Experiences in Virtual Teaching

The purpose of the Web Retargetable Course Generation System, or "ReCourse," developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) is to facilitate both distance and on-campus learning via the World Wide Web. ReCourse's features include the ability to retarget a Web course for different levels of students, multi-user chat rooms, a secure grading system, bookkeeping tools, a map generator that allows students a birds-eye view of where they are in the course pages, a quiz feedback system, and a course bulletin board (news group) . This paper discusses the experience of teaching two online Web courses using these tools and describes the assessment procedures for evaluating the courses. Results are summarized related to computer knowledge background, student behavior, student attitude, student satisfaction, and course material. It is concluded that, while class satisfaction remained high, the formal assessment procedures indicated possible areas of improvement. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) o This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Experiences in Virtual Teaching Karen A. Lemone Associate Professor Computer Science Department Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA 01609, USA (508) 831-5529 kal@cs.wpi.edu "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY G.H. Marks TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." Abstract: Virtual teaching via the Web is becoming commonplace. Tools to better enable this activity are beginning to appear. However, little formal assessment has been done to determine effectiveness of such tools nor the effectiveness of such distance learning. In this paper, we describe experiences teaching online Web courses and a set of formal assessment procedures for evaluating such courses. The courses, the tools and the assessment procedures have evolved over multiple teachings of the same two courses over the last three years both in the US and in Europe. One course is a Web Publishing course for non-computer science majors. The other is a Web Programming course for computer science majors. Statistics for both graduate students and undergraduates are included. Virtual teaching via the Web is becoming commonplace. Tools to better enable this activity are beginning to appear. However, little formal assessment has been done to determine effectiveness of such tools nor the effectiveness of such distance learning. In this paper, we describe experiences teaching online Web courses and a set of formal assessment procedures for evaluating such courses. The courses, the tools and the assessment procedures have evolved over multiple teachings of the same two courses over the last three years both in the US and in Europe. One course is a Web Publishing course for non-computer science majors. The other is a Web Programming course for computer science majors. Statistics for both graduate students and undergraduates are included.