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Assignment 2 (4)
Assignment 2: Using and Applying Badrul Khan’s Web-based Framework
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Date of Submission
Matric Questions
I have completed the Matrix, and I have attached it as an appendix
Description of the course based on the type of course, length, target learners and delivery methods
Type of the course
AT&T Company is one of the corporate organizations that offer online courses. This company is a communication holding company that connects millions of people globally with entertainment, high-speed internet and voice services. One of the courses offered or supported by this organization is Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) degree, becoming the first corporate organization to provide such a course (Thottam, 2020). To ensure that this course is successful, AT&T Company collaborated with Georgia Tech and Udacity. This course is more flexible and allows the learners to learn at their appropriate time; hence, suitable for those working.
Length
The Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) degree offered by this organization in collaboration with Georgia Tech University requires 30 hours (10 courses). Under this degree program, there are four selections that students need to select for instance; Computing Perception & Robotics, Computing Systems, Interactive Intelligence and Machine Learning. Each student must, therefore, select one specialization which takes between 15 to 18 hours in 5 to 6 courses. The remaining hours and courses, 4-5 courses are free electives, and it may involve any course within the program. Students holding degrees from other courses other than computer science will be required to take additional courses in addition to the requirements.
Target learners
The target learners for this course are individuals with an undergraduate degree but require more knowledge and skills in software development (AT&T, 2014). The targeted learners can be those who are employed in the company but need further skills and knowledge on computer science or those seeking for jobs. Those who are already working can benefit from furthering their skills to enable them to tackle complex and emerging issues in the field of computer science. This program also targets job seekers. The company believes that by promoting this program, those seeking jobs will gain more skills and knowledge that employers are seeking. Individuals who qualify for this program must be degree holders in computer science as well as other courses from a recognized or certified institution (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020).
Delivery method
There are different ways in which online teaching can be achieved. Learning resources in the form of PDFs are shared to students through emails. Students can either read them online or print them. During application, all the applicants are supposed to provide their email addresses because that will be the major platform for communication and delivery of learning resources. Teaching and discussions are also conducted through electronic discussion boards. Here, students and the instructor can involve in discussions. Videos and audios are also sent to students as part of course materials. Learners taking this course are thus encouraged to have the ability to watch YouTube videos. To achieve the ability to watch videos, learners are encouraged to use the HTML5 player or Adobe Flash Player (Udacity, 2020). Considering all these requirements and delivery mode of resources, students are encouraged to have access to high-speed internet connection or broadband.
Description of the course based on interactivity, type of communication btw instructor and student, collaboration opportunities, and two other key features
Collaboration
This course program has improved collaboration among the students. The students taking this course are collaborating online and have created a professional community of computing globally. The learners who have enrolled in this program can make in-person connections, share information concerning job opportunities and help one another in finding jobs. The instructors can promote collaboration among students by creating a learning community. For instance, involving students in debates and forming discussion groups.
Interactivity
According to Wei et al. (2015), the interaction between learners and the instructor is crucial in achieving learning objectives in an online course. The interaction in this course is mainly through feedback. The frequency of responses on feedback and contents; therefore, matters a lot in this type of learning. To improve interactivity on this course, the instructors use electronic discussion boards where students can interact in discussions. Apart from discussions, such a platform also exposes students to the subject matter. The use of emails is also crucial in enhancing interactivity between learner and the instructor. The learner can reply to the feedback and get a response from the instructor through email messages.
Type of communication btw instructor and student
Communication is another crucial factor when it comes to online learning. Online learning involves learners from different parts of the world who may have different communication language than what the instructor uses. To ensure uniformity, all the learners are required to be able to communicate in the English language. To guarantee this, the applicants for this program are required to provide the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) if they are from other countries. Learners taking this course can also communicate with one another through online platforms such as live chat groups and email addresses.
How to measure student’s understanding of the course
This course aims at improving knowledge and skills to the graduate students. At the end of the course, the performance objectives must be met. There are strict rules that are used to select students in this program. The rules also set criteria that students must meet to graduate. For instance, students are required to achieve accumulative points of at least 3.0, and no grade C will qualify for graduation (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020). Such rules will ensure that students taking this program take it with a lot of seriousness to be able to graduate.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity is very crucial in online learning because it involves students across the world. The instructor must be aware of issues related to ethnicity while teaching learners. The instructor must embrace students from all ethnic groups and create an environment that promotes ethnicity. For instance, the instructor should always be neutral and avoid the use of words that might discriminate certain ethnic groups. At Georgia Institute of Technology, the question on ethnicity is also asked, and students need to provide their ethnicity, especially for international students.
Evaluation of the course using Khan’s Web-Based Framework
Badrul Khan has developed a framework that provides guideline and requirements for effective online learning. Khan’s framework has eight dimensions which include; institution, management, technology, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support and evaluation. From the above description about this course provided above, it is clear that it has met most of the Khan’s requirements.
