Evaluating and Improving WWW-Aided Instruction

A growing number of instructors are putting course resources on the World Wide Web (WWW) [Berners-Lee et al. 1994], from simple course descriptions through traditional printed handouts to complete "classroom-free" classes ([Team Web 1995] provides a broad sampling of such resources). However, there appears to be a paucity of evaluation of WWW based classroom resources. Do they help or do they hurt? Which materials are more valuable or less valuable? How do students react to the web?This paper describes the design, evaluation, redesign, and re-evaluation of a number of course webs that incorporate a wide range of resources (including readings, notes, transcriptions, and traditional handouts) and media (including text, images, and audio). This paper generalizes student reactions to webs for two introductory Computer Science courses [Rebelsky 1994] [Rebelsky 1996], incorporating additional comments from students in advanced courses.Key Words: Multimedia Information Systems [Evaluation/Methodology], Computer Uses in Education, World-Wide Web, Hypertext Document Design and Preparation, Computer Science Education, Computer Literacy.