Course web sites, either alone or as part of a course management system such as WebCT, Learning Space or Blackboard, are now becoming a common feature of many courses. This article explores what might be on a course web site and how to make good pedagogical use of it, whether you are just starting out or you already have a well-established site.

Generally, when one first designs a course web site, the aim is to make it an easily accessible entry point for students, to course material and course administration information. Designed to assist face-to-face teaching, a course web site will typically include information such as the syllabus, a statement of the course philosophy, the evaluation policy, the course bibliography, course assignments, and contact information. This basic format can be expanded to multiple pages containing lecture outlines and lecture notes, and supplementary content material. Through hyperlinks students may also be directed to other sources of information and opportunities for further study. Beyond this fundamental function of the web as a convenient access to information, however, there are other web characteristics that can be exploited to serve important instructional purposes.

The second most prevalent use of the web is as a means of communication. At the very least, a web page typically includes a means of email contact that allows students to communicate with the instructor. A variation on this is to allow students to submit assignments electronically and receive feedback from the instructor. Discussion lists for asynchronous communication as well as chat rooms for synchronous chats are also common features in web-based course management programs such as WebCT and Learning Space. Through participation in a discussion list, students can delve into the course material more deeply. In small groups that meet online they can explore issues raised in class or prepare readings collaboratively before class. Instructors who monitor such discussions can gain valuable insight into their students' understandings and misunderstandings of the course material.

Discussion groups can also be used to develop students' abilities to work collaboratively and learn from each other. For example, they can serve as a forum for peer review of work to be submitted. Other examples of collaborative projects include the creation of a collective database. For instance, students can contribute questions (and answers!) to a common FAQ list or build a glossary of important concepts, or even a resource web site. Chat rooms, when they are used to create a study group, can also promote cooperative learning. Instructors can use a chat room to meet electronically with students at specified times and hold virtual office hours. Discussion lists and chat rooms can help foster a stronger sense of community among students, especially in large classes, and they can also open the classroom door to additional opinions and information when other experts in the field are invited to participate.

The web enhances opportunities to interact not simply with people but with the course material as well. Online quizzes, especially in simple formats such as multiple choice, can be implemented fairly easily. Instructors can also design online tutorials for a specific skill, concept, or issue. Research has shown that providing problems with full or partial solutions to students can be beneficial in their learning process. Case studies, the analysis of data sets, and guided analyses of readings are other examples of learning activities that can be completed online. Multimedia simulations, demonstrations, and virtual field trips are also possible, although they require more sophisticated programming. As students interact with the material and receive feedback, they gradually build their knowledge and personal understanding.

The web can also function as a publishing medium. Students can be encouraged to supplement their essays with multimedia resources and submit them as web documents. Their work can be posted in a student gallery to showcase best practices. Adopting a web format for student projects has several advantages. First, students' interest and effort are often raised with the knowledge that their work will be published and on display for critical appraisal by more than their instructor alone. Second, it is easy to archive these documents and build portfolios of students' work over the course of the year. A database of student work can easily be built over several years and serve as a teaching resource and as a shared knowledge base.

To end this brief overview of the pedagogical uses of course web sites, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you decide to create a course site or expand the web component of your course.

It is best to start small, and to keep your site simple and easy to use. Begin by making your site a quick access point to course information and materials and work progressively to incorporate a number of features and activities that engage students more in their learning.

There is no need to become fluent in HTML before setting up a course web site. Technical support can guide you from the initial to the final stages of your project. Some of your existing documents may be uploaded with minimal manipulation. Others will need to be reformatted, rewritten, scanned, or digitised. When designing a site, navigation issues need careful consideration. It should be easy for your users to construct a mental model of your site. This will ensure that they will find the information they seek quickly and efficiently. Templates are available to facilitate design and layout, learning the basics of a course management program or a program such as Dreamweaver for constructing web pages will quickly make you more independent.

It is also important to set realistic expectations regarding your own time and energy commitment as well as that of your students. Clear guidelines for participation in online discussions, for example, need to be set. It is also important to realise that a web site needs to be maintained regularly, and reviewed periodically. Information can grow stale, and links to outside information may change or disappear.

Some instructors worry that a web site rich with course material will have a negative impact on class attendance. While this may indeed happen, it is less likely to be a problem if lecture time is used to enhance the students' learning experience, and to engage them in active learning. When designing the site, consider carefully what activities are best accomplished online and what other pursuits are done best face-to-face. For example, clearing up misunderstandings is probably more easily done through face-to-face interaction. It is also easier to convey a bit of humour in the classroom than electronically. If, on the other hand, your students are not making sufficient use of the course site and you wish to encourage them to do so, it is important to integrate the site in your teaching for example, by using the information it contains in your lectures, or by making some of the links required readings.

Finally, remember that web sites are works-in-progress. This means there is room to innovate and experiment. Gradually try out additional features to see how they work. Some (such as keeping track of students' logins, for instance) may prove useful in certain cases, and not in other circumstances. Some may require a manageable amount of effort (such as monitoring an online discussion); others will demand considerable technical expertise (as in the case of online simulations). But by simply making use of the web's strengths of providing access to a wide range of resources and connecting people together distanced in time and space, you can easily begin to be innovative and creative in your pedagogical uses of the web.

Integrating a web site in your course will bring important changes to your teaching practices and your students' learning. By balancing thoughtfully the information and activities you include on your site with those in your lectures and tutorials, you can significantly enrich the learning experience of your students.