Introduction
A couple of decades back Marshall McLuhan took note of the irrepressible human curiosity. It occurred to McLuhan that human curiosity cannot endure the containment of the flesh, so it invented automobiles then airplanes to extend our feet, telephones to extend our ears, and television to extend our eyes. The computer now extends the most characteristically human of all domains, the mind. It provides the mind with perfect, limitless memory, the perfect recollection of sounds and images, it can respond to questions, evaluate answers, gather information on its own and distribute it very extensively and inexpensively.
The World Wide Web now collects every instance of these cognitive extensions in a network of computers connecting us with each other, our students, and the rest of the world. All universities have become universities without walls in the five short years since the Web was introduced. The Web allows each of us to share the richest source of information and opinion ever dremt of, within an aetherial society of the curious, creative, and expressive. The result is a world fast becoming an encyclopedia of itself, a place where knowledge and information flies fast and free from everyone who has any to anyone with curiosity to be satisfied. There is no question that networked computers will hold together the educational institutions of the next century for the next will be the century of information. Publishing will not be controlled by those who can afford presses but by those who have access to an idea and a computer. For the first time ever anyone will be able to publish anything they have to say. It looks and smells like equality in the purest form ever—and it is already happening.
This particular Web site was created to recommend the intelligent and creative capacities of computer networks in the conduct of our enterprise by showing the first inventions of friends and colleagues at Bucknell. Much more such design is proceding at other universities and those curious about progress elsewhere may explore The Faculty Connection and The World Lecture Hall. But the metamorphosis has also set to at Bucknell, and for those of us as yet unsure of what the venture is, perhaps the better place to begin exploring is home. The tables below were devised to facilitate such exploration. They should be self-explanatory. Just click the course names in the tables below for a few preliminary glimpses into the likes and likelihood of education in the third millenium.
A Note to Visitors
Due to copyright considerations, WebCT courses at Bucknell may be accessed only from the Bucknell network. This precludes visitors from viewing several of the roughly 100 course websites listed below. The remainder are available to all for viewing. WebCT courses are marked.
Engineering
It should come as no surprise that the engineers have moved bravely into the new world of the Web with a wide array of on-line eaching aids: syllabuses, lab reports, contests, flash-card glossaries, and slide shows only scratch the surface. Take a look at the on-line materials in these engineering courses, keeping in mind that students have access to them 7 days a week 24 hours a day and may print them out any time they please.
The Humanities
While the engineers began with a head start on the Web, it might come as a bit of a shock to learn that just as many courses in the humanities have been enriched with on-line materials as have in Engineering. At the sites linked in the humanities table you will find maps, photographs, art, links around the planet, diagrams, even a bit of music here and there.
The Natural Sciences
The natural sciences may seem weakly represented but the three sites listed below are paradigmatic of what the Web can do that nothing else can. The Physics Deparatment's pages contain video demonstrations of formulae, decipherable formulae, a grafitti board where students can leave messages for everyone in the course, and on-line quizzes to check how students are absorbing the material. You must see the Physics 211 and 212 sites.
Warren Abrahamson's page for Plant Systematics is not only unusually beautiful and complete in its layout, but has a remarkable slide show of 500 botanical species with an accompanying self-quiz. Sally Nyquist also has a lovely and informationally rich web site for BI 317.
The Social Sciences
The social sciences are just as active in connecting their courses with students at home as well as in the classroom. The pages here will illustrate on-line quizzes, exercises, dictionaries, discussion groups, and links throughout the world of social sciences.
Universal Resources
The applicability of the Web is not limited to course organization; its power and versatility can also be harnessed to a variety of materials and activities related to teaching which may be used inside or outside of class. Bob Beard's Chronology of Russian History and Marge Kastner's crystallography animations. Allan Grundstrom's very professionally done Allons en France prepares students for study abroad in France. The site provides all the information about our program in Tours a student needs. Keith Buffinton's Robotics Lab is a more general resource providing useful information to students of robotics not only at Bucknell but world-wide. Finally, Mary Beth James' Biographies of Famous Women turns a fourth-grade project into an an exciting interactive teaching tool. (There is a suggestion here for a profound intellectual resource.)
Roberta Sims' Widow's Peak Press will soon provide a publication outlet with a world-wide readership for the students of her creative writing courses. Indeed, the Web provides an immediate publication outlet for articles on their way through the normal publication channels; Dan Little has taken advantage of that and made four unpublished articles available at his Web site. Finally, ListServs and Chat Rooms have become popular ways for everyone in a course to maintain discussions 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Contact the folks at CCS if you are interested in either of these types of connectivity. At this point there would seem to be no limit on the creative capacities of the Web other than the limits on our own.
An interesting aspect of general resources is that they are accessed by people who need the information they provide world-wide. This means that if they are useful and well-executed, they could raise Bucknell's profile—not to mention that of the author—worldwide. CWIS would like to encourage Bucknell faculty to think seriously about applying their expertise by converting handouts, public domain documents, useful ideas into Web pages like On-line Dictionaries and Chronology of Russian History which anyone can access. Eventually the Web will be the mind of the world and those who establish bases of expertise in information management now will be in particularly strong positions in the future.
