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So You Want to Create an Online Class?

Dr. Scott Foll and Dr. David Zimmermann teach English at Amarillo College, Amarillo, TX. They have been working with Web design and online classes for over three years.

An effective online class begins with a homepage that provides the students with a multitude of relevant information whenever they need it. A well-designed homepage is easy to navigate, self-explanatory, and informative. More advanced web sites keep track of student usage, conduct exams, and provide forums for class discussion. They include notes (the equivalent of handouts and lectures) and perhaps even streaming audio and video.

Harried? W.B. Yeats, writing about poetry, says: "A line will take us hours maybe; / Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, / Our stitching and unstitching has been naught" ("Adam's Curse" 4-6). A web page should appear equally seamless and effortless. However, familiarizing yourself with the necessary background to "stitch and unstitch" effectively is time consuming and frustrating. Expect to spend at least 40-60 hours to learn the basics of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) comfortably. HTML is the cornerstone of Web design. Before 1996, it was enough to know a handful of HTML tags to create useful sites. To be competitive these days (i.e., to create a web presence which looks and functions like many of the sites your computer-savvy students will be familiar with), HTML alone is not enough. JavaScript (or ECMAScript), DHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, and a knowledge of layout and graphic design are almost necessary. And now the latest browsers are moving toward XML and SMIL, newer languages designed to streamline presenting multimedia on the Web, among other things. If you want to track your students' progress online, add a knowledge of a database like Microsoft Access™ and a query language such as SQL to the above list. A mastery of these is time consuming and often confusing to the non-programmer.

Once you've got a handle on these, you still have to figure out how to adapt classroom strategies that will make use of this new media in a way that differs from the old linear paper model. And that means more than just using your old notes in a PowerPoint™ presentation with colored backgrounds, bulleted lists, and snappy transitions.

For years, we have told Freshman writers not to assume, to clearly explain and develop their points. The first three semesters we taught online, we quickly learned how vague our own writing was and how difficult some of our lessons were to transcribe. Traditionally we have relied on physical gestures, immediate feedback and response, and leisurely on-and-off-topic anecdotes to get our points across. Trying to distill an entire instructional unit into a handful of pages that are entirely self-explanatory is difficult, at best. Trying to add interactivity to that experience can be even more difficult.

The entire class must be scripted from the beginning, even though it will probably have to be overhauled sometime around mid-term of the first semester you teach it. Simply typing up your notes and putting them online, a practice disparagingly termed "shovelware," may seem like a viable alternative. But consider how many of your students are able to learn about writing by simply reading a textbook. Also, if all you're doing is telling them to read what is readily available offline, then there is no point in creating an online version. You might as well put everything on reserve in the library and have done with it. Thus, planning and building interactivity into the class are essential to your success--and to maintaining a low blood pressure. Failed servers, crashed hard drives, and lost email messages will provide enough spontaneity!

Once you have learned the coding necessary for even a basic page and you have begun to transform your traditional classroom material, you will need to find out what technology is necessary and then, more importantly, if it is available. Technical support divisions are not always willing to share how much technology they do or do not support. (Find out, for example, if the campus server is configured to run the files you create for your class.)

Frustrated? Both of us have been promised, at various times over the last three years, a class thread, an electronic list, home dial-up server access, faster email, reliable email, faster reliable email, notebooks, software, and even, in one particularly euphoric meeting, notebooks with software. We now have email, most of the time, and server access from our office machines (not the most efficient setup since all our materials reside on our home computers).

The hesitancy of an ITS division to provide the necessary support often results from the administration's lack of enthusiasm. Although administrators may initially be enamored with the notion of going online, their enthusiasm will wane, if not their interest. This reticence is understandable. The initial outlay for the class is expensive. Software may run upwards of $2,000 per developer. And the hardware may cost an additional $2-3,000. Much of the software required to develop an effective, innovative electronic classroom requires high-end Pentium processors, with mass-storage capabilities and high resolution video for graphics. Ideally, an online instructor should have a notebook, so the class--which consists of webpages, email addresses, online forums, HTML editors, graphic editors, and a host of other electronic toys--is portable. And although the potential long term return is sizable, the initial cost may send many administrators into sticker shock or denial.

Although some administrators may not be familiar with the technology required, many will not want to be once they realize the initial cost. You will have to identify and defend your needs (and more than likely identify and defend, and identify and defend . . . ). And during that time, you will probably have to subsidize the college by providing your own software and hardware.

During our three-year effort to get the things we need, we have had to rely on Dr. Foll's server space and development software and Dr. Zimmermann's Internet provider and notebook to deliver the class. Although we have been guaranteed that "all the necessary elements will be in place by the Spring," we have decided to leave the class on Dr. Foll's server just in case.

Worried? If you still want to create an online class, make sure that you have a clear and detailed commitment from the administration and technical support. A list of the hardware, software, and support services that they can and will provide is essential. (In the past, our ITS division has made promises in front of administrators that it has been unable or unwilling to keep. So it may be wise to have everything in writing.)

Despite all this, working with an online class is challenging and invigorating. It has forced both of us to reevaluate classroom strategies, create new teaching techniques, and learn new technologies and pedagogical theories. But it is also frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive. Uncommunicative techies, tight-fisted administrators, and poor equipment have plagued our efforts to go online. So don't let the glimmer of that new Dell some department chair is dangling in front of you or the thought of a quick vita boost tempt you. It's a lot of work.

If you have questions or comments, you may reach the authors via the links above.