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Online Teaching Resource Center
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Working with Technology
Developing Web Pages In a recent survey, 91 percent of faculty members rated "accessing information on the Internet as essential or required for achieving academic success in their course" (Osika and Sharp, 2002). In the same study, 91 percent of students rated themselves competent in this area (Osika and Sharp, 2002). Yet research has shown users looking for information on the World Wide Web have a difficult time developing search queries and using a search engine (Chen, Houston, Sewell & Schatz, 1998; Lazonder, Biemans & Wopereis, 2000; Colaric, 2002). Searches tend to be simple (Spink, Bateman & Jansen, 1999; Colaric, 2002) and Boolean operators are used infrequently and incorrectly (Jansen, Spink & Saracevic, 2000; Colaric, 2002). In this section we'll look at some tricks to finding information on the Web including the differences between search engines and subject directories and how to help students structure better search strings to result in higher precision. We'll also look at evaluation strategies for when you find information on a site. Some of this information you may already know but it may be that your students do not. Finding Information on the Web People find useful URLs in a number of ways -- through social or professional networks, through web networks, and by using search engines. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, what people call the address of a website -- it's how we identify and move between sites. So a friend might tell you about a great site through email or when talking. Or a colleague may have a list of useful websites that he/she has posted to their web page. But the majority of time, when looking for information on the Web, people use a search engine. Or sometimes they use what is commonly called a search engine but is really a subject directory, like Yahoo. It's important to know the difference when looking for information.
A subject directory is a database of websites arranged by subject area. Examples of subject directories are Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) and the Librarian's Index to the Internet (http://lii.org/). Subject directories are easy to use because the information is arranged in categories by people who have looked at a particular website and assigned it to a category. You use a subject directory by drilling down into a subject area until you find sites that meet your information need. So with the Librarians Index to the Internet, if you're looking for information on the Aurora Borealis, click on Science, Technology and Computers, and then Astronomy and then Auroras and you find four sites:
If you use Yahoo, the process is similar. Click on Science, then Astronomy, and then Auroras and you get nine sites plus two sub directories, one for Aurora Australis and one for Aurora Borealis. Subject directories also include a search feature that can be used rather than following the path through the subjects. So if you type the words Aurora Borealis into Yahoo you receive back the top 20 web sites out of about 92,300 that are found on the Web. You also get 2 "sponsor results" which are paid placements from commercial sites which are unfortunately listed at the top of the page. The benefit of a subject directory is that it is easy to use and the sites are highly relevant because actual people have categorized them. The drawback is that only a small fraction of sites on the Web are listed with each directory. And sometimes a subject doesn't fit neatly into one category.
A search engine is a database of websites compiled by a
computer, as well as the tools for generating the database and for
accessing it. Popular search engines include: At the moment, Google is the most popular engine; probably because it is an uncluttered, easy to use site. They currently index over 3 billion web pages (according to the home page) which brings us to our first point about search engines. Search engines do not search the entire web at the time you enter your search string. Instead, the engines are constantly crawling the web using a computer program called a robot (also referred to as bots, crawlers, or spiders) to find websites and store information about the sites and their URLs in the database of the search engine. The information is arranged by the computer program in the database so it can be accessed via the search engine program when someone requests something that matches. There is no human review of the pages and no hierarchical structure. The benefit is that the robot works much faster than a human can, so the databases are much larger than with a subject directory. But they do not search the entire WWW and each search engine is building a unique database of websites. So you might find something listed on Lycos that you wouldn't find on Excite. Users access the information in the search engine databases by typing in a word or phrase and the engine matches sites in the database that contain those words or phrases. When a result to a search is returned, relevancy scores are assigned which are usually expressed as a percentage. This, however, is where a drawback of search engines comes in since each engine works a little differently and how they work is considered proprietary information. In general, how high the percentage is depends on the location of the matched words on the website and the frequency with which it appears. If the same relevancy rank is assigned to more than one site returned from a search, then the sites are simply alphabetized within the listing. There are exceptions -- Google uses popularity to rank the relevance of the sites returned on the assumption that the "better" a site is, the more people visit it. Many sites will also list sponsor sites first and they may not tell you that these sites are ranked high simply because they paid a fee to the search engine company. How does it work? Just type in a word or words in the space provided and hit Enter or use the Search button. It's that easy. You can enter a single word such as Cognitivism but the results can be a little overwhelming -- about 12,200 in Google and 5,000 in Altavista. A high return but a little daunting to visit each site to find information to supplement your class discussion. Entering a more exact phrase can help to increase relevancy. "Information Processing Model" has 7,750 in Google and 1,800 in Altavista. When searching on a phrase you want to make sure you use quotation marks around the words to search for. So we're getting a little better but we still have a lot of sites to go through -- if you spent 1 minute on each one in Google that would be about 5 and a half days straight! Adding Boolean operators can help to increase precision by combining various ideas -- so our new search string would be "Information Processing Model" and "Schema Theory"
Advanced searches can be developed by combining two or three boolean searches and utilizing embedded parentheses. So the following search would work in Altavista: (king NEAR (tut or tutankhamun)) AND (egypt* OR (valley NEAR kings) OR cairo) AND (tomb OR burial OR grave OR crypt) Altavista uses the operators NEAR for terms located close to each other as well as * for multiple endings of a word. In the example above the Boolean operators are capitalized simply because it makes it easy to check for errors. But for some search engines (such as Excite) require that Boolean operators are capitalized.
