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The title of this paper comes from the typical way that faculty are introduced to Internet based learning.  Typically, a school purchases a course management tool such as Blackboard or Web CT and invites the faculty to attend a presentation.  What the trainers present is appropriately titled "buttonology".  They explain how the software works and how to navigate or access the various features. 

Quite often administrators think that this is sufficient training because it is sufficient for some faculty who immediately start supplementing their course using the new course tools.  

The course management tools provide a way to avoid learning HTML.  Therefore it is quite easy for anyone who is familiar with email and word processing to import text into the boxes provided by the course management shell. 

While the buttonology course is sufficient for about 25% of the faculty to add a few Web enhancements to their lectures.  It is not a complete foundation for building a high quality on line course. 

This paper attempts to answer some of the questions that faculty may have after they have mastered the software.  It tries to answer the question: "I have put my syllabus into the course management shell, I can navigate the learning space and have played around  with most of the available, now what?"

Types of Distance Education

Histories of distance education often refer to generations or phases of distance education based on technology integration.  Moore and Kearsley (1996) identified four generations:

1. correspondence and independent study with an emphasis on printed material and mail delivery;
2. total systems approach that integrates broadcast and recorded media with correspondence;  [I would not call it total systems - integrated & dovetailed perhaps]
3. real-time, interactive methods of course delivery, including broadcast, telephone, satellite, cable or Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) lines;
4. computer- and Internet-based technologies including audiographic and two-way video conferencing. [Today, this generation would need to be expanded to include asynchronous computer conferencing and one of the newest ways to convey instruction, desktop video conferencing.]

One problem with the first generation of compressed video and interactive television was that they were not well integrated with the Web.  Integration was possible but required the purchase of additional equipment.  In 99% of the cases the equipment was either  not purchased or, if purchased, little used. Another problem was that it did not require that professors reexamine their course and review the pedagogical value of what they did in the course.

In television and compressed video, the opaque projector [e.g., Elmo] replaced the classroom overhead projector.  The consequence was that classroom presentations were moved to ITV without revision or improvement.   In some cases it was a step backward in terms of display capabilities because it was often too much trouble to plug in another computer to access a power point presentation.  In all cases it was a step back in the level of interactivity.  The classroom lecture delivered at a distance was never quite as good as in the traditional face to face classroom.

The cost of interactive television was often too high.  In addition to the approximately $15,000 typically invested in converting a classroom to receive and send the signal, there were high line rates and technical difficulties with multisite presentations.

What skilled classroom instructors and students at a distance truly need is audio conferencing and white board capability. The typical interactive television set up provided this with the opaque projector replacing the overhead projector and the chalkboard.  Internet savvy teachers will also want a slide show and Internet access and display capabilities. 

On the limited need for full motion video in instruction

Notice that there is no particular need for full time video.  Students and teachers like to see who is talking but (1) this is rarely essential to learning and (2) it can be provided several ways besides full time video:  shared still photos, video clips, and a couple of face to face meetings during the semester. 

As was shown in a study conducted at Indiana University, when students have to work to keep the video channel open, they become content with just the audio channel.  As the experiment was set up, the video would go off after 10 seconds unless the subject clicked a button.  This is much like a battery operated computer which will "go to sleep"  if there are no key presses. The only time subjects would expend the extra effort required to turn the video back on was when there was something to be seen other than a talking head. 

Video can be made available on an as needed basis.  After getting an idea of what the teacher looks like, students do not think it is needed until there is visualized information to be imparted.  In most cases, the visual information does not require full motion or animation to be effective.  To introduce an instructor, a photo would probably be sufficient.  In the event that it is not, a professionally produced video clip would probably leave a better impression than the professors talking head. 

The problem with the talking head is that it rarely provides the non-verbal cues, eye contact, or a sense of closeness found in face-to-face instruction.  The video component of an interactive television course is probably no more effective than a video tape.  It is the interactive audio that makes the difference and then only if it is used. 

A face to face meeting with the normally remote students often does wonders for rapport.  The face to face meeting is particularly important for younger students who may feel uncomfortable writing or talking to someone they have never met in person. 

Totally on-line courses or hybrid courses?

I am an advocate of blended or mixed format courses.  There is usually no need for a distance education course to be totally remote or totally asynchronous.  A few scheduled meetings usually pays huge dividends. I prefer to expand the options for students. 

