Computer Graphics Professor Assesses Online Course Delivery

Posted: April 13, 2004

"Better than expected" is how Wayne Carlson, chair of the department and professor of Industrial, Interior and Visual Communication Design, describes the results of his first venture into full online web delivery of his graduate level course, A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation.

It helps that his course's subject matter necessitated a certain amount of technology to display and view the supporting materials. In the past, the media were videotapes, films, and printed images requiring TVs and VCRs, projectors and viewing rooms, cameras and paper. But all these media formats can be digitized, and once transformed, the web makes the content readily available for any time, anywhere access.

The biggest hurdle to moving into eLearning, which all faculty who have taken such steps have discovered, is the conversion to electronic form. So it went with Carlson, who noted that it required a lot more work to prepare the online class than a traditional one. But now that he has digitized a large portion of his supporting course materials, he expects the content to be much easier to update.

Post-quarter, Carlson says he will continue his excursion into eLearning next year with the same course, relying on student feedback and his own observations to help refine the process. In an e-mail Q&A, he offered his early assessment of the pros and cons—and there were a few of each—of teaching in the virtual milieu. To learn more about his evolution to online delivery see Computer Graphics Prof Teaches Animation Course Online.

Q. Before the quarter started, you told us that you regarded the web-delivered course as an experiment and that you would not stay with an entirely online format if you felt it isn't working. How did your "experiment" turn out better than expected?

A. My big concern was with the streaming video, since there was so much of it (about 40 hours), and as of the start of the quarter it was barely tested. But with few exceptions the students were able to watch the videos without interruption, eliminating the need to get together in a projection forum for watching them. Another concern was with the online discussion groups, which in theory would substitute for in-class discussions. Although we didn't have a lot of them, the ones we did have went ok... they weren't in my opinion as productive as in-class interactions, and I hope to try to address that next time around.

Q. Did you discover any drawbacks or experience any unforeseen developments about the online format?

A. Actually, I think the students stayed more current with the readings than in the traditional format... maybe because of the e-mail reminders I constantly sent out. Also, the narratives that I wrote were littered with URL links to other online resources, and I conclude that the group followed those links much more efficiently than in the other classes I taught before.

Q. What kinds of positive or negative feedback did you get from the students?

A. Here's one that reflected several similar comments: "I did not like reading on the computer. I found that in order to enjoy it I had to print out every section, read it that way, and then go back to see the videos and external links."

Another: "I feel that we really lost something by not having the face to face interaction with each other and the instructor."

Still another, which I am focusing on: "If you teach the class online again, I would recommend having group screenings/discussions in the beginning to get the discussions started—perhaps this will help to jumpstart the online discussions?"

Several students commented that because of the way the streaming video was presented, as opposed to actually downloading the movies, they weren't able to "scrub" through them to re-watch or focus on a specific section.

In general, every student commented (I solicited their feedback online also) as this student did: "I enjoyed the content which we read in this class a lot. I thought the flow of information was comfortable and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the relaxed format of the online class."

Q. Do you plan to offer this course online next year?

A. Yes.

Q. Would you change anything and if so, do you know what that would be at this point?

A. I'll follow the suggestions to get more involved in earlier discussions, to get the online interactions started; I'll have more "critical reviews" (self-evaluated quizzes) than the 3 I did; I'll probably change my CSS files to make the type font a little larger to make it easier to read the online content; I'll revisit the way the videos are presented, to be sure the control bar allows "scrubbing"; I'll be sure and test all of my external links on a daily basis... one of the problems with this approach is that other sites that are out of my control change links or take their content off-line; this was a history course, and I chose to present the material as learning objects, each related to a subject focus... therefore, I lost the temporal nature of the events. I will add an introductory section that accompanies my time-line that puts all of the innovations in somewhat of a perspective related to each other, before I present them as individual "nuggets."

Q. Any other comments or observations you would like to add?

A. This was a great first experiment, and I learned a lot about the difference in presentation approaches. It was MUCH more work getting things ready for the class than the traditional way, but I think it will be much easier to update it for the next offering. I think I will also set a specific time every other day that I will be available for online discussions, rather than letting them occur in an ad-hoc fashion.