WWW94 Education Workshop
I'm interested in the possibilties and practicalities of WWW application to
distance learning courses / modules, and its evolution into the future. The
following are some points that I'd like to be discussed during the workshop.
- Hypertext document organization for structured teaching / learning
- For example: Hypertext connectivity is conducive to browsing (eg
Biology gopher
server at Stanford) or working through a hierarchy to arrive at a
specific piece of information (eg
UNIXhelp for users
at Edinburgh). Using the Web can often be much like navigating through a
spaghetti highway. One way of countering this for structured learning is
pseudo-linearity both within a document (eg NCSA's
Beginner's Guide
to HTML) or linking separate documents into a chain (eg
Hypertext and Multimedia Info at Brunel). In general, what are the
participants' opinions and experiences on using Hypertext / WWW in
structured teaching / learning?
- Participant interaction on a distance learning course
-
'MUD/MOO' has been targeted to allow people to communicate in
real-time on distance learning courses (see
Diversity University). How
successful is MOOing (expected to be) for the progression of learning in
distance education?
- Significance of the Web distance learning impact
- The WWW definitely has a contribution to make to distance learning.
However, various factors exist that may determine the Web's niche in the
field of education. Consideration of these factors may help to focus the
evolution and organization of the Web for these distance learning purposes.
Some examples that may be worth considering are:
- Compared to traditional distance learning, it's easy to keep documents
updated. This is very useful in fast moving fields of learning.
- As the Web becomes even more popular, traffic congestion
may cause a decreased user-perceived speed, which may interfere with the
fluidity of the learning process.
- Education should be available to everyone. As the Web inevitably develops
within the area of teaching and learning, there will be universal user access
and technology requirement issues to be considered.
Sami Raza