©2003 r. hinton, broome community college1 maximizing teaching & learning a faculty designed...

©2003 R. Hinton, Broome Community College

1

Maximizing Teaching & Maximizing Teaching & LearningLearning

Maximizing Teaching & Maximizing Teaching & LearningLearning

A Faculty Designed Integrated SystemA Faculty Designed Integrated System


2

Who Says… A learning system has to be a

commercial product? A commercial product is the answer

when you want to provide the students with a real world experience?


3

A Little Background WebCT at Broome Community College

Publisher's E-pack to supplement course content

Blackboard at Binghamton University Used to support committee work &

class work

http://webcttoday.sunybroome.edu/

http://blackboard.binghamton.edu/


4

So What’s Missing? In a Web development course …

Students need to experience all aspects of Web design

Course management systems prevent the instructor from providing good models

Students are limited in their abilities to interact with the Web site

Once the course is completed, students no longer have access to reference material


5

Who’s Our Audience?Who’s Our Audience?Who’s Our Audience?Who’s Our Audience?

A Little Course InformationA Little Course Information


6

CST 135 Introduction to the Internet & World Wide Web

Site was initially developed for this course 1 credit short course (5-week) taught at

Broome Community College (course inactive) Met 3 hours per week in a laboratory classroom

equipped with a projection unit Content

How to use email & search the Web Discussion of ethical issues Creation of basic Web sitesCreation of basic Web sites


7

CST 120 Java Programming

Introductory course focusing on Web applets 3 credit taught at Broome Community College

Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (2hrs) instruction Content

JavaScript to introduce Web-based programmingJavaScript to introduce Web-based programming Standard programming topics such as data types,

program control, & input/output AnimationAnimation Arrays


8

CS 205 Advanced Microcomputer Applications 4 credit taught at Binghamton University

Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (1½hrs) instruction Content

Advanced networking applications Web page development using HTML, CSS, & JavaScriptWeb page development using HTML, CSS, & JavaScript Effective computer-based presentations Project planning & scheduling tools Effective Internet research Marketing Trends & Competitive Analysis

A sneak preview!

http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~rhinton/CS205Notes.html


9

CST 119 Computer Concepts & Applications

Taught by other instructors 3 credit taught at Broome Community College

Meets weekly: lecture (2hrs) & lab (2hrs) instruction Content

Computer architecture & data representation Operating Systems (including UNIX) & Networks Database systems, Systems Analysis, & CASE tools Programming languages including C++ & JavaProgramming languages including C++ & Java Web page development using HTMLWeb page development using HTML History & Ethics


10

For Most of these Classes…

Skill levels range from: Those with little computer skills

to Those with a programming background &

have already created some Web content

So what does this mean?So what does this mean?


11

Two main questions arise: How can you maximize course content

delivery? How can you keep more advanced

students interested while still maintaining an appropriate course content level?


12

Methodology & Methodology & Web Site ContentWeb Site ContentMethodology & Methodology &

Web Site ContentWeb Site Content

Addressing the 1Addressing the 1stst Question Question


13

Immersion Separate Home page created for each class

Accessible from personal Home page http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/

Online Content Presentations (for some of the courses) Study Guides & Examples

Assignments sent via email in programming classes

Students forced to work in Web environment for many phases of the class

Available outside of class

http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/




14

Web Site Content Designed (for the most part) to teach

good design principles Navigation methods Page dating Layout Screen resolution Displaying information in the browser title bar etc


15

Web Site Content My Web pages contain these elements &

serves two purposes: Site is easier for the students to use while learning

the course material Access to standard course documents, such as Course

Policy & Class Outline Study Guides & examples serve as lecture tools as well

as reference documents for assignments Links to textbook Web Site

As students repeatedly use the site… They realize why the design principles are important They are likely to include them in their own projects


16

Pedagogy Dictates I Break the Rules!

While consistency is an important feature in good Web site design, this rule wasn’t strictly enforced

Students are told up front that this was done to provide as many online examples as possible


17

Pedagogy Dictates I Break the Rules!

Consistency is illustrated in my design of the menu system for the Study Guides pages All menus associated with the Study Guides use the same

screen layout While the backgrounds for each individual study guide are

different, each provides a similar format After the heading, most pages provide a topic overview

followed by the details, which are organized by subtopic Most pages not only provide sample code that can be copied

and pasted to a student’s file, they also present the material using that method See Lists screen shot

Aside from links (for navigability), each page builds on the previous topics, reinforcing their concepts

http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/lists.html


19

Web Site ContentWeb Site ContentWeb Site ContentWeb Site Content

Addressing the 2Addressing the 2ndnd Question Question


20

Why is keeping the interest of more advanced students

considered difficult? Common approach is to write the

information for two different audiences A better solution lies in subtlety,

enhancing the way the information is presented On the surface, Web pages look very

straightforward

The Home pages are menu-based providing access to all other areas of the Web site & a link to the textbook’s Web site

http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/cst135home.html

Study Guides teach students how to create a basic Web page, show programming examples, & provide access to outside resources

http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/studyguides.html


23

Piquing Their Curiosity Advanced techniques are embedded in

most of the pages Usually not apparent to novice students

Students are encouraged to review the source code for all the pages on the site In fact, in some of the classes. the first

HTML lesson teaches the students how to look at a Web page’s source code


24

Sample TechniquesSample TechniquesSample TechniquesSample Techniques

How many did YOU notice?How many did YOU notice?


25

Page Loading Effects Home page contains JavaScript forcing

the window to open in a 800 x 600 window or smaller depending on the available screen space

Opening Web pages Links to Web pages I created open in the

current browser window Links to Web pages at remote Web sites

open in a new window


26

Text Effects Way of capturing the user’s attention

Implemented on both sample pages Internet Explorer & Netscape provide

different effects These Web pages contain the code for both

types: In Internet Explorer the title scrolls across the

screen In older versions of Netscape the title blinks


27

Displaying Different Fonts Need to know the font’s name

Default Web page font is Times New Roman These pages are designed to support a

range of fonts that might be installed on a user’s machine Student can download a self-extracting Zip

file containing a set of fonts designed work with the site

Instructions for installing them are provided


28

Displaying Special Characters

Need to know the special character’s HTML code or its numeric Unicode value

Each guide provides sample code that a student can copy & paste into a file they are creating The advanced student will wonder how the

tag brackets (<>) were displayed


29

Pushing Them Forward Links are provided to more advanced

resources As I learn new techniques, they are

incorporated into the Web site’s design When I have time, I plan to add guides

about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)


30

Instructor Information Rachel E. Hinton Assistant Professor/Adjunct Lecturer Broome Community

College/Binghamton University http://www.sunybroome.edu/~hinton_r/

Takes you to my personal Home page which has links to this & other sites I’ve developed

©2003 r. hinton, broome community college1 maximizing teaching & learning a faculty designed...

Documents

broome community college3

broome community college10

broome community college11

broome community college2

broome community college4

web content

broome community college7

broome community college9