Although there is research into student learning on the Web and other computer-supported environments, there has been little investigation into the practice and pedagogy of university Web teachers. This qualitative study used a series of interviews of eight higher education faculty to gather data on their Web teaching practices, and an examination of their Web courses to identify their pedagogies.
There was a notable difference in the way the four teachers with Web-assisted courses and the four teachers with Web-only courses used the Web in their teaching. Those with Web-assisted courses used the Web primarily as a connection to expanded resources and a supplement to their face-to-face teaching. Those who taught Web-only courses used the Web for resource access, and also used asynchronous dialogue and peer interactions to support student construction of knowledge. Moreover, the
Web-only teachers reported a shift in their roles from lecturer and expert
in the classroom to facilitator and co-learner as Web teachers.
Four aspects of the Web teaching environment appear to be foundational in supporting an effective Web pedagogy: (1) the varied and extensive uses of e-mail, (2) the "think time" made possible by asynchronous dialogue, (3) distributed, hyperlinked learning, and (4) a reported shift from a content focus to process and issues because Web instructors are confident that the material is presented in the Web course as they wish it. The experiences of the Web teachers in the study would indicate that these four elements can be leveraged to improve university Web teaching and deepen student learning, perhaps even beyond results capable of achievement in face-to-face teaching. / Graduation date: 1999
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33532 |
| Date | 04 January 1999 |
| Creators | Morihara, Bonnie Bone |
| Contributors | Merickel, Mark |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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