The first dimension in Khan’s framework is an institution that deals with administrative issues, academic issues and affairs of the students. Concerning this course, all students are registered by the University’s administration and only those who qualify selected. Management which is the second dimension concerns with the distribution of information and maintenance of infrastructures. Students taking this course are provided all the required learning resources; hence, no additional cost of buying books. Learning resources are also provided through digital platforms such as emails and discussion boards, and all these are facilitated by management.
The third dimension in the framework is technology. E-learning requires technological infrastructures in place. The OMSCS degree is offered to improve the technological skills of learners. Instructors at Georgia Tech, AT&T and Aducity, provide various technological tools required to facilitate this course, thus meeting this criterion. The fourth dimension is pedagogical that deals with matters such as learning strategies, content analysis and goal analysis. This course meets this criterion by promoting collaboration and interactivity between learners and instructors. Online learning strategies through electronic emails, videos and discussion groups ensure that quality content is given to scholars.
Concerning ethical consideration, this course can be studied by any students from all ethical backgrounds. Cultural diversity is promoted, and the question about ethnicity that students are asked during registration aims at promoting ethics. The sixth requirement is interface design and deals with the overall look of e-learning. All the requirements that support e-learning have been provided in this course, for instance, access to high-speed internet, access to YouTube Videos and electronic emails all meet this requirement.
Another dimension is resources support which involves materials that support e-learning. This course meets this criterion because students are provided with all the resources in the form of lectures, videos and audios. The last dimension, evaluation deals with the evaluation of learners and instructions given to them. Georgia Tech, which offers this course, has set standards that learners must attain before graduating. The set standards ensure that students have gained enough knowledge and benefited from the instructions given to them.
Reference
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 AT&T. (2014). Efficient, Accessible, Affordable, Online Program Will Help Job Seekers Get High Demand Technical Skills. att.com.
Georgial Institute of Technology. (2020). Master of Science in Computer Science. College of Computing.
Khan, B. H. (2010). The Global E-Learning Framework. In The GlobaL E-Learning Framework for Web-Based Learning (pp. 41-46).
Thottam, I. (2020). 10 Companies with Awesome Training and Development Programs. Monster.com.
Udacity. (2020). Technology Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.udacity.com/tech-requirements
Wei, H., Peng, H., & Chou, C. (2015). Can More Interactivity Improve Learning Achievement in an Online Course? Effects of College Students’Perception and Actual Use of Course-Management Systen on their Learning Achievent. Computers & Education. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2014.12.013
Appendix
Evaluation of E-Learning Courses
The following matrix designed by Badrul Khan, an expert on e-learning and educational technology, to evaluate online courses. If the question does not apply to the course being evaluated, print Not Applicable (N/A).
Question Comments
PEDAGOGICAL DIMENSION
Q1. Does the course provide clear instructional goals (or are clear learning outcomes specified?)
Q2. If appropriate, are objectives for each section of the course clearly specified?
Q3. What is the instructor’s role?
More facilitator than didactic
More didactic than facilitative
A combination of both
Q4. If the course design allows the
instructor to serve as facilitator, how/ where does facilitation occur?
mailing list
online discussion forum
audio conference
video conference
Q5. Does the course provide clear
directions of what learners should do at
every stage of the course?
Q6. Does the course provide a sense of continuity for the learners (i.e., each unit of the lesson builds on the previous unit where appropriate)?
Q7. Does this course utilize a matrix of media to create a rich environment for active learning?
Q8. Does the course exploit the flexibility of the hypertext/hypermedia environment of the Web?
TECHNOLOGICAL DIMENSION
Q9. Does the course have personnel who can assist learners to set up for starting the course? (Or does the course have orientation programs that provide technical training prior to a course?)
Q10. Is the cost of required hardware,
software, and Internet service a deterrent to taking this course?
Q11. Do students receive any guidance on how to set up hardware equipment for desktop video conferencing (if needed for the course)?
Q12. Are the hardware requirements for the course clearly stated?
Q13. Are the software requirements for the course clearly stated?
Q14. Do students receive any guidance
on how to do the following:
send e-mail attachments
install required software,
scan a picture
print within Web page frames
create online presentation using presentation software
other
INTERFACE DESIGN DIMENSION
Q15. Do Web pages look good (i.e.,
effectively designed) in a variety of Web
browsers and devices-in text-based
browsers, all recent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape, and so on?
Q16. Does the course use a standard font type so that text appears the same in different computer platforms and browsers?
Q17. Does the course follow “one idea per paragraph” rule?
Q18. Is the text chunked and presented
in a way that enables scanning and
comprehension?
Q19. Does the course provide structural
aids or a site map to guide the learner’s
navigation?
Q20. To avoid bandwidth bottlenecks, does the course ask students to download large audio, video and graphic files to their hard drives before the instructional events?
Q21. How quickly can users find answers to the most frequently asked questions on the course site?
