Presenter
Rick Ells
Information Specialist,
Computing & Communications
Instructor,
C&C Computer Training
Member of UW Home Page
Webguides Team
Summary
Webagogy is the art, craft, and science of using
networked technologies, including the World Wide Web and email,
to support teaching and learning.
Inherent in the idea of Webagogy is that carefully considered
pedagogy is being implemented with technology - the pedagogy
comes first!
Networked technologies add many new
dimensions to the educational process and experience:
- Connecting to professional resources
- Including people who could not participate in
past methods of education
- Preparing students for the work environments
of the future
- Networking among students, among faculty,
and among students, faculty, and professionals
beyond the University
A number of questions must be carefully considered when
using information technologies.
- Who is responsible for insuring
students have basic technological skills?
- Are you willing to have your class judged on the
basis of its Web site?
- What hardware and software will students need to be able
to participate?
- How will you establish trust among students in the
validity and relevance of your course?
- How will you know if the technology is really
helping?
- How will you assess student's educational progress?
We are faced with a wide range of interrelated technologies -
HTML, Javascript, dynamic HTML, Java, PDF, streaming media -
the list goes on and on. What is the best use for each of
these tools?
Intellectual property is also an important topic. As we create
our educational tools, we will be working with valuable
property. Using it appropriately and obtaining the necessary
permissions from its owners are essential.
Finally, security should be considered.
To protect networked systems, login IDs and passwords should
be kept private and servers and scripts designed to
preventing hacking. Most important, students have a right to
privacy which must be respected.
Web Location
http://staff.washington.edu/rells/webagogy/
These notes are also available in a one-file
printable version.
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Using Technology
Technology Can Play Many Roles
Informational
Information about the class as a whole,
such as a syllabus or class description. |
Supplemental
Provides access to resources that supplement,
but are not required, for the class. |
Dependent
Major course components are on the Web
or are conducted by email. |
Fully Networked
Entire course content and activities are
done using networked technologies. |
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Pedagogy First
Pedagogy - "Study of teaching methods, including the
aims of education and the ways in which such goals may be achieved.
The field relies heavily on educational psychology, or theories about the
way in which learning takes place ... In the act of
teaching there are two parties
(the teacher and the taught) who work together in some program
(the subject matter) designed to modify the learners' behaviour
and experience in some way." Encyclopedia Britannica
Designing The Interaction Between Teacher and Learner
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Guiding Principles
In 1987, AAHE published an article titled
"Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education."
The article is one of a number of such guidelines available
that can be used to develop ideas on how to make effective
use of technology in supporting teaching and learning.
Good Practice...
- Encourages Contacts Between Students and Faculty
- Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students
- Uses Active Learning Techniques
- Gives Prompt Feedback
- Emphasizes Time on Task
- Communicates High Expectations
- Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
From:
Implementing
The Seven Principles:
Technology as Lever
by Arthur W. Chickering
and Stephen C. Ehrmann
Resources
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Connecting To Resources
The direct connection to current, living information resources
makes possible more dynamic, realistic, and relevant educational
activities. Types of information readily accessible include:
- Current Projects
- Procedures
- Legal Guidelines and Information
- Research Literature
- Databases (Medicine, Law, Policy, Statistics)
- Research Activity and Results
Example
- ESC 418: The
Science of Composting
- Current Reclamation Projects:
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Include New Audiences
Educational technologies can be used to extend
a program to new audiences who may not be interested
in or able to participate in conventional educational
formats.
- Online class notes can make a class more effective
for those who can attend all the lectures by
allowing them to prepare more effectively and
by supporting review and study.
- Online class notes help those not able to attend
every lecture because of work or family commitments.
