1	E-Blended Instruction A Practitioner's Perspective Paul David Henry, Ph.D. docteled@yahoo.com http://www.programhouse.com
2	Presentation Agenda A brief history and rationale for the design, development, and delivery of e-blended Web sites for on-site college courses. Practical and theoretical foundations for e-blended support of instruction. Strategies for using low-cost and no-cost software tools and techniques.
3	E-Blending Goals Situate learning activities for my courses in the technology of the Internet. Instruction guided by cognitive science principles.
4	Research and Development Information realized in different types of media could be supported (text, images, sound, etc.) and delivered through several types of communication (asynchronous and synchronous). The HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) of the World Wide Web could embrace several other Internet protocols - each of which supported a distinct type of communication. Web browser as “universal client.” Over time, Web browsers became more capable by supporting external programs through a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and direct support of scripting languages such as JavaScript and Java.
5	Research and Development CGI, JavaScript, and Java allowed for more real-time user interaction in Web pages: to input user-provided data and output the dynamic updates to the Web page with data processed by programs and scripts. These methods provided improvement over otherwise presentation-oriented Web pages because they allowed for learning and communication to be more interactive in ways that could more fully engage learners and personalize their experience.
6	Problem Definition Learning needs and preferences of students should drive any instructional innovation, not only because of hoped for learning improvements, but also due to the likelihood of greater adoption of new technology. Some suggestions came by way of a student wish list, such as making any course-related information available on a 24/7 basis: course syllabus, assignment descriptions, etc. With their great interest in the Internet and their rich social connections, students appeared to be able to access the Internet from several locations: at home, in their dorms, in labs on campus, at work, with friends, or at other public access locations such as libraries. The only condition I was given for their collective involvement in this technology innovation was that no learning activity via the Internet should be required.
7	Problem Definition Other suggestions came in the form of student feedback to e-blending applications that I implemented on a test basis. For example, there were many contributing factors responsible for lack of participation in classroom discussion - some cultural, some social, and many types of individual reasons. All of these reasons seemed to point to the need for online alternatives to discussion during the class session. Aside from offering continuing social interaction, online communications can address questions or problems that could be fielded in my role as instructor or by any student who was inclined to share (and test) their understanding. Promoting more opportunities for students to communicate among themselves (through access to Web discussion board posting, email messaging, and real-time text chat), I was able to leverage most of my time outside the class sessions to addressing exceptional instructional needs and the inevitable maintenance and refinements to the course Web sites.
8	Practical & Theoretical Foundations Several learning theories and principles were used as the basis for instructional design of the e-blended course sites. These strategies helped me to leverage my time and efforts with the ability of learners to support their own learning as well as that of their peers. Aside from achieving this economy of effort, these strategies have proved useful in generating greater learning outcomes than simply offering unstructured use of Internet services and applications for e-blended support of instruction.
9	Practical & Theoretical Foundations Situated cognition (a.k.a., situated learning). This principle and the related instructional strategy called "anchored instruction" is the foundation for how and why I should use the Internet in my courses: to address topics through learning activities that take place in that medium rather than primarily through lectures and reading. Cognitive apprenticeship - provides a framework for the learning of skills through instructional tactics such as modeling, coaching, fading, and scaffolding. Several meta-cognitive tactics (articulation, elaboration, self-monitoring, exploration) can consolidate newly acquired learning of skills in a domain of practice. These tactics can be articulated as goals by an instructor for learners in their strategic use the online materials and communications available on an e-blended Web site. Shared cognition - supports learners' need to be immersed in communication about what they are learning (with other learners, experts, instructors, and even with physical artifacts that support thinking and learning). If this social learning need is supported properly, they are likely learn better and more from the resulting feedback and motivation. Collaborative learning or peer-teaching helps learners consolidate their newly acquired understanding as they give advice or help build understanding as they receive it. This learning strategy can be supported through asynchronous software tools such as e-mail and Web-based discussion boards as well as the use of synchronous online software such as text-based chat and audio and/or video conferencing.
