December 2003
Volume 16, Number 12
Getting Started on the Web
Enhancing Instruction in Psychology
There are four general attitudes among teachers about integrating technology and instruction: excitement about new technology, thoughtful consideration of technology as a tool for societal change, interest to the extent it serves students, and rejection or avoidance of technology (Clemmons, personal communication, February 13, 1999; Rogers, 1995; Rocklin, personal communication, March 8, 1999). Your personal response may be included in some combination of these types and you may have additional concerns, such as lack of time or limited resources. However, the use of Web sites and the Internet has changed and will continue to change how we instruct students. Can you be a master teacher without its use? Certainly. But using the Internet will give you new options for instruction. This column provides a starting point for those interested in supplementing traditional instructional techniques with Internet resources.
The Internet Helps Instructors of Psychology Meet Their Pedagogical Goals
The Internet can convey information about a course. It is a tremendous tool for broadcasting messages to students 24/7. The message may be as simple as a course syllabus or it may provide supplemental information on topics for which there is never enough class time.
The use of graphics and other media on course Web sites makes information more exciting. Web sites are motivating for some students. Graham (2001) noted that her Web site provided child development students greater opportunities to become engaged with the course material. Further, most students appreciate the ease of information access and the opportunity to repeat information at a pace appropriate to their skill. Hurlburt (2001) provided brief streamed audio content that allowed students to pause and review material; the students reported that this capability was valuable.
Given that many students turn first to the Internet for resources, we need to teach them how to evaluate these sources of information, just as we were taught to distinguish among various journals and other print media. There are many Web sites devoted to helping instructors foster critical thinking about Web site content (see www.lib.vt.edu/research/evaluate/evalbiblio.html for a relevant bibliography). The University of California, Berkeley's library provides an excellent rubric students can follow when evaluating electronic information.
Some Words of Encouragement and Advice
You do not have to be able to write computer code to develop a Web site. There are many ways to generate Web sites, some of which are geared specifically for those of us who know close to nothing about computer programming (see the section "Sounds Like a Great Idea, How Do I Get Started?" for more on this topic). Of course, the more technical skills you have, the more flexibility and control you will have. But even with little or no skill, you can still produce effective Web sites.
If you do plan to integrate Web sites into your classes, start slowly. Create a home page first and then begin to work on a specific course Web site.
Initially, designing Web sites will be time-consuming; avoid working on more than one course a semester. Further, because there are many areas to specialize within Web design, seek advice on which areas will be most helpful to you and then specialize, just as you do within psychology. Just as you don't try to understand every aspect of psychology, you don't need to understand every element of technology.
Everyone faces a learning curve; some are just better than others at hiding it. To maintain a sense of accomplishment, set up small goals that are easy to reach. Don't work to the point of frustration. If you find yourself becoming annoyed, take a break and return to the problem later. Incidentally, physical discomfort will increase your frustration level. Check your position. Arms and wrists should be hanging from your shoulders and slanting downward, not stretched upward or sideways at any point. Take frequent breaks to stretch and relax.
When orienting to a new software package, first learn to execute critical commands. For example, knowing how to save your work, how to retrieve a saved file, how to undo a previous command, and how to exit the program will save you much anguish. You can do it.
Just as it is easier to revise a lecture than it is to generate one, maintain Web sites takes much less time than developing them. Once you have created a Web site, the time involved in making slight modifications, such as adding a link or uploading an announcement, is negligible. You decide how much or how little you want to modify your pages; the less editing you do, the less time it will take.
Get advice from someone more experienced who can help you break the task into manageable, easy steps. Seek feedback from students, other faculty who have well-designed pages, and your instructional technology staff. Use their suggestions to revise your existing pages and to help develop new ones. Although this process is continuous, it is not necessarily time-consuming.
What Can I Post on the Internet to Enhance My Courses?
A Reasonable Starting Point
Create a single home page (shared by all of your classes) that lists your phone number, fax, e-mail address, office location, and class schedule. Some faculty members add their research and teaching interests, as well as some personal information (e.g., favorite hobbies). Then add course specific pages as links off your home page.
Basic Items to Include on Your Web Pages
A course syllabus and other information. The most basic form of a course specific page is one that hosts a course syllabus. You also can post class announcements, such as changes to the schedule, as well as assignments and handouts. To minimize maintenance, include a sample syllabus with a header indicating the official syllabus is available in class.
Lecture outlines. Students appreciate the posting of lecture outlines so that, in class, they can spend more time actively involved with the material rather than on writing notes that simply parrot the lecture. According to Doctorow, Wittrock, and Marks (1978), when students reorganize information they are more likely to remember it. If students are free from worrying about verbatim note-taking, they can be encouraged to use more effective active note-taking and listening strategies. It is up to you to decide just how much lecture material you want to post. You will need to balance the benefits cited above against the potential pitfalls (e.g., Will student attendance decrease? Are you providing too much help to students?). Your decision may vary depending on the course and the students.
