LESSONS FROM THE WEB

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In this monthly column, law professors comment on the many academic opportunities and challenges presented by Web technology.

As with all JURIST columns, you're invited to Talkback. This month...
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Build It, and They Will Come:
Using a Web Site as an Effective Extension of Your Classroom and Faculty Office

Pedro Malavet, University of Florida College of Law

Introduction

A few weeks ago, I decided to use the medieval system provided by our UNIX server to check hits to my web site. I found that the site had been hit over 4,500 times in the month of April. (Unfortunately, our web server purges the data about hits after three months, and I was unable to get a complete history.) Four thousand five hundred! While this number includes hits to every page in the entire site, I was nonetheless very surprised and quite pleased. After all, my site is relatively simple --especially when compared to great web pages like JURIST and my colleague Steve Willis' site. After some successes, and some unmitigated technology disasters, I can confidently say that educational web pages are terrific resources. Every teacher should have a homepage. The lesson that the web has taught me is: if we make class-supplemental material available to students in the easy-to use, non-threatening atmosphere of the world-wide web, they will voluntarily and enthusiastically study it on a regular basis. Moreover, you can do this without becoming a technology maniac.

In the beginning

I discovered the utility of the web almost completely by accident. In the Fall of 1996, I developed a dream (well, actually an obsession): to use technology as an essential part of my teaching, both in and out of the classroom.

This wish seemed natural because I have always used technology to prepare for class. I write my notes using a computer word-processor. I also collect electronic reference materials for each of my courses. This started with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and continued with a complete electronic version of my casebook. I supplement these files with electronically downloaded and scanned text. I can then use the files in my computer's memory to find important material and to copy it directly into my notes. Electronic class materials also protect me from myself because I am a slob. My desk is usually a complete mess but my computer desktop is always clean and tidy. Naturally, my students saw the end result of my computer-literacy in my lectures. But I wanted to do more. I wished to share my electronic materials directly with students. Which gets me back to the dream.

In the Spring of 1997, I started my first year Civil Procedure class using a computer projection system, wireless microphone and mouse in the classroom. I complemented this with an e-mail listserver which included all but one of the 107 students in the class. On paper, it looked like my dream was becoming reality, but it quickly turned into a nightmare. The computer projection system simply did not work, and I was forced to abandon it. But I continued to use the electronic materials that I had prepared for use in the classroom to design my session notes and to print transparencies that I could display in class with a standard overhead projector. It soon occurred to me that just as I could cut-and-paste text from the electronic casebook into my notes and transparencies, I could also include it in e-mail. The listerver allowed me regularly to share this information with students. I included "highlights" of the subjects covered in each class session, answers to questions asked on the listerver, and further discussion of interesting topics that I could not develop during the class session.

The messages were useful, but just as I discovered the limits of my school's inadequate classroom projection system, I quickly identified the constraints of e-mail. The first problem, much to my surprise, was my students' lack of familiarity with e-mail. I got accounts for them, but they found the University's mail system difficult to use. They also reported that the format of the messages made the material difficult to read.

Enter the Web

The problems with e-mail prompted me to take to the web. Initially, one of my students volunteered to take my e-mail messages, convert them to HTML and post them in his personal homepage. Several students had asked for web resources, so I agreed. The gracious volunteer soon sent me an e-mail message indicating that he had posted the notes for the previous week to this site. This was obviously a dedicated, well-intentioned student, and I was impressed by his selfless offer. However, when I saw the page, it suddenly dawned on me that I was surrendering control over my intellectual output to another person. This was simply unacceptable. I would have to do it myself.

My existing account with the University of Florida computer center gave me free web space, all I needed was to learn how to use HTML. When I looked at the instructions for web page design given by our computing center, I had a sudden flashback to my college experience with programming in BASIC. This was not going to work. That is when I remembered that I was a Mac user, and that surely there was a better way.

I got Adobe PageMill, a graphic web page design program. In one weekend, I designed the basic layout for my web site. I then used zip disks to transfer the files from my Mac to my office PC, which was connected directly to the University of Florida computer network and allowed fast uploading. Using a simple FTP program, I uploaded my first page. I soon found that even the best graphic design program required some minor tinkering when the page was posted. The most common problem I have run into is UNIX's stubborn insistence in discriminating between upper and lower case letters in file names, which initially played havoc with my graphic displays and hypertext links. The simple text editor in my FTP program was all that I needed for this debugging process, and the page was soon up and running.

It was great to see the result in Netscape. The instant publication, ease of access and organized presentation had me instantly hooked on HTML. And thus my web site was born.

http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/~malavet

By the end of that interesting Spring Semester in 1997, I had a fairly complete site, which soon became a powerful tool for teaching and student advising, and a virtual teaching portfolio that is available to anyone with access to the world-wide-web.

My web page includes: a short biography; my Curriculum Vitae; syllabi for each of my courses; past final examinations, class projects and my feedback memoranda related thereto; general resources for students, mostly related to exam-taking; a page about using technology in law teaching; a prototype for a professional site; and a personal page. The web-page also includes graphic and textual illustrations of subjects discussed in Civil Procedure, and detailed notes of our class discussion, which are linked by a table of contents and an interactive syllabus. The number of hits during the Spring of 1998, confirmed the opinion that I had already developed from anecdotal evidence: students in my classes were using the page regularly, and they liked it. The text was well formatted and easy to access. The graphics were in color, and thus easier to follow than black and white overheads. Students no longer ask when I will place my exam feedback memorandum on reserve, they ask when I will post it to the web. They come to class with color printouts of the graphics that I publish in my site. Additionally, students in my Comparative Law class asked if I would post some of their exam answers to the page. Upon request, several of them gladly gave me disks with copies of their answers.

Another dimension provided by the web is communication with colleagues and other persons interested in my work. (Not to mention shameless self-promotion.) My page received over 8,000 hits in the month of June. This is a bit strange, since I am on a Summer research appointment. But I soon realized that most of the visits were to the section I created for my presentation at the CALI conference. The page allowed me to discuss that presentation with colleagues who gave helpful suggestions. It also became the focus of my conversations with technicians from the companies whose products I was using. I was communicating with people in several American states, Canada and Israel. I got some very helpful feedback on what I had posted to the page. