments and templates, a budgeting project, a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report discussion board project, solutions to non-graded end-of-chapter exercises and problems, chapter surveys, frequently asked questions, and links to relevant readings are among the resources created or transformed. Information relayed orally in an on-campus class must be written in the online environment. Transforming everything to digitized documents is without a doubt a time consuming affair.
Finally, what are some of the advantages of distance education not found in the traditional classroom?
- The online learning environment is unbound by time or location. As a result, non-traditional students find web courses a convenient way to fit education into their world of work and family. My course, ACCT 410, has attracted non-traditional accounting majors as well as out-of-state 5th year students and management accountants seeking CPE hours. My ACCT 410 schedule also utilizes all five days of the week to establish a structured pace for completion of course requirements.
- Traditional students can accelerate completion of their programs by taking courses from home during the summer while at the same time avoiding the room and board costs of residing locally.
- Web courses also have the potential to facilitate individualized instruction. Students taking ACCT 410 were allowed to complete work at their own pace, and they repeatedly acknowledged appreciation for the flexibility provided.
- More students can be engaged in class participation. Everyone can be required to respond to questions in a discussion forum or chat session. The online learning environment provides students with time to reflect on information before responding, an aspect introverted students find important in order to contribute comfortably. Visual barriers are eliminated that hinder some students from expressing themselves. With a web course students can feel anonymous.
- Finally, the online learning environment facilitates the use of more formative and summative assessment measures with feedback automatically provided. In ACCT 410, students complete feedback-enabled, practice quizzes prior to completing graded quizzes that are also feedback-enabled. Students have access to the solutions for all non-graded, homework exercises and problems. In addition, completion of chapter surveys is required to assess site utilization and student effort, as well as identify confusing topics that require further elaboration. Formal examinations are given more frequently since testing no longer consumes valuable class time.
In conclusion, instructors need to realize that when a web site is used as an enhancement to a traditional on-campus course, not all students will appreciate being required to access an Internet site in order to obtain all materials that otherwise would be distributed in-class. For example, approximately 15% of the students in my on-campus class opted not to use components of the ACCT 410 web site even when bonus points were awarded for participation in the beta test. Whenever I use a course web site to enhance a traditional on-campus class, usage of the site's components is optional. The exceptions, of course, are those assignments that would normally require Internet access regardless of the learning environment employed.
From a historical perspective, computer-based learning as an instructional paradigm has been around for approximately 40 years. One of the earliest applications involved the debut of PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operation) in the 1960s. During the 1970s computer assisted instruction (CAI) spread to academia and computer-based training was introduced to the workplace. The focus on school and home markets for CAI continued in the 1980s, as technology was refined and more applications were developed. Then, in the early 1990s the Internet network was unveiled, and the technical, economic, and operational feasibility of distance education became plausible. As a result, online learning should be viewed, as another technique to be added to the repertoire of instructional strategies available to educators. Just as students who possess specific learning styles have preferences for specific teaching methods, so too is the virtual classroom suited for a particular niche of students and instructors.
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