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WWW-Based Seminar as a Part of Knowledge Work Course? Is it Worth it?
Abstract
The Internet can solve some pedagogical problems. To give an example, seminars for crowded courses exceeding a hundred participants would not be possible without web-based arrangements. In the academic year 2001-2002 we organized a web-based coursework and seminar during the Knowledge Work and its Tools course for some students (experimental group). Simultaneously, we ran the same course including a conventional coursework and seminar for other students (control group). During the coursework and while in the seminar the students were expected to work in small groups of two to five students. In the web-based seminar each group had their own workspace in the Web CT environment for publishing and presenting coursework. At the final phase of the course the students were expected to familiarize themselves with the presentations of other groups. In this paper we analyze the benefit of our WWW-based seminar focusing on the learning outcomes of the students concerning the basic concepts of the content area. The analysis of learning outcomes is based on the SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcome) taxonomy and we compare the students who completed the Web CT-based coursework to the students who participated in the conventional coursework. Learning outcomes were significantly better in the group of students who completed the WWW-supported coursework. The result shows that by using web-based seminars students can learn the concepts of a content area better and thus, they may achieve deeper learning results.
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