The Frontier of Web-based Instruction

  • Authors:

  • Coral Mitchell;Tony DiPetta;James Kerr

  • Affiliations:

  • Faculty of Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, cmitchel@ed.brocku.ca;Faculty of Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, tdipetta@ed.brocku.ca;Faculty of Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, jkerr@ed.brocku.ca

  • Venue:
  • Education and Information Technologies
  • Year:
  • 2001

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In spite of advances in course design software and experience with online offerings, the question of how web-based education affects teaching and learning remains largely unanswered, and the terrain of online learning remains largely unmapped. In this paper, through the stories of 10 faculties of education and one computer science instructor in Ontario, we map out a small piece of the frontier of web-based course delivery and plot a course for future exploration. We argue that most existing offerings take the form of a “Lone Ranger” or “Greenhorn” approach but that there is a need to move toward a strategic institutional “Wagon Train” approach that consolidates and integrates support for online teaching and learning. We argue, as well, that failures in online instruction cannot simply be attributed to improper instruction or inappropriate course design. Rather, at least part of the problem locates in the ways in which conversation is structured in the online environment.