Updated 9 September 1998

Advancing Education Through Digital Technology:
Text Chat, Video-Conferencing, and Hypertext*

G. Matthew Bonham

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

Syracuse University

See the Full Hypertext Version

Abstract

Introduction

The Webification of Courses

Using the World Wide Web: Expanding the Classroom or a Virtual Distraction?

Survey Results for MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States

The Unbundling of Territoriality in International Affairs Education

Educational Objectives

Incidental and Contextual Learning

As learners move through a text, they should not be locked into the perspective of the author, but rather should be guided by their own interests, jumping back and forth, omitting material, skimming detail, or going deeper than the author intended. By departing from the author's organizing framework and following a non-linear strategy, learners are able to integrate better course materials and information into their own conceptual frameworks.

Independent and Active Learning

We would like to transfer "to students much of the responsibility for accessing, sequencing, and deriving meaning from information" (Snyder, 1996, p. 103). Having taken this responsibility, students will move from being spectators to real involvement with their teachers, classmates, and others who share their interests.

Collaborative Learning

Learners should be able to work with each other successfully not because of geographical propinquity (for example, they are sitting next to each other), but because they share an interest in a particular subject matter. In other words, students will be able to work together in virtual space based on interest rather than spatial site (Landow, 1992, p. 129).

Our Research on the Test Ban Treaty