- Educational tools developed for one venue (i.e.,
on-campus lectures) can be used in other venues (distance
education, refresher courses, etc.),
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Preparing Students For A Networked Professional World
Networked services are already a fundamental
part of professional work in many fields. By using
these technologies in educational programs, your can
achieve the following:
- Familiarize students with current and new technologies
- Develop an understanding of the impact networked technologies
are having on the profession
- Develop skills the student will be able to directly apply
when he/she reaches the job market
Example
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Networking Builds Cooperation
Email and Web sites allow students to leverage off of each other's
work, creating cooperative work situations similar to
many professional environments
A possible class activity:
- Basic topic is introduced ("Exotic marine species as pollution")
- Each student researches an aspect of the topic, posting
their results as a Web page
- Students review each other's work
- Working in teams from the first papers, draft a
more comprehensive report, which they post on the Web
- Teams critique each others reports
- Overviews are merged into a final topic report.
Example
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Questions To Ask
Networked technologies represent a new professional
environment very different from the old lecture-read-study-test
model. Many habits and assumptions must be carefully
re-evaluated.
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Who Is Responsible for Insuring Students Having Basic
Technological Skills?
Participating in a class using network technologies
requires many interrelated skills:
- Word processor, spreadsheet, database
- Writing HTML, publishing HTML files to a server
- Creating graphics
- Scanning images or text
- Systematic problem definition and solving
Competency in these skills among students can be spotty.
Improving their skills can be approached in several ways:
- Directing students to off-campus resources, such
classes at public libraries and community colleges
- Directing students to available non-credit training
opportunities on campus, such as C&C
Computer Training
- Offering "basics" classes
- Offering "help" sections for the less computer oriented
students
Resources
- Fluency in Information Technologies
- Problem Definition and Solving
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Are You Ready To Have Your Class Judged By Its Web Site?
Students are making decisions on which classes to take
based on the character of the class Web sites.
Some students say the best professors are the ones who bother to make Web
pages for their courses. And a growing number of students use the quality of
course Web pages as a deciding factor when picking classes.
Professors who go the extra mile to make useful course Web pages are often
the same ones who "teach the classes that you want to take," said Jess
Johnson, Jr., a sophomore in electrical engineering at the University of
Virginia. He spoke during a panel discussion on student expectations for
technology that was held this week in Washington by the Software and
Information Industry Association.
The last thing a student wants, said Mr. Johnson, is a professor who "gives
his spiel and walks out" -- without noticing whether students understand the
material. At least for Mr. Johnson, a course Web site is an indicator that
the professor will make other efforts to connect with students.
"That little extra effort is what makes the quality there, and makes the
difference," he said.
"Students Say They Check Courses'
Web Pages Before Deciding to Enroll"
By Jeffrey R. Young
Thursday, May 27, 1999
The Chronicle of Higher Education
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What Hardware And Software Will Students
Need To Participate In Your Class?
The technology choices you make will determine
what hardware and software students need access
to if they are going to participate in your class.
- Basic HTML works with older computers and browsers
- Javascript and DHTML may require newer browsers
- Newer browsers occupy more disk space, require
more RAM, and need faster
processors
- Streaming media require very fast network connections
(may not work adequately over modem connections)
- Helper programs such as Adobe Acrobat Reader
can be confusing or difficult to install.
Resources
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How Will You Establish Trust Among Students In The
Validity And Relevance Of Your Course?
Because anyone can publish Web pages, readers tend to
be skeptical of all Web sites. Extra effort may be
needed to create and maintain your site as an
authoritative source of information
- Associated with a credible organization (UW, School of
Nursing)
- Well designed for its role
- Completely implemented (No "under construction")
- Correct information
- Up-to-date information
- Identifies sources of assertions, conclusions, and ideas
(links to original papers)
- Shows awareness of other work in the field
- Links to carefully selected resources - only the best
and most relevant
Resources
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How Will You Know If The Technology Is Really Helping?
Much work could be done with information technologies
without adding any real benefit to the class. Efforts to
test and monitor your methods may be needed to
identify the best methods to use.
- User tests
- Observing students use Web site
- Regular queries to the class - "What aspects of the Web
site are working well for you, what aspects are a problem?"
- Evaluating server logs of which pages are visited and
who is connecting to your site
Resources
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How Will You Assess Students' Educational Progress?
