Title: The Evolution of a Web-based Course: What We Did and What We Learnt
Abstract:Web-based learning has become one of the emerging directions in higher education all over the world. The Web offers a vast number of resources and enormous opportunities for more effective learning. Y...Web-based learning has become one of the emerging directions in higher education all over the world. The Web offers a vast number of resources and enormous opportunities for more effective learning. Yet, Web-based learning is in its infancy in many parts of the world including Hong Kong and many courses are still using a mixture of face-to-face and Web-based instruction. In September 2001, the Web-based course “ESCE 500 Introductory Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology” was introduced into the curriculum of the MSc Environmental Science and Engineering Program (ESCE Program) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). This course serves to bridge the knowledge gap for those MSc students who did not have sufficient background in chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology. “ESCE 500” has been a collaboration with the University’s Center for Enhanced Learning & Teaching (CELT) and implemented as a password-protected course through the WebCT learning platform. Initially, all the course content was delivered online while the final examination was still in a written format. With our previous experiences and the students’ feedback collected from the course evaluations, we have developed “ESCE 500” and now it is the first completely Web-based course in HKUST. The Secure Online Assessment System (SOAS) designed by CELT was employed for the final examination. Our experiences echoed the advantages of Web-based learning such as relieving the students from temporal and physical constraints (the course content can be accessed anytime and anywhere), the effectiveness of interactive learning (such as the use of self-assessed quizzes, pop-ups, and video clips), and the potential of the Web that provided extensive information on related topics. We also addressed the importance ofRead More
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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