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1、Reasons for using the web in teachingMartin Weller Faculty of Technology The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA United Kingdom e-mail: m.j.welleropen.ac.ukAbstract This paper looks at the reasons for adopting web technology in teaching. Six main categories are suggested: educator enthusiasm, to s
2、upplement face to face teaching, because the medium suits the topic, to encourage collaborative learning, for institutional benefit and as a delivery mechanism for CAL. Issues relating to each of these reasons are examined. The occurrences of these reasons in 30 conference papers are analysed to giv
3、e an indication of their frequency.Introduction The use of the web in education has seen a dramatic increase in the past two to three years. This has corresponded to its continued growth in society in general. Its flexibility and pervasiveness means it offers a number of benefits for educators. For
4、instance, it can be used as a delivery mechanism both in distance and campus education, as an additional resource, or as a communication medium. In this paper the author suggests some of the reasons behind educators adopting web technologies in courses. These reasons are drawn from the authors exper
5、ience in developing a large-scale web based course (Weller 2000), and in examining 30 conference papers from four educational conferences. The conferences represented a range of educational views, and as such can be seen as a representative sample of the practical implementation in this area. Papers
6、 were selected if they described using the web as a teaching mechanism in any way, be it a mixture of distance and campus education courses, using the web as main delivery mechanism, as a means of supplementing face to face teaching and so forth. This paper focuses on the use of the web in teaching,
7、 as distinct from the Internet in its wider sense. So papers describing courses which just used computer-mediated communication (CMC) for instance, were not included. However, many courses use a combination of Internet technologies, including the web, and so were included. The course topics which we
8、re covered were broad including electronics, design, social science, and artificial intelligence. The six main reasons for using the web derived by the author are detailed in the remainder of this paper, and their frequency across 30 papers is then analysed.Educator enthusiasm A factor, which is oft
9、en sufficient for a course to adopt web based technologies, is enthusiasm for these technologies on the part of the educator. The implementation of the web in teaching follows many of the traditional patterns of technology penetration, or institutional change. There is a group of early adopters or e
10、nthusiasts in organisations who embrace new technology, and are keen to implement it. There are also those who are resistant to such change. At this stage of web use in education, most of the educators are early adopters, and therefore likely to be enthusiastic and willing to devote extra time and e
11、nergy to its use. However, excessive demands on staff are not scaleable if web technology is to become integrated into the majority of courses, so caution must be taken in evaluating the success of such early courses. It is also worth noting that the educators enthusiasm may not guarantee that such
12、technologies are appropriate, or are implemented in the most appropriate manner. In general whilst educator enthusiasm is a necessary ingredient to the successful implementation of web technologies, it should not be the only factor for adopting them.To supplement face to face teaching Many campus ba
13、sed universities use the web not to replace their traditional face to face mode of delivery, but rather as a means of supplementing it.This can take different forms, for example the web can be used to provide additional information, as a means of contact with tutors on large courses, and so on. Othe
14、r universities use the web as a means of allowing students to revisit lectures, so they can view streaming video of the lecture, look at lecture notes, etc. This has benefit in allowing students to take notes at their own pace, and as a resource for revision. For example Latchman et al. (1999) use s
15、treaming technology to provide students with “lectures on demand”. These are videos of the actual lecture, combined with lecture notes, and e-mail contact. This essentially duplicates the pedagogical approach of the face to face presentation, with no concession to the distance aspects of the learner
16、. Whilst this acts a good additional resource, there is a danger that students come to use this mode of delivery as the main teaching method. The course then effectively becomes a distance education one, but it has not been designed as such.The medium is the message There are some courses which deal specifically with the use of the web, either in a specific domain such as teaching or health, or in terms of the technology. For such courses the use o
