Development, delivery, and outcomes of a distance course for new college students

Library Trends, Summer, 2001 by Nancy O'Hanlon

net.TUTOR (http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/), a program of interactive Web-based tutorials developed by the author, forms the content core of this course. Ten of the net. TUTOR tutorials are assigned as required reading during weeks one through three. Students must also complete the online tests that are associated with each tutorial. Online worksheets, which provide additional practice using the skills and concepts taught by the tutorials, are also required. The tests and worksheets use multiple-choice questions so that they may be automatically graded by the course software. Results and feedback are thus immediately available to students. The Capstone Exercise utilizes short answer and essay questions but is structured so that it can be easily graded by the instructor and teaching assistant.

ACTIVE LEARNING

Carlson and Repman (2000) note that effectiveness of Web-based instruction (WBI) is contingent on the ability to establish an active learning process. They state that "WBI alters not only the method in which information is presented to the learner but also changes the way in which the learner interacts with information,.... It is necessary to design instruction which engages the learner in interactive activities" (p. 13).

UVC 120 uses several methodologies for providing a range of interactive assignments. First, each net.TUTOR tutorial that is assigned as required reading is laced with practice activities which have proven quite popular. A clear majority of users who submit tutorial evaluations indicate that they complete all or some of the suggested activities (see net.TUTOR evaluation data at http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/about.html). Ehrmann (1997), director of the American Association of Higher Education's Flashlight Project, reports that use of computer-based tutorials "results in a substantial improvement in learning outcomes and speed, perhaps around 20% or more on average.... Few other teaching methods have demonstrated such consistently strong results as this type of self-paced instruction."

Six online worksheets assigned during the course are also practice-oriented, as the following sample task from the Web Search Worksheet indicates:

Most Web indexes allow limiting of searches by different variables. Use HotBot to find an audio recording (MP3 format) of the Beatles' song "Yesterday."

* Check the box next to MP3 (on the left side of the page)

* Type these words in the search box: Beatles yesterday How many matches does HotBot return for this search?

LEARNER PROFILE

Thus far, most students have been solicited primarily from the ranks of those freshmen and transfer students already enrolled in University College's UVC 100 course. UVC 100 provides an orientation to the campus and academic life, including research. The OSU Libraries' long-standing Library Instruction Program (LIP) is integrated with UVC 100. As an added incentive for these students to consider taking the new one-credit distance course (UVC 120), they have been excused from the requirement to complete the two library assignments associated with the UVC 100 course.