Creating Web-Based Instructional Materials Essay

INTRODUCTION The World Wide Web (WWW) is changing the way we retard and the way we teach. Teaching has embraced the innovative ways that WWW give the bounce wisecrack to substance abusers. WWW allows dynamic and interactive ways of teaching things which are unrealizable on printed fabrics. There are on-line courses, on-line tutorials and virtual classrooms. The gravestone to the success of these teaching institutions that proliferated in the web are the effective instructional materials. WBT is media-rich training fully capable of evaluation, adaptation, and remediation that dirty dog provide the operable tools to organize and deliver cognitive message into well-crafted teaching systems (Tobin & Kesselman, 1999).PURPOSE The purpose of this put down is to create a general guideline in creating web ground instruction materials. The document volition take into consideration the methods that are well-known(prenominal) to the author.GUIDELINESGeneral StepsThe general tints in making web- found instructional materials consist of the followers (Clay, Harlan & Swanson, 1997)Determining the join competencies to be included the instructional materialDetermine the contents of the instructional material base on the core competencies selected.Deciding the method or strategy used to stupefy to the users the ideas presented.Developing the instructional material as a word accomplish document, an audio or a video material.Mounting or up committal the material into the webProviding the feedback portal for usersBeta scrutinyFinal Modification based on feedback, retest and releaseDetermining the core competenciesThe very(prenominal) first grade is deciding the target core competencies for this instruction material. For example, this instruction material whitethorn be intended to teach Basic Algebra, Earth Science or Differential Calculus. This will serve as the goal of the web-based instruction material. The purpose of the web-based instruction material i s to transfer the core competencies from the instruction material to the user. cerebrate and visiting existing web based instructional materials are close ways of finding the core competencies.Determining the content After the core competency has been decided, the next step is to produce a structured content. The content should start from the basic principles of the core competencies towards the complicated areas. The structure therefore should be laid out in much(prenominal) a way that it will start from the least difficult to understand to the most difficult to understand. The content formatting should also take into account that the pre-requisite topics should be place ahead. This factor that for the contents that is needed to understand another set of content, should be situated ahead.Deciding the method or strategyThe method of presentation should be planned before proceeding to the actual culture of the material. The method should be based on the target audience of the i nstructional material. It should be based on the comprehension level of the audience. Novice audience should be given up methods that are scant(p) to comprehend such as more fleshs than words. bright audiences may be presented with more literals than images to maximize the amount of information. Interactive items such as graphs made apply whatsoever Flash or coffee berry applet technologies should also be considered to convey the relationship between varying variables which can controlled by the user or audience.Developing the Instructional satisfyingThe development of the instructional material shall be done in the software program that handles edit of html files or more complex file formats. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading air Sheets (CSS) are the format of choice as opposed to adobe printable document format (PDF) or word document format. HTML would be more flexible to incorporate interactive objects such as coffee berry applets or Flash Animations. It is the fastest in terms of page loading in the web. The presentation editor program software may consist of the followingMicrosoft FrontPageMicrosoft Word with the proper HTML conversion plugInsHTMLkitMacromedia FlashAdobe Photoshop different HTML editors and there a thousand available free software in the webAt the start, images, interactive applets, video clips, audio clips, or animated gifs shall be fain ahead utilise the grab software. fine art should help to convey information and not just be ornamental each page should have a clear title and includes headers and footers (Tobin & Kesselman, 1999). Pictures can be scanned development a scanner to convert into images in jpg, gif, png or bmp format. The other alternative is to take pictures forthwith using digital cameras. goggle box clips can be created using digital cameras with video streaming, or using other digital video record-keepers. Images can be edited using either paint, Microsoft photo editor or more complex i mage editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop.Interactive applets can be generated using Java Development Kit which can be freely downloaded from the web. In order to be able to run java applets the user PC should have Java Runtime Environment to run java applets, once more this can be downloaded for free from the web. Video clips can be prepared using Windows Movie Maker. Animated gifs can be prepared using a issue forth of software free or commercial. These are consequently integrated into the html file using an html document editor such Microsoft Front Page or HTMLKit. We also need the appropriate sound card and speakers to listen to the audio materials included in the presentation. A summary of all the hardware needed to create instructional materials mentioned in a higher place are listed belowPC with Linux or Windows Operating Systemelectronic scanner to digitize printed pictures and imagesDigital CameraDigital Video recordersPrintersFlash harrow or Pen DrivesSound Card and S peakerMounting the Material into the Web The html files can then be uploaded into the website using either ftp upload or simply using the available upload managers normally provided by web hosting companies. Documents can be linked directly to the directories of the linking page.One of the main aspects when mounting materials into the web is to keep material size of it to minimum. This would help in the uploading process and also in the loading process of the users. We had to think in terms of kilobyte file sizes, not megabytes be cook tar over the Web is too slow to expect users to wait slightly at your web site for large graphics to appear on their screens (Clay, Harlan & Swanson, 1997). This is because we have to consider that there are still a number of users who are using modems as slow as 28.8 kbps.Providing Feedback Portals Feedback portals, or any form or method that would allow users to provide feedback is a very important part of a web-based instruction material. This will provide an easy way to evaluate, test or improve using feedback from users.Beta Testing In any form of development, testing is always an integral part. By going through all the possible paths of the web-based instruction material and testing every possible path is essential to insure proper cognitive operation of the instruction material. This may also include testing on dissimilar web browser tools. Different web browser tools may cause some degree of difference in the presentation of html files. This step also includes proofreading of the entire material. Any bugs, errors or unwanted features shall be recorder for modification or correction.Final Modification based on Testing, Retest and pocketAfter the beta testing, the errors shall be corrected and retested until no errors persist. Finally, it shall then be released with a proper version control.ReferencesClay, S. Harlan, S. and Swanson, J. (1997). Continuing Web Education. Retrieved from the USCB Library website http/ /www.library.ucsb.edu/ creative activity/clay.html, on January 16, 2007Tobin, T. and Kesselman, M, (1999). Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Research. Retrieved from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions website http//www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/102-163e.htmJanuary 17, 2007