The course syllabus was provided over the world wide web. Students were discouraged
from printing a hard copy of it because it changed weekly to reflect current class activities. There
was initial apprehension over this, but all students adjusted, and many pointed to the dynamic
syllabus as an important contribution to their learning. It seems that the syllabus satisfied several
cognitive strategies including: repetition, comparative organization, summarizing, outlining,
clustering, concept-mapping, pre-study, goal setting, monitoring, and self-reinforcement.
The syllabus included my picture, professional background and personal information.
Course objective were also documented using the syllabus as follows:
Helping educators develop the skills needed for effective integration of
computing resources in the classroom is the foundation for the objectives of this
class. Students will be given the opportunity: To develop the vocabulary needed to
understand the terminology found in computing. To improve competency in
identifying appropriate uses of computers in the classroom. To improve conceptual
understanding of the different kinds of computer software. To improve the
computer skills needed to aid in classroom management. To improve the computer
skills needed to teach computer skills. To demonstrate competency in a broad range
of computer programs.
There were no required texts, no recommended texts. Content delivery came in the form of
lecture, questioning, demonstrations, expert guests, electronic content, and field trips. Evaluation
and grading followed the course objectives. The first assignment was to explore “EdWeb,” a web
site linked to the syllabus. EdWeb is recognized as one of the best educator centered sites on the
World Wide Web (WWW). There was a written assignment due the following week -- a reaction to
what you liked and did not like about EdWeb.
Also, on the first class day, every student’s picture
was taken and included on a personalized web page
(see Sample). The student web page included
professional background information, hobbies,
etc., and their e-mail address.
This discussion about the first day of class
issues is important because ... I missed this class
attending my son’s wedding. I was very concerned
about the reactions of my students. I was an
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unknown teacher, teaching a class never offered before, about a technology that makes many
people feel uncomfortable ... and I missed the first day of class. The electronic syllabus, the
EdWeb assignment, and student Web pages proved to be an important social strategy. I was able to
establish mutual respect and commitment, provide communication and feedback, begin peer
learning and cooperation under this difficult circumstance. These things combined to let my
students learn about me and the course and at the same time let me learn about them and allowed
students to learn about each other. Still, I had a lot of house keeping that was pushed to the second
class meeting, but I did have a chance to associate faces and names with professional backgrounds.
On that second class meeting, I felt that my students already knew who I was, and I knew them.
Student web pages were useful throughout the semester as a way for me to learn more
about my students--and for students to learn about each other. A second valuable component of
student web pages was the ability for students to make and save as part of their web page links to
webs sites around the words. Students were required on a weekly basis to add two new links to
their web page. Positive feedback was received throughout the semester about how valuable
students found this feature. This provided regular interaction and feedback from both myself and
other students. It allowed students to bring their diverse ideas and perspectives into class on a
weekly basis, and encouraged peer learning. This was also an elaboration strategy and a form of
note taking that was shareable among all members of the class, including myself. I learned much
about my student’s interests by regularly following this activity. It is interesting to note that almost
all of this activity occurred outside of regular class meetings. It certainly helped to focus students
on the objectives of the class. In this way it served to monitor comprehension and generate
questions to be answered during class.
During the second class meeting another component that proved to be valuable all semester
long was introduced. A list server is a computer program that uses e-mail to repeat messages to all
members of the list. Our list was named Emmit--mail sent to the list used the address
Emmit@ss.uno.edu. The list server Emmit was not named after our classmate who’s name was
spelled differently--Emmett. Emmit was a nickname I earned during high school--named for one of
the coaches of our football team. I view using list servers as one way to extend classroom activities
outside of the traditional classroom. This is one aspect of Asynchronous Learning Networks
(ALNs) discussed later in this paper. Emmit was a way of continuing “to coach” my students
Effective Teaching, Page 4
outside of our traditional classroom. Emmit was eminently successful.
One on the best outcomes of our list server was its use as the means to turn-in written
assignments. Assignments turned in to Emmit were automatically e-mailed to all members of the
class. Weekly written assignments were a feature of 10 of the 14 regular class meetings. These
assignments were in the form of responses to questions. The questions always focused on the
activities of that week’s class meeting. Typical of these questions was: “Write a two paragraph
response to the question --Do you feel that the Internet offers access to resources that you can use
as a Teacher? List some.” Responding to these questions was voluntary. Typically two thirds of
students would post weekly responses to Emmit. All but one student responded to this question.
Only one student responded to every question. In any given week, respondents represented a
unique subset of all students. Every student saw every response to an assignment, even if they
themselves did not respond (Smith, 1992). The following is a sample of how students felt about
As an undergraduate, I only wish that more classes allowed me this luxury.
Just think of it.. No more panic at 3am when the printer has run out of ink- simply
e-mail the assignment. No more piles of handouts cluttering my desk to reproach me
for being behind or disorganized- they are tidily stored through e-mail to be ignored
or retrieved at will. No more frantic searching through a bulging file cabinet for that
lesson idea from a classmate the night before a lesson plan is due- it is handily filed
away in an e-mail folder.
So yes, George, I do feel that emmit has been an asset in this learning
experience. I hope to convince the instructor of ECON4081 to try something similar
next semester. Considering the number of handouts involved in that class, massive
amounts of paper could be saved.
With so much communication going on with everyone in class there is
always something interesting to read and learn. I like the last couple of weeks,
where we have reflected on the past class presentations. This was a great insight
into what everyone thought about the presentations. Before this class, I had never
used e-mail, and now I am so comfortable with it.
Since this class was about technology in education, I could expect that everyone would
participate in this list server activity. I realize that not all university classes can expect the same
(Murray and Renaud, 1995). That given, I underestimated the value of Emmit to our class. It was
an unqualified success in many respects. As mentioned above, Emmit included aspects of three
learning theories, social, motivational, and cognitive. Most important, Emmit extended our
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