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With the creation of a Webpage syllabus, which appears on the Hispanic and Italian Department homepage, for my Italian 220 course on the 1960's movement in Italy and its connection to other important international 1960's movements, I addressed four pedagogical goals: accessibility of course criteria via the Web; improved fluency in Italian; use of Web-resources to enhance traditional textual materials; exploration and increase of student familiarity with the WorldWide Web. I consider that all four of my objectives were achieved.
In providing a Webpage syllabus for the course, I also provided hot buttons which increased student contact hour with Italian-language sites as well as with the Web itself. These hot buttons added visual and audio, as well as textual, links which added vivid dimension to student understanding of the 1960's. I also included various Web assignments for their running journal (written in Italian) as well as their oral Reports. The course concluded with a discussion of intelligent and discriminating uses of the Web, and quick written assessments by students on the "Limits, benefits and future uses of the Web component." These written student evaluations clearly indicate the majority of students' appreciation of the Webpage syllabus, and offer suggestions for improving the component, such as in-class training on the use of the Web, more links, and more Web-related assignments. In sum, I consider the project to have been very successful.
Report
A.
Goals
I can identify at least four pedagogical goals in my development
of a Webpage syllabus for Italian 220 for our Hispanic and Italian
Studies Department homepage:
1) Accessibility - So that my students (and any visitors to the
site) might easily be able to locate course objectives, structure,
requirements, and program of study. Also, the syllabus included
various hot buttons, which provided easy access to course-pertinent
Web sites.
2) Language - To improve Italian language skills by increasing
contact hours with the language and varying the reading assignment
to include reading from the Web sites.
3) Course Material - To use Web links to enhance course material.
4) Web - to explore and improve the range of student's Web "literacy"
and discuss intelligent and discriminating uses of the WEb.
B.
Strategies
1) I succeeded in creating a Webpage syllabus and putting it on
our department homepage with the help of Netscape Communicator,
Hector Medina's template and Shaoping Moss's network linking.
2) I was able to increase student contact hours with the language
-- and by extension, fluency in Italian -- in several ways. I
discovered a number of Italian sites written in Italian, and asked
in a formal assigment that they explore the Webpage links provided
in the Webpage syllabus and then write in Italian in the journal
they kept through the semester for responding to assignments.
3) The topic of this course was the 1960's movement in Italy and
its connection to other important worldwide 1960's movements.
The Weblinks I found provided visual (Robert Altman's collection
of 1960's photos [in an excellent link shared by Alex Bloom];
photos in an Italian site of authors we read) and auditory links
(sound bites from the original Woodstock), as well as textual
information. Such links, which students were asked to explore
in an assignment, provide a different way to learn material outside
the classroom. They also gave to students a more vivid portrait
of the times, a color and texture particularly befitting to the
colorful 1960's (which otherwise seem a lifetime away to our students).
The multi-media aspect of the project helped me to rienforce the
idea that the rising mass media industry aided in making the 1960's
movement an "international" one.
4) Finally, I was interested in exploring and improving students'
familiarity with the Web. I did this by giving a Web assignment
in which they were to explore the Webpage syllabus links and describe
their experiences in their course journal. I also requested that
the bibliography for the final oral project on world-wide 1960's
movements include two Websites. We preceeded and ended this assignment
with a discussion of what all of us considered to be an intelligent
and discriminating use of the WorldWide Web.
C.
Assessment
I consider this project to have been quite successful.
From a technical and personal perspective, I found that developing
a Webpage syllabus was actually quite easy, though tracking down
appropriate links on the WorldWide Web was an extremely time-consuming,
though worthwhile, affair. In the future, I will be keeping my
eyes out, in both printed and Web matter, for useful course links.
Also, I found the Italian search engines disappointing from the
vantage point of multi-media, as much of what I found there was
written text, and much of limited use. I was also fascinated to
discover that the excellent link I had on the 1960's generation
focused almost exclusively on America, while movements from other
countries drew impetus and inspiration from historical events
beyond their own national borders.
From a pedagogical perspective, I was able to have a sense of
the effectiveness of this new Web component for my Italian 220
course by simply asking students, at the end of the semester,
to consider briefly-- and anonymously if they wished, the "Limits,
benefits and future uses of the Web component." What they
wrote was illuminating. A number found the component useful in
many ways (accessibility, good training in use of Internet, helpful
in harnessing the "overwhelming and limitless" Web);
one student suggested that a Webpage syllabus would be an excellent
addition to most courses.
Difficulties included not being able to connect to a particular
site, no computer in the dorm room, and one student's convinction
that the Web is an inaccurate, and therefore invalid, resource.
Suggestions, which I will use next time I teach this course, were:
in class training on the use of the Web, more links and more Web-related
assignments.
D.
Dissemination
It's on our Homepage!
Last updated
on 1/26/99; 2:12:01 PM
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