Esyllabus
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An eSyllabus-- also known as an electronic syllabus, online syllabus, or course homepage, provides the information of a traditional syllabus but can also link to online materials used in a course. Typically the eSyllabus is written in HTML and posted on the www.
The advantages of the eSyllabus lies in its inexpensiveness and ease of distribution, its visibility beyond the course participants, and the inexpensive, effective and well-organized distribution of class materials such as lecture notes or overheads.
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[edit] Layout
One common layout is dividing eSyllabi into two major parts: The contractual part that will not be changed during the course and the content part which is flexible to facilitate dynamics in the course.
The portion describing exams, grading, policies and content can be seen as the contractual part of the syllabus that stays fixed. The dynamic or non-contractual part can be updated with changes in scheduling and timing of course topics. Here current events, students’ contributions, and newly discovered sources, can be linked during the course. While the dynamic part allows the course to incorporate current events and ongoing work of students, it provides the structure necessary to effectively administer a course.
Ideally, the contractual part is laid out on the fist level of the HTML document, while the dynamic part hides in the links provided to the actual course content. These linked files might contain overheads or their electronic representation) used by the instructor or they can incorporate the notes of the instructor.
[edit] Classroom use
Students are less occupied scribbling down the visual information provided in the classroom and find more time to participate. Mistakes in the transfer into student’s notes are eliminated. If the notes are provided before the class sessions, students can print them out as a basis for their additional notes.
[edit] History
It was first invented and used 1994 by Andreas Schneider, at that time a German Graduate student instructor at Indiana University. The Internet Teaching Homepage that he constructed, located at ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~aschnei/ , was given an award in 1995 by Indiana University as an outstanding example using networked computers for teaching.
1995 Schneider wrote an article reporting his teaching experiences with this new medium and the student’s evaluation of the new teaching technique.[1] Especially critical at this time was the acceptance of students of this new media.
This developed into a widely used teaching tool, the center of the various course delivery systems such as Blackboard.
[edit] The future
Increased concern about copyright lawsuits might be one of the major drawbacks of the eSyllabus. This is one of the reasons why many colleagues move to expensive professional software solutions to restrict access to their intranet. Intranet solutions are usually the choice for the administration of distance education, distance learning courses, or electronic classrooms. Protected access and the privacy of communication is the key benefit.[2] This agenda, of course, contrasts to the global advertisement of the college course with the eSyllabus. [3] Another benefit over the intranet-based solutions is the ease of access for the students. Other major contenders for sharing teaching related materials with students are blogs, podcasts, and Wikis.[4] Podcasts have become increasingly accepted as a medium for content delivery. They are however, not as well suited as the eSyllabus providing the structure and basic notes for students to guide their use of traditional or online study materials.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Schneider, Andreas. 1998. "Sociology: The Internet as an Extended Sociology Classroom." Social Science Computer Review 16:53-57. (1998)
- ^ Conrad, Rita-Marie and Ana J. Donaldson. 2004. “Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction.” San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- ^ Palloff, Rena M., Keith Pratt.1999. “Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom”San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- ^ Green, Timothy, Abbie H. Brown and LeAnne K. Robinson (eds) 2008. Making the Most of the Web in Your Classroom: A Teacher's Guide to Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis, Pages, and Sites” Thousand Oaks: Corvin Press.