Most of my distance education courses included either an optional hands on workshop one night a week or an optional conference call.  Those who needed additional help could come in or call in.  While there were scheduled office hours, most students would not call in or come in individually.  They were more comfortable coming in before class or staying after. They were more comfortable participating in an audio conference than initiating a call.

The core ingredients of a virtual classroom.  A presentation style that mimics the traditional classroom:

1.  audio conferencing  supplemented with
2.  white board  including some application sharing - e.g. the ability to present slide shows
3.  Internet[ a convenient place to store documents, retrieve on demand, and archive for later inspection]
4.  intranet integration - e.g., access documents in password protected digital libraries

As indicated above, interactive television provides a virtual classroom.  In every respect, it is analogous to the traditional course delivery in a traditional classroom.  In terms of conveying information, audio conferencing and white-board is sufficient.  To make progress on the affective domain, other steps need to be taken to reduce the psychological distance between student and teacher.

Moving from the classroom to the interactive television studio is usually seamless.  It may take a couple of sessions to master the controls and to adjust to the peculiar demands of video, but there is no requirement to change ones presentation or pedagogical style.

Moving from the classroom to Internet Based Learning.

If moving from the classroom to television is a small step, moving from the classroom to Internet based learning environment is a giant leap.  It not only requires learning about and adjusting to the demands of the technology but also changing ones presentation and pedagogical style. 

Most people are used to discussing topics on the phone so moving from face to face to audio conferencing is easy.  Most are not used to carrying on a multipoint asynchronous discussion in text. This probably accounts for the high failure rate of attempts to include IRC-chat in the virtual classroom. Writing may be visible speech, but each mode of communication has its peculiarities.  What works in one mode does not always work as well in another.

On line courses are often referred to as virtual schools or virtual classrooms.  Such labels are misleading because there are so few similarities in the two environments.  ITV could be called a virtual classroom because it can retain all of the familiar features of the classroom.  An asynchronous on-line course is a different environment a different learning space.

Modalities Chart [insert here]

The transition to web based instruction is quite different from the transition from the traditional classroom to interactive television.  It is a major pedagogical shift and much closer to textbook writing than to traditional teaching. 

Web based instruction requires such different personality characteristics and skill sets that my prediction is that it will eventually be dominated by the major publishers.  The web course will be an enhanced electronic text and the assigned instructor will not be the author of 90% of the student's on-line reading material.   The instructor will continue to shape and supplement the on-line course in the same way that a traditional instructor shapes a textbook based course. 

The on-line instructor first has to build a correspondence course from his or her lecture notes and handouts.  This transition is much more demanding than it first appears.  It is not always easy to go from lecture notes to something that appears organized and interesting on the page or screen.

At this point in time, those who want to deliver courses on line will have to develop most of their own materials.  In the future, this will be an option rather than a requirement.

Steps in building an on line course.

An on line course should be modular.  Or to use an example from print, it should be broken up into chapters or topics.  A module is a self contained unit with its own goals and objectives, assignments, activities, and tests. Although textbooks are modular in some respects, few traditional courses are modular.  They are not subdivided into two or more self contained units. 

There are several advantages to a modular presentation.  The most important one is that it allows for better evaluation and more focused revision and improvement.  Modifying a module is easier and more cost effective than revising a course.  One reason for this is that the changes that an instructor or developer introduces in an effort to improve a course are not always for the better. 

Another advantage to a modular approach is that parts of the course can be used elsewhere.  I once was involved in modularizing 30 traditional courses simply because we wanted to be able to offer the 3 credit hour course as a series of  half credit off-campus continuing education courses for non-traditional students. 

This was not a trivial task.  Each instructor was given one semester release time to complete the task. Most instructors claimed that the conversion project required more time and effort than than teaching the class. 

There are many on-line courses that are not modularized.  Or to state it in another way, there are many on-line courses that are just one large module.  The better on-line courses are a sequence of modules.  Most of the content is presented via modules.

Modularization would be one way to improve these courses.  This is often avoided simply because is more time consuming.  It requires that the course be rethought and repackaged.  Courses that are already in a modular format are much easier to convert.

Integrating the Web into Teaching

Traditional class handouts, course outlines, powerpoint presentations all provide potential raw materials for Web pages.  Lecture notes could become Internet postings.