Links to other sites. Doing this allows students to explore a topic in greater detail or to experience psychological phenomena that otherwise might involve too much class time or expensive equipment. For example, students can test their recognition memory at a site maintained by NASA and can witness the dissection of a sheep's brain at a site maintained by San Francisco's Exploratorium. The Public Broadcasting Service Web site presents animations on how drugs influence neurotransmitter activity. Integrating some of these links with the course requirements is a terrific way to help psychology come alive. Many textbooks have accompanying Web sites intended to help you reach this goal, but you'll need to check each one carefully because their quality and accessibility vary tremendously.
Sounds Like a Great Idea, How Do I Get Started?
To create a basic Web site, you need to create text, integrate graphics into your page, and test and then upload the page onto a Web site.
Creating Text
For those who have no computer programming knowledge. Hypertext Markup Language is the code that underlies Web sites. You do not need to know how to program in HTML to produce HTML pages, especially if you do not mind some slight variations in appearance across platforms. Investigate whether your school provides course management software like Blackboard or WebCT, or you could ask your textbook publishers if they offer some type of CMS (most do and are happy to provide support). Because these options provide templates into which you simply type content, this route is the quickest and easiest way to develop a site. A note of warning: if you are using a Web site managed by an organization other than your institution, keep confidential student information off the site or you will violate educational privacy laws. Word processing programs are an alternative to CMS, as most current word processing programs will allow you to convert your documents to HTML with a couple of mouse clicks (typically you look under "File" and "Save As"). PowerPoint presentations also can be saved as Web sites (but they can take up a lot of memory).
For those who have no computer programming knowledge and want to learn a bit about HTML. If you want maximum control over the appearance of your Web site, then you will need to learn HTML. Basic HTML is easy and there are good tutorials available on the Web (www.pagetutor.com). We especially recommend learning about creating tables if you want the layout of your pages to be more than just a column of text. There are software packages, HTML editors, specifically designed to create and manage Web sites. There are high-end editors, like Dreamweaver, Pagemill, or Frontpage, and free shareware editors that are available via download. The interface for some of these look like that of a word processor (you don't even see the HTML code), whereas others require that you actually write a program in HTML.
For the more technologically sophisticated Web site designer. Explore Web coding other than HTML. These (e.g., javascripting, java coding, CSS, DHTML, and XML) are more complicated, but allow you to add dynamic and interactive elements to your pages. There are javascript and java programs that you can cut-and-paste into your Web sites that can help with creating dynamic images and interactive elements and that are available for download on various Web sites (e.g. www.javapowered.com/werks.html).
Integrating Graphics
The basics on graphics. Adding graphics into your page can be as simple as searching a canned collection of clip art (standard in most word processing and HTML editor programs) and clicking a mouse to insert the selected image.
Want more control over your images? If you spend a few hours, you can learn to create and edit graphics with an image editor that can save graphics as gif or jpeg files. These programs can range from very powerful programs like Adobe Photoshop to more basic programs, like Adobe Photo Elements. The Paint program on recent versions of Windows may suffice. If you scan images, or use images available on CD-ROM or from other Web sites, please be aware of possible copyright infringement issues. Also, whenever you include images in your Web sites, be sure to describe the graphic with text so that programs that do not display graphics will have a text description of the image. (This practice satisfies one of the Americans with Disability Act requirements).
Going beyond basic text and graphics. There are programs and Web sites available for creating online quizzes, discussion boards, e-mail forms, hit-counters, search engines, and other niceties. Links to programs and tutorials to help you create pages for your Web site are available at Developing Web sites for Psychology Instruction.
The Final Steps
Test your work. Because a page can look different when viewed in Internet Explorer versus when it is viewed in Netscape, preview the page in both browsers. Also, check to make sure your page looks right on both PC and Macintosh computers.
Upload it to the Web. Your final step is to post your newly developed pages and graphics to the Web. If you are using Web-based CMS, like Blackboard, then all you need to do is save the pages at the Web site. Otherwise, you will need to arrange for server space at your institution and get a file transfer program, or FTP, to upload your pages. You can take a class from your instructional technology office or ask an experienced faculty member to help you with this process.
Some Additional Advice
On Page Design
Keep it simple. Be sure to take into account that not everyone has sophisticated hardware and software. The fancier your pages are in terms of multimedia or non-HTML codes, the more likely it is that some students will not be able to see your pages as intended. It may be worthwhile to keep pages simple or to provide plain-text alternate pages to increase access to your pages.
