Online Choices and Online Courses

12/10/00

DRAFT

Online Choices and Online Courses
for the 13^th ICTCM Pre-Session
November 16, 2000
by
G. Donald Allen

Abstract. Before constructing an online course, a Web assisted course, or a Web-based course, it is important to consider the many choices available to accomplish your project. In this brief paper, we collect together a few of the choices of greatest urgency. We focus on the various styles and features that can be brought to such a project. Additional attention is given to large scale deployment.

Introduction.
When undertaking the creation of an online course, numerous decisions must be made before the first words are written. Assume this online course is to be more than a Web version of an assignment sheet with links to a few notes. It is to become a learning environment that will compel the student to enter, whether or not there is a companion (print) text. The initial temptation to begin writing right away should be very soon overcome by the apparent magnitude of the task. The developer must consider most of the logistic details of Web course creation, deployment, and use. For example: What are the merits of Java Applets? How much does it cost to produce a course? What about online assessment? Can and online course be cost effective. What about video streaming? What are the preferred development tools? How can we give help online? Is there really a way to do it? What skills does the faculty member need? How much time does it take?
Some of the questions are technical, while others are logistical. If you are already an experienced Web page developer, there is still plenty to learn. A good author has a slight advantage. The topics we consider, some only briefly, are:

The bottom line is this: Plan your course as though you have the time and money to create it right. Apply the onion paradigm, which means build your project layer-by-layer, adding features as your skills and schedule permits.

Content
Full or partial content, or textbook-based courses are current choices. It is the value added that can make the difference between a Web page and an online course. What sorts of features you add will make the course a success or failure. Content should be relevant. It should be easy to navigate, and your design should be intuitive.
The online course should consist of several features: content, links and resources, quizzes, homework problems, navigational devises, and a table of contents. If your course is full content, you must of course write the equivalent of a textbook, a time consuming task. Even still, writing such a course is sufficiently different from writing a print text that considerable time must go into its creation. This is not the forum to describe these features. (Allen, Stecher, Yasskin 1998) It is best for the author to find online courses and note their differences from a full print text.
If the course is text based, then the value of the course is measured by the value-added to the textbook. For example, if all that is added is the syllabus portion, with assignments, this is little more than a self-study course. And it is well known that such course have limited efficacy for most students and none at all for some. Therefore, it is important to include a variety of materials that will aide the student in comprehending the text. This can include further or fuller explanations of important issues. It can include links to and discussion about resource links and applets; it can also include particular goals of selected readings or text chapters. The student should feel that the online portion of the course is essential, without which comprehension would be difficult to achieve. A key point is that your portion should include content that the student must learn to be successful on exams. The partial content course should not conflict with the primary text. If it contains supplementary examples or chapters, this is ideal. It could also present alternative viewpoints for comparison. However, you should avoid presenting dual sources of same course materials. In most cases the student will eventually select one of the sources as the primary content authority. I

Assessment
Assessment is a thorny issue. Probably what most of us think about here is online testing. The mechanism is that the student logs into some Web site and takes the required test. The issues are security, timing, and efficacy. Much research needs to be done here.

Online testing is increasingly important in the online course world. (Hall, R., Pilant, M, Strader, R. 1999) You can use Java to create and grade tests. Alternatively, CGI/Perl scripts can be used to the same end. However, this requires some programming skills. Fortunately, most course management systems, such as WebCT and Blackboard allow for the possibility on creating, administering, and grading online tests. If you are interested just in self-tests, there are now JavaScript tools available for their creation. (See, http://www.math.tamu.edu/~don.allen/template/ for an example template.) There are a number of services that will process grades from your tests. However, some college student records rules may render some of them unusable.
Assessment also refers to how students react to the online course, and to the course efficacy itself. This has become a required aspect of accreditation institutions. Do not be surprised if you are asked to measure how your course performs. For further information see (Allen 2000a).

Streaming Media
Creating streaming media is expensive and time consuming no matter what you are defining it to be. Yet, students tell me that just hearing my voice makes a difference, even though I am saying almost exactly what is contained in the lecture notes. The simplest form of video streaming is to create a power point document with each page some point you wish to make. Then will running a video capture program, you run the power point file, page by page, while talking into a microphone. When the presentation is complete, you encode it (or whatever), and deploy it to your site as a link. I have created such videos successfully using Microsoft Encoder and Microsoft Media Player. Both are free. Microsoft encoder condenses the equivalent AVI file about 4-to-1. So, a four-minute video takes about a megabyte of space. One advantage of the Microsoft product, besides the cost, is that you can either stream it with an NT server, or the user can view to it with only the Media Player. Camtasia Producer works somewhat better than Microsoft Encoder, but it costs $150. In any event, you will still need to encode it with some kind of software as the AVI files produced by Camtasia are simply too big for modem delivery. Alternatives include Real Producer and Real Player. To my knowledge you must also install the Real streaming software itself (not cheap).