Maise [1996] argues that the instructional material of tomorrow is going to be assembled from multiple sources of content not single authored.   Web courses that are built from scratch naturally follow this approach.  The first task is to check the Web to see if someone has already come up with a way of teaching a particular concept. There is little point in reinventing the wheel. It is better to invest time in improving the weakest parts of the presentation.

Most of my self directed modules have included links to related content that I have found on the net. Quite often the explanations and graphics externally authored and illustrated are superior to what I could have come up without having twice the course production budget.

The Merlot.org website is built around the concept that the proper way to build a course is to reuse elements of courses that have been developed by professors at other Universities.  It is better for an instructor to reuse what is available on the net and spend his or her time on developing a module that is not available elsewhere.  The new modules can be made available to other schools to shorten their development time.  If you take elements from the Net, then you should give back elements that can be used in other courses.

In building a course in first year Latin, I found that I did not have to reinvent the wheel.  After I chose the textbook, the workbook and 90% of the course materials could be found on the Web.  Building the Latin course was particularly easy because it was going to be presented in a synchronous format.  The instructor was going to talk students through the course.  The primary mode of communication was audio-conferencing with the Web providing the visual element.  The asynchronous elements might be introduced in real time but the students would work through the modules on their own at their own pace. 

Students who could pass the final exam by reading the textbook and going through the workbook exercises might still enjoy the value added features found in the scheduled audio-conferences.  Having a close relationship and frequent contact with the instructor is always listed as the reason that students liked particular courses.  It is also always listed in the principles of good teaching primarily because it is about the best way that an instructor has to impart scholastic values and love of  learning.

Building a high quality web course is team project.  Subject matter experts or teachers usually do not have all the skills and temperaments required to build a first rate Web presentation.  They can certainly convert, or have someone else convert, all of their existing materials to a digital format.  This is not as easy as it sounds because for many veteran teachers, there is not that much written material.  Most of the course is in their head.

Building a web course should be looked on as a chance to rethink and improve a presentation.  Given the amount of time required to change formats.  It would be shortsighted not to upgrade the course in the process.

Step 1.  The first step in enhancing an existing course or building a Web course is to digitize the existing course materials and make them available on line.

1. syllabus - A complete course syllabus would contain almost all of the items in this list.   A syllabus includes information about the course  and the instructor,  information on how the course is organized and the demands placed on the students.
2. course outline - usually part of the syllabus, basically the sequence of topics to be presented, test dates.
3. topics to be covered.  What is the most important content categories? [What content will be delivered]
4. state the conditions of learning:  including level and kind of student-instructor interactions, opportunities for peer exchanges.
5. student outcomes, behavioral objectives, or goals  [e.g., students will provide evidence that they have learned or mastered the content].  Behavioral objectives have to be stated in terms of observables.  Learning is something presumed or inferred, not something seen.
6. assignments and projects to be completed, due dates.  [How will the students interact with the content and with each other. What will they produce, [post, turn in] for discussion and evaluation?
7. glossary of terms - does not have to be complete, students can be asked to find definitions.
8. course handouts
9. library assignments - are these easy to access on line?   GSU and UTx are examples of how to organize library assignments.

1. Divide the course into modules.
2. Each component within the module is important
3. Begin with the objective and then search for information to assemble
4. Write a paragraph to describe the purpose of the module
5. All modules include an assignment - it may not always be a reading assignment
6. Modules are an effective way for educators to take their first steps in teaching content without lecturing.
7. Modules are not about technology.  Modules help learners take their first self directed learning steps.
8. It is virtually impossible to adequately describe every step ambiguity and problem solving are part of the discovery process
9. Provide a conclusion to measure whether or not objectives have been met:  What's due.  When
10. Find a way to allow students to critique the module and explain their difficulty in working through it.
11. By evaluating each module you can revise any section that didn't work.  It is rare that a first time effort will be entirely successful.
12. Modules should be improved each time they are used.  It is not exactly a never ending process but it takes at least three test-rewrite cycles to get it right or good enough for most students.

Step 3.  Interactivity - features are routinely part of course manager [course management software]

1. email list of students
2. link to conferencing  [web board]
3. link to related web sites
4. link to electronic library
5. link to announcements
6. electronic tests - web forms

Step 4.  [under development]

The term on-line course can mean many things and different things to different people.
When someone says that they do not believe in on-line instruction, they are referring to a particular model.  When an administrator says that he wants to offer an on-line degree next year, he is working from a preconception as to what is involved.  When an administrator believes that on-line courses will be a cash cow and allow a higher ratio of students to teachers - there is a preconception as to how technology can be used to increase faculty productivity.

