Online Editor Alicia Warner also contributed to this article.

In recent years, teachers have begun to put more of their class material online, even for traditional classes.

Online courses and online material from a traditional course are not the same thing. Yet many classes that are considered traditional are making increased use of the web.

“We were one of the first to try online courses,” says M.L. Bettino, dean of technology training and distance education.

The advantages to this are many, including information for people who missed class, worksheets for students who lose theirs, biographical information of the instructors and information on the class for students considering enrollment.

For students who enjoy the security of a traditional class, but wish to utilize the benefits of the web, the campus offers Traditional Online Classes. Bettino, instrumental in the creation of these classes, refers to them as “Hybrids.”

“It’s the term that has caught on nationally,” he says. Bettino likes the flexibility that the hybrid classes offer.

As a reading specialist, he explains that with the hybrid classes, an instructor is free to customize the class to the students. Students, who need not be at every class meeting, may do their work online. Students who need more individual attention can come for additional meetings.

Bettino has found that this system works well for reading classes. The beauty of the hybrid class, however, is that a teacher can change this system in order to better fit his discipline.

Bettino looks to the future of internet usage on campus. At the very least, Bettino would like to see, “Every teacher have a website.”

The technology department requires its faculty to “at least have a web page,” says Ty Boman, campus web administrator.

To assist teachers in building web sites, Boman uses the authoring tool Front Page.

“I train web authors. We hold regular trading systems twice a week.” Boman also ensures that pages are compliable to current standards.

There are two major categories of standards that the web pages must adhere to. They are graphical standards and ADA standards. The ADA standards are particularly important because as the need for websites increase, all students must have access to them.

Whether having everything in print or ensuring that text is in a format that the computer can read to the student, school websites must be accessible to everyone.

These standards are required statewide. They were implemented four years ago. Even if an instructor decides to create his web page outside of the school site, Boman explained that this does not relieve him of the responsibility of making it ADA compliant.

The current management system used by Boman is Web CT. Boman admits that it is limited but there was a need for a management system. “It allows faculty to protect sites for use only by students in their classes.”

ONLINE OR TRADITIONAL?

The introduction of multiple teacher websites and class material online produces a fuzzy line between online classes and traditional classes.

A class with online material doesn’t necessarily constitute an online class. Online classes are designated so by the curriculum committee. The primary source of learning is online. Bettino explained that when a teacher “exchanges seat time for website time” the class may be considered online.

Boman explained that faculty who teach online classes are required to go through training to be better equipped to use the computer and the internet.

But that notion is quickly fading.

Boman said that faculty production of websites is “driven by demand.”The technology department requires its faculty to “at least have a web page,” Boman said.

Looking towards the future, it seems there are positive prospects ahead.

Boman explains, “At first the websites were something to look at, now they are something to use. You just don’t look at this stuff. You login, enter your information and use it as a vehicle for taking the class.”

As it is now, many students are quick to complain about the current state of the school’s website and fearful should they have to work more on it.

Boman says, “The technology must keep up. We’ve had some issues with the system going down. But, they’ve been addressed by the director of computer services and he’s responded positively.”

WEBSITE REVIEW

Websites, websites, websites everywhere, millions of websites to go and see, but we just looked at one big website in specific, Cerritos College staff pages.

What we found was a mix from some really creative ones to ones that didn’t even work. We clicked on the alphabet a-z and at least four webpages didn’t even work, they were just a blank white webpages. How thrilling!

If you are going to have a website, at least put something interesting on it or maybe just some type so we know something exists there.

I am not really sure if some people do it on purpose or not, but it was frustrating when analyzing the sites and finding nothing there. What is the purpose of making people click to see absolutely nothing?

Most of the staff were teachers websites that they have created on their own or with some help from web technology classes.

SAME OLD STANDARDS

As I was clicking I found that most teachers have the standard format that one might expect to see. Some of the standard things on the most sites, links to class syllabus, office hours, contact number and of course email, which almost no one can live without these days.

All the basic information that a student or anyone needing to talk to a person would want to know. But on the other side of the standard webpage, some teachers have explored their wild side and have some of the most interesting things on their pages.

Larry Adkins is an Astronomy teacher and his website ranges from standard to beyond. He gives the students or anyone who enters his site some extra little tidbits about himself, the class, and links to help students with the class, photography of trips, and his upcoming trip to Italy with the Astronomy club and other students. The coolest thing about this website is a link called Cosmic Thoughts. Adkins really has invested a lot of time into his website and I think that it is one of the top websites that the Cerritos College staff has.

One of the cosmic thoughts on his page is: “As the first astronaut to set foot on the planet Mars and return, tell us – is there life on Mars?”

“Well there is a little on Saturday night, but the rest of the week it’s pretty dull.” –James Gunn, The Listeners.

Another site was Froyln Cabuto, who has a verb conjugator for his Spanish students to use as a learning tool on the website. Where was this when we were taking high school Spanish? I think this is a great advantage for the students to be able to have an interactive site that will help them with homework and language.

Oh and if you ever need to get the surf report you can check out M.L. Bettino’s website, it has technology things for distance education.

Teachers have taken the time to help out the students more with learning and help them progress in their studies.

I think more teachers need to start taking care in the website. Things like adding math links to help us learn math easier or English links that you can go to if you ha
ve no clue what a bibliography is, which most English teachers here probably expect you to know, but was never really taught how the heck do I do it.

Also another good item that I found on at least half of the websites was the teacher’s credentials. This could be quite helpful if you really want a teacher that has gone to a certain school or maybe just want to check up on them.

You can tell by just looking at the sites to see if they are doing anything outside of school.

Yes, teachers do have lives. They can be seen on the websites if you check them out. Most sites have little tidbits about their life outside of school. Most of them do have pictures of their family and family pets, which are always important.

Check out your teacher’s website and see what they have to offer. You might find out some cool facts about the teacher. Or just find some really cool links to help you with homework or just have fun with the hamster dance.