Other types of video include making tapes of lecture and running them at scheduled times from some site whether over closed circuit TV or as streaming lectures. This usually requires T1 speed for good delivery. Therefore the student should be on a campus site. It is not recommended that the first of your online course be streaming video.

Java and JavaScript
.Java applets are the most sophisticated form of programming available over the Web today. With it you can create databases. That means you can administer, grade, and store exams. You can also display exiting and dynamic graphics. Without doubt, Java applets can be used to great advantage to create an interactive learning environment. However, Java programming has a rather steep learning curve, one than can be navigated with enough time. Is such time available? If you make the time to learn, what then does not get done? The efficacy of any particular Java applet is not certain. This form of technology is so new that no one quite knows what works and what doesn't. All that is known is that these applets require some considerable cost of development.

With JavaScript, you can create the beginning of interactivity. Indeed you can created pages that branch on various cues, that test knowledge, that depict animation or motion, and that accept, score, or evaluate user input. Many of the pages you visit online are controlled by JavaScript code. For example, those "rollover" images you often see are simple scripts. So also is the processing of forms. With JavaScript you can deploy sophisticated self-tests that have virtually every feature of a fully developed cognitive Java applet.

Bulletin Board - Chat - Discussion - Help
The electronic bulletin board can be an effective communication tool for your online course. Through it, your students can keep in touch with each other. Some faculty have effectively used such sites for homework assignment, requiring students to make a certain number of postings and responses per semester. Chat rooms are problematic. They often result in more confusion that constructive interaction.

Online help for online or traditional mathematics courses has always been THE issue after putting math online. To date there has been no remedy for this until the advent of NetTutor 3.0. A product of Link-Systems in Florida, NetTutor is a Java-based "tablet" that works with either Netscape or Internet Explorer. Net Tutor offers capabilities of expressing mathematical symbols, mathematical expressions, drawings, annotations, graphics and splines for curves, import pictures, and two way interaction between the student and professor. The professor can even interact with several people simultaneously. With NetTutor, one can conduct online office hours from home or even while at an ICTCM conference. Students sign on, formulate their problem on the "white board," and then wait their turn as the instructor helps others. Sessions can be archived and made available to the entire class. NetTutor may be very near that final ingredient to make the online mathematics course a successful competitor to the traditional class setting.

Other tools are also available. Another powerful tool amounts to the next generation past Microsoft's NetMeeting. With this software, the instructor can control any application on the client's machine, and more any number of machines and all of this comes with voice over. The implication is that a truly meanful, though sychronous workshop can be delivered to multiple points simultaneously.

Development Tools.
Many software tools are available to help you. They must be arranged into categories. Those listed below are generally excellent products , but there are many more available. Most of these programs are available at educational discounted pricing.

1. HTML editors: Dreamweaver 4.0*, Frontpage, CoffeeCup, Homesite . Dreamweaver is a hands down excellent web design program. (For example, the Web site for this ICTCM conference was created using Dreamweaver.)
[* An asterisk (*) means "recommended."]

2. Graphics programs for the creation of annotated graphics and more: Corel Draw 10*, Paint Shop Pro 7*, Adobe Illustrator 5*. In addition, the GifConstructionSet is an easy to use (and inexpensive) animated GIF editor. Paint Shop Pro is also graphics program, but mostly an image editor, that also does batch file conversions, a timesaving tool. Paint Shop Pro is widely used, but vector graphics are inconvenient to use on a par with other vector graphics programs.

An especially verstile vector graphics program we have recently discovered is SmartSketch 3.0. A "LE" (lite) version comes with Mathcad 2000 Professional. Even though it is limited, it is still quite easy to use and powerful. Raster selections are limited in the lite version.

3. Creating Mathematics: PCTeX 4.0*, MathType 4*, and Scientific Notebook 3.5* are all excellent programs. The later two are better suited for Web use. Graphics generated by Scientific Notebook are generally excellent. To create graphics for the Web, it is best to copy and paste images into a graphics program (e.g. Corel). They can then be appropriately annotated as saved as GIF, JPG, or PNG images. When using Maple, it is best to save them as EPS files and import them into the graphics program.

4. Math-on-Web: There are now so many ways to put math on the Web, it would be difficult to give a fair coverage in this short note. However, the recent article in the Math/Science Online Newsletter gives something of a coverage. It begins with a question.
How do we put mathematics on the Web? Arguably the most important issue for Mediated Technology developers of online mathematics courses, it has at this time no clear answer. Only the promise of MathML seems certain. This tagged language, which will be compatible with normal HTML browsers, is the definitive answer. The only problem is that the major browsers do not yet support MathML. In the interim, the question remains as to how we put mathematics on the Web.
In this short article we will discuss alternatives to MathML, many of which have value even if MathML was available tomorrow. Several types of various categories are in use today. First we list the categories:

Other tools exist. This list is by no means exhaustive.
This paper is not the forum to cover this exhausting subject with any justice. We leave the reader with the caution that the would-be creator of Web-based mathematical materials should resolve this issue before beginning.