How to Create Your Own Web Site
If these examples set you thinking about how to establish your own Web presence, Dan Hyde has been kind enough to provide instructions on how to get started. There are various Web word processors on the market such as Allaire's Homesite and Adobe's Page Mill for Windows 95 and Macintoshes, and Microsoft's Front Page for Windows 95. Perhaps the best of them all is Macromedia's Dreamweaver. All of these products provide a WYSIWYG format very much like Microsoft Word for creating web sites and free examination copies may be downloaded from the sites linked here. The simplest application for writing a web page for most of us is the most recent version of MicroSoft Word (WinWord 97), which allows you to type up a regular document, including charts, tables, graphics, animations, movies, sounds, and then simply save that document as an HTML (web) file. Mac users can get the same service from ClarisWorks 4.1.
In addition of these resources, there are several sites put up by Jerry Mead, Tony Kapolka, Mary Beth James, Brian Hoyt and their student assistants which assist you in generating your own course calendars, on-line quizzes, web exams, glossaries, and electronic flash cards. These front-ends allow you to simply fill in the blanks and they generate the script and write all the programming necessary to get your quizzes, glossaries, and calendars on line quickly. Also, Mary Beth James has a crew ready, willing, and very capable of creating complex video and animated presentations such as those at Marge Kastner's site and the Physics 211-212 sites. If you have the Shockwave plugins, check the map exercises under the 'Geography' assignments of FN 9810 above. Here are the automated on-line application generators currently available. Take a look at how easy and intuitive it is to step into the next millennium.
Once you have your web site up, if there is any problem with it, you will need to check it for errors. The easiest way to do this is to use Netscape Navigator 3.01. To do this, drop the 'View' menu and choose 'Document Source'. You will see a copy of the HTML script your Web text editor made. If any section of the source code is blinking in bright blue, there is something wrong with the text at that point which Netscape doesn't like. If you don't understand the error, take your program to someone who knows HTML. If Netscape can't find your problem, take it to Doctor HTML. Just give him your URL and he will do a complete analysis of your HTML and tell you what is wrong and right with it.
On-Line Application Generators Samuel Cohen Calendar Creator Version 2.0 Samuel Cohen
Brian HoytWeb Exam Jeremy Dreese
Steve RickardQuiz Wiz Jerry Mead Glossary Wizard Samuel Cohen Web Page Counter
Several years ago Bucknell established a program for promoting instructional technology. The Instructional Technology Enhancing the Curriculum Group include Brian Hoyt, Engineering Computing, and Charles Ormsbee, Bertrand Library, and Cindy Ray and Mary Beth James at CCS. Glenn Himes recently joined the ITEC team as an instructional technology specialist for the Humanities. This group solicits and funds summer projects and helps faculty develop innovative instructional materials. The Instructional Technology Enhancing the Curriculum program is a collaborative effort of Computer and Communication Services (CCS), Engineering Computing (EC), and Library and Information Services (LIS) for promoting and facilitating the use of computer technology in teaching and learning through providing support to faculty and leadership to the campus community. If someone wants to initiate a project, they can take their idea to any of the staff listed. Resources are pooled and projects are assigned to a staff person and their student assistants.
Socrates
Bucknell's own Paul Shrivastava and his team have developed The Socrates Program for Web-shy faculty who want to use the Web for teaching but are allergic to programming, or do not have the time to create a Web site. In 30 minutes you can cut and paste your syllabus from your word processor on to the Socrates Program templates, and with a click of button have your site fully operational. In addition to what you put into the site, the Socrates Program ITSELF adds links (and maintains them) to over 1000 educational resources (book reviews, customized newspaper, research tools, investment information, graduate studies) and student interest sites (resume help, jobs and careers, living skills, entrepreneurship, fun/humor, etc.). If you want to create a site for your course hosted on the Bucknell computer, email Professor Shrivastava. If you are not at Bucknell and would like to use this service visit the Socrates homepage at <http://www.esocrates.com/> by clicking the link in the paragraph above.
WebCT and Web Course in a Box
Two new developmental tool has recently appeared called WebCT and Web Course in a Box. These new faculty-web interfaces are currently being tested in a large number of Bucknell courses. Both are a powerful faculty-web interfaces that allow the instructor to simply type or scan in the material for the course. Either application then generates on-line syllabuses, glossaries, calendars, tests, bulletin boards, chat rooms and adds appropriate graphics. Direct any questions about WebCT to Charles Ormsbee. Some courses are not programed to allow visitor access.
Bucknell's Webmaster
Roberta Sims currently serves as Bucknell's webmaster. Roberta has provided a new major source of on-line assistance for elementary and advanced webside development. Web Design Information includes links to various help sites, including a catalog Bucknell graphics and logos.
I hope this site proves useful and you will be contacting me soon to list your course(s). If you have a site which we have overlooked, questions about issues raised on this page, or if you just feel like using e-mail, contact Robert Beard.
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Written and maintained by Robert Beard
