The Internet and the World Wide Web have burst onto the scene as a means of delivering instruction, and in doing so have prompted the creation of the concept of asynchronous teaching and learning. A primary benefit of asynchronous learning is that it allows flexibility in terms of time and space. Students decide when and where they will access the instruction. This is the first in a series of three articles on the development and teaching of online courses using the Internet and the World Wide Web. This article describes the process of developing instruction for delivery online via the Internet. A model developed by the authors for offering graduate-level courses in special education and instructional design is described. A unique feature of the model is the use of audiostreaming for the delivery of all lectures. Lectures are illustrated with graphics and supplemented with notes, readings, and other links to Web sites. Two courses have been developed and taught using the model described in the article.

A major concern of today's educational community is how best to respond to the new instructional opportunity offered by the Internet and the World Wide Web (www). Although online instruction will not replace traditional instruction, it will add an instructional mode and even alter what now occurs in traditional classrooms. Through the WWW, instructors and students now have access to worldwide resources that they cannot access in any other way. This is significant for K-12 schools, because the WWW opens the door to other cultures as well as resources that students were formerly only able to read or hear about. For postsecondary institutions, the change will be even more dramatic. The Internet not only expands who benefits from higher education, but also makes possible the delivery of higher education to almost anywhere from almost anywhere.

Instructors are now able to distribute class resources such as syllabi, assignments, readings, quizzes, and announcements via electronic communication. These resources can be made available continuously to students with no effort on the part of the instructor other than developing them and ensuring that they are placed on the Internet. Communications with students can be extended in that messages can be sent to students individually or to groups of students to be read any time. The instructor can also send messages at times other than scheduled class sessions. Although this mode of instructional delivery does not replace the personal communication central to classroom instruction, it does allow for another opportunity to communicate with students that until now has not been available. More importantly, courses and programs can be delivered to students who otherwise would not have access to them.

Teachers who choose to use the Internet for instructional purposes are finding that their role has been broadened to include that of an instructional manager. Teachers have always assumed an instructional management role, but not in the context that online instruction creates. Thus, teachers involved in online instruction will find themselves managing instruction that occurs at times outside of the traditional class schedule. Students will be carrying out activities and studying via the Internet without simultaneously interacting with the instructor. This means that while a teacher is working with a group of students or a professor is lecturing in a course through traditional instruction, other students will be progressing on lessons via the Internet, leaving messages when necessary for the teacher, who will respond when it is convenient.

One of the most significant ways in which the Internet and the WWW will redefine the classroom for K-12 schools and universities is that, for all practical purposes, there will be no boundaries. Teachers and students can communicate with peers around the world. For example, a fifth-grade teacher may develop relationships with teachers in other states, communities, or schools and develop experiences that allow students in their respective classrooms to interact and possibly even carry out collaborative projects via the Internet. Teachers will also be able to access information on curricular topics that will help bring added meaning to their teaching.

In higher education, professors will be able to share content and experiences with colleagues at other institutions who teach similar courses. They will also be able to communicate with researchers who are engaged in inquiry specific to their teaching fields. It would even be possible for a faculty member to identify a resource person engaged in research relating to the interests of a graduate or an undergraduate student and link the two so that they can communicate.

Online instruction offers significant opportunities for persons with disabilities. The multimedia, self-pacing, and personal features of online instruction not only make instruction more accessible, but also allow for the tailoring of instruction to meet the needs of individuals requiring special consideration. Students are able to communicate with classmates as frequently as necessary. They can complete their studies in environments of their choice, and they have access to instructors under conditions that facilitate communication. Adult learners especially will benefit from the national trend toward online instruction. K-12 students with developmental disabilities will also benefit. Instruction via the Internet, in addition to focusing on teaching skills and knowledge, can be used to introduce students to experiences that they would encounter in no other way.

It takes little imagination to speculate on how effective use of the Internet and the WWW can change the instructional environment. As Internet capabilities increase and as new technologies emerge, instructional environments will change even more. The key, of course, to how this emerging technology changes the instructional environment is the initiative and imagination of those responsible for instruction. Not only must teachers at all levels explore the opportunity available to them and their students, but also the administration and those responsible for resources must ensure that the infra-structure is there to facilitate instructional use of this new mode of instruction.

