Students tap into global resources through World Wide Web

By Melissa Mitchell

Agriculture students preparing for successful careers in the 21st century
are learning how to find the fastest route to the information superhighway.
From the get-go, students in Agriculture/Human Resources and Family Studies
101 - one of the college's early "Discovery" courses that focuses on
contemporary issues in the food, human and natural resource systems - are
required to become proficient in the use of computer networking tools. From
campus and departmental computer labs or from their residences, students
quickly learn to use network browsers such as NCSA Mosaic - developed at
the UI - to link to the course's "Discovery System" home page on the
Internet's World Wide Web.

John Schmitz, director of the Agricultural Instructional Media Lab, which
specializes in the creation of Web documents, said the system was
inaugurated in 1993 and expanded last fall for use by 475 freshman. He said
the system was created "to experiment with providing students an
'integrated learning environment' that provides multiple resources and
capabilities all in one place." It also was designed as "a method for
capturing more of students' out-of-class time and as a way to link students
to global Internet resources," he said.

Students use the Discovery System during the first part of the course to
learn networking skills and concepts, as well as to explore opportunities
for studies and careers. In addition, Schmitz said, the system introduces
students to "powers of the mind" by providing guides on such topics as
critical thinking, writing, communications and problem-solving. Plus, it
points them to Internet sites relevant to various agricultural fields.

Schmitz said the system complements students' printed Discovery Manual, and
is used throughout the semester as students learn how to search the
Internet for resources.

While many students are attracted to the system's sophisticated color
graphics and ease of use, Schmitz said it is too soon to gauge the
technology's effects on learning.

"Evidence is only anecdotal for now," he said. "I know some students who
'went to' the Food and Agricultural Organization at the United Nations
server during the week of Dean Gomes' lecture on 'Global Systems.' The
students were amazed with the international food statistics available."

While "generally interested and intrigued by the technology," many freshmen
still struggle with computer anxiety and what Schmitz terms "information
overload" - having too much information at their fingertips. To help
alleviate the latter problem, Schmitz said artist Mary Connors and computer
graphics specialist Aaron Buckley - both Lab staff members - have developed
"clickable landscape maps" that "organize information more efficiently,
attractively and holistically for students."

At last count, the "classes on the Web" link on the College of
Engineering's home page indicated Web sites have been developed for use in
more than 50 other UI courses across the academic landscape. In some cases,
the pages contain little more than course descriptions or syllabi. Others
are more complex, and may include lecture notes, indices of course
material, reading lists and home pages of instructors and students.

Notable among these is Alfred Hubler's Physics 101 site. Using video
projection units connected to a Silicon Graphics workstation in his lecture
hall, Hubler actually incorporates the Web material as part of in-class
instruction.

"So far, it has been successful," he said. "We can offer the course as a
coherent package: the lecture, the electronic homework and the labs are
hyperlinked and fit together. The student can review the lecture material
after the lecture, including movies, sound and demonstrations, without
buying expensive commercial software."

Using a new program called Physica, designed by Hubler, Lance Arsenault and
Brian Rogers at the Beckman Institute's Center for Complex Systems
Research, students are now able to go to the Web site to do homework
problem sets containing sound and other multimedia features, turn in the
homework and have it graded promptly.

Hubler said the main differences between Physica and other computer grading
packages include:

  * Easy and fast access for students and faculty at no cost for the software.
  * Problem sets that take full advantage of sound and other multimedia
    features of high-end personal computers and high data-transfer rates on
    the Internet.
  * Hyperlinked help files of problem sets and lecture notes.
  * Students' ability to use interactive drawing software to produce graphical
    material such as vector diagrams or electronic circuits.
  * Careful analysis of student answers, based on the most recent complex
    systems data analysis techniques, which includes the awarding of partial
    credit for answers.

Incredibly, Hubler said his course has "probably one of the most active web
servers in the world, with about 15,000 requests per week" from as far
afield as Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Greece, Finland and even Chechnya.
The Physica grading package "already has high visibility worldwide" as
well, something Hubler finds extremely surprising "since we are just
developing it and to our knowledge it has not yet been announced anywhere."

Another feature included at the Physics 101 Web site is a newsletter, which
Hubler compiles to keep students updated on what's happening in the course.
In large part, the articles reflect Hubler's commitment to creating a
learning environment that encourages dialogue between the instructor and
his class. For instance, the current newsletter includes an article in
which Hubler congratulates students for their role in changing a
25-year-old policy governing the time of nightly network interruptions on
the campus's NovaNet system and a note informing them that their course was
featured in a Daily Illini story. Other articles indicate where to find
solutions to past hourly exams, a reminder that students have the option of
doing homework on paper "in a nice, stimulating environment" if they
prefer, a faculty obituary and a "classified" ad for "tutors wanted." At
the end of the newsletter, Hubler reminds students that they are
"experiencing the challenges and excitement of forefront technology." And,
he concludes, "This experience will keep you on top."

The message isn't lost on Hubler's students.

"The response is enthusiastic," he said. "This semester's drop-out rate was
almost a factor of 10 lower than usual one week after the first hour exam.
The number of course additions exceeded the drop-outs so that the net
drop-out rate is negative. This is unheard of for this course."

Further, he said, "class attendance is high, and many students participate
very actively, developing software and homework problems for the Web. For
example, Jigar Desai, a student in the class, has written 22 Web homework
problems for his classmates."

Students aren't the only ones who benefit from using the technology, however.

"When the students are enthusiastic, I am enthusiastic, too," Hubler said.
"This makes teaching fun."