Using a Homegrown Courseroom System with Off-Line, Multimedia Capabilities Designed with Lotus Notes

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1 Using a Homegrown Courseroom System with Off-Line, Multimedia Capabilities Designed with Lotus Notes Seung Youn (Yonnie) Chyung, Assistant Professor Department of Instructional & Performance Technology College of Engineering Boise State University Boise, Idaho USA ychyung@boisestate.edu Allie Smith-Hobbs, Graduate Assistant Department of Instructional & Performance Technology College of Engineering Boise State University Boise, Idaho USA AllieSmith-Hobbs@boisestate.edu Abstract: Web-based e-learning promises 'anytime, anywhere learning opportunities'; however, in reality it is not always convenient and accessible, and it can be costly. Since 1999, the Instructional & Performance Technology (IPT) department at Boise State University has been using a unique homegrown e-learning course delivery system that was specifically designed to accommodate the needs of adult learners, who are full-time employees and often travel. From learners' points of view, trying to access multimedia course materials through a slow dial-up connection is one of the most frustrating e-learning experiences and it often reduces motivation to frequently interact with other participants. From the institution's point of view, a major cost for delivering e-learning is probably the expensive annual license fee for using a commercial webbased course management system. To eliminate such barriers, the IPT department developed its own e-learning course delivery system with Lotus Domino Designer, which provides an instructor-learner friendly online environment.

2 A Homegrown Course Delivery System Web-based e-learning promises 'anytime, anywhere learning opportunities'; however, in reality it is not always convenient and accessible, and it can be costly. From learners' point of view, trying to access multimedia course materials through a slow dial-up connection is one of the most frustrating e-learning experiences and it often reduces motivation to frequently interact with other participants (Muse, 2003). From the institution's point of view, payment of an expensive annual license fee for using a commercial web-based course management system is probably one of the major costs for delivering web-based e-learning courses (Muilenburg & Berge, 2001). To eliminate such barriers, the Department of Instructional & Performance Technology (IPT) at Boise State University developed its own e-learning course delivery system with Lotus Domino Designer in 1999 and it has been successfully using the system since then. This unique homegrown e-learning course delivery system ( courseroom thereafter) is specifically designed to accommodate the needs of adult learners as well as instructors. Many adult learners are full-time employees and often travel for business during the course; therefore, it is important to provide them with a learner-friendly and convenient online environment that helps them engage in highly interactive and collaborative learning activities necessary for graduate-level coursework. Unlike other web-based course management systems, users replicate (i.e., download) their courseroom using Lotus Notes and work off-line until the next time they replicate to receive and/or send new messages. The Lotus Notes client supports most of the common word-processing features and document management functions (e.g., text font style, tables, document format, hyperlinks, drag-and-drop multimedia insertion, search, read/unread message indication, bookmarks, my favorites folder, private vs. public messages, etc.), which facilitate creating rich multimedia, learner-friendly environments. Since it is homegrown, it is royalty-free, thus eliminating the cost of annual license fee. Figure 1 is a screenshot of a sample IPT courseroom.

3 Figure 1. The homegrown IPT e-learning courseroom system Instructor/Learner-Friendly Online Environment with Various Capabilities Lotus Notes software is designed to facilitate messaging and collaboration processes. There are a number of useful built-in features in Lotus Notes that help build an instructor/learner friendly environment. Advanced users can also design their own courseroom using Lotus Domino Designer. The IPT courseroom was developed with Lotus Domino Designer. Specific features of the IPT courseroom are described below. The term user, referenced throughout this paper, refers to instructors as well as students. Off-Line vs. Online With Lotus Notes, users create a replica (copy) of their courseroom on their local computer. The use of a replica of their courseroom eliminates the need for being connected to the Internet in order to read and respond to messages. The only necessary time when users need to connect their computer to the Internet is when they replicate their courseroom to send and receive new messages. After replication is completed, the local replica of their courseroom contains the identical information that the courseroom on the server side has. See Figure 2 for an example of database replication.

