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2003 Conference Proceedings

Enhancing Accessibility with Web Material and Courses

Abstract

Materials developed for use in the regular classroom can be incorporated into the web to improve accessibility to students. Many of our working students are unable to attend classes regularly due to work constraints. Easy access to education and training to potential students is a growing need, as well as servicing industry needs through asynchronous learning for employees.

Proceeding

I. Introduction

With the widespread use and the rapid growth of the Internet, educational and training institutions around the globe are racing towards using the Internet as a new medium of delivery. The world-wide-web is a powerful and exciting medium for communication and as such is a valuable resource for faculty for delivering online instruction.  Its ease of use and the capacity as a repository of information and the interactive delivery of content makes it an effective option for furthering knowledge and skill. The advantages of web courses are they can easily be reviewed and changed for currency and accuracy compared to textbooks. As the world-wide-web becomes a state-of-the art delivery medium there is a need among educators and trainers to obtain knowledge about the tools needed for developing and implementing web courses. Easy access to education and training to potential students is a growing need, as well as servicing industry needs through asynchronous learning for employees.

There are various methods of developing on-line courses. There are private organizations that develop software specific to on-line education such as e-College, Blackboard, Web CT, and Top Class to name a few. Many education institutions are using these private distance learning providers for taking advantage of their infrastructure, instructional design features and technical support for delivery of on-line courses.

II. Designing Web Courses

The course developers must provide the following information in their web courses: A header identifying the author and course details, E-mail access to the web course author along with other means of access, information on last revision and date, appropriate citations for text, graphics, video, and audio sources that are not created by the web course author, a link to the University Home Page, a copyright statement, and text elements that can be read while the media are loading1.  Some general guidelines2 to follow are:  Split your information into logical sections, make sure your starting page is attractive and well laid out, try to have a consistent theme throughout your entire site, try to use colors, styles, and fonts that complement each other.

Try to get to the point on the first page, or at least give people an idea of what your site is about.  Make it easy for the viewer to find the information for which they are looking.  Ask yourself what things people might be looking for and try to make those things accessible from the main page.  Offer a way of contacting somebody in case they don’t find what they are looking for.  Try to test your pages to see how they look with a different size screen, with the images turned off, a different color resolution, and a different browser.  Make sure your site is relatively quick to load, no matter what you put on it.  As a rule the page should not be more than 50K.  Under normal conditions, this page will load in a few seconds yet allow some fairly good use of graphics.  If you have more material, consider separating it on separate pages.  Graphics can be stored in a JPEG or GIF format.  JPEG format uses “lossy” compression and you can decide the trade off between file size and quality. GIF images will ensure that the images display exactly the same all the time.  Use graphics and gadgets sparingly. Some common things that get overused are excessive graphics and background images2. 

III. Developing Web Courses

Developing quality web courses takes time3. The front end of your web page should include a welcome screen, syllabus, testing information, posting of grades online, and a bulletin board.  There are many different web page editors available in the market today that can be used in order to quickly create a functional Web page. Microsoft FrontPage 2000 is relatively easy to use considering our University’s familiarity with the Microsoft Office suite. FrontPage 2000 allows you to create Web pages using one of the pre-developed program templates and from blank pages. 

Creating Web pages in Microsoft FrontPage is very easy1.  Launch FrontPage, select File in the menu bar, select New from the drop down menu, select web from the sub menu, select One Page Web icon from the new dialog box, specify the location of your Web account, and click on the OK button.  When you begin using FrontPage you will find that many of the toolbar buttons are the same as the toolbar buttons found in Microsoft Office. 

To save Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint 2000 Files as Web Pages, save your file by going to File in the menu Bar, select Save as Web Page from the drop down menu, select your working web page folder to save the file, make sure the file name textbox contains the proper name, and click on the Save button.