Some search engines will also allow you to search for a picture or a video file. Or just search for a particular domain, such as .edu or .gov. With a little research and practice, you can really cut down on the amount of time you spend sifting through results because you are increasing precision. The question then becomes, how do you get your students to develop a more complex search string? A concept block diagram can help to identify key terms and alternate terms as well as helping to structure the string. Start with guiding questions across the top -- usually who, what, where, when, how. In this case, I've narrowed it down to who, where and what. Then you start filling in the columns. The example below was constructed during a brain-storming session with a fourth grade class.
You construct your search string by using OR between everything in a column and AND between columns. Use parentheses to group like items. The trick to remember? Use OR when you want more. (king NEAR (tut or tutankhamun)) AND (Egypt* OR (valley NEAR kings) OR Cairo) AND (tomb OR burial OR grave OR crypt)
Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com) Hock, R. (2000). The extreme searcher's guide to web search engines: A handbook for the serious searcher. Medford, NJ: Cyberage Books.
Since anyone can put up a website that says anything they want it to, it is important to view each one with skepticism. Two things can help: evaluating the source of the information and evaluating the treatment of the subject. Source of the information
Students often aren't aware that websites need to be reviewed before using them as a data source for class assignments. Providing them with a checklist or decision support tool can help them to think more critically about what they are viewing. Critical thinking skills should also be developed for thinking about why search engines exist and how many commercial sites are returned in comparison with educational and government sites. For additional information: Searching the Web Search Engine Watch Univ. of South Carolina Library, Basic tutorial on
searching the web UC Berkley Library, Recommended search engines and
subject directories
UCLA College Library, Thinking critically about the Web American Library Association, Selection Criteria Penn State University Library, How to evaluate
information on the Web
The goal of this section is to provide you with "seeds of possibility". You will go away with ideas to think about and the terminology to allow you to find more information. After reading through it you won’t be an expert in adding different tools to your course; but you will be able to think about which tools would be appropriate for reaching your instructional goals. The focus should always be on creating a course web site that is visually attractive, easy to use and maintain, but most importantly, the site needs to be pedagogically useful. We're not trying to make the most technologically advanced or beautifully designed site. We're trying to develop a site that supports learning and we certainly want to develop one that doesn't interfere with it. Arranging content Readers utilizing the Web tend to read short segments of text online and read long segments of text off-line. You've probably experienced this yourself. Most people do not read a long page from start to finish on the screen. If there is a lot of information, then they scan a site looking to see if the content is relevant, and then print pages that contain the information they seek. This leads us to two options: long sections of information or short chunks of information. The primary measure of page length should be your content. Create logical divisions and subdivisions based on the structure of your information. Do not arbitrarily divide your information to conform to some alleged measure of acceptable page length. Commercial web designers will often cite the rule "don't scroll" so that all of the relevant information is on the screen immediately when the user logs in. But this doesn't really apply to online courses. Your users are already committed to the information you're providing and they know they need it, so they will scroll to see what they need. You should, however, think about beginning with an introduction at the top that gives an overview of the information to follow. One of the first things you should think about is whether the information is linear or segmental. If the information is segmental and easily broken into smaller sections and the order of the sections is not paramount, then “chunk” the content into manageable bites of information. If the content is linear and should be presented in a particular sequence, then use longer pages. When you're chunking information you want to provide it in manageable segments or chunks of information and navigation needs to allow easy access to those chunks. Length should be determined by a logical break in the information. A well-constructed information chunk needs to provide a complete account of the subject, with an appropriate amount of background and links to pages providing supporting information. It is important to remember that links should provide supporting information, not the critical elements of the text. The reason for this is that you have no control over whether or not your learner will follow the link. Remember that with chunking, learners are more likely to enter the information stream at various points and you can't control that. So some information will need to be repeated. Luckily, we can copy and paste needed information to make our job easier. And if you anticipate that your students will print your material then chunking may cause extra pages being printed and perhaps information that is out of order. Conclusion: Page length should always be based on content – create logical divisions and subdivisions based on the structure of your information.