We are not experiencing a threat to traditional instruction. What we are experiencing is the emergence of a new mode for delivering instruction. We have an option never before anticipated. Certainly, over the last couple of years educators have begun to realize that electronic communication will have an impact on education, but few anticipated what is now available. Courses can be offered totally on the Internet.

The course model we describe in this article uses audiostreaming technology. This means that all lectures are aurally presented and students are able to view images of the instructor. Lectures are illustrated so that students are viewing content-related images while listening to lectures. Videostream technology is also available. However, it needs to be refined and additional technological advancements need to be made to make it an efficient option for delivering instruction. In a very short period of time, we have gone from having no online capabilities available in a cost-effective way to having an instructional capability available--first in text format, then through audio-stream, and soon through videostream technology. The Internet is multimedia.

From a pedagogical perspective, what has occurred is that the Internet has brought life to asynchronous learning, which is interactive learning without the interaction between student and instructor occurring at the same time. Instructors can create instructional experiences that engage students on the Internet. In the process of participating, students can communicate with instructors via e-mail; they can also complete activities that can be sent to instructors, who can respond at another time. For large numbers of learners, the convenience of asynchronous learning may more than compensate for the lack of interpersonal contact. Additionally, it is reasonable to expect that through experience, instructors and researchers will find pedagogically sound ways to enhance the quality of communication via asynchronous learning.

Pedagogy for asynchronous learning is clearly in its infancy. It needs to be developed and refined. We have the advantage of a long history of educational research on pedagogy, and much of what we know to be effective in traditional approaches to instruction also applies to asynchronous learning and online instruction. In many ways, the lack of experience with this new mode of instruction and the way in which it has burst onto the scene, combined with the high public expectations for it, will create the right circumstances for teachers and researchers to identify techniques that will be most effective.

Students' responses to asynchronous learning remains to be determined. Combined with the advantages offered by online instruction, however, it is reasonable to assume that it will be accepted, if not preferred, by a significant proportion of learners. The response may vary by age group. Certainly, adult learners who are employed full-time or living in rural areas or under circumstances that preclude their attending scheduled courses on campus may well accept this as a desirable alternative because of the convenience it offers. The basic pedagogical question comes down to whether or not online instruction can be as effective as instruction delivered through traditional modes.

There are many unknowns about how best to design instruction for online delivery and many unknowns about how students respond to online instruction, but the response among educational agencies at all levels has been tremendous. At the postsecondary level, for example, we are already finding that many institutions have moved beyond placing course resources and even courses on the Internet--they now offer degrees on the Internet. The ways educational institutions use the Internet vary greatly, as does the quality of instruction offered.

The problem is that the technology is so new that there has not been sufficient time for the development of standards for model design and testing. This results in considerable trial and error and allows poorly designed instruction to be placed online. However, the advantage is that such conditions allow for creativity to flourish. Without good models, the technology of delivering online instruction cannot be tested fairly. We need experiences with pedagogically sound models and quality instruction.

Two graduate-level courses in special education and instructional design have been developed using the model we describe in this article. Design and implementation of the courses involved a cooperative effort between faculty and students. On this collaborative team, the faculty member was responsible for planning the course and creating all content-related resources. Student members of the team provided the technical skills for placing the instruction online. The courses were developed during the 1996 fall semester and offered online in the spring semester of 1997. The first course taught was on the process of curriculum development and had been taught several times by the instructor both in a traditional format and on television. This made it possible to ensure equivalence between the online course and the traditional version. The second course was a new course on how to design online instruction; there was no traditional version.

The project had three main goals:

1. To design courses to be fully online, requiring no face-to-face interaction with the instructor.
2. To utilize audiostream technology so that the professor could personally present all lectures and students would not be dependent on reading text from a monitor to gain access to the content of the course.
3. To the degree possible, to use sound pedagogical practices that have been tested in a traditional classroom format.