4 Web Access The same information in the IPT courseroom is available via the web as well. Unlike using a Lotus Notes client, users interact directly with the server-side courseroom to read and post messages real-time on the web. Although some of the useful features provided in Lotus Notes (e.g., word processing features, read/unread marks, and preview pane) are not available on the web browser, the web version of the IPT courseroom is a convenient alternative to using Lotus Notes, especially when users do not have access to the computer where they installed Lotus Notes. Many IPT students have mentioned that they use the web version to work on coursework during their lunch break at work or when traveling. See Figure 3 for an example of a web-based courseroom. Figure 2. Replication process in Lotus Notes 6

Figure 3. Web-based courseroom Threaded Discussions The IPT courseroom provides an environment where users can participate in threaded discussions.

5 Figure 3. Web-based courseroom Threaded Discussions The IPT courseroom provides an environment where users can participate in threaded discussions. Instructors can organize their instructional materials in any way that they prefer; however, a recommended method is to use a calendar approach in which instructional materials are organized based on a weekly schedule (Chyung & Stepich, 2003). Weekly instructional documents are clearly titled with the specific week number so that learners easily recognize the current weekly materials on which they need to focus. Users can also expand or collapse threads while navigating through messages. See Figure 4 for an example of threaded discussions.

6 Figure 4. Threaded discussions Sorted Views In addition to the default All Documents view which displays all messages in threads, the IPT courseroom provides additional views such as By Author and By Date. In the By Author view, all messages are sorted by individual authors, and in the By Date view, messages are sorted by posting date. Instructors are given an additional view called, Instructor s View, where all messages are sorted by author (1 st sorting) and date (2 nd sorting). This view is very useful for instructors when they evaluate individual students online behavior by date or week and provide them with performance feedback based on their online behavior. Preview Pane When reading a message in the IPT courseroom, users can double-click on the title of the message to open it in a new full-screen window, or they can choose to read it in a preview pane which can be resized based on user preference. Reading messages in the preview pane saves two clicks per message, compared to the other option of fully opening them in a new window. When having to read more than 100 messages per week, this Preview Pane feature can substantially reduce the amount of clicks, which in turn reduces the risk of developing a serious computerusage related injury such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Read/Unread Marks Available only via the Lotus Notes client and not on the web-based interface, the Read/Unread Marks feature is a prominent one in the IPT courseroom. After replicating the courseroom, a red star (new message icon) appears next to each new message, vastly easing the user s message management. Once a user has double-clicked a message or viewed it in the preview pane, the message is considered read and the red star disappears. As with many programs, users can

7 also choose to mark read messages as unread, in order to flag importance or to indicate that a follow-up action is required. Next/Previous Unread Available only via the Lotus Notes client and not on the web-based interface, the Next/Previous Unread function allows users to scroll through only unread messages with the click of a toolbar button. With the Preview Pane option turned on, users can navigate through each unread message and read it in the preview pane. Again, this function can ease the user s message management and save a valuable amount of clicks, thus as noted before, reducing tedium and potential carpal tunnel injury. Show Unread Only The Show Unread Only function is a simple method for users to view only their unread messages on the screen. The Show Unread Only function will display the unread messages only and not the entire message thread. This shortcut allows users a quick glance at all their waiting messages. Search The Search feature allows users to quickly locate messages that they want to review. Users enter a word or text string into a search box and the query will match all messages meeting the specified criteria. The more advanced search will scan messages for a variety of additional criteria, such as date, author, or a specific field. The Search option greatly reduces the strain of manually searching messages for specific text or data, particularly near the end of a semester when there are hundreds of messages in the courseroom. See Figure 5 for an example of the Search feature. Figure 5. Search feature

