1. Developing an Internet-based teaching and learning environment By Meoli Kashorda, Ph.D., MIEEE Associate Professor of Information Systems

2. Afrinet 20002 Outline The Internet as a Strategic Inflection Point in Education Effective use of the Internet for Teaching and Learning –The Seven Principles An educational content development project –The life-cycle approach Conclusions

3. Afrinet 20003 Strategic inflection point Michael Porter’s five force model (diagram) An inflection point occurs when the second derivative changes sign –curve changes from convex to concave or vice versa

4. Afrinet 20004 Inflection curve Business grows Business declines Inflection point

5. Afrinet 20005 Six force model The Business Existing rivals Complementors Customers Suppliers Substitute products or services Potential competitors (New Entrants)

6. Afrinet 20006 Six Force with a 10X force The Business Existing rivals Complementors Customers Suppliers Substitute products or services (New Ways) Potential competitors (New Entrants)

7. Afrinet 20007 Teaching over the Internet Threat or savior - 10X force? Corporate Universities –Motorola University, British aerospace University Distance learning, skill enhancement etc. Example Web sites, http://ecommerce.ncsu.edu, Open University in UK and Univ. of South Africa

8. Afrinet 20008 Delivery modes Classroom instruction - face to face Synchronous delivery –video conferencing –Teacher and student separated by distance, not necessarily long Asynchronous delivery –e-mail, discussion groups, notes, assignments, and experiments

9. Afrinet 20009 Seven Principles for Good Practice in UG Education The Internet is only a lever - how do we know it will be effective? –Use the seven principles as a guide Good Practice Encourages contacts between students and faculty –On-line tutorials, practice exercises, e-mail and discussion groups –Asynchronous communication

10. Afrinet 200010 Seven Principles Good Practice Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students –Tutorial groups - do not have to be at the same location over the Internet Uses active learning techniques –Simulations and exercises delivered to the desktop or available on-line –No exercises or experiments, no learning

11. Afrinet 200011 Seven Principles (cont) Good practice gives prompt feedback –simulations and on-line tests give prompt feedback - e.g., Java How To Program - all exercise on CD or on the Server Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task –The Internet is very engaging - more time learning?

12. Afrinet 200012 Seven Principles (cont) Good practice communicates high expectations –Provide samples of “excellent” works on-line –Teaching Web site must communicate high expectations Good practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of learning –Experiment with different styles on Web sites

13. Afrinet 200013 Campus Intranets Optical fiber backbone –100 Mb/s or Gigabit Ethernet All LANs on 100 Mb/s Ethernet –Structured cabling using CAT 5 or CAT 6 Mail and Web servers –Linux, FreeBSD (free) or Windows NT (academic) List Servers - public domain

14. Afrinet 200014 Internet services / institutional access speeds desired E-mail - 64 kb/s Newsgroups / discussion groups - 64 kb/s World Wide Web - 256 kb/s per 2,000 users University Management Information Systems - 64 kb/s Internet telephony - over 2 Mb/s Video conferencing - 2 Mb/s

15. Afrinet 200015 Shared access to National IP network

16. Afrinet 200016 Building Teaching Web Sites Hire good IT professionals (Electrical Engineers or Computer Science graduates) All software is mostly free –professional tools like Blackboard or Toolbox are better Faculty need training for effective Web site design It is an information systems project!!

17. Afrinet 200017 Sharing learning resources

18. Afrinet 200018 Conclusions - The way forward Universities need to invest in IT –people, networks and high-speed Internet access Train faculty and IT support staff now –Engineering and computer science faculty need to train the rest Create a University or Inter-University Internet learning and Teaching initiative

19. Afrinet 200019 The Life Cycle Approach Project initiation phase Development phase Implementation phase Operations and maintenance phase

20. Afrinet 200020 Initiation Phase Who is the campus project champion? Create a pilot Intranet-based environment –see sample Web sites Develop internal competence in Internet application development –see http://www.africapoint.com Attend conferences and training workshops

21. Afrinet 200021 Sample Web site

22. Afrinet 200022 Developing Phase Identify Webmasters –technical Webmaster –Content Webmaster Logical design –standards, administrative procedures, ownership and copyrights, examination procedures Physical design

23. Afrinet 200023 Implementation phase Preparation of teaching materials by faculty Monitoring networked Intranet environment Detailed training of faculty Pre-MBA course materials will be online by end of 2000-2001 Academic Year. MBA courses will follow –Multi-delivery mode will be used

24. Afrinet 200024 Conclusions The Internet represents a strategic Inflection point –Universities must recognize it and transform the educational process A well-developed Intranet is crucial for success in training and developing on-line materials

25. Afrinet 200025 Conclusions Universities need to hire, train and retain good faculty Hire and retain quality IT support professionals –Local Internet companies do not yet have the competence to support Universities

26. Afrinet 200026 Conclusions Technology can only support Good Education practices –Avoid being driven by the private ISP community Senior undergraduate and graduate students could help faculty in the implementation –Internships and short training programs necessary

27. Afrinet 200027 Conclusions (continued) Developing content is an Information Systems project –Use well known software development approaches –Life Cycle approach + prototyping seems to work Students and some faculty understand Internet time; administrators do not get it!!