Transcript Maximizing Teaching & Learning for the Short Course

Maximizing Teaching &
Learning
A Faculty Designed Integrated System
©2003 R. Hinton, Broome Community College
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Who Says…
A learning system has to be a commercial
product?
A commercial product is the answer when
you want to provide the students with a
real world experience?
©2003 R. Hinton, Broome Community College
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A Little Background
WebCT at Broome Community College
Publisher's E-pack to supplement course
content
Blackboard at Binghamton University
Used to support committee work & class
work
©2003 R. Hinton, Broome Community College
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So What’s Missing?
In a Web development course …
Students need to experience all aspects of
Web design
Course management systems prevent the
instructor from providing good models
Students are limited in their abilities to
interact with the Web site
Once the course is completed, students no
longer have access to reference material
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Who’s Our Audience?
A Little Course Information
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CST 135
 Introduction to the Internet & World Wide Web
 Site was initially developed for this course
 1 credit short course (5-week) taught at Broome
Community College (course inactive)
 Met 3 hours per week in a laboratory classroom equipped
with a projection unit
 Content
 How to use email & search the Web
 Discussion of ethical issues
 Creation of basic Web sites
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CST 120
 Java Programming
 Introductory course focusing on Web applets
 3 credit taught at Broome Community College
 Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (2hrs) instruction
 Content
 JavaScript to introduce Web-based programming
 Standard programming topics such as data types,
program control, & input/output
 Animation
 Arrays
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CS 205
 Advanced Microcomputer Applications
 4 credit taught at Binghamton University
 Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (1½hrs) instruction
 Content
 Advanced networking applications
 Web page development using HTML, CSS, & JavaScript
 Effective computer-based presentations
 Project planning & scheduling tools
 Effective Internet research
 Marketing Trends & Competitive Analysis
A sneak preview!
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CST 119
 Computer Concepts & Applications
 Taught by other instructors
 3 credit taught at Broome Community College
 Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (2hrs) instruction
 Content
 Computer architecture & data representation
 Operating Systems (including UNIX) & Networks
 Database systems, Systems Analysis, & CASE tools
 Programming languages including C++ & Java
 Web page development using HTML
 History & Ethics
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For Most of these Classes…
Skill levels range from:
Those with little computer skills
to
Those with a programming background & have
already created some Web content
So what does this mean?
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Two main questions arise:
How can you maximize course content
delivery?
How can you keep more advanced students
interested while still maintaining an
appropriate course content level?
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Methodology &
Web Site Content
Addressing the 1st Question
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Immersion
 Separate Home page created for each class
 Accessible from personal Home page
 http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/
 Online Content
 Presentations (for some of the courses)
 Study Guides & Examples
 Assignments sent via email in programming classes
 Students forced to work in Web environment for
many phases of the class
 Available outside of class
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Web Site Content
Designed (for the most part) to teach
good design principles
Navigation methods
Page dating
Layout
Screen resolution
Displaying information in the browser title bar
etc
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Web Site Content
 My Web pages contain these elements & serves
two purposes:
 Site is easier for the students to use while learning the
course material
 Access to standard course documents, such as Course
Policy & Class Outline
 Study Guides & examples serve as lecture tools as well as
reference documents for assignments
 Links to textbook Web Site
 As students repeatedly use the site…
 They realize why the design principles are important
 They are likely to include them in their own projects
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Pedagogy Dictates I Break
the Rules!
While consistency is an important feature
in good Web site design, this rule wasn’t
strictly enforced
Students are told up front that this was
done to provide as many online examples as
possible
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Pedagogy Dictates I Break
the Rules!
 Consistency is illustrated in my design of the
menu system for the Study Guides pages
 All menus associated with the Study Guides use the
same screen layout
 While the backgrounds for each individual study guide
are different, each provides a similar format
 After the heading, most pages provide a topic overview
followed by the details, which are organized by subtopic
 Most pages not only provide sample code that can be copied
and pasted to a student’s file, they also present the
material using that method
 See Lists screen shot
 Aside from links (for navigability), each page builds on the
previous topics, reinforcing their concepts
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Web Site Content
Addressing the 2nd Question
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Why is keeping the interest of
more advanced students
considered difficult?
Common approach is to write the
information for two different audiences
A better solution lies in subtlety,
enhancing the way the information is
presented
On the surface, Web pages look very
straightforward
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The Home pages are menu-based providing access
to all other areas of the Web site & a link to the
textbook’s Web site
Study Guides teach students how to create a
basic Web page, show programming examples, &
provide access to outside resources
Piquing Their Curiosity
Advanced techniques are embedded in
most of the pages
Usually not apparent to novice students
Students are encouraged to review the
source code for all the pages on the site
In fact, in some of the classes. the first HTML
lesson teaches the students how to look at a
Web page’s source code
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Sample Techniques
How many did YOU notice?
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Page Loading Effects
Home page contains JavaScript forcing
the window to open in a 800 x 600 window
or smaller depending on the available
screen space
Opening Web pages
Links to Web pages I created open in the
current browser window
Links to Web pages at remote Web sites open
in a new window
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Text Effects
Way of capturing the user’s attention
Implemented on both sample pages
Internet Explorer & Netscape provide
different effects
These Web pages contain the code for both
types:
 In Internet Explorer the title scrolls across the
screen
 In older versions of Netscape the title blinks
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Displaying Different Fonts
Need to know the font’s name
Default Web page font is Times New Roman
These pages are designed to support a
range of fonts that might be installed on a
user’s machine
Student can download a self-extracting Zip file
containing a set of fonts designed work with
the site
Instructions for installing them are provided
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Displaying Special
Characters
Need to know the special character’s
HTML code or its numeric Unicode value
Each guide provides sample code that a
student can copy & paste into a file they
are creating
The advanced student will wonder how the tag
brackets (<>) were displayed
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Pushing Them Forward
Links are provided to more advanced
resources
As I learn new techniques, they are
incorporated into the Web site’s design
When I have time, I plan to add guides about
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
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Instructor Information
Rachel E. Hinton
Assistant Professor/Adjunct Lecturer
Broome Community College/Binghamton
University
http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/
Takes you to my personal Home page which has
links to this & other sites I’ve developed
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