We placed some additional responsibility on ourselves, largely in the area of making the course user friendly. We did not want the course to be limited only to those students experienced in using the Internet, and we did not want students to have to learn technical skills in order to benefit from the course.

Figure 1 illustrates the model we adhered to in developing the course. We discuss each component of the model and then demonstrate the instructional process by providing actual illustrations from the course.

1.1. Course Development Process

The content for the course was developed in the context of a traditional class previously taught by the instructor. Course development is mentioned only because the organization of the course content facilitated development of the online version and reduced planning time. The course was already organized, with each lecture outlined in detail; visuals were complete for each lecture, readings had been selected, and activities were included with lesson plans. Because the professor had taught the course previously by two-way interactive television, tapes of all lectures were also available for review.

1.2. Online Instructional Design

After considerable testing of ideas and experimenting with the technology, it was decided that the basic design would have the following features:

1. Lectures would be presented using audiostream. The instructor's voice would be used.
2. Images of the instructor teaching would be displayed on the screen along with graphic illustrations of the content being discussed.
3. Students would be allowed to move forward or backward in each lesson at will.
4. Brief notes of key points prepared by the instructor would appear at the top of the screen at appropriate times. Students would be allowed to print the notes at the end of each lesson.
5. A glossary of key terms would be prepared for each lesson and combined as a course glossary.
6. In addition to the lecture presented using audiostream, a text outline of each lecture would be available to the student.
7. Activities requiting a response would be embedded in each lesson.
8. An assessment would be included in each lesson to inform students of their progress.
9. Breaks would be planned for each lecture. During the break, students would be given the option of reviewing the outline, notes, and glossary or proceeding with the lecture.
10. At the conclusion of the lesson, the students would have the same options as during the break. In addition, they would be required to take a quiz.
11. Students would be allowed to review any lecture as often as they desired.

The course and instructional supports were part of the design as well, and are discussed separately. We have chosen to do this because we believe that the most unique aspects of the course are the design features of instruction that have just been described. The course and instructional supports, although of obvious importance, are representative of the kinds of support that are characteristic of many courses currently on the Internet.

1.3. Course Support

Course supports include those instructional resources that you would typically find in a traditional course. They are all available online. They can easily be accessed and read from the screen, or they can be printed, depending on the student's preference. To access a support resource, the student clicks on the name of the resource, which is linked to detailed information. For example, when the student clicks "syllabus," the syllabus appears on the screen.

1. Lesson schedule: A directory of all lessons is provided. Each lesson is briefly described.
2. Reading list: The required readings are online. Recommended readings are placed on reserve at several locations.
3. Syllabus: The syllabus is detailed and much like a traditional syllabus.
4. Focus presentation: The focus presentation is a report each student is required to prepare and share with the class. Topics must be approved by the instructor.
5. Project: A team project involving collaboration is required. The nature of the project is described and studentsare encouraged to become acquainted with fellow students to facilitate the selection of team members.
6. 4. Instructional Support

Instructional support includes those supports we identified as essential to offering online instruction using the model we had developed. These are mostly tools for the students.

1. Course glossary: Key terms are defined in each lesson. A course glossary is also provided.
2. Course listserv: The listserv allows students to communicate with one another.
3. Class roster: The roster allows students to report demographic information about themselves. Students can access the roster to learn about their fellow students. Students may opt not to report phone numbers and addresses but are required to report e-mail addresses.
4. E-mail Prof: This e-mail provision al-lows students to e-mail the instructor directly.
5. Technical support: An e-mail address is provided in case a student needs technical help.
6. Lesson assessments are completed by students at the end of each lesson. They are not graded, but students are provided data on their performance.
7. The notes and outlines made available to students during the lessons are also considered instructional supports.
8. 5. Asynchronous Teaching

The process of teaching online involves techniques applicable to asynchronous teaching in that interaction takes place between the instructor and students at different times. It is technically possible to communicate in real time, but to some extent that defeats the advantages of online instruction. Here we briefly describe how communication occurs between the student and the instructor. The primary means of communication is e-mail inflated either by students or the instructor. Discussions are also held among students using the listserv.