Q22. Does the course use easy-to understand terminology?
EVALUATION DIMENSION
Q23. How is the learner’s assessment
on various parts of the course administered? Check all that apply:
multiple choice
true/false
fill-in-the blanks
essay questions
papers
projects
assignments
proctored tests
portfolio development
case studies
lab report
journal
other
Q24. Does the assessment provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned in the course?
Q25. Does the course have a system
to accept students’ online evaluations of the following?
Content
Instructor
Learning environment
Learning resources
Course design
Technical support
Other
Q26. Does the course provide an instant feedback button on most screens/pages in order to receive learners’ feedback for improvement of the course?
MANAGEMENT DIMENSION
Q27. What content exists and what content must be created? Of existing content, what content requires “reprint” permission?
Q28. Does the course acquire permission to use copyrighted information and materials?
Q29. Does the course provide students with designated and secure (e.g., password protected) online spaces to store their notes and resources?
Q30. Does the course have a system of keeping track of student submissions, and online quizzes?
Q31. Does the course notify students about any changes in due dates or other course relevant matters (e.g., server down) via the following means?
announcement page
alert boxes
running footer added to a page
phone call
Q32. Does the course provide back-up materials or alternative activities for students (i.e., what students will do) if any of the following is either not operating properly or unavoidable during a schedule lesson period?
Access to the courseware
Discussion forum
chat room
e-mail and mailing list
books
online resources
library materials
study guide
instructor
tutor
technical support
RESOURCE DIMENSION
Q33. Does the course provide guidance on how to organize for online learning?
Q34. Does the course provide information or ideas about how many hours (approximately) per week students are expected to spend on course assignments?
Q35. Does the course provide toll-free telephone numbers for online support services?
Q36. Does the course provide clear guidelines to the learners on what support can and cannot be expected from a help line?
Q37. Does the course provide examples of previous students’ work on the Web? If yes, select all that apply and circle whether searchable and browsable:
projects (searchable/browsable)
papers (searchable/browsable)
text dialogue from discussion forums (searchable/browsable)
text dialogue from online conferencing exchanges (searchable/browsable)
Q38. Does the institution’s library have library resources online? If yes, do students have access to its databases via the Internet or other networks?
Q39. Does the host institution’s library have a system of getting books and other materials for students via interlibrary loan?
Q40. Does the library fax documents to students?
ETHICAL DIMENSION
Q41. To improve cross-cultural verbal communication and avoid misunderstanding, does the course make an effort to reduce or avoid the use of jargon, idioms, ambiguous or cute humor, and acronyms?
Q42. To improve visual communication, is the course sensitive to the use of navigational icons or images? For example, a pointing hand icon to indicate direction would violate a cultural taboo in certain African cultures by representing a dismembered body part (Reeves & Reeves, 1997).
Q43. Is the course offered to a geographically diverse population? If yes, is the course sensitive about students from different time zones (e.g., synchronous communications are scheduled at reasonable times for all time zones represented)?
Q44. Is the course designed to have tolerance for learners who adapt to individualized distributed learning environment more slowly than others?
Q45. Does the course allow students to remain anonymous during online discussions?
Q46. Does the course provide any guidance to learners on how to behave and bulkpost messages in online discussions so that their bulkpostings do not hurt others’ feelings?
Q47. If a student fails to follow the etiquette of the course, how does the instructor work with students to promote compliance?
Q48. Does the course provide privacy guidelines on online bulkpostings?
Q49. Does the course provide policies regarding fraudulent activities in course-related testing, assignments and projects?
Q50. Does the course get students’ permission to bulkpost any of the following on the Web?
Students’ photographs
Students’ projects
INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSION
Q51. Do faculty receive training on how to moderate and/or maintain a listserv?
Q52. Does technical and other staff receive training on how to communicate with remote learners in difficult situations?
Q53. Does the course limit the number of students per faculty member?
Q54. Does the course provide academic quality such as one would expect in a traditional course?
Q55. Does the site provide any information regarding whether the course is transferable to other accredited institutions?
Q56. Is the course offered at a lower fee than on-campus courses? It is not uncommon for students to expect lower fees for online courses.
Q57. Would student information submitted online to the registrar’s office be kept secure and confidential to the extent possible?
Q58. Are instructor/tutor and technical staff available during online orientation?
Q59. Can students purchase packages of course-related supplemental reading materials online from the campus bookstore?
Q60. Can students apply for financial aid/loans online?
Yes
Yes
More facilitator than didactic
Mailing list
audio conference
video conference
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Very quickly
Yes
Essay questions
Projects
Papers
Assignments
Proctored tests
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Existing contents include lecture notes, videos and audios
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (searchable)
Yes (searchable)
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes. The course is very flexible to meet the diverse needs of learners.
No
No
Yes
Reminds student on what is the best thing to do.
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes. Scholarships are also available.
Yes
Yes
No
Yes