Each level adds to the preceding level

• electronic syllabus
• electronic book
• electronic correspondence course
• cc with asynchronous email
• cc with web board discussions
• full range of presentation capabilities
• slide show
• audio clips
• video clips
• interactive audio
• field tested content
• evaluation

RE Clark, 1983 for
the cl that
teaching

• Becoming aware of ones own thinking and thinking patterns.  Being able to articulate what one is thinking and why one comes to conclusions. Becoming more reflection.  Examined life.
• Becoming a better planner and better self regulator of ones own planning.  Improved time management
• Improved study habits
• Developing skills in finding relevant examples and models and applying them to one's own problem.
• Developing better self evaluation skills.
• Self understanding, self examination.
• Improved time management skills
• Improved study habits.  studying means more than reading what is assigned.
• Search and research skills

Evaluation skills, self evaluation.

Identify a faculty teaching problem related to a computer solution.
     The typical teaching problem is how to best adapt to change in format.
     How can an instructor add Internet enhancements to a traditional lecture?
 

• Choose a multimedia or hypermedia software application that might be used as part of the solution

 
• The format change is the requirement that course materials be made available in digital form.
• The software chosen to meet this requirement will be a set of course management tools and a shell 
•  specfically designed to assist faculty with the task of adding web enhancements to their courses.

Explain how to use the software to addresses the problem

• The problem is a format addition or change.  
• Make the notes and outlines available on-line. 
• Get the information into a text format 
• Get images into a Internet compataible graphics format.
• Text can be scanned and/or converted.  Images can be converted. 
• Once in a Web readable format, files can be ...
• Cut and pasted into a course management program

Decide how you intend to structure the training

Pretty much a basic show and tell structure with Web enhancements that will permit participants in the workshop to review the explanations and to apply them to a project of their own.

    The typical course is oriented toward buttonology - not instructional design.It explains how to place course documents and related information into a course management shell.

    The course is usually effective in providing enough information for instructors to start the conversion process.  Conversion is usually cut and paste.  The problem is that the courses are rarely ready for cutting and pasting:  The course outline is deficient and the assignments are not clear and concise.

    If something cannot be explained in 2 hours, it is a non-starter.
    I prefer to have 55 min. classes and then have faculty members bring back a project.
    These will be reviewed, and then go on to the next lesson.
    So basically, I would structure the training into two 1 hour modules.

Your objectives for the training.
     Instructor will be able use the software to his satisfaction after two hours of training.
     Typical success rate - about 50%.  They can follow the exercises in the class but they
     have difficulties when they try to do it on their own. 

What module will you use in the 10 minutes
     A show and tell overview.  I am going to tell you what I am about to tell you.
     I am going to stress the WHY BOTHER question and go over the benefits.
     I am going to try to generate some excitement about an easy way to enhance a traditional course
     I am going to provide enough information for the instructors to try it out on their own.
     What does the Bb learning space look like - what are the key features [this is on the test]

          1. The shell provides a simple way to link pages
          2. Linking pages is the hardest aspect of building web pages
          3. The shell provides 8 predefined pages and access buttons [hot links]
          4. Content must be placed into 6 of these sections.
          5. Content is added by coping and pasting plain text - or writing in a simple text editor.
          6. Content must be organized into documents or folders
          7. A page can be a series of captioned folders or a series of short documents
          8. Folders can be opened and typically contains 1 or more documents [or folders]
          9. Documents and folders should be familiar territory since they are used on GUIs such as
              Windows or the Mac OS.
        10. Bb is basically text based - although one image can be added to each document.
        11. For more elaborate graphics, one can link to external web pages.

How you will determine the success of the training

Since this is old news to most of you I will add at least one new twist.

How to add a hyperlink provided you have saved the document to your hard drive
Open Windows Explorer.  Locate the file.  
Drag and drop into Netscape Communicator. [the free editor]
also works with netscape mail
 on-line-success.html

How to change this into a Web link and continue to use it locally.
Must have uploaded the file to your website.
Now you have an absolute and relative hybrid link and beyond   [redo-insufficient]

Summary