A Closer Look @

What is Webcore? 

You've probably heard of WebCore. Perhaps you even entertained the idea of signing up, but decided not to because you don't teach in the Core. Or perhaps you like to experiment with new ways of teaching, but don't like the idea of having your students interact solely with a machine. Maybe you don't know much about computers, and are afraid it might be too technical. If these were your reasons for not signing up, read on: WebCore may be for you after all.

WebCore provides support for Brooklyn College faculty who want to enrich their courses with material and activities available through the Internet. It also encourages those teaching in the Core to further develop connections and links between the Core courses. Yet faculty do not need to be teaching in the Core to gain the benefits of WebCore. And joining WebCore does not obligate you to conduct your entire class "from a distance".

The support that WebCore provides takes on a variety of forms. First, there is the technical support. WebCore will ensure that you have what you need to get you up and running on the Internet. WebCore also provides a sequence of training sessions, from the barest basics (e.g., how to create a web page) to more advanced topics (e.g., how to write JavaScript). Each semester these WebCore sessions are tailored to its members' abilities and interests. But most importantly, WebCore provides a forum for discussing pedagogy and exchanging ideas with other faculty who are (or were) grappling with the same issues that you are.

What can WebCore do for me?

The computer does not, and cannot, replace the teacher. Instead, the computer is an incredibly versatile teaching tool that enables us to give our students a richer learning experience. At a basic level, we can use it as a communications tool. We can also use computers to show our students different ways of looking at things, or even develop interactive--and active--learning experiences. Here are some of the ways that Brooklyn College faculty are using the web in their courses.

Online course materials
Many people start by taking all those pieces of paper they hand out in class--syllabi, reading lists, old exams--and putting them on the web. You can also take all those things you write on the board--announcements, homework assignments, notes and examples--and put those on the web. This helps students in that they have a place to refer back to these important items. It also helps the teacher in that there is now one central distribution point and there is no longer any doubt about what the teacher handed out or told the students.

Collecting assignments
David Arnow (Computer and Information Science) has developed a program called WebToTeach that accepts (or rejects) computer programming assignments, and keeps track of who submitted what and when. In several of my courses, I have had students create their own web pages where they post their assignments, ranging from term papers to multimedia single-player games. You could even just have students e-mail assignments to you. The advantage is that you get a time stamp, so there's no question about when the assignment was handed in, and you have a central repository for all assignments.
 

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/hansen/myth98.htm

Online discussions
Several faculty, including Hardy Hansen (Classics) and Don Gerardi (History) have devoted one third of their class time to online discussions using the Caucus web conferencing tool. Using this tool, they introduce a topic for discussion in which all students are expected to participate. They have found that these discussions are generally more thoughtful (perhaps because the students have more time to think before responding) and include more students (partly because they are not intimidated by the more aggressive students, and partly because they must participate) than traditional in-class discussions. Of course, to keep the discussion on-track, the professors are active participants in the discussion.

Supplementary reference materials
Tim Shortell (Sociology) has begun integrating historical film and audio clips into his web site. This additional sensory information will bring ideas to life for the students. Others have also begun to integrate the wealth of resources available on the World Wide Web, including library collections, related course web pages, and assorted collections of writings, images, and film and audio clips.

Interactive learning activities
John Blamire (Biology) is famous on campus for his online science labs. Others have implemented self-study quizzes. These active learning experiences force students to get involved, which makes the lessons stick.
 

http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/VC.CellBiology.main.html

How do I get involved?

Naomi Bushman is currently the WebCore coordinator. You may find out more by contacting her. Or, you may look at the WebCore web site at http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore.