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 Benefits of the Internet as an Instructional Delivery Vehicle:
- Text, sound, motion, pictures, and discussion can be made
available to learners 24 hours a day at computers connected to the Internet. Thus, both
students and faculty are freed from constricting schedules.
- Faculty can more easily experiment with the use of a variety
of media (sound, motion, text, on-line discussion, etc.) to present didactic information.
- Access to a variety of instructional media at one Web site
can help accommodate differences in the way students learn.
- Didactic material previously presented in lectures can now
be made available to students via the web, thus allowing faculty to devote their time and
attention to other types of instructional sessions.
- Programs developed at one medical school can be used at
other medical schools or at different campuses of the same medical school with minimal
concerns about machine or software compatibility.
- Storing an instructional program on a single, central server
enables all students to use the same version of the program. The development of Internet 2
will help diminish problems of transmission time from the computer that stores the
instructional material to the learners’ computer.
- Having a single, central location makes it easy to keep
program content current and to update and expand the material when necessary.
- Web-based instructional programs are technology-independent,
running on most of the currently available computers; as new features are added to
personal computers, server and browser programs are upgraded by vendors to take advantage
of these advances.
Hindrances to the Effectiveness of
Instructional Programs via the Internet:
Adapted from: Richard Bruce Friedman, Top ten
reasons the World Wide Web may fail to change medical education, Academic Medicine, 71,
Sept 1996, 979-981.
- Web-based instructional materials are often not fully
integrated into the medical school curriculum. If presented as enrichment materials,
students de-value their importance in the course. Even when assigning such materials as an
important part of the course, the instructor often examines students only on its factual
content or fails to examine them over the content at all.
- There are no uniform standards for judging the quality of
instructional materials placed on the Web.
- Well-designed Web programs can but often fail to promote
interactivity, problem-solving, and discovery learning. Often Web programs are little more
than electronic page-turners, and, as such, they offer little value above textbooks and
lectures.
- Insufficient convenient access by students to computers
limit the extent to which Web-based instructional assignments can be made.
- Unless connected to Internet 2, the response time on the
Internet can be frustratingly slow, causing students to lose interest while waiting for
responses.
- Web-based instructional programs are often poorly designed:
presenting a large amount of information without engaging the student in any thinking
process.
- Web-based instructional programs often are not updated
or refined, with the development efforts having been undertaken because of an overriding
interest in a new technology or special funding, etc.
- Faculty may not have sufficient training and/or technical
support to make full use of the technology’s capabilities.
- Computer technology sometimes does not work well or
consistently: electronic equipment malfunctions; software may not work properly; internet
service can be disrupted.
Issues to Consider Before Developing for or Converting
Instructional
Materials to a Computer-based Format:
- What does this medium offer over other media? How can I use
this technology so that I can use my time with students on activities that encourage
problem-solving and application of ideas?
- How frequently will it need to be updated, and how difficult
will updating be?
- Is there sufficient computer access by my students to assure
that my assignments can reasonably be accomplished?
- If the Web-based program is to be included in a large-group
presentation, does the computer visual lose too much quality when displayed on the big
screen?
- Are there any components in the material in which putting it
on the Web would violate copyright laws?
- Is the response time adequate to maintain student interest,
whether in the large group or at the computer?
- Does the proposed program teach anything beyond factual
information for recall?
- Are the links meaningful and quick to respond?
- Is instructional and technical support available?
- How do I verify that students learned what I intend for them
to learn?
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