Objective
Although the Internet is new, many educators see it as a future instructional medium that will rival the face-to-face classroom. Currently, we have very little experience teaching a course using only the Internet. The objective of the course evaluated in this article was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of teaching a semester-long social work Ph.D. course on Technology Supported Practice entirely over the Internet. The course was open to master's of social work and Ph.D. students, and continuing education students.
Method
Internet tools used included a Web site, listserv, discussion forum, and chat room.
Results
Findings suggest that the Internet provides ample tools to deliver a course, especially when chat is used. Students report satisfaction and learning similar to a face-to-face classroom.
Conclusion
The Internet provides an environment rich enough to teach at a level of quality consistent with a face-to-face classroom.
This application review describes the Internet Video Virtual Classroom (IVVC). The IVVC is a synchronous online environment where instructors can deliver course curriculum to students in real time and at a distance. Features of the IVVC that are described include video, audio, and text communication between participants, information sharing, facilitating participation, promoting group work, and documenting interactions. In addition, problems and limitations that can
Human services distance education research has traditionally focused on pre-post testing of students to discover if distance education methods are comparable to traditional classroom methods in terms of student learning and satisfaction. This focus on comparability using quantitative research techniques ignores the substantial amount of information automatically captured when using some distance education (DE) methods. By combining quantitative, qualitative, and graphic techniques, educators can not only address comparability issues, but can also identify what classroom or DE methods result in higher or lower student learning and satisfaction. This research uses NUD*IST, SPSS, and Excel to illustrate the type of analysis needed for a masters social work course on administration taught via classroom and chat-room. Findings from the analysis support previous research on the comparability of DE methods to classroom methods and the qualitative and graphic analysis of chatroom text helps explain why this is so. We discuss the potential of this multi-technique DE approach for course improvement and for achieving student-defined quality.
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