AT&T Fellows Final Report: Scott Jones

AT&T Fellows Final Reports

2006

Name	Scott L. Jones
Title	Assistant Professor of English
Department	Humanities
Campus	Kokomo
Project Title	Creating a Course Webtext
Project Goal	Use a fully integrated course Webtext inside of Oncourse CL to improve student learning.
Type of Technology Used in the Project	Web, Oncourse CL

Executive Summary of Results

The students in my Writing for the Web course positively responded to the webtext(book). When surveyed, almost all students reported that they would prefer to have webtexts in future classes. They split on whether the webtext should be used with a textbook or alone. Students also reported that the site was relevant to the course and helped them developed web content themselves. In addition, they reported that the course Webtext served as a good example of how to properly develop web site content and that the course Webtext helped them make connections between course assignments and lessons.

Need for the Project

By intensely hyperlinking course materials in an online webtext, I hoped to improve student learning in my Writing for the Web course. Traditional textbooks had not seemed an effective method of delivering content for a course on online writing and website creation.

Use of Technology

I used Oncourse CL to host a highly integrated course website, including an online textbook, syllabus, schedule, and assignments, all highly linked together.

I’ll present my findings on campus.

Instructional Design Plan

Expected outcomes

It should improve student learning by making connections among concepts more evident.
It should improve student learning by giving them an example of a highly structured, coherent, and integrated hyperlinked text beyond the largely recreational or retail texts they view online now. In the past, my students have rarely included links beyond their main navigation. This project will show them how to do this.
It should improve student learning by showing proper content development, giving them many examples of what I would like them to create in their web projects (but their creations will be on a smaller scale).

My project encouraged to explore the text and learn on their own. By integrating links, text, and graphics, I hoped to support a variety of learners with the project.
I used the CTE.
My project is easily understood by other faculty, but only those familiar with web design could implement it without great effort and training.

Potential to Impact Student Learning

The Oncourse/Webtext project fostered depth of learning by supplying both a variety of materials within Oncourse, and by linking to various external resources, allowing students to go as deeply as they desired into a subject. The webtext concept, if implemented in other environments, such as K-12, has the potential to improve learning in those environments as well.

Assessment Plan

I assessed the project by administering a 28-question survey instrument.
I feel this was an accurate measure of student opinion. There was no good way to measure changes in actual performance compared to previous years’ students due to small class sizes and sampling issues.

Plan for Colleague Development

I will present my project on campus and in the AT&T Fellows meeting this summer. I will happily assist other faculty who wish to develop similar projects.

The main tip I have to offer is it is very time consuming to produce a 100+ page quality instructional website to serve as a course textbook.

Final Comments on Project Results

Do you think you met the goals of your project?

Yes.

What, if anything, would you do differently?

I think in the future adding Flash animations to the site would improve it.

Did you have any unexpected outcomes? (positive or negative)

Not really. Some students commented that their limited Internet access from home hindered the effectiveness of the project.

Would you recommend this teaching approach to colleagues?

Only if they had the time and skills to do it properly.

What other comments or suggestions would you offer to complete this report?

Producing your own webtext(book) is a highly time consuming process, requiring proper equipment, skills, and time. While it allows for much better integration than simply posting materials online, it is unclear if the time and effort put into the creating the text is worth the effort. Hopefully, as web technology improves, such tasks will become easier.

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