Empirically Based Guidelines for Developing Teaching Materials on the Web

Abstract

A recent study showed that Web-based materials enhanced teaching and learning in an introductory operations management course. Evidence gained from the study provides the basis for several guidelines concerning the early stages of implementing such a course. Faculty should understand why students visit the Website, time the availability of materials to match usage patterns, and provide information in appropriate detail and in an appropriate format. The Website facilitated students' note taking and studying, enhanced class discussion, and aided retention; it did not encourage students to miss class, as some faculty feared. Students tended to print out materials from the site, so that printing costs for courses were not reduced, just transferred from an academic department to the computer lab or the students. While traditional "chalk and talk" approaches will continue in the short term, students will increasingly see such an approach as outdated and find the Web their instructional medium of choice.

New Horizons in Distance Education: The Online Learner-Centered Marketing Class

“…Finally, the instruc tor is respon si ble for pre par ing, in advance, course mate rial such as the syl la bus, an announcement page, course con tent, group activ i ties, dis cus sion questions, and activ i ties, all of which involve dif fer ent types of input com pared with the tra di tional, face-to-face class. Karuppan and Karuppan (1999) sug gested that the design of asyn chron ous learn ing net works involve the fol low ing phases: "(1) cre at ing a Web page includ ing syl labi, lec ture notes, read ing mate ri als, and assign ments; (2) devel op ing com puter conferencing facil i ties, includ ing dis cus sion groups, and a help desk; (3) link ing conferencing and Web page assign ments; (4) test ing the mate ri als and devel op ing course man age ment tools; and (5) eval u at ing, both for ma tive and summative" (p. 38).…”

“…Because stu dents will be read ing the infor ma tion, it is advis able to keep this por tion of the class short. Fac ulty must pro vide mate ri als with real sub stance and not sim ply lec ture out lines (Karuppan and Karuppan 1999).…”

“…Online fac ulty will require more tech ni cal sup port in hard ware (such as hav ing a lap top com puter, since they will be check ing dis cus sion boards when they are home and with their fam i lies on week ends), soft ware (such as Web course plat form pro grams and virus pro grams), and assis tance (such as a grad u ate stu dent to help con vert mate ri als to an online envi ron ment). Uni ver sities must real ize that the demand on their serv ers will increase, espe cially near exams and at the end of the term (Karuppan and Karuppan 1999).…”

“…All uni ver sities may not be able to offer all of their pro grams and/or courses online (Tsichritizis 1999). Addi tionally, admin is trators may feel that Web-based teach ing will reduce dupli ca tion and print ing costs, which is incor rect, since many stu dents print out what is on the Web, often in uni ver sity com puter labs (Karuppan and Karuppan 1999). Thus, admin is tra tors must real ize that online learn ing is a costly prop o si tion, par tic ularly in the short run.…”

Improving hypermedia teaching resources – new designs for e-learning environments

“…To date, however, the literature has provided little evidence about the right medium, structure, format and contents for material in e-learning environments (e.g., Atwong and Hugstad, 1997;Karuppan and Karuppan, 1999;Ryan et al, 2001;Peterson et al, 2002). Thus, the current work aims to shed light on the design criteria for teaching materials adapted to e-learning environments.…”