8 My Favorites Folder Users can in effect create a copy of preferred messages in the My Favorites folder by using a simple drag-and-drop method. Users can remove items stored in their My Favorites folder anytime in the future. The original message keeps its place in the threaded discussion. The My Favorites folder is a valuable tool for bookmarking and tracking key messages and information that appear over the course duration. See Figure 6 for an example of the My Favorites folder. Figure 6. My favorites folder Private Discussions The IPT courseroom allows instructors to set up either public or private discussion areas. Messages posted in private discussion threads are not visible to anyone in the class except the selected participants. A padlock icon appears to the left of the message title to indicate its private status. Private discussions are usually established in the courseroom for two purposes. First, they are used for regular correspondence between the instructor and each individual student. The instructor can securely share feedback and course grades with each individual student, and students can ask questions in private. This type of private conversation helps develop positive rapport between the instructor and each student as well. Second, private discussion areas can be used for facilitating private small group discussions among 3-5 participants. The instructor may divide the class into several small groups and have each group engage in highly interactive discussions or complete a collaborative research project. See Figure 7 for an example of a private discussion area.

Figure 7. Private discussion area Parent Preview Pane The IPT courseroom provides users an option to see the parent message on the same screen while responding to it.

9 Figure 7. Private discussion area Parent Preview Pane The IPT courseroom provides users an option to see the parent message on the same screen while responding to it. This Parent Preview Pane feature helps users repeatedly review and carefully reflect on the parent message while composing their response to it. They can also simply copy and paste a portion of the parent message to clearly indicate the part of the message on which they elaborated. This facilitates critical thinking and helps students produce high quality discussions. See Figure 8 for an example of a new message with parent preview.

and bullets. Since online courses are writingintensive, the text formatting capability plays an important role.

10 Word Processing Figure 8. Parent preview pane Lotus Notes user-friendly word processing capability offers full text formatting such as typeface, font size, color, alignment, style, spacing, and bullets. Since online courses are writingintensive, the text formatting capability plays an important role. The formatting options allow users to express themselves by using particular fonts or changing the font color, to emphasize key text with bold, italic, underline, or a highlighter, and to organize their comments with bullets, numbering, indentation, and alignment settings. See Figure 9 for an example of text formatting. Figure 9. Text formatting capabilities

Tables As with word processing programs, Lotus Notes allows users to create, insert and format tables for displaying data in a graphical format.

11 Tables As with word processing programs, Lotus Notes allows users to create, insert and format tables for displaying data in a graphical format. This function particularly assists users to organize, compare and contrast data, thus contributing to analytical and critical thinking skills. Multimedia Insertion Users can insert multimedia (i.e., text, still images, animation, audio and video) in the body of their messages by using a copy-and-paste method or they can attach the multimedia files to their messages by using a drag-and-drop method. Inserting image/animation files in the body of a message is more user-friendly than attaching them to the message, as it eliminates the need for other users to have to double-click and open the attached files. Users often insert clip art and graphics in their message to either add personality to the message or to illustrate a key point. See Figure 10 for an example of multimedia insertion. Figure 10. Multimedia insertion Document/URL Links The IPT courseroom allows users the flexibility of inserting links to supporting files, messages and web sites into their threaded discussions. Links can be internal links to another message, represented by a file icon, or a URL to an external web site. To insert a link to another message within the courseroom, the user simply right-clicks the message heading and selects Copy as

12 Link. The user then creates a new message and pastes the link into the new message. The user can also set a preference to open all URLs with their own Internet browser (for easier bookmarking) instead of through Lotus Notes native browser. This Document/URL links feature helps both the instructor and students bring rich multimedia resources from outside the courseroom. Automatic Spell Check When users save their document, it triggers the automatic spell checking process, which helps eliminate typographical errors and improve the quality of online communication. When reading hundreds of messages throughout the duration of a course, all users appreciate typo-free messages. Campus Views (Profiles, IPT Website, BSU Library, Course Evaluation) The courseroom designer can embed additional views in the navigation panel of the IPT courseroom that open external databases or websites. For example, the current IPT courseroom is designed with views that open the IPT community profile database, the University library website, the department website and the web-based course evaluation website.

13 References Chyung, S. Y., & Stepich, D. (2003). Applying the congruence principle of Bloom s Taxonomy to designing online instruction. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 4(3), Muse, H. (2003). The web-based community college student: An examination of factors that lead to success and risk. Internet & Higher Education, 6(3), Muilenburg, L., & Berge, Z. (2001). Barriers to distance education: A factor-analytic study. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(2), 7-22.

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