Setting
Educational
Objectives
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Designing
Learning
Tasks
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Measuring
Learning
Outcomes
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Networked technologies create both puzzles and opportunities
for assessing educational progress. Because the technologies
provide new forms of activity and new arenas in which they
will take place, new methods of assessment may be needed.
In the same way, the technologies offer new ways for
communication between teacher and student.
- How will you grade email discussions?
- How will you grade group-created Web sites?
- Is information gathered from the Web sites suitable
for use in scholarly papers?
- How will you know if the paper a student turns
in is original work and not just copied off
the Web?
Resources
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How Does It Work?
The World Wide Web is built on client-server technologies.
Client programs request information, sending messages across
the Internet to server programs running on other computers.
The server program processes the request and sends the
desired information back to the client.
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Clients
When files come from a server to your browser,
the browser will either (1) display them, (2) pass them to
a helper program such as a word processor or spreadsheet, or
(3) give you a chance to save them permanently to your hard disk.
You may have browser extensions, called plug-ins, that
enhance the abilities of the browser.
- Browsers can handle HTML, GIF or JPG graphics, Javascript,
and Java files, among others.
- Browsers cannot handle TIFF, word processor, or spreadsheet
files
- Many helper programs are available at no or minimum cost.
- Browsers must be configured to know what to do with each
type of file
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Servers
The simplest servers (1) receive commands, (2) find the
requested files, (3) send them to the requestor.
More complex server configurations include the ability to
receive data entered on a Web page and process it, writing
the results in a database or returning some kind of result
to the client program.
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Technology Options
All WWW pages begin with HTML, but many other technologies
can be used in association with a page.
- Does a technology contribute to the effectiveness of
the class?
- Will the technology work for your entire audience?
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Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
The basic language of the the Web is the
HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
- HTML is designed to be platform-independent
(make few assumptions about the abilities of
the computer and software used to view the page)
- HTML is an open standard (non-proprietary),
developed by the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- Each version of HTML adds new commands to previous
versions - commands are seldomly dropped
- HTML itself loads very quickly, since it consists only
alphanumeric characters, punctuation, and spaces
Resources
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Web Tools
With client-server technology, you can connect to and use
services elsewhere on the network, without having to
recreate them on your own computers. UWired has developed
several useful Web tools:
- WebQ, create and conduct online questionaires and surveys
- Umail, an anonymous online form entry email system that
makes it easy for students to send you comments
- Peer Review, view an online doucment and make comments
Resources
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JavaScript
JavaScript is a limited programing language that is embedded in HTML pages
to perform tasks such as expanding menus, data checking-on-entry, scrolling
banners, etc. JavaScript is executed on your computer without interaction
with the server.
Examples
Resources
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Dynamic HTML
Dynamic HTML allows modification of attrributes of any element on
a HTML page, either in response to some event such as a mouse click, or
on some time schedule or cycle.
A key part of DHTML is the Document Object Model, an implementation
of the idea that a Web page is made up of many elements or objects,
each with multiple attributes. Programming languages such as JavaScript
and Java can specifically address and modify any of the attributes.
Unfortunately, Netscape and Microsoft have somewhat different
implementations of the DOM, requiring care in designing your DHTML if
you want it to be accessible to all.
Example
Blue Text On MouseOver
<h4 onmouseover="this.style.color='blue';"
onmouseout="this.style.color='black';">
Blue Text On MouseOver
</h4>
Yellow Background on MouseOver
<h4 onmouseover=
"this.style.backgroundColor='yellow';"
onmouseout=
"this.style.backgroundColor='white';">
Yellow Background on MouseOver
</h4>
Resources
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Adobe Acrobat PDF Files
PDF files are system for making documents available on the Web while
preserving the typographic and layout or hardcopy documents.
Examples
Resources
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Java
Java is a powerful programming language specifically designed to
operate on the Web. Closely related to C++, Java can be used to
create programs, called "applets," that are retrieved through the Web and run on your
computer. Java is also used to create server extensions, called
"servlets."
