Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy: A Critical Primer

There has been an explosion of Web-based courses in higher education. Aiming at an interdisciplinary audience, the contributors draw upon diverse philosophical and empirical backgrounds to make claims about Web-based pedagogy. Among the points they raise is the concern that education is more easily commodified through Internet technologies, implying that traditional faculty roles in teaching (and research) are at risk. Moreover, current understandings of what it means to be a teacher or a student are undergoing redefinition as a result of these new distance-learning technologies. The contributors note that Web-based pedagogy is associated with sound instruction when particular strategies are adopted. As a corollary, this form of teaching is least effective when attempts are made to directly translate traditional styles of teaching. Political, social, and economic interests are competing to shape the direction that online education will take. The authors argue that opportunities exist for administrators and faculty to define the terms under which Web-based learning will occur in their institutions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Philosophical and Theoretical Considerations Expectations Exploded by R. Stanton Hales Using the Internet for Teaching and Research: A Political Evaluation by Michael Margolis The Web, the Millennium, and the Digital Evolution of Distance Education by David C. Leonard Critical Reflections: Political Philosophy and Web Technology by John Steel Communication Technologies in an Educational Environment: Lessons from a Historical Perspective by Patrick B. O'Sullivan When and Where Appropriate: Lessons from "Foreign" Contexts for the Pedagogical Use of Web-Based Technologies in the United States by Julian Kilker From Rhetoric to Technology: A Transformation from Citizens into Consumers by Laura Blasi and Walter Heinecke Is There a Professor in This Class? by David C. Paris Where Is Every-body? by Paulette Robinson Transforming Professionals via the Web: Promoting Social Justice in Web-Based Ethics Education for Counselors by Marvin J. McDonald The Roles and Interrelationships of Presence, Reflection, and Self-Directed Learning in Effective World Wide Web-Based Pedagogy by Sherry Wulff, Joan Hanor, and Robert J. Bulik Using the Web to Create Student-Centered Curriculum by Bijan B. Gillani The Scholarship of Web-Based Teaching by Martha Daugherty, Autumn Grubb, Jude Hirsch, and Lee Gillis Empirical and Practical Considerations Creating an Environment for Successful Technology Integration by Kay S. Dennis The `Time' Factor in On-line Teaching: Implications for Faculty and Their Universities by Claudine Schweber Seven Principles for Good Practice in Teaching and Technology by Alec M. Testa Copyright and Web-Based Education: What All Faculty Should Know by David Throne Using the Web in Live Lectures: Examples and Issues by Graeme Lang Untangling the Web: Developing Web-Enhanced Instruction for Political Science by Donald L. Goff The Promise--and Potential Pitfalls--of Cyberlearning by Peter Navarro Preparing Higher Education Learners for Success on the Web by May Lowry, Christine Thornam, and Cason White A Hierarchy of Access Issues Affecting On-line Participation by Community College Students by Allan Craig Lauzon, Tricia Bertram Gallant, and Susan Rimkus On-line Is on Target for Motivated Learners by Michael S. Ameigh Teaching Research Skills Using the Internet by Mark Gellis Tearing Down Barriers and Building Communities: Pedagogical Strategies for the Web-Based Environment by Autumn Grubb and Margaret Hines Facilitating On-line Discussion in an Asynchronous Format by Tisha Bender Web-Based Instruction and People with Disabilities by Sheryl Burgstahler Index

About the Author :
ROBERT A. COLE is Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, State University of New York at Oswego./e

Review :
"This book presents pioneering approaches to online education by some of its early practitioner-scholars....It should be must reading for those of us who wish to learn from the early experience of our colleagues."-William H. Dutton Professor of Communication University of Southern California Author of Society on the Line ?[T]he collective expertise of the authors makes this compilation a helpful starting point for faculty who are relatively new to teaching online, graduate students, and web-based instruction decision-makers. It is not a book just for other web-converts. For educators interested in the Web for teaching and learning purposes, this book is a good place to initiate professional reading.?-Education, Communication & Information ?Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy offers a much-needed and very useful collection of critical essays on a rapidly developing area of pedagogy....A number of the essays offer very helpful historical backgrounds that help orient readers not already familiar with the role web pedagogy and distance learning in general play in American education....The articles address key issues such as technology integration, the large up-front demands of time and resources of web-based teaching, how to encourage active learning, teaching effective research skills, building online learning communities, and facilitating productive online discussion....A particular strength of the collection is the extensive and varied treatment of the vast poltical implications of web-based pedagogy for education. College and university teachers, administrators, and support staff who wish better to understand the quiet revolution that is transforming American higher education would we well-served by reading articles such....?-Communication Research Trends "ÝT¨he collective expertise of the authors makes this compilation a helpful starting point for faculty who are relatively new to teaching online, graduate students, and web-based instruction decision-makers. It is not a book just for other web-converts. For educators interested in the Web for teaching and learning purposes, this book is a good place to initiate professional reading."-Education, Communication & Information "[T]he collective expertise of the authors makes this compilation a helpful starting point for faculty who are relatively new to teaching online, graduate students, and web-based instruction decision-makers. It is not a book just for other web-converts. For educators interested in the Web for teaching and learning purposes, this book is a good place to initiate professional reading."-Education, Communication & Information "Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy offers a much-needed and very useful collection of critical essays on a rapidly developing area of pedagogy....A number of the essays offer very helpful historical backgrounds that help orient readers not already familiar with the role web pedagogy and distance learning in general play in American education....The articles address key issues such as technology integration, the large up-front demands of time and resources of web-based teaching, how to encourage active learning, teaching effective research skills, building online learning communities, and facilitating productive online discussion....A particular strength of the collection is the extensive and varied treatment of the vast poltical implications of web-based pedagogy for education. College and university teachers, administrators, and support staff who wish better to understand the quiet revolution that is transforming American higher education would we well-served by reading articles such...."-Communication Research Trends