Techniques for Enhancing Web-Based Education

Abstract

The Virtual Workshop is a World Wide Web-based set of modules on high performance computing developed at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC) (New York). This approach reaches a large audience, leverages staff effort, and poses challenges for developing interesting presentation techniques. This paper describes the following techniques with their technical implementation, application in the workshop, and assessment by the audience and staff: (1) Web-based editing and program submission using a combination of Java programs and Perl scripts; (2) the glossary, created with JavaScript; (3) using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts to write interactive quizzes; (4) Netscape frames for personalizing navigation; (5) gifmerge for creating simple animations and a QuickTime movie to demonstrate and compare speedup achieved through Message Passing Interface (MPI) and High Performance Fortran (HPF); (6) a lab exercise design using HTML links; (7) a set of audio-tagged foils to diversify and increase comprehension of the module; and (8) MOO/chat discussion forums. Three figures illustrate the Web-based editing/program submission screen, the glossary, and a graph of the Quick Time movie. Related Web sites are listed. (Author/AEF)