Subject: Students
At 11:31 6/3/97 -0600, Margaret Asirvatham wrote:
> Do your students really find the time to access all the useful
>information that you have compiled and documented?
The answer varies for each student. Some use it extensively, others not at all.
Subject: Students
>What incentives do you offer them, especially the unmotivated
>students, to use your materials?
For students to use any resource they need to know two things. That they can do it and that it is
worthwhile. One incentive I used was to post a copy of an old exam on the web page for the first
two weeks. This motivated students enough that they learned how to use this. After that the
motivation was just that the material was (I hoped) useful. I think the novelty also helped.
Subject: Students
At 13:50 6/2/97 EDT, Terrell Wilson wrote:
>. How many students are you working with?
About 50/semester in general chemistry.
Subject: Students
>2. You say,"2/3 look at each lecture." Is there any evidence that those 2/3
>are doing any better than the other 1/3?
Unfortunately, I don't have any way to determine which 2/3 this is. As a result I don't have a
way to measure any improvement (or to distinguish if this is the source of their improvement).
Based upon student comments, use is not restricted to the best or to the worst students. It would
be very interesting to correlate learning styles to student use.
>3. I am a little uncertain what percentage of your lecture material is on
>Netscape, and what is something else. Is it 100% Netscape?
This varies dramatically throughout the year depending upon the topic and the amount of time I
have to develop material. Primarily Netscape is a front end to provide access to material. In class
I use it to present multimedia material but I still spend a lot of time at the board using chalk. It
has had a significant effect on my lecture style. This material frequently serves a roll similar to a
lecture demo.
Subject: Cost
>4. This one is underhanded, and I know it, but how does the cost of
>developing this course compare with the cost of just sending everybody to the
>bookstore to buy a $40 textbook?
They all still buy the textbook (which is now closer to $80). The cost of developing the materials
would be almost impossible to account for so I won't even try. Doing it right requires a lot of my
time and good computer access for the students.
Subject: access and questions
At 10:54 6/2/97 -0500, Gerald Morine wrote:
>3. As I understand it, this web-site is to be used
>by the instructor in lecture and then by the students
>to review the material later. Are there any parts
>that are only available through the web-site, such
>as material helping students do their homework
>assignments or explore topics in greater depth?
>Would having computer-exclusive access be undesirable,
>by diminishing the role of the in-person instructor?
.
There is lots of material that is only available through the web site. I previously used reserve
material in the library to fill a similar roll. In the "old days" I placed this material on reserve in the
library and also made it available by FTP. Now that it is available on the web, the reserve material
in the library received almost no use during the fall semester. By the spring semester, I stopped
maintaining the reserve material in the library. Some students were concerned about access, and
this is a problem for some non-traditional students.
The other part to this question, I hope that this has not reduced the role of in-person instruction.
My goal is to improve the quality of in-person instruction by focusing more and spending less time
with logistics and details. I find it very frustrating when a student comes in and says "Dr Van
Bramer I don't understand acids...." or "Dr Van Bramer I missed class today, did you do
anything". Now I have students say "I was could not make it to class today, I'll check the web
and get back to you if I have any questions". Or if a student is stuck on a homework problem,
they check the solutions first and then come with specific questions. At least, this is what some of
them do. 8-)
I don't believe this diminishes the roll of in-person instruction, but it does change. For some
students it becomes much more productive.
At 16:04 6/2/97 -0500, Lynn Carlson wrote:
>1. You note in several places in your paper that students "can" access
>computerized lecture material outside of class for review. This seems
>like a very attractive idea. Have you any statistics that show how much
>your students actually make use of this feature of on-line presentation?
>When materials are (for example) on reserve in the library, they are not
>much used, and I wonder if this carries over to materials "reserved"
>on-line as well.
From the counters I place on my pages and from our server logs it appears that about 2/3 of the
students are making use of this resource. This is much greater use than material I placed on
reserve in the Library. In addition, I have been amazed at the number of students who come up to
me with a printout from something I have placed on the server and asked very specific and
detailed questions. I think that the lower "activation energy" is a significant benefit to using the
web for a class.
Subject: Computer Literacy
At 03:57 6/3/97 -0400, Mike Epstein wrote:
>5 - Is there any attempt to make the students literate (or semi-literate)
>in some of the applications you use (spreadsheets, mathcad), particularly
>in your upper level courses ... which brings up the question, how much do
>you use this approach in your upper level courses (instrumental, advanced
>spectroscopy, etc.) From a quick glance at your web site, it appears that
>you also use the approach in those courses too.
For the introductory course, I have not taken much time to make students "computer literate".
They learn about spreadsheets in lab. I have not chosen to have them use Mathcad (both because
of access to the software and time limitations). For these students I have tried to make everything
as easy as possible. Using the web as a front end really helps with this.
For upper level courses, the focus changes. Since there are fewer students, I don't spend the time
to post lecture notes or solution sets. (Maybe I can add these next year). Instead, I use the web
to deliver data. This simplifies things since students don't have to learn the details of file
manipulation (although that may be a good thing to learn). For example, in advanced
spectroscopy students download NMR data from the class web page. After we finish an
experiment, I can just tell them that their data will be on the web page. They go to the web page,
and download their data for processing. When they have an assignment that requires using a
Mathcad document, it is right there for them to click on.
In upper division courses, I expect students to be fluent with a spreadsheet (If they are not, I
spend lots of time working with them and answering questions). They spend a little time learning
how to use Mathcad (although I do not have them generate their own documents). They spend
time learning data processing software using handouts that I prepared.
This question also leads into the discussion for latter in the week about what students need to know about computing.
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