The internet navigator: an online internet course for distance learners

Library Trends, Summer, 2001 by Carol Hansen

The new course will take advantage of Web technologies, including HTML, PERL, CGI scripting, CGIEmail form conversion, electronic mailing lists, and e-mail communication. Web professionals, to simplify usage and further engage online and distance learners, have redesigned the graphics and interactive assignments.

ADMINISTRATION AND FUNDING OF A MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL ONLINE COURSE

The administration and funding of the Internet Navigator online course had been problematic from the beginning. Librarians in Utah realized in 1994 that they needed to work together to create excellent online instruction tools that could be used statewide and beyond. They were also well aware that Utah Governor Mike Leavitt had recently asked the Utah education community to "invest less in bricks and mortar, and more in technology." Leavitt's interest in online and distance learning was strong. He went on to initiate, in cooperation with the governors of thirteen western states, the widely publicized, and controversial, Western Governors [virtual or online] University (Egan, 1999, C1). The Governor's interest in technology also resulted in important legislative funding in Utah, known as the Utah Higher Education Technology Initiative (HETI). Academic faculty, staff, and librarians were able to apply for HETI funds to explore ways in which new technologies can enhance academic quality and increase learner access to higher education in Utah. HETI funds provided the seed money for the Internet Navigator course from a grant written by Nancy Lombardo and Wayne Peay of the Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah in cooperation with UALC in 1995.

The initial grant support from HETI was for course development only. One serious problem with the original Internet Navigator course was the lack of a definite plan for ongoing maintenance and support. The authors of the initial grant were more focused on getting one-time funding to cover the start up costs as there were no readily available funding sources for ongoing maintenance and support. Although each of the UALC library directors expressed verbal support for the course, there was no official ongoing financial support for the course from UALC.

Most of the technical and administrative support for the course has come from the Eccles Health Science Library at the University of Utah. Wayne Peay, library director at Eccles, supported the time and effort devoted to basic maintenance of the course by Nancy Lombardo, a primary author of the course and the systems librarian at Eccles Health Sciences Library. Peay and Lombardo also arranged to house and oversee the HTML server for the course on one of the Eccles computers. Due to their ongoing efforts, several major administrative problems have been overcome. For example, during the beta test period in 1995, the Eccles server crashed for three weeks. Lombardo and Peay worked with library directors and systems librarians at the University of Utah Marriott Library and the Salt Lake Community College Markosian Library to establish mirror sites. It was a valuable lesson, and the course has since maintained these mirror sites. Distance learners appreciate knowing that if one university's server is down, two others are available to access course materials.