10	Software Strategies There are Web-based software sites, tools, and techniques that can make e-blending development and maintenance practical and economical. These practical solutions can be achieved by creating custom Web pages and/or the use of low-fee or free Web-based software services. For example, my teaching and consulting site (Program House at http://www.programhouse.com) uses several types of Internet services and applications to support the presentation of information and communication among learners.
11	Hosting your Web site There are many ways to make your Web-based e-blended material available on the Internet. If you do not have access to a campus system, you can use free or fee-based commercial Web hosting services. I initially chose to use the campus system, but as my plans expanded to include communication as well as information, I also began using a (low-fee) commercial hosting service where I could have more control of what software and materials were used, including CGI scripting.
12	Making Web pages If you are able and willing to learn some HTML coding skills, you can create relatively simple, yet effective Web pages of information to support learning while maintaining control over the process. However, you can also use free or for-fee Web design software, ranging from simple HTML editors to point-and-click authoring tools such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver. I chose to create a frame-based Web page design to keep the menu and each Web page in view at all times and to focus the learner on the single site rather than getting lost within other Web sites. As the number of courses for which I developed e-blending grew, I re-used the initial Web pages to make additional Web sites in other directories on my hosted account. This re-use strategy involved modifications to accommodate distinct course material while retaining my HTML coding for the basic Web site structure and page function.
13	Supporting communications To provide asynchronous communications, I created “mail-to” links in HTML that would launch the user’s email software and automatically insert addressing information into the message. I generally placed these e-mail links at the bottom of each Web page. I found (free) Web-based sources for using scripts to support internal e-mail transmission (without requiring the user’s email client software), I created pages for providing more extensive and formatted feedback via email, such as on the Contacts page on my site (achieved through the use of JavaScript code). I also use JavaScript public domain code (http://javascript.internet.com/) for scrolling banners, animation, etc. Web-based discussion or bulletin-board software provides a convenient way to support online discussion. For the e-learning discussion forums on the Program House site, I use the open-source (free) YaBB discussion software (http://www.yabbforum.com). For the basic discussion needs within the individual course sites (available via the Projects page on my site), I used free Web-based Bulletin Board software (CGI/Perl) from Matt's Script Archive at http://www.scriptarchive.com/. For synchronous text-based communication, I used a free Java-based chat applet (and the public IRC chat server it accesses) on the Chat page on my site.
14	Course Management Systems CMS software provides information and communication resources as built-in features that are easy to learn and use. For example, creating information for a course Web page is achieved by typing, pasting existing text, or using file attachments in form-based Web pages. Web-based discussion boards can be easily created using the same process. Many of these applications are relatively expensive solutions that are licensed by organizations, but there are low-fee and free sources for those e-blending developers who are seeking economical alternatives. For example, Moodle (http://moodle.org) is free Web-based CMS software that you can download from their site, install and configure it for your use, and then upload it to your server, and thereafter maintain it. You will need to be able to setup one of several supported database software applications to work with it as well as having your own server or a host account that allows control over directories that you setup for this software. Try one of the demonstration courses, such as the Teacher's playground test. It lets you make (limited) modifications to the existing demo course as you would as an online teacher managing that course. Nicenet (http://www.nicenet.net) is a non-profit organization that offers a free Web-based CMS service with many features similar to "for-fee" CMS software, but without the hassle of installing and maintaining the software on your host service. This service offers free online CMS space for instructors and courses for students on their Web site.
15	Closing Thoughts In closing, I encourage teachers and trainers to consider these e-blending methods to extend information and communication beyond onsite course sessions. This work is not typically done quickly or even easily, but economy of effort can be achieved when re-using existing Web pages for new use. However, if you follow a path that is lead by learner needs, over time your e-blending efforts will improve your instructional effectiveness as well as develop your e-learning technology skills.