Delivering Web-based Instruction Directly to the Home and Workplace
ARCHIVED PRESS RELEASE FROM UTEP NEWS
UTEP Education Notes July 24, 1998
Contact: Timi Haggerty
Staff Writer, News and Publications Office
915/747-5526
E D U C A T I O N N O T E S
Another First for UTEP ...
Delivering Web-based Instruction Directly to the Home and Workplace
Contact: Henry Ingle
Associate Vice President for Technology Planning and Distance Learning
915/747-8901
For students enrolled in Charles Elerick's English for Science and Technology course at UTEP, going to class means never having to leave home or even get dressed, brush your teeth or find a parking space.
Elerick, a professor of languages and linguistics, took his standard course curriculum, gave it a tweak here and there, and with instructional design support from UTEP's Office of Technology Planning and Distance Learning, developed an online curriculum that can be accessed by students at any time and from any place. The result is a completely Web-based course in which students and teacher need never communicate face-to-face.
Instead, communication takes place through private e-mail messages, open "chat rooms" and a bulletin board area in which students may post messages or questions directed to the instructor or class members who can respond in a likewise manner for a high-tech "class discussion."
This is the first course of its type at UTEP, positioning the university alongside the other universities, both private and state, that now offer courses on the Internet, according to Henry Ingle, associate vice president for technology planning and distance learning. This relatively new capability at UTEP, Ingle said, parallels the call for lifelong learning opportunities.
"Learners who are difficult to reach by more traditional face-to-face classroom instruction are responding to this option," Ingle said.
Web-based courses bring a new dimension to distance learning opportunities, which up to now included traditional correspondence courses using the postal service, televised courses via cable or the public broadcasting system, and teleconferencing.
Now, with Elerick's course, UTEP tests the waters of Internet-based instructional possibilities by offering an exciting new aspect to distance learning. The Internet courses are, by nature, asynchronous, meaning that users can access the information at their convenience for example, during the lunch hour, in the middle of a sleepless night or at any time students find it convenient to log on literally bringing school to the students rather than vice versa.
The Internet offers other advantages. Using a computer modem and an Internet service provider, students can access the curriculum from anyplace even Saudi Arabia which, as a matter of fact, is exactly where two undergraduate students (both soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss until their transfer earlier this summer), will be when they log on to Elerick's course this fall.
This particular course is perfect for an initial Web-based venture because it can be used to fulfill any technical writing requirement or as an elective in a several degree plans. The writing course emphasizes skills specifically needed for effective communication in the workplace: how to write a coherent e-mail message, how to develop instructions that are both detailed and coherent; how to generate well-written memos and reports. Ingle sees the course providing opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in a technological field who need to work on communication skills, for professionals already in the workplace and for corporations looking for an opportunity to strengthen employees' written and oral communication skills.
Elerick said his course is an ideal opportunity for the older, working student; military personnel; or a professional working on a degree from a distant job location. Ingle added that this online format is ideally suited for people who, "in midlife, can't come back to the university full time."
For technical reasons as well, Elerick's course, which appears in the fall semester course schedule, was a perfect choice for UTEP's pioneer venture into Web-based instruction. With its text-heavy content, the course adapted to the Internet quite easily, according to Philip McCarty, senior staff associate in Technology Planning and Distance Learning, who aided Elerick in transferring his course to the web.
"This was a good fit," McCarty said. "Dr. Elerick is key to getting this course on the web because it's so important to have a faculty member who finds it professionally challenging to pursue this."
McCarty explains that the next step will be to develop the capability of sending video images along with the text curriculum. When this happens, the well-equipped student, whose computer has a sound card and color monitor, will be ready to take the next giant step into learning via cyberspace.
For now, logging into Elerick's course is as easy as entering the Internet address: www.utep.edu/Elerick. Up to a point, the site is accessible to anyone interested in browzing through some of the pages. A special code, however, is required to access exams, lecture material and the chat rooms that are integral components for any classroom experience. The self-paced curriculum is based on a Tuesday/Thursday class schedule, although the students may move ahead if they desire. All assignments are accessed and homework submitted on line. Exams, also submitted over the Internet, have designated due dates. Elerick returns graded papers and exams in the same way electronically.
Elerick envisions this course as a model a prototype of the electronic courses of the future.
"You have to push a model to its limit to see what it can do," he said. "I really want to see what it means to do this absolutely over the Web."
He still teaches his course in the traditional manner in the on-campus classroom.
"The whole thrust of distance learning," Henry Ingle said, "is going to be with the Internet because of its convenience for the learner."
By tapping into the well of online, asychronous learning opportunities, the university expands beyond the borders of the campus and reaches out to the larger community.
"Lifestyles are changing and UTEP is attempting to respond to the realities of the 21st century," he said. "Technology has matured to parallel in many ways the teacher-student interaction that would actually happen in a classroom. This is the future."
For information on registering for this course for the Fall 1998 semester, call UTEP's Office of TPDL at 747-8901 or e-mail tpdl@utep.edu.