Check your pages' compliance with basic standards for disability accessibility. Once you move into using images, tables or frames, you will need to learn about basic standards for disability accessibility to meet legal expectations for educational institutions. It is easy to check your Web site's compliance by submitting it to http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp for a free evaluation. More information can be found at http://easi.cc. Simpler design is more likely to meet disability criteria, so beginner Web sites are often more accessible than those of long time developers. Check with your institution to see if there are local accessibility standards you need to meet.
Use of a password. Remember that anyone in the world with Internet access can view public pages. Take appropriate steps to protect your intellectual property and your students' intellectual property, as well (e.g., only post student work with permission). CMS's provide password protection. You can also create passwords to sites and portions of sites you develop. Educational institutions have a legal obligation to protect some student information and that means passwords for certain materials - check with your registrar for details.
On Employing Web Pages
Responding to students' requests. Be prepared for an increase in communication with students via e-mail. Tell students your typical response time, lest they expect an immediate reply. You will need to be careful about deleting e-mails based on the familiarity of the sender's name. That e-mail from lovegod@isp.com might not be junk mail but a message from that shy, bespectacled student in your class. Tell students to give you the course and section they are in and their real name in the subject line of their e-mail. Also, make clear to students whether you are willing to accept assignments via e-mail. If you do decide to accept assignments saved as attachments to e-mail messages, be sure to have a very current virus checking software system. If you have large classes, you might also want to have a filtering mechanism to keep student assignments together.
Reinforce use of Web sites in class. Be sure to reinforce the use of your Web sites during class discussions. You must alert students in-class when you post new information to the course Web site (unless you have set up an expectation that they need to check the site at some regular interval).
The "non-techie student." Do not assume that all of your students are computer literate or that they own a computer. Just as you teach writing skills you can encourage some computer literacy. When you introduce the Web component of your course, offer to help students learn to navigate the Web and to locate computer labs on campus. Just as you orient students to the course syllabus, show students how to use the course Web site. If your classrooms are set up to display the Internet, show them the Web sites. If you do not have classroom access, you can print key Web sites and show them as transparencies. You may want to provide students with an annotated hard copy of the transparencies that describes how to get to your Web site and what they'll find when they follow links. Having a student from Psi Chi or the Psychology Club hold sessions for the non-techie student also is effective. In our experience, each year fewer students need additional help.
Conclusion
Internet resources can provide a way to engage students in more active learning. Integrating these resources with more traditional pedagogical techniques will have the benefit of preparing your students for their technology rich future and give your students 24/7 access to course materials and experiences. The Internet has tremendous potential for enhancing educational experiences; it is time to start exploring how it can best serve you and your students. Technology skills are as fundamental today as are reading, writing, and arithmetic. If we fail to model use of basic tools, we fail to educate our students.
Authors' Note: This column is based on an invited address given by the authors at the 13th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 2001.
References and Recommended Readings
Aberson, C., Berger, D., Healy, M., Kyle, D., & Romero, V. (2000). Evaluation of an interactive tutorial for teaching the Central Limit Theorem. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 289-291.
Alexander, J., & Tate, M. (1998). Evaluating web resources. Retrieved December 9, 2002.
Brinson, J.D., & Radcliffe, M. F. (1996). An intellectual property law primer for multimedia and web developers. Retrieved December 9, 2002.
Doctorow, M., Wittrock, M. C., & Marks, C. (1978). Generative processes in reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 109-118.
Eggleton, F. (1999). FERPA: Family educational rights and privacy act. Retrieved December 9, 2002.
Graham, T. (2001). Teaching child development via the Internet: Opportunities and pitfalls. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 67-71.
Hafner, K., & Lyon, M. (1996). Where wizards stay up late: The origins of the Internet. NY: Touchstone.
Horton, S. (2000). Web teaching guide. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hurlburt, R. (2001). "Lectlets" deliver content at a distance: Introductory statistics as a case study. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 15-20.
Lynch, P.J., & Horton, S. (2002). Web style guide. (2nd ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Nielsen, J. (1996). The top ten mistakes of web design. Retrieved May 17, 2001.
Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. NY: Free Press.
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PAMELA I. ANSBURG earned her doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been teaching Metropolitan State College of Denver since 1999. She began using Web pages in undergraduate courses in 1999. Her Web site is http://clem.mscd.edu/~ansburg. |
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SALLY KUHLENSCHMIDT has her doctorate in clinical psychology from Purdue University. She has been teaching at Western Kentucky University since 1986, and is director of the center for teaching and learning. Her course materials are available at www.wku.edu/~sally.kuhlenschmidt. |
| MICHAEL CARUSO earned his master's in developmental psychology at the University of Akron in 1986. He is an associate professor and Web master for the psychology department at the University of Toledo and has developed several course Web sites available at http://homepages.utoledo.edu/mcaruso. | |
