Questionnaire Audience Online Course Groups of –COE 200 –COE 205 –ICS 102, ICS 201 and ICS 202 –ICS 334 –ICS 353 Number of respondents: 23 Percentage of participation: +90%

Questionnaire Content Group Questions –Development Approach –Development Tools Used –Audio Production Tool for Presentation –Intended Delivery Mode Individual Questions –Assessment of Development Approach –Convenience of Development Tools –Rational for Audio Production Tool Choice –Recommended mode of course delivery –Feedback received from students using online material –Things would like to add/ do differently in the future –Other suggestions/comments for online course development at KFUPM

Each member played a specific role2 Each member played all roles2 Other1 Development Approach

Development Tools Used Authorware for both presentation & animations 3 Flash for both presentation & animations 1 Authorware for presentation and flash for animation 0 Other tools1

Audio Production Tool for Presentation Machine Voice (TTS)3 Human Voice3 No Audio1 Other0

Intended Delivery Mode Completely Online4 Supporting Material1 Hybrid0

Assessment of Development Approach Each member played a specific role  Focused  Efficiency  Speed  Quality  Uniformity  Unfair (distribution of labor)  Time consuming  Communication Problems  Animations/Presentations were week. Each member played all roles  Fair (distribution of labor)  Independence  Knowledge of all development phases  Every member developed content  Animation implementation easier for content preparer  Unfocused (no one master of all)  Time consuming  Non-Uniformity

Convenience of Development Tools Authorware  Good for simple animations  File/Lesson size problems (too huge)  WebCT Porting problems  Text/Audio Synchronization problems  No spell-checker  Small things done in complicated manner  Bad for complex animations  Lack of backward compatibility of versions  Difficult to update content Flash  Excellent for complex animations  Problem with cut-paste from Word to Flash  Complex and Time consuming for animations

Convenience of Development Tools Other Tools  Open Tools  Easy data maintenance  Convenient/User friendly  Needed front-end tool  Few glitches  Less interaction with end users

Rational for Audio Production Tool Choice Machine Voice  Uniformity  Accent  Pronunciation  Easily updatable  Decision of project leader!!!!!!  Low Quality  No human emotions  Boring  dull  Extra effort needed to include human emotions  No scientific terminology support  E.g. equation support Human Voice  Natural  Effective  Time consuming  Accent-dependent

Recommended mode of course delivery Completely Online with one weekly meeting for questions and quizzes 4 Conduct lectures as usual and use the material as further support 14 Hybrid: conduct half of the lectures face-to-face and half online 4 Fully online with one large section (containing all students in a course) lecturing to teach critical concepts 2

Recommended Mode of Course Delivery Completely online for remote students2 5 One lecture to explain harder concepts and provide study roadmap + one recitation session for problem solving and quizzes 3 Other:

Feedback Received From Students Using Online Material Audio not good More animations More features (course progress, exams/quizzes) Students –Seem to like material –Do not like the idea as it puts more burden on them –Apprehensive in the beginning, less apprehension later on. –Like frequent quizzes and homeworks –Do not like lab component –Prefer online course as support material rather than fully online

Things to Add/Do Differently in the Future More and Improved animations, quizzes, questions/answers Standardize the look Add control of the speed of animation Ability to see the script of spoken part of presentation Add progress features Redesign the template (e.g. Netg courses) Development must go through instructional design phase –Outsourced to a special contractor Correct identified mistakes/revise material Animations more interactive rather than presentative –Java applets –Part of the animation is left as exercise for students Automate quizzes grading

Other Suggestions/Comments for Online Course Development at KFUPM Fulltime task, cannot be carried out by teaching faculty, one full semester without teaching should be given for the developer Teaching faculty should be only content developers, not implementers Expertise in online education needed Students should be prepared for new environment Online courses should not be forced on students Students should be freed from regular meetings and labs Exams given based on how much student has finished, hence good students complete the course in shorter time. Online courses should be for real distance learning, i.e. non- KFUPM students Forming a coherent dedicated team is very important Low-level courses should be support material while for high-level courses some lectures may be offered fully online Data maintenance should not be overlooked