Examples
Resources
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Intellectual Property
The Web makes it easy to connect to the creative
works of others and to make your own works available to
anyone who is interested. At the same time, the
Web makes it easy to copy the works of others and for
others to copy your works. Plagiarism is easy on the Web.
Intellectual property may be protected in many ways,
including copyright protections, trademark law,
trade secret law, and licensing agreements.
Resources
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Someone Owns It
Someone owns almost everything you might find on
the Web.
- Only a relatively small amount of material
is in the public domain.
- Keep track of where you obtained all original
material in your site.
- Obtain permission from the owner before using
any intellectual property.
- Carefully check use terms of use for any clip art,
library materials, and archive photos.
- If you have art work done on contract, be sure
the terms of the agreeement specify the full
range of uses you might have for the work.
Resources
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Fair Use
Academic communities rely heavily on the legal concept of
"fair use." Under this principle, portions of the works of
others may be used for purposes such as scholarship, commentary,
criticism, and parody.
Whether a particular use is considered appropriate is
determined by weighing four factors:
- The purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature or is
for nonprofit educational purposes;
- The nature of the copyrighted work;
- The amount and substantiality of the portion
used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- The effect of the use upon the potential market
for or value of the copyrighted work.
From Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Resources
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Copyright
Copyright is a set of related rights given to the person or
or organization that creates an original work.
- The creator of the work owns the copyright
- The following are not copyrightable:
Ideas, Facts, Titles, Names, Short phrases, Blank forms
- The copyright owner may market rights to the work,
including first use, display, distribution, etc.
Resources
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Protect Your Rights
To protect your intellectual property, consider the following:
- Under current copyright law you do not need
to have text in your document declaring that
it is copyrighted. Any new work is inherently
copyrighted by the person or organization
that created it. However, if you want to make
clear that you have an interest in how your
work is used, it is a good idea to include a
copyright declaration. Put a copyright
symbol (©) followed by the year and
your name at the beginning of each of
your documents. For example, the following HTML
© 1998 John Smith
would create the following copyright declaration:
© 1998 John Smith
- Do not post your works on the Web
if you do not want to risk losing
control of them!
Remember, anyone who can
view your document can keep a copy.
- You can register your copyright with the
U.S. Copyright
Office. This is a good step to take if your expect
to have to defend your copyright
Resources
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Security
Networks make it extremely easy to share information, yet
much of that information should be kept private. Networks
also give you access to private information and critical services.
Current security approaches are built on logon-id and password
combinations and encrypted communications.
- Indifference to security can put your whole organization
at risk
- Assume hackers are always trying to penetrate your
security systems
- There is no security in obscurity
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Protect Your Password
In a networked environment,
your identity is protected by
the combination of your logon-id
and password. In the developing
campus environment, your identity
determines what services you will
be able to access.
If someone obtains your password,
they can use your accounts, access
any services you are entitled to
use, send email in your name,
pass your password on to others
to use, and much more.
Protect your password by taking
the following steps:
- Use a difficult-to-guess password
- Do not share your password with anyone
- Change your password regularly
- Report any evidence that someone
knows your password and has used
your accounts
Resources
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Obtain And Use Secure Software
You can help protect your password
by using secure software that encrypts communication
between the client and server.
- Turn on Secure Connection (SSL)
in browsers
- Obtain secure telnet/SSH programs (available in
the UW Internet Connectivity Kit)
- Keep software and operating systems
up-to-date
Resources
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Respect Privacy
Networks make it possible
to quickly share information among
many people, yet students may have
the expectation of reasonable privacy
as they pursue their education.
- Protect the privacy of grades
- Students may not want their papers
available beyond participants in
the class.
- Before accumulating information about people,
carefully evaluate your actual need for the
information. Collect what you specifically
need. When the need has been met, delete the
information.
- Privacy is an important aspect of
professional use of network accessible information
Resources
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