Learning without lectures: a case study

Abstract

During a 1995-1996 sabbatical, the authors' long-standing concern about discrepancies between their teaching philosophies and classroom practices reached a crisis. As a result, they decided to offer the fall 1996 Introduction to Psychology course on the World Wide Web. There were several issues to think about. First, the authors saw the potential for a huge impact, since 80 to 85 percent of North Dakota State University students enrol in Psych110, most within their first two years. Second, they decided to design the course so that it could be offered for off-campus distance learning as well as on-campus resident instruction. Third, they decided to minimize overhead for students by using only a Web browser, e-mail, a textbook, and the textbook publisher's demonstration/simulation software. Fourth, they chose to base decisions about course components on published literature covering cognition and teaching. Finally, they built in mid term and final student course evaluation components and a field experiment comparing student attitudes and learning outcome for online versus lecture classes.