_ .......................................................... __ __ __ __ __ __ web's eye view | | /| / /| | /| / /| | /| / / May 1, 2001 | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / Maricopa Center for |__/|__/ |__/|__/ |__/|__/ Learning & Instruction .......................................................... http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/ .......................................................... The freshest bag of URLs is ready for pickup at http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/curr.html Help us refill by dropping interesting sites into: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/drop.html Maricopans Make the Chronicle! ============================== TWO FACULTY MEMBERS HELP COLLEGE DISTRICT CREATE ONLINE COURSES Naomi O. Story, the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Mesa Community College, and nutrition professor Maureen Zimmerman have had a great deal of experience with online education programs, both at their college and in the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Community College District. Zimmerman says the four pillars on which they have based their online education efforts are core support, institutional support, faculty support, and student support. Story says one of the most damaging mistakes a college or university can make in designing online education programs is mandating that instructors must create online versions of their courses. Online education, Story contends, is not about placing traditional materials on the Internet--doing so creates unpopular, ineffective courses that will only alienate both faculty and students. Another mistake Story has seen is colleges and universities that fail to plan for software and infrastructure upgrades. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 20 April 2001) http://www.chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001042001u.htm Alert Box ========================= Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for April 15 is now online at: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010415.html According to a recent critical incident analysis, users' most important Web tasks involve collecting and comparing multiple pieces of information, usually so they can make a choice. Info for eModerators ==================== NEW RESOURCES ADDED TO THE MODERATORS HOMEPAGE The Moderators Homepage is a growing set of resources for moderators and moderators-to-be of online discussion in both academic and non-academic settings. We recently added new resources you may find useful. You may access the Moderators Homepage by clicking the appropriate icon in the lefthand column at http://www.emoderators.com/ A brief description of three new articles follows. Regards, Zane Berge and Mauri Collins ------- Winograd, David (2000) Guidelines for Moderating Online Educational Computer Conferences These guidelines, used here with kind permission of Dr. Winograd, grew out of his dissertation research. He provides a very practical guide for both novice and experience faculty in the nuts and bolts of preparations for, and the conduct of/ effective discussion in the online classroom. ----------- Brown, Alisson (1997) Designing for Learning: What are the essential features of an effective online course? Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 13(2), pp. 115-126 How do online courses differ from traditional university courses? What are the new learning demands made on students in online courses? Which particular design features optimize the teaching and learning process in an online delivery mode? These were the questions explored in a collaborative course design project involving an economics lecturer and the instructional designerat Murdoch University. ----------- Pitt, Tina Joy and Anne Clark (nd) Creating powerful online courses using multiple instructional strategies. Online learning can employ any of the wide variety of strategies discussed here, from email to online data base and archive searching. Much of the power of learning via the Internet lies in its capacity to support multiple modes of communication including "any combination of student-to-student, student-to-faculty, faculty-to-student, faculty-to faculty, student-to others, others-to students and so forth" (Ellsworth in Berge & Collins, 1995, p. 31). Taking into account the varied learning styles of learners and providing opportunities for self-directed and collaborative learning, educators can facilitate powerful, effective courses geared to achieve specific learning goals and outcomes using the vast resources and capacities of computer-mediated online learning.