Perspectives in Web Course Management

Dr. Bruce L. Mann

Perspectives in Web Course Management tackles the ever-changing internet as a pedagogical tool. The wide variety of perspectives from Canadian, American and Australian teachers and experts make this the essential guide to Web course management.

The book moves beyond 1980s technology (e-mail, listservs and newsgroups) that have been incorporated into more sophisticated systems; it also suggests that Web-supported systems that incorporate VR, IRC and ICQ are not yet feasible for today’s use.

Perspectives focuses specifically on managing courses using comprehensive Web course management systems such as WebCT, TopClass and Lotus LearningSpace. Web course development tools and development efforts at particular institutions are covered. Other chapters are theoretical, offering models or commenting on the current state of the art.

“I think it is fair to say that none of the authors of this book believe in a ‘total solution’ to learning over the Internet,” explained Dr. Mann in the preface. “We all know that the provision of Web management software in no way guarantees critical thinking; that the current status of online collaborative social learning in no way matches the variety of interactions in seminars and tutorials.

“That said, most of us believe that Web course management systems have the potential to offer some of us in higher education a new means of self-expression and new opportunities for student engagement with our course material.”

Bruce Mann, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, contributed the opening chapter, titled Phase Theory: A Teleological Taxonomy of Web Course Management, and another chapter titled Adding Digitized Speech to Web Courses.

Dr. Marc Glassman, Education, also contributed a chapter titled Creating a Nexus Between Tele-Teaching and Tele-Learning.

Perspectives is published by Canadian Scholars’ Press in Toronto.