By Robert Wilson and Linda Pottier
"All professors should have a Web page so their students can go to it whenever they need to."
-Sarah Tintori
IVCC Student
Faculty Web pages have become an important educational tool. Almost 90 percent of the students in a recent Apache poll have accessed a faculty Web page, and close to half visit once a week or more often.
Typical of the regular visitors is Nicolette Judge of Peru who said, "I believe the Web pages are very helpful. I have referred to them many times."
What do students look to find on faculty pages? According to the 331 students surveyed, study guides for tests were the most popular, as the accompanying graphs show. Other top requests were for contact information such as the instructor’s office hours and e-mail link.
Class information also ranked high, with about three-fourths of the students wanting schedules, notes, assignments and their grades available online. Links to other Web sites related to a class were also popular.
At this time, 63 of the 70 full-time faculty have Web pages, and that’s a bigger proportion than most community colleges, according to Webmaster Bob Hunter.
One of those who doesn’t have a site is foreign language instructor Lou Caldwell who said, "I don’t know how to make one; it’s that simple."
Art instructor Dana Collins is working on a site.
"I have so many things I want on it, it’s taking a long time to put together," Collins said. " I have digital images of many students works, and over 40 of my own drawings, just an abundance of stuff and a lack of time."
Some students said all faculty need to have at least basic contact information on the Web, and Hunter estimated that around 15 percent of the IVCC faculty pages go well beyond that minimum.
Hunter said an example of an innovative use of the Web is for posting handouts instead of making copies, and he complimented geology instructor Mike Phillips for breaking new ground by posting his lecture notes.
Interactive labs and exercises are one innovative use of the Web that the faculty is not taking advantage of, the Webmaster said, noting that developing those exercises is time consuming.
"A lot of people just don’t have the time, and they’re just taking it slowly."
Life science instructor Sue Caley plans to add interactive exercises, "particularly lab exercises that are sort of dangerous like working with human blood and labs that are too expensive for us to do because we lack the capital equipment."
Caley, who served as a Faculty Facilitator last semester and helped other instructors set up Web pages, has an extensive site, and she requires her students to access her page for some assignments.
Student feedback has been good according to Caley, Hunter and other instructors.
Hunter said, "Everything I’ve heard has been positive."
English instructor Kim Radek, who requires her students to access her page for assignments, said, "At first, they are uncomfortable with the technology…then they begin to enjoy it. I think I have had more students more prepared for class since I put their reading assignments on the Web."
Accounting instructor Alice Steljes reported the only negative feedback as "complaints when it is down."
In the survey, a few students said some sites needed more graphics while others said the pages needed to be useful, not just decorative. Keeping the sites up-to-date was also mentioned.
Caley acknowledged that the sites are time-consuming, and after working with the faculty on their sites, she learned how intimidating Web design can be:
"But once you get going, if you enjoy it, it will only continue to blossom and evolve as you continuously update, make changes and improvements and try to get to the next level in Web page design," she said. "The use of individual Web pages in colleges and universities gives faculty a chance to be as creative and individualistic as they would like to be."
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