An Experiment in Classroom Management Using the WWW

Abstract

Starting in February 1995, we began to develop several tools to help teachers put their classrooms onto the WWW. At that time few tools existed beyond translation tools to put lecture notes on-line, e.g., LaTeX2HTML, and robots to find links to related materials, e.g., Lycos. In addition to these facilities, we wanted self-assessment lessons, electronic testing, on-line marks, and electronic teacher evaluation forms.

This paper describes the tools that we developed. The primary obstacle that we encountered in developing these tools is that the WWW is designed for open, anonymous use, whereas exams, marks, and teacher evaluations must be kept secure, in order to prevent cheating, protect student privacy, and eliminate unauthorised modifications. We address security and privacy concerns in this paper. We also provide a detailed analysis of student usage and feedback. The analysis leads us to mixed conclusions about the utility of the WWW in a tertiary classroom. Some classroom aspects, such as interactive lessons were used heavily, but we found that others, such as lecture notes, were used much less than we expected.

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