Curry School of Education University of Virginia Academic Uses of the World Wide Web EDIS 739 Spring 1996 John Wills Lloyd

1. Catalogue Description

   EDIS 739 does not yet have a formal catalogue description. Were it to have one, though, it would be similar to this:

   Academic Uses of the World Wide Web provides students with opportunities to identify and develop resources that they can use in teaching. The resources are based on materials available on the world wide web and the products take advantage of such features as hypertext, hypermedia links, forms, and maps.

2. Prerequisites

   Prerequisites include interest in the subject, inclination to play, and willingness to work. Because there will be students who have varied degrees of experience with the web, we shall often have to help each other accomplish tasks. Those who are unwilling to collaborate with others in working toward shared products have not met the prerequisite.

3. General Course Objectives

   Please consider these goals and objectives as preliminary and not exhaustive:

   I. Identify web resources relevant to one's areas of interest.

   II. Review tools for using the web.

   A. Compare and contrast web browsers;

   B. Compare and contrast document editors;

   C. Compare and contrast other tools (as suggested by students or experts).

   III. Review published literature about using the web in education.

   IV. Describe uses of the web in teaching at the level of interest to the individual (e.g., elementary, secondary, post-secondary).

   A. Create web documents.

   B. Test those pages using different browsers.

   C. Demonstrate uses of pages for instruction.

   
   

4. Outline of Course Content and Schedule

   During the early parts of the course, we shall spend most of our time learning how the web and web documents work, browsing the web for documents that are relevant to our individual areas of interest, and creating simple pages. During the middle part of the course, we shall shift toward creating more complex pages and connecting related pages into structures. During the last part of the course, we shall devote most of our efforts to refining our pages and preparing them for presentation to others. The course calendar gives more specific information about the schedule.

5. Instructional Procedures and Experiences

   I plan to mix several different types of class sessions. I hope to have guests meet with the class; those people who can meet with us know a lot about what is available on the web and how web documents work. They will give us tours of the places they know.

   In general, I want this course to be one in which students complete several smaller activities that add up to one or two large ones. I want the activities to be completed with the goal of sharing the products with colleagues in the class, the Curry School, the University, and other educational institutions. Please do not treat the products as things one must complete to satisfy me, but things in which one would take professional pride.

   I anticipate that much of each class meeting will be devoted to examining and producing products. Outside of class, students will also be examining and producing products, but the class sessions will allow us to demonstrate what we have learned and show others how to use what we have learned.

   I hope that students will work cooperatively and collaboratively on these tasks. To encourage this, I shall assign a limited number of review activities and ask students to complete them as a part of a group.

6. Course Requirements

   As students may enroll for one, two, or three credits, the activities to be compelted will vary. I hope that each student will be able to complete the smaller, enabling assignments within 1 week of the time that I make them available. I also hope that students will create a larger, comprehensive assignment by the end of the term.

7. Required and Suggested Readings

   As would be consistent with a class on the web, much of our reading will come from materials that we read by following links. Although I have lists of suggested paper resources that I shall provide, I have created a preliminary list of some items that I encourage students to browse, including:

   • A list of places to which we like to go.
   • Some sources about writing html pages.
   • The wonderful resources of the Curry School Education Library.
   • Our current information page.
   • A calendar showing what we plan to do during various class meetings.

Updated: 7:00 AM, 9 Januay 1996

JohnL