This course was started in the Fall of '94 in response to the tremendous growth and importance of the World Wide Web (WWW). It introduces students, with minimal word processing skills only, to the general computer background knowledge needed for surfing the internet. Students learn about various file types, hypermedia and multimedia, WWW browsers, e-mail, information network search tools, WWW document authoring, electronic books magazines, and journals, commercial networks, and digital libraries.The course will evolve soon to a fully automated course through a grant from SUCCEED. Digital video clips of the most important course lecture presentations will be created for students to view over the web. Online testing of the course segments will be provided to allow students to pursue a self-paced discovery learning model.
One of the primary problems in teaching is the lack of "instant communication". A teacher needs to be able to broadcast to all students simultaneously important course information updates. This problem has hardly been addressed in the literature, because up until recently it was an unsolvable problem--one which teachers for years have tried to circumvent. The World Wide Web solves this problem. By placing all of the course materials for CS1604 Networked Information online, I provided to the students instant information. In addition to alleviating the students from having to buy the course notes it became possible to update the notes during the semester without making the students' version obsolete. An announcements page provides a convenient location for the students to check out the latest course information during the term.
The course has allowed me to investigate new forms of communication and learning with my students. It has broken down old communication barriers and teaching models. I believe it has also saved me large amounts of time in eliminating many petty communication problems that arise in the teaching of a traditional course.
The students have reported that it has affected how they approach other courses and assignments. Many of them are beginning to utilize the web as a vast digital library. The students are starting to realize how much more productive learners and communicators they can become by fully employing the informational resources of the internet.
For additional information:
barnette@vt.edu