Subject: [IFETS] Pre-discussion paper: Curriculum, Instruction, and the Internet
From: Kinshuk (kinshuk@ieee.org)
Date: Fri 14 Jan 2000 - 01:12:44 MET
From: "Kinshuk" <kinshuk@ieee.org> Subject: [IFETS] Pre-discussion paper: Curriculum, Instruction, and the Internet Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 13:12:44 +1300
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Dear colleagues
Please find below the pre-discussion paper on the theme 'Curriculum, Instruction,
and the Internet' by Professor Muhammad Betz, Southeastern Oklahoma State
University, USA, our moderator and summariser for the discussion. The discussion
will formally end on 28th January 2000.
The discussion paper is also available at following URL (which contains a figure
not available below):
http://ifets.ieee.org/discussions/discuss_jan2000.html
Please send your comments on the paper to IFETS list at
ifets-discuss@LISTSERV.READADP.COM
Regards.
Kinshuk.
IFETS Coordinator
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Pre-discussion paper:
* Introduction
The purpose of this discussion is to focus on an educational use of the Internet
other than web courses or supplements to courses. Why? A recent article related
to Telematics and Internet based course development stated that every hour of web
instruction was costing about 100 hours of preparation. Another reason is that
Internet access is growing in schools universities and the corporate training
arena. Therefore, this discussion will focus on the curricular and instructional
aspects of the Internet for teachers and trainers who do not construct web courses
or sophisticated web creations for use in higher education or corporate settings.
Instead, I want to call on the expertise of the usual contributors and the less
apparent "lurkers," who have knowledge of and experience with more traditional
educational settings, such as public schools, and with less qualified personnel
who struggle just to use technology.
This paper will first contend with curriculum, that is basically defined as the
subject matter content that the Internet, more precisely, the World Wide Web,
has to offer for direct import into the classroom or training room. The second
contention will be instruction, which, in this context, is construed to be the
way that Internet curriculum is strategically deployed in educational settings
to promote learning. The guiding question is: how can the burgeoning resources
of the Internet be used, AS IS, to enhance curriculum and instruction in
traditional educational endeavors?
Again for the purposes of this discussion, I will draw a line of demarcation
between the concepts of Curriculum and Instruction based on a methodology of
course design that I frequently use (Posner & Rudnitsky, 1994). Curriculum is
basically confined to the concepts of general, subject-matter content, whereas
Instruction is denoted as the formation of units, thematic units, teaching
strategies, and academic tasks that serve as the vehicle for curriculum.
* Curriculum
The premise of adding to or providing curriculum via the Internet is based on the
assumption that some of the information on the Internet overlaps with educational
curriculum as shown.
The following terms are in effect for the discussion: Educational Curriculum—to
identify school, corporate, and organizational subject matter; Internet
Information—to identify the ocean of information available on the Web; and Web
Curriculum—the overlap between the Educational Curriculum and the Internet
Curriculum.
At present, the overlapping area in the above Venn diagram is an elusive
commodity. Yes, there are art museums and libraries on the Web. Yes, there
are numerous types of tutorials on the web related to computer applications,
programming, multimedia production, and Web searching, to name a few examples.
Yes, there are dictionaries, newspapers, encyclopedias, academic papers,
research reports, journals, periodicals, and more. Topic by topic and
subject-by-subject there is curriculum on the Web. The question: How can the
Web Curriculum supplement the Educational Curriculum. Better yet: How can the
Web Curriculum be better optimized to enhance the Educational Curriculum?
* Instruction
A few prominent teacher educators in the U.S. have already created instructional
devices for use with the Web by non-expert technology users. Dr. Bernie Dodge
created WebQuest in about 1995 (see http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html).
Teachers and trainers of all ages of students can use the WebQuest (WQ) concept.
WQ’s are constructed with: Introduction, Task, Resource list (the Web element),
Process, Guidance and Conclusion components. A task such as exploring the solar
system and devising hypothetical exploration voyages to the planets is
introduced to groups of learners. Each group of students configures an expedition
to a different planet, with the help of both Web-based and other information
sources. Process guides are given, usually in the form of plan for operations
as well as guidance tips for completing the task. The conclusion often consists
of a presentation to the class using PowerPoint or HyperStudio, relating what
the group has learned.
Dr. Judi Harris (1998) sets up a more daunting concept in the form of telecomputing
activities (see http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jbharris/Virtual-Architecture/), which
take the form of collaborative projects between individuals or groups of learners.
Examples of telecomputing activities include: keypals, impersonations,
telefiedltrips, and social action projects, to name a few. These activities have
authors/hosts who set up an activity and then allow laypeople to "sign-on" as
participants. Each year sees different telecomputing activities appear and word of
enlistment periods are circulated via listservs, periodicals, and professional
organizations. One example of a social action project is the Holocaust/Genocide
project that promotes awareness of genocide by providing links to on-line
resources and virtual trips.
Another existing strategy that harnesses the Internet for instruction is the
Walden’s Paths concept (Shipman, et al, 1999). Walden’s Path is specifically a
three-part tool, consisting of a Path Authoring component, a Path Database and
a Path Server. Teachers and students from varying subject areas and age levels
device paths on the Internet for learners to travel to complete specified learning
assignments. This instructional technique shares characteristics of WebQuests and
telecomputing activities and can use a variety of pedagogical tactics (see:
http://csdl.cs.tamu.edu/~dbrenner/walden.html).
These activities make use of existing Internet sources to construct instructional
strategies that require learners to construct learning experiences in alignment
with a prescribed curriculum. They have in common the characteristic of making
use of existing Internet resources to provide instruction.
* Premises for Curriculum, Instruction, and the Internet
The U.S. National Center for Educational Statistics predicted in February of
1999, that 99% of all public schools and 89% of classrooms would have at least
one Internet connection by the end of the 1998-99 school year. Millions of
dollars are being allocated to increase the level of Internet access in every
conceivable educational setting, and most new users of the Internet will not
be constructing web courses or telematic additions to their curricular and
instructional endeavors. Instead, the teachers and trainers will be looking
for methodologies and practices that allow them to tap in to the existing
Internet and convert what they find into applicable curriculum and instruction.
The questions for discussion are as follows:
* How can teachers and trainers use the existing Internet to provide and enhance
curriculum outside of the practice of web courses and Telematics?
* What specific strategies can teachers and trainers use with the Internet to
provide and enhance instruction, in addition to the few such strategies already
in existence?
* What are textbook publishers now doing to promote the use of the Internet and
what more could they do?
* Is there a rationale for the Internet to provide and enhance curriculum and
instruction for classroom and training environments?
* In a theoretical sense, how should the Internet be used to promote and enhance
curriculum and instruction?
* References
* Harris, J. (1998). Virtual architecture: Designing and directing curriculum-based
telecomputing, Eugene, Oregon, USA: International Society for Technology in Education.
* Posner, G., & Rudnitsky, A. (1997). Course design: A guide to curriculum development
for teachers, White Plains, New York, USA: Longman Publishers USA.
* Shipman, F., Furuta, R., Hsieh, H., Francisco-Revilla, L., Karadkar, U., Rele, A.,
Shenoy, G., & Brenner, D. (1999). Using the Internet in the classroom: Variety in
the use of Walden's paths. In Collis, B., & Oliver, R. (Eds.), Proceedings of ED-MEDIA
99:World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, and Telecommunications,
AACE, 335-340.
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