Internet as Teaching Tool Kenneth R. Szulczyk Lecture 5
Dec 23, 2015
Teaching Methods Two methods
Information website No interaction with students Students can download
Syllabus Lecture notes Research papers
Interactive website with students Tutorial programs Proctor and grade exams and quizzes
Interactive Website Interactive
Computer server has high security Viruses Worms Hackers – people who break into computers
Difficult for educators to write interactive programs Make sure program does not open a security “hole”
Computer specialists are very protective of the server
Interactive Website Interactive teaching
Student’s computer and computer server have to interact Server contains a database
Keep track of student’s scores What are the correct answers
Interactive Website Interact with students
Teacher has to be good programmer and has access to computer server
Difficult Specialized software like WebCT WebCT allows students to log in
Students can take quizzes Download lecture notes, etc.
Information Website Fairly easy
Teacher can have own website Teacher has control over his/her own material www.geocities.com
University or school has website Instructor has user access and password to
upload his own webpages OR instructor sends webpages to web computer
person
Information Website Student’s computer downloads information from
web server Little interaction between web server and student’s
computer Easy to maintain computer security
Information Website How to post
HTML files Language of webpages Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files Acrobat Reader files
HTML Files Frontpage (Microsoft) Netscape Communicator
Similar to a word processor The file name will have the extension
.htm or .html
Many programs will convert files into html
Creating HTML I prefer to use Frontpage and Netscape
Communicator Microsoft office tends to write messy html code
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint You can copy and paste data and pictures onto
the clip board Move objects between Frontpage and Microsoft
Office
Creating HTML Example - Dissertation Defense
45 slides html file conversion
File – loads first webpage Folder – contains 251 objects
All 252 objects would have to be uploaded to web server to display correctly
It is a nice webpage Has side board that allows person to view other slides
Posting Objects You can post objects
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
When student clicks on hyperlink The internet browser will either allow student to
download file or display the file as if it were an internet file
Posting Objects Place the file in your website folder
Example The file “Syllabus.doc”
.doc means it is a Word document On webpage, create the hyperlink
<a href=“Syllabus.doc">Syllabus</a>
<a > and </a> are html tags that define hyperlink
Posting Objects One Problem
You are giving the world your material It is easy for other people to steal your work
Example Someone can download your presentation Someone can steal your work
Not give you any credit
PDF Files One method
Convert all files into Adobe Acrobat Reader files Files have extension .pdf
Students can view or print files Students cannot copy or re-edit files Cannot copy and paste pdf files
PDF Files You can buy software from Adobe
Acrobat Reader creator Allows you to define level of security
Free software PrimoPDF You print your document and select PrimoPDF
Creates a basic pdf file Weak security features
PDF Files You have a pdf file Place file in your website folder Example “teaching_syllabus.pdf”
On webpage, create the hyperlink
<a href="teaching_syllabus.pdf">Syllabus</a>
Problems with Internet Makes it hard for writers and instructors to
make money Copyright Laws Lots of restrictions in U.S. I am not allowed to post the articles I gave you
for class Articles come from education website Have to pay money for a subscription
Problems Same problem with e-books, music, and
videos Artist or writer creates the work Someone posts their work and everyone
downloads the work for free
Conclusion Internet is a potential powerful teaching tool Internet is a potential “world library”
Now the internet contains a lot of garbage Anyone can post information on a website
As search engines improve, it will become easier to find good material
Companies pay search engines money Their websites come up as the first selections