Email: gahutton@telusplanet.net
Email: jeff.meadows@uleth.ca

Communication

• e-mails: Glen will respond to e-mails within 24 hours on week days and within 48 hours on weekends. If it is a long weekend, reply times may be longer.
• Virtual Office Times: Glen will be online in the course WebCT chat area most Tuesdays from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (subject to change). However, please feel free to arrange other virtual meetings as required.
• Telephone Voice Messages: Please note that I have two teenage boys at home who are great at answering the telephone and archiving voice messages for me. However, they have a terrible time remembering to tell me that I have an archived voice mail. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you contact me via e-mail.

Required Textbook

• A textbook is NOT required for this course. All materials are available online.
• You may, however, wish to order the folowing resource from the bookstore:
  • Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2004). Teaching Online: A Practice Guide. 2nd Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co

Information from Registrar's Office

• Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
• The design and development of web sites for instructional purposes. Students critically review web-based instructional sites, and create a web site that corresponds to an instructional unit and which incorporates a variety of instructional design principles.
• Prerequisite: Professional Semester I or third-year standing (a minimum of 60.0 credit hours).
• Note: Credit is not allowed for Education 4767 and Education 4769 (Web-Based Teaching).
• Education 4767 will not be counted toward the B.Ed. degree if it is taken prior to admission to the Bachelor of Education program.

Prerequisite Skills:
It would be very beneficial if you were proficient:

• using MS Word or other word processor
• with e-mail (including handling attachments)
• with web browser including downloading and opening files and using effective search strategies
• designing, creating, and uploading web pages using web editing software (freeware or free demos are available online if you don’t have a copy)

This course might best be described as an asynchronous learning network (ALN). The following is a description of an asynchronous learning network.

“ Learners use computers and communications technologies in ALNs to work with remote learning resources, including online content, as well as instructors, and other learners, without the requirement to be online at the same time. The most common ALN tool is the World Wide Web used in conjunction with managed learning environment (MLE) software such as WebCT. MLE provides students and instructors with electronic access to course materials, grades, activities, and communication options such as discussion boards, e-mail, and chat rooms.” (Rovai, 2002)

Web-based teaching is likely a new concept to many of you. The goal of this course is to identify the different components of web-based teaching in preparation for designing your own web-based course or training materials at some point in the future.

There are four basic modules that I would like to look at in this course. The objectives for each module are shown below. The Scope and Sequence chart gives you an idea of how I have split up these modules. You may have noticed that this chart is not complete. The reason for leaving this open at this time is to give me a chance to get to know you and figure out what works and what doesn’t work for this group. You will help me complete the chart as we move through the course!

As you click on each “Week” you will see that I have organized it into the following categories:
(a) Introduction – gives you an idea of what is going on and a brief explanation of why we are doing things this way.
(b) Objectives – what you will be able to do by the end of the week.
(c) Readings – I have listed readings that will help you meet the objectives for the week.
(d) Activities – these are non-graded activities that are designed to help you meet objectives for the week. Think of these as the types of things that you would be doing in a 3 hour, face-to-face class.
(e) Assignment – either the actual assignment or a reminder / tips helping you get that A+ that you are all striving for in this course. If you click on the assignments, you will be taken to a document that provides the detailed information and marking guide /rubric for the assignment.

There are 4 assignments for this course. Click on each link for more information on the specific assignment
• Assignment 1 – design, create, and upload an “original” personal portal web site.
• Assignment 2 – a term paper dealing with Asynchronous Learning Networks
• Assignment 3 – Virtual Schools.
• Assignment 4 – design, create, and upload a web site designed to teach a specific concept to a target audience. This can be a web site for K-12 students or a training site for adult learners.

Please note that the version of WebCT that you will be using has a funky way of dealing with due dates. I have to establish a firm due date for each assignment otherwise I can’t access your assignments or update the grades for that assignment.

Therefore, a due date for each assignment has been established and is shown in the Course Outline as well as the Course Calendar. It is important to stick to those dates as closely as possible otherwise, the procrastinators in the class tend to wait until the last minute and major frustration sets in.

I recognize that some of you will have technical problems or may have a legitimate reason for an extension. I do have some flexibility and will, on an individual basis, accept late assignments without penalty. However, it is YOUR responsibility to contact me in order to establish a date that is acceptable to both of us.

The only exception is the Final Project – I do NOT have any flexibility with this date as I have to get your projects marked and your marks submitted to the Registrar’s Office.

Faculty of Education Grade Equivalencies

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

Module 1 – Introduction to Online Learning
1. Define web-based learning.
2. Identify the key tools used in webCT.
3. Explain the importance of creating an online learning community.
4. Describe the purpose of participating in a synchronous online chat.
5. Describe the purpose of developing and posting an introductory web page.

Module 2 – Asynchronous Learning Networks
1. Identify the characteristics of an asynchronous learning network.
2. Distinguish web-based (online) courses from other forms of computer mediated / assisted instruction.
3. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of online learning.
4. List the characteristics of successful online students.
5. List the characteristics of successful online facilitators.

Module 3 – Virtual Schools
1. Classify virtual schools based on how they deliver their course content.
2. Compare traditional distance education courses with virtual education courses.
3. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of virtual (cyberschools).
4. Compare teaching at a virtual school to teaching in a face-to-face classroom.
5. Compare sample lessons from a number of virtual schools.
6. Describe the importance of professional development (teacher training) for virtual teachers.

Module 4 – Instructional Design
1. Identify general and specific learner outcomes for a specific topic of their choice.
2. Explain the importance of respecting copyright and intellectual property.
3. Develop a portion of an online course that incorporates a specified number of tools designed to teach the topic identified above by:

• identifying, describing, and incorporating a five phase model of instructional design (Analysis, Design (Planning / Storyboarding), Development, Implementation. Evaluation)
• identifying and describing the different tools that could be used in an online course (web site development software, text, graphics, animations, chat, discussion forums, grade book, quizzes, tests, etc.)

Specific Skills and Activities

• design and upload a web page introducing themselves to other members of the class
• be active participants of asynchronous class discussion
• participate in at least one synchronous online chat
• plan, design, and develop a web site (series of lessons) to teach a specific concept to a target audience