The class discussions will be following a teaching technique based on an idea described as "asynchronous learning environments." An ALE can be merely a suppliment to a traditional classroom-based course, we are taking it to the next step in eliminating the most sychronous component of a traditional course.
The idea is that the lecture material will be presented in an on-line format that the student is expected to browse on a regular schedule. Asynchronous participation in the course means that the course participants do not all need to be together in the same virtual location at the same exact time. Each week will have a set of lecture material that students are expected to focus on during that week that coordinates loosely with textbook material. On-line couse discussions will be conducted in a forum that allows both questions and answers from all course participants. Students are expected to read all questions, answers, and comments in the forum for the week's lecture material. Each week will include evaluative exercises based on that week's topic of lecture and discussion. Students not keeping up with the pace of the class will not achieve grades as high as those that do. Working ahead of the pace of the class is permitted to some degree, but will not directly result in higher grades.
The class discussions will be following a teaching technique based on an idea described as "asynchronous learning environments." An ALE can be merely a suppliment to a traditional classroom-based course, we are taking it to the next step in eliminating the most sychronous component of a traditional course.
The idea is that the lecture material will be presented in an on-line format that the student is expected to browse on a regular schedule. Asynchronous participation in the course means that the course participants do not all need to be together in the same virtual location at the same exact time. Each week will have a set of lecture material that students are expected to focus on duringthat week that coordinates loosely with textbook material. On-line couse discussions will be conducted in a forum that allows both questions and answers from all course participants. Students are expected to read all questions, answers, and comments in the forum for the week's lecture material. Each week will include evaluative exercises based on that week's topic of lecture and discussion. Students not keeping up with the pace of the class will not achieve grades as high as those that do. Working ahead of the pace of the class is permitted to some degree, but will not directly result in higher grades.
In order to participate in the ALE designed for this course, the student will need an Internet connection and a Web browser capbable of forms, tables, and in-line GIF and JPEG graphics. The Netscape Navigator (2.x or 3.x) is recommended but not required. A high quality browser provided by an on-line service such as that provided by AOL 3.x should also suffice.
The documents placed on the Web will be produced by Microsoft Word 7.x and Visio 4.x, with the originals placed on-line as well as the HTML counterparts, so a MS Word Viewer would be beneficial as well to view or print the documents in a format easier to read off-line than a that produced by the typical browser's print command.
Audio annotations of documents is being considered, but we need to be certain that participants have the required hardware to support audio.