Empirically Based Guidelines for Developing Teaching Materials on the Web

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"chalk and talk" approaches will continue in the short term, students will increasingly see such an approach as outdated and find the Web their instructional medium of choice.