1. Private communications: Communications between the student and the instructor are private. If, however, a question is asked and the instructor believes that other students would be interested in the response, it may be sent on the listserv and made public. Responses to activities are private.
2. Public communications: All listserv messages are public.
3. Instructor response strategy: The instructor responds to all communications at the beginning and end of the day, at noon, and intermittently. Mail is checked on the weekend but only urgent mail is responded to at that time. A file system for retaining responses and work of individual students was developed using e-mail.
4. Activities: Response forms are provided for all activities. Students answer the questions and click a button on the response form, mailing it directly to the instructor. The instructor provides feedback on activities in the order in which they are received and e-mails the activities back to the student.

In deciding on the technical requirements, a purposeful decision was made to select technology that would be effective for the instruction, but that had a high probability of being available to the target audience of students. In an effort to include as many students as possible in the course, the technical requirements were held to a minimum. The minimum CPU must be either a 486 Dx/33 or a 68040 Macintosh with an FPU. The computer must have a sound card and speakers and a 640 x 480 color display. A connection to the Internet is required with a minimum speed of 28800 baud. Either Netscape 2.02 or Internet Explorer 3.0 will work as a browser; Real Audio Player 3.0 is required. The last item needed is an Internet e-mail account. The latter was provided by the university.

A brief walk through the course using selected key screens as illustrations will help you relate the previous discussion on features of the course to what students actually experience. (See Figures 2 through 7 in the Appendix.)

1. Welcome screen. The welcome screen appears after the title page. A visitor can access all information, including the departmental home pages and the biography of the instructor. When the table of contents is clicked, you are asked for a username and password (see Figure 2).

Table of contents. All resources can be accessed from the table of contents page by clicking the topic (see Figure 3).

Lesson page. By clicking a specific lesson on the lesson schedule, a lesson page comes up. Students can access the lecture, readings, glossary, listserv, and e-mail prof from this page (see Figure 4).

Advanced organizer. When a student accesses a lecture, an advanced organizer is presented. This is a 2- or 3-minute lecture reviewing the previous lecture and setting the stage for the forthcoming lecture. This is in audio with illustrations (see Figure 5).

Lecture. Figure 6 presents a typical screen viewed by the student during a lecture. The student sees the image of the instructor, hear his or her voice, and views a graphic illustration of the points being made in the lecture. At the top of the screen a statement appears in a contrasting color. The statements are brief notes representing key points in the lecture. These are notes that can later be printed by the students.

Activities. Activities appear in each lesson. They are designed so that when students have completed their response, they merely click a button and the response is transmitted to the instructor for feedback (see Figure 7).

This course uses audiostream to present the lectures, which are offered fully online with no face-to-face contact with the instructor. We have experienced only minor technical difficulties, most of which have been specific to individual students and their equipment and not related to the model or technology. For example, one student dropped the course because her computer was too old and she could not install the audio-player. In the course of ongoing formative evaluation, each student completes a survey following each lesson. Interviews and focus groups will be used in addition to a summative evaluation survey. We expect all students to complete the course within the semester, although the rate at which they complete individual lessons varies.

AUTHORS' NOTE

The authors wish to acknowledge Professors Jerry Charfin and Ronald Aust for their consultation during the development of this course. Appreciation is also expressed to the SCR [*]TEC project for technical support.

DIAGRAM: FIGURE 1. Course model.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 2. Welcome screen.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 3. Table of contents page.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 4. Lesson page.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 5. Advanced organizer page.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 6. Lecture page.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): FIGURE 7. An activity page.

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By Edward L. Meyen, Cindy H. T. Lian, and Paul Tangen

Edward L. Meyen is a professor of special education at the University of Kansas. Cindy H.T. Lian is a graduate student in music therapy, and Paul Tangen is a graduate student in the Department of Design at the University of Kansas. Address: Edward L. Meyen, 3001 Dole, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047. e-mail: elm@ukans.edu