An important development has occurred in the fall of 2000. Design Science, the makers of MathType, has developed a plug-in for MathML. At this writing, it works with IE 5.5, but not Netscape. Some effort is now underway to encourage Netscape to include this plug-in into its feature set for Netscape 6.x. For a discussion of alternatives see (Allen, 2000b).

5. Streaming: Microsoft Encoder and Media Player*; Real Producer and Player. Both are exemplary programs.

6. Computer algebra systems: Maple*, Mathematica. Both this program produce excellent graphics.

7. Capture programs for screen and video: Video capture: Microsoft Encoder, Real Producer, Camtasia. Screen capture: Corel Capture*, Snagit.* When selecting a screen capture program be certain that it will capture in a variety of formats such as GIF, JPG, and TIFF, and most important that it will automatically sequence the file naming of a consecutive series of captures.

8. Utility programs to have on hand: Adobe Distiller to create PDF files; TextPad 4 is an excellent text editor that works well for both HTML and TXT files and costs only $27; Microsoft Excel for those spreadsheets that seem always to be needed in some context; SR (Search and Replace), a search for text and replace in files program - can actually save your life.

Large Scale Deployment.
Whatever you do, no matter how good the result, not matter how much you have invested in your course, the administrators of your college must face the ultimate costs of this new venue. Therefore, it is not just important but necessary to consider the large-scale deployment of your course. (Pilant, Hall, Epstein, Hester, Strader 2000) Community and small college developers should consider multi-college consortia, while large colleges consider multi-section courses. It is possible to convert many of core curriculum courses to an online format with full content and online assessment. The principle targets for conversion are courses already taught in relatively large sections or multi-sections such as political science, algebra, and calculus. Each course should use the Internet in an integrated way from among the several alternatives available. A key point is to implement a dual learning format that provides a full face-to-face teaching environment for those students preferring it and an online format for students capable of learning without a direct lecture.

1. Most year one and two courses, particularly core courses, are put online. This includes full content, with audio/video streaming of lecture fragments.
2. The student interfaces a web address for assignments, for quizzes, and for examinations. Certain performance assessments are required weekly. Security can be achieved by the use of digital signatures; alt. live proctoring.
3. Graduate students in the current format provide Help/recitation tutorials. Students can obtain additional help on a regular basis by attending help sessions as department operate currently.
4. Professors continue to provide lectures, with content consistent with the online courses. It is anticipated that fewer students will attend, given that the same material, professionally produced, is available over the Web. Professors continue to hold office hours.
5. Lab components courses continue as currently, except that students must access a live video prior to the lab and take a brief quiz online prior to attending the lab.

The cost analysis is limited to the costs to graduate assistants and professors (tenure-track). However, the program will be cost effective on the basis alone. To accommodate computational needs, include a fixed cost for additional computational equipment. It is strongly recommended that incoming students be required to obtain a notebook computer and that data ports be ubiquitous on campus. Three factors provide the keys to this analysis:

Any cost analysis depends critically on what is defined to be the Web-based section size multiplying factor, the number by which enrollment in a typical section can be multiplied by the addition of the Web-based resources. In the tables below this value is taken to be 1.65. Thus a section of 100 in the traditional mode will become a section of 165 in the Web-based mode. The savings realized then is given by the reduced salary costs for the instructor of record. The other two factors are self-evident and impact directly the breakeven point for such deployment.

Final Remark.
Remember to apply the "onion paradigm." Build your project layer-by-layer, adding features as your skills and schedule permits.

Allen, G. D., M. Stecher, M. S. & Yasskin, P. (1998). The Web-Based Mathematics Course, a survey of the
required features for an on-line math course and experiences in teaching one, Syllabus Magazine.

Allen, G. Donald, (2000a). Online Calculus - The Course and Survey Results, to appear in
Computers in the Schools, in press.

Allen, G. Donald, (2000b). What Do We Do Until MathML?, in the Math/Science Online Newsletter, Fall 2000. Available: http://www.math.tamu.edu/ms-online.

Hall, R., Pilant, M, Strader, R. (1999), The Impact of Web-Based Instruction on Performance in an Applied
Statistics Course, (pp. 261-266), Proceedings of International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education and Technology

Pilant, M., Hall, R., Epstein, J., Hester, Y., & Strader, R., (2000), Issues Involved in a Large Scale Implementation of Web-Based Mathematics Instruction, (pp. 334-339), Proceedings of International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education and Technology.