Instructors' choices for a WWW-based course-support environment

Abstract

In 1997 the Faulty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente made the decision to start using the Web for course support. This was the start of a faculty-wide implementation. In the first year we started working extensively with our instructors, particularly all of those responsible for the first-year courses. Twenty courses required for all students and several senior elective courses are now using their tailored-made Web-based course-support environments. In addition, during the 1998–99 academic year all of the second-year courses were adapted to be delivered with their new course-support environments. In this paper we describe how a broad range of instructors, not only those who volunteer or have an initial interest in using WWW-based course support, but also those who are required to do so as part of a faculty-wide change process work through a design process based on rapid prototyping to evolve tailor-made WWW-based course-support environments. What are the options instructors choose for these environments and how popular are various types of options (for example, shared workspaces, WWW boards for computer conferencing, etc.) for course-support environments? Trends and implications in the set of options chosen by instructors in our faculty are discussed.