The next step is to plan the overall structure of the online course – often called the site architecture. The most important tool you can have at this point is – post-it notes. The reason is that it makes it easier to rearrange your design. You don't become committed to a particular architecture before you're really happy with it. So you take the content that you've developed, write a heading on a sticky note and lay it out on a large table. Then you can plan the way you want to arrange it by just moving the sticky notes around. In designing the architecture, you want to try to predict how users will want to access the materials on your course web site. Consider too, how you want users to access the materials. Types of architecture:
The best advice for web course design is from Lynch
& Horton (1999), "By waiting until you have a detailed site
architecture, mature content components, and a polished page design
specification you will minimize the content churning, redundant
development efforts, and wasted energy that inevitably result from
rushing to create pages too soon." Blackboard provides you with a shell to place your content in but you still have decisions to make – do you want to arrange everything chronologically? In modules? Which navigation buttons do you want to utilize? How will students know where to find information? We don’t expect you to have all the answers before you begin – if that were the case most of us would never begin! But it’s good to start by thinking about the site layout so you don’t have to keep going back to make major changes later.
HTML basics Many faculty are disappointed with how their pages look in Blackboard because it is usually just straight text – nothing large or bold or italicized. But it’s pretty easy to change things by writing your pages in HTML – sounds complicated, right? Don't worry, it’s really not. Let's start with a short discussion of what a web page is. A web page is:
Here's an example of what the HTML for a short webpage would look like:
The codes of HTML and BODY start us off. Notice that at the end they also finish the page but with a slash in front, /HTML and /BODY. So codes begin and end and the ends have the slash in them. Other items of interest:
So it's really not that mysterious when you break it down. But it still isn't easy to use! So companies developed HTML editors so that we don't have to learn all the HTML codes -- we can just type and change things like we would in a word processing program. Some examples are Netscape Composer, Microsoft Front Page, Macromedia's Dreamweaver. Many faculty use Netscape Composer because it is very easy to use and it is free -- no purchase necessary! Rather than provide all the details here there is a separate handout explaining how to download Composer and develop a faculty home page. Included in the instruction is manipulating text, adding lines, changing the background, tables, images and hyperlinks. An exercise is also built into the instructions so that you can practice. Downloading and Using Netscape Composer to Develop Web
Pages Additional resources for learning about HTML and developing web pages are: Williams, R. & Tollett, J. (2000). The non-designer's web book (2nd edition). Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. Lynch, P.J. & Horton, S. (1999). Web style guide: Basic design principles for creating web sites. New Haven, CT: Yale University Castro, E. (2000). HTML for the World Wide Web (4th edition). Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press WebMonkey, The HTML Basics NC State University HTML Basics NCSA Beginners Guide to HTML
Overview of Tools for Teaching When working with technological tools for instruction there is a Golden Rule that should become your mantra and be repeated often:
1. You need to always make sure the reason you are utilizing a tool is because it supports your learning outcomes. With technology it is very easy to get sucked into using something because it’s innovative, or you went to a workshop and learned about it, or spent a few hours learning how to do something. Innovations are great for showing off what you know on a personal home page but when it comes to course websites, you want to make sure that everything included has an instructional reason for being there. 2. You also need to keep in mind that your learners may not have the same type of computer you have. It may be older and quite a bit slower, or they have a slow modem connection to the Internet. If they don’t see it, hear it, or experience it in the way that you think they are then they aren’t having the learning experience that you planned. So start out by finding out what your learners are working with.
