Instruction via Course Web Sites

Project Sponsors:

Stan Nicholson, Alan Moses, Bill Koseluk, Larry Murdock, Rick Johnson, Art Battson

Project Summary:

Faculty desire to use the Web to deliver instructional content is substantial and increasing rapidly. There are exemplary projects in operation or development now that rely heavily on the campus infrastructure, including serving of streaming video through the Web. There are also needs, expected to become universal, for placing on Web sites course information ranging from posting of text to interactive testing and grade reporting. These trends offer opportunities for generalization, collaboration, and cooperation in maximizing the impact on the central academic function of teaching.

The scope of the support given to this function must be driven by the academic mission and academic priorities. Several policy ramifications must be included in the process of defining priorities, including:

- compliance of the operation of the support infrastructure, as well as the operation of course Web sites, materials, and practices, with current University policy.

- intellectual property issues, such as ownership of instructional materials produced for, or delivered through, the Web for University courses, whether delivered through University equipment and facilities or through non-University equipment and facilities.

- "not-for-release" (NFR) policies.

- policies regarding authentication and access restriction.

One way to address these support issues is to provide centralized services for the development and operation of course Web sites which deliver instructional materials. Such services could not be the exclusive mechanisms of support, but probably should be offered through an agency which serves the entire campus (e.g. Academic Programs, which already supports the development and delivery of instruction campuswide, might be one possibility). To provide support for offering services and systems such as Physics’ ClassWeb and Bio’s VideoWeb to more than the present users would require at a minimum one CNT III and two CNT 1s.

How this project supports the academic mission of UCSB:

The project deals directly with the teaching mission of UCSB, and directly addresses aspects of the teaching mission which place the campus in the forefront of experimentation and development of effective teaching using new technologies.

Funding source and how this project relates to it:

Support for development and delivery of course web instructional materials is currently provided by a number of campus agencies, including Academic Programs (Instructional Computing, Instructional Consultation, and Instructional Resources), LSIT, the academic departments, and ad hoc temporary arrangements made by individual faculty members.

Support for bandwidth capabilities of the computing infrastructure to deliver course materials (e.g. those which involve extensive interactivity or streaming video) is currently provided by Communications Services and the Backbone Engineering Group.

Costs: initial-year and recurring:

Staff support of authoring and delivery of course Web instructional materials:

1 CNT III @ $64,524 annual plus $14,840 in benefits = $79,364 recurring

2 CNT I @ $ 43,356 annual plus $9,972 in benefits = $106,656 recurring

Total staff = $186,020 recurring
 

Hardware and software support (primarily servers): $35,000 initial, $35,000 recurring based on life cycle plus anticipated growth of demand.

Network infrastructure to support what are now bandwidth-intensive materials: Unable to specify.

The total costs for this proposal including staff, hardware and software are: $221,020 in the first year and $221,020 per year recurring.

Matching opportunities:

A small number of cutting-edge projects which may serve as models or pilot tests may be eligible for funding from the Instructional Improvement Program. This funding can only be temporary, and is not appropriate for instructional Web uses that have become routine.

Staff support required:

For new staff support requirements, see Costs section above. Support of this function by existing staff includes staff in Academic Programs, LSIT, and academic departments.

Existing resources to be used:

The proposed support could be coordinated with support presently provided by Academic Programs units, by LSIT, and by academic departments. Systems currently developed for and/or used by departments could be made available to additional departments (e.g. the ClassWeb system developed in Physics and used also by courses in Mech Eng, Bio, and Math; and the VideoWeb system developed in MCDB). Other alternatives include software systems sold commercially, and hosting and even content services offered by outside entities, such as publishing houses.

Project timeline:

The academic demand is not likely to diminish in the foreseeable future, nor is technology likely to develop so quickly as to make the kind of support proposed here irrelevant to future instructional contexts. Particular tools and systems will be replaced by newer and better ones, but the need for support of faculty teaching will continue indefinitely.

Life cycle of result:

It seems likely that the support proposed here would be necessary on a permanent ongoing basis. The life cycle of instructional materials delivered through the Web will vary substantially, from relatively permanent reference material to purposefully short-lived ephemeral information. Success in this sense will be achieved if the supporting agency(ies) can help faculty members establish mechanisms for updating, creating, and delivering new instructional materials in ways which maximize instructional impact while minimizing support needs.