Content area
Resumen
In the spring of 1998, an Agricultural Economics instructor identified a need for the integration of technology into the instruction of an introductory course with an ever increasing enrollment. When the enrollment was 30 students, the instructor was comfortable spending part of each weekend correcting homework assignments. However, when the enrollment reached over 150 students, the instructor sought collaboration with an instructional technologist to develop a web-based system to provide anytime, anywhere access to the homework and the feedback. Based on the experience of teaching the course for several years, the instructor felt that the weekly requirement for student response and instructor feedback was an essential element of the ‘enhanced learning environment’ that he had developed.
The web-based management system was developed as a rapid prototype process in response to the instructor's needs and students' feedback over a two year period. The instructional cycle was tracked through three spring semesters. The cycle progressed from the 1998 semester using all paper and pencil assignments and testing, to the 1999 semester using a mixture of paper and pencil and web-based assignments and testing, to the 2000 semester using all web-based assignments and testing. In 1999, the instructor's concern about the impact of the technology on the learning environment led to the inclusion of weekly in-class paper-and-pencil quizzes and weekly in-class assignments. By the spring of 2000, however, the professor was comfortable with the success of the web-based management system. And all assignments, exams, and the final exam were web-based.
The literature indicates that web-based assessment systems can be beneficial to instruction in the traditional face-to-face classroom. Class time is saved, access is anytime and anywhere, and system grading saves administrative time.
The study demonstrated that a web-based management system for homework and testing can be developed by an instructor and instructional designer with limited resources. And the instructional environment of an existing campus course can be maintained throughout the integration of a web-based management system for homework and testing.