IV. Teaching Web Courses

We have found that initial web course enrollment is higher than traditional course enrollment. This is possibly because time constraints are lifted, and students can work around their regular schedule. It is also much easier for working people to take web courses. Dropout rates also seem to be a little higher for the online students. Since online students have to basically study on their own without much pressure for the faculty, it works better for students who are self motivated. Others who need to be pushed by the teacher would do better in a regular course. Any student, who cannot stick to a regular schedule, may fall behind in their work and eventually drop the course. The number of students who did enroll in a second continuation online course dropped significantly.  The reason most students gave was that the online course took a considerable amount of their time to complete, and that it was more difficult for them than a classroom-based course.  Grades on average for the past three years are almost the same for web students as compared to the regular students. This result came as a surprise to us. However some case studies support this observation7. This may be because many of the online students are generally working and may have more practical experience in the subject matter, and also may be studying more compared to the regular students. Motivation may be another factor for their performance being similar to the regular students. We have also found from experience that it takes much more time to teach and administer web courses. Other web course developers agree that teaching a web course and maintenance of a web course takes considerable amount of time4. However having said that, we feel that the time is well spent since the material developed in the web courses can also be used in the regular classroom. Student satisfaction is about the same in the traditional course and the online courses. Again the reason may be that students are glad they could get to take the course around their regular schedule. Other authors agree that if you deliver a quality product people will be attracted towards a new technology5. Giving direction when students are stuck with a problem becomes much more difficult with a web course, especially if it is a difficult problem. This would be simple to do in a classroom, as you could gauge the student understanding and explain the solution till the student understood the material. Some authors believe that the web courses will benefit with the addition of synchronous communication component to online couses6. 

V. University Support for Web Courses

The Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning (CSTL) at Southeast Missouri State University helps enhance professors' teaching and students' learning experiences by providing a diverse source of materials on effective teaching, and incorporating technology into education as is done at other universities8.  The home page, which includes the syllabus for each of the classes, bulletin board for students to discuss topics with each other, and online grade information for the students’ benefit, were all made with the help of the CSTL.  Students are happy to have the means to communicate with each other9 as is provided by the bulletin board program.

The School of Extended Learning at Southeast Missouri State University is making a major push towards offering courses online. The School of Extended Learning is even offering incentives for faculty teaching on-line courses, as are many other universities10.  The incentives include a small monetary reward or a reduction in the teaching load during the semester we first teach the course.

VI. Conclusion

Employers are looking for students who have excellent working knowledge of computer systems.  In today’s competitive industrial environment keeping abreast with emerging Internet technologies and learning/training needs is becoming increasingly important not only for students but also to those involved with technical education. The internet has become an effective delivery medium for providing easy access to education and training needs, as well as facilitating asynchronous learning. Having a good understanding of the tools needed for developing and implementing courses on the Internet is imperative.

References

1. Web-Page Development Using FrontPage 2000, Computer Services, Southeast Missouri State University.
2. Mackenzie, Colin (1998).  Web Design Tips [WWW document], URL http://www.colin.mackenzie.org/webdesign/.
3. Smith and Ragan (1999). Instructional Design (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, N.J. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
4. Hopper, Keith (2001). Is the Internet a Classroom? TechTrends. 45(4), 35-43.
5. Sharma, Yogesh (2002). The Graduate.  Silicon India. Dec/Jan, 24-28.
6. Wang, Alvin and Newlin, Michael  (2001). Online lectures: Benefits for the Virtual Classroom. T.H.E. Journal. URL http://www.the journal.com/magazines/vault/A3562.cfm.
7. Capri, Anthony (2000). Seeing is Understanding: Science Lessons on the Web. Syllabus. 14(4), 50-51.
8. Kubarek, Diane (1999). Introducing and Supporting a Web Course Management Tool.  Syllabus.12 (10), 51-55.
9. Chalmers, Jessica (1998). Virtual Education. [WWW document]. URL http://www.musenet.org/~bkort/EdMud.html.
10. Boettcher, Judith (1998). Taking Off with Distance Learning: Are We There Yet?  Syllabus.12 (4), 11 53.