Images Images can be an enhancement to learning. In this section we'll look at two things: the types of file formats for images and instructional uses of images. There are two primary types of image files (there are others, but these are the two primary types). GIFs (pronounced with a hard "G") and JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg"). GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format and the file sizes are smaller so they load very quickly on your computer. But the file sizes are smaller because GIFs are limited to 256 colors. 256 seems like a lot of colors, but really isn't all that many -- think of a box of Crayola crayons and how many come in a medium size box. GIFs are generally used for images with large areas of solid flat color – simple illustrations, logos, text as graphics, cartoons. GIFS can be used for small photos but they aren't the best option for photos because you can't get the gradation of color that you need for a photograph. Photographs are generally JPGs which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. They are usually used for photos and detailed illustrations. JPGs can contain 16.7 million colors -- which can give you a great deal of detail. But more detail generally means larger file size which means slower download if you (or your student) is on a slow Internet connection. Other terms that you want to be familiar with and read about in your graphics software:
You need to have imaging software to work with images. If you have a digital camera or scanner then you probably have some type of imaging software already on your computer. Adobe Photoshop is a common software tool to use but there are many others. Check the help section of your software for specific instructions and always start with the tutorial if it has one. Also, if you are purchasing software, keep in mind that many publishers offer discounts to educators. Instructionally, you want to be careful in your use of images. There are hundreds of research articles on how images can be used to enhance learning and just as many that show how it can detract. A couple quick thoughts:
Mayer, R.E. (2001). Multimedia learning. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press. Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual-coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press. Sweller, J. (1999). Instructional design in technical areas. Australian Education Review, No. 43. Victoria, Australia: Teacher Education Press. Sweller, J. & Chandler, P. (1994). Why some material is difficult to learn. Cognition and Instruction, 12, p185-233.
Video The simple truth is that it is often not worth doing! Make sure there is an instructional reason for doing it – talking heads are not that meaningful and take up a lot of bandwidth which results in slow downloads. The top priority when choosing a form of technology should be the outcomes to be achieved, not the ability to incorporate something innovative. A short video may be good for developing rapport for your learners but too much may put them to sleep in front of the monitor and you would never even see their eyelids drooping! The terminology you should be familiar with for video:
Examples of video files are MPEG, ShockWave, QuickTime, RealVideo. Remember that compression -- reducing the file size -- is important. Shorter clips will have a smaller file size. You can do this by checking your video editing software. Many new PCs are being sold with Windows Movie Maker that is very easy to use. Instructionally, make sure it is something that truly needs to be presented with movement. Eventually it won't matter because everyone will have access to high speed connections, but right now it is still a problem. If you have something that involves a lot of demonstration or video you may want to consider pressing the video to a CD and sending it to your students or having them purchase it when they get their textbooks.
Don Larsen: Does Multimedia Have a Dark Side? Selecting
the right format and configuration can make or break your site. At Web
Developer's Library. Streaming Media World offers a number of tutorials for audio, video, and Flash at: http://streamingmediaworld.com/video/tutor/
Audio With audio many of the options are the same as with video. It can be web-based but you can also press it to a CD. Download and streaming work the same, just without the picture. Other terminology that you may come across:
Instructionally some uses of audio are fairly obvious such as language instruction or music. But there are also a number of other uses. You might want to include a short clip of the sounds at a particular locale before a social studies lesson. Listening to speeches can be so much more powerful than reading them. And studying current events can be enhanced by including audio. The nice thing about the web is that you may not need to go out and create these audio clips. There are many already on the web available to use. One favorite is from the Documenting the American South collection from the library of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This is an amazing electronic collection that provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. Currently it includes six projects: slave narratives, first-person narratives, Southern literature, Confederate imprints, materials related to the church in the black community, and North Carolinia. It’s easy to see how this could be incorporated into any number of subjects. http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/durhamf/durhamf.html Another example is the Human Rights Project at Bard College in conjunction with a number of partners. They are making available a complete record on video, with audio in English, the proceedings of the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal. Again, it’s easy to see how this can greatly enhance an instructional unit. Additional resources for audio: Audio Communication Audio File Format FAQ The Audio Section of the World Wide Web Virtual Library
Web Conferencing Web conferencing allows instructors and learners to meet at the same time in a virtual classroom. This tool is used often in the corporate setting, but can also be used for colleges if the students have the appropriate hardware – and that's the sticking point at this time. Benefits include sharing of slides, computer applications, white boards, web tours, assessment, and chat. At this point it's still an expensive option and not useful for people connecting via a telephone modem. But you never know -- it might be just what you are looking for. You may be able to download a trial for free so if you want to try it out or just use it for one particular lesson this may be an option. But please remember to check with your IT people about security issues before trying to use it. Some companies:
Animation is nothing more than a sequence of images or frames that are displayed over time. Each frame varies slightly from the preceding one, creating the illusion of movement when the frames are viewed in quick succession. And it is surprisingly easy to learn and can be very effective for demonstrating a process that we want learners to understand. Take a look at this example found on the web. http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~terry/images/anim/ETS.html You can develop animations using special software such as GIFmation or Photo Impact’s GIF Animator and many graphics packages now come with an animator built in such as Photo Shop’s Image Ready. Again, we need to keep in mind that our focus is on technology that instructs, not just entertains. So jumping dogs on the site won’t help our instruction and will probably detract from it. Animations should:
Additional resources for animation: Introduction to Cool Kids GIF Animation Art Gallery Suggestions from the Yale Style Manual on using
animations Animation Lab at Georgia Tech
Virtual Reality Virtual reality is a simulated three-dimensional environment that may provide visual, tactile, or auditory experiences and may provide interactive options. There are a very wide range of experiences that are lumped together under the term virtual reality. The first distinction we want to make clear is between immersive or non-immersive. An immersive VR experience involves the use of special devices such as a head-mounted computer display. These can be very effective for learning but usually don’t apply to online learning. Instead we want to take a look at non-immersive VR. And even then there is a wide range of what is referred to as virtual reality. Many people would classify MOOs as virtual reality. Often with web-based what they are referring to are panoramic photos that allow you to “experience” a location. Such as touring Venice or examining a geological feature. Like video and audio, VR requires a plug-in application to support files developed with VRML – the virtual reality markup language.
You may be able to find websites that are just right as they are or you may need to develop the lesson around the website. For instance, if you are teaching a geology course, you don’t want learners to just go to a panoramic photo and look around. You want them to compare the terrain of beaches in Alaska with beaches in San Diego. Or, for a social studies class, you want them to identify and explain the differences in architecture that they see in different locations. One example being used at many campuses are students monitoring the construction of new buildings. Usually a web-cam is used to examine the site in real time including the ability to zoom in for a closer look at something. The students have used it to look for things like OSHA violations and they have been able to monitor the progress of the building as each of the phases has been completed. One term that you often hear associated with web-based VR is “avatar”. An avatar is a virtual persona – you can choose from 1000s of different characters to represent yourself online. Avatars can run, jump, fly, dance, and enable you to express a whole host of emotions through keying in different commands on your computer. Think about the possibilities of role playing online -- it adds a whole new dimension of allowing students to interact through virtual characters online. Now, given time and a whole lot of training, you could develop your own virtual classroom for your class. But you can also have your students meet you in one of the public virtual worlds. If a bunch of you meet in an empty “room” and start discussing advanced geometry, or the building of the pyramids, you probably won’t have a lot of strangers joining you! One such location is http://www.activeworlds.com Virtual field trips are also something interesting that might have an application for your classes. These can be web-based or purchased on a CD. They usually include an “expert” guide to point out interesting features as you explore a particular environment. One of the benefits of a virtual field trip is that it allows learners to explore at their own pace and delve as deeply as they would like into the content. Many of the websites include instructors’ guides to help you integrate the information into a lesson. And you can “visit” inaccessible locations such taking a trip to Mars.
Additional resources for virtual reality: UNC-CH Computer Science Educational Outreach,
Introduction to virtual reality University of Michigan Virtual Reality Laboratory Virtual Guidebooks Live from Mars Stomboli volcano online Virtual field trip to Tibet including geological,
cultural and political information
Conclusion Richard Mayer has performed quite a bit of research on multimedia. His most recent book provides a great deal of information about learning through multimedia – titled, appropriately enough, Multimedia Learning. We want to conclude with a brief synopsis of his Seven
Research-Based Principles for the
Mayer, RE (2001). Multimedia learning. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press. Page 184.
OTRC
Developed by Susan M. Colaric for Martin Community College. May 2004. All rights reserved. |
