Fifth International World Wide Web Conference
May 6-10, Paris, France
Workshops: Call For Participation
Teaching and Learning on the WWW
"In the Industrial Age, we went to school,
in the Communications Age, the schools will come to us."
- from the masthead of
The Online Chronicle of Distance
Education Communication
The goal of this workshop is to bring together people interested
in the use of the Web technology for teaching and learning.
New ways of teaching, and
presenting material, and new environments are being developed that could
change the way we think about the learning process. This workshop
will discuss the current state of Web-based learning projects,
and look at where they may go in the future.
Latest Information
The latest information concerning the workshop: position papers, attendees, detailled program, will be made available by the workshop chairman at the following URL:
Format
Full-Day
- Morning: Where are we now? - Discussing the present state of
teaching and learning on the Web
- Afternoon: What does the future hold? - What are the challenges and
issues for tomorrow's Web educators.
Workshop Committee
Chairman:
Martin Westhead
martinwe@epcc.ed.ac.uk
http://http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/~martinwe/
Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, University of Edinburgh, UK
Workshop Committee:
Dr Marcus Speh
marcus@andersen.co.uk
http://theodore-sturgeon.MIT.EDU:8001/HyperNews/get/admin/staff/5/3.html
Anderson Consulting
Director of the Globewide Network Academy
Peter Murray-Rust
pmr1716@ggr.co.uk
http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/PPS/index.html
Glaxo Wellcome
Thomas L. Marchioro II
tlm@ameslab.gov
http://uces.ameslab.gov/
Ames,
Project Coordinator of the
Undergraduate Computational Engineering and Sciences
Abstract
The goal of this workshop is to discuss
the use of the World Wide Web
for teaching and learning
, in particular how it has developed in the last
few years, and where it will go in the future.
Communication is at the heart of the learning process.
The Web and the associated Internet technologies
provide a new medium for this communication.
The question is, how best to harness its potential.
Providing courses on the Web is not just a matter of
writing hypertext text books, it is also about creating a learning
environment, for communication and interaction.
Many projects, some now well established have begun to exploit these
possibilities. Distance learning
projects like the
Globewide Network
Academy
and affiliated courses like
PPS (The Principles of
Protein Structure)
are using the breadth of communications tools
already available on the Internet, to create complete environments
for their students.
The possibilities of the Web technology for education are being
stretched by projects like
Yorick from Ames, and
EPIC from
the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.
Both these technologies use the Web browser as an interface
to external applications, making it possible to manipulate
other packages from an exercise page.
With the development of Java, it is clear that
many more possibilites are opening for the creators of
Web-based course material.
This workshop will review the existing projects on the Net
and then consider directions are for the future.
It will be divided into two sessions, below are
some lists of topics that may be discussed.
The issues that are raised are very broad,
the intention is to focus on the application,
and the potential application of this technology, rather
than to get too lost in detailed technical or eduactional issues.
The emphasis of the workshop
may however change depending on the interests
of the participants.
Where are we now?
This first session will look at the current state of
play in
teaching and learning projects on the Web. It will be opened by a
presentation from the chair, and then give participants the
opportunity to talk about the projects with which they are involved.
Topics for discussion could include:
- Who are the learners? Who is being reached by this new generation of
distance learning? How many of them are there?
- Who are the teachers? Are the courses being set up by enthusiasts,
by Universities, or by private industry? Who is paying for them?
- What is being learnt? Are the subjects taught, dominated by science
and computing? Are there languages and humanities?
- How is it being learnt? What techniques and technology is being
employed in existing courses? How is the courseware, and the learning
environment structured?
- How good are the courses? What accreditation
mechanisms are used? What are the rates of attrition? Do the students
enjoy them? What assessment mechanisms can we apply?
- Do the new technologies really improve learning? Or are they just
toys that provide interest because they are novel?
- How much work is involved?
Do these new technologies increase or decrease the amount of work
done by the teachers and the students?
- What's good and bad? Which aspects of this new way of learning work best, and which
fail?
What does the future hold?
This session will focus on the vision of the future. This session
should build on topics which arose in the morning. Topics for this
discussion could include:
- How to apply new technology? How can new Web technologies
(like Java, and the chat pages and
Web based MOOs it makes possible) be most usefully employed
for teaching and learning?
- How to develop new technology?
What direction should systems developed
for education (e.g.
Yorick
and
EPIC)
take in the future? What about
common standards and formats?
- Who will pay?What is the future for funding for Web based education?
- What are the knock-on effects?
What impact will these technologies have on existing teaching practices?
How might it effect our educational systems?
Position papers
Those wishing to attend should have at
least some involvement in Web based education.
Prospective participants for the workshop should submit a
short position
paper outlining their interest, suggesting a couple of
important items for discussion and detailing their present
knowledge and experience.
martinwe@epcc.ed.ac.uk, Martin Westhead, Workshop Organizer
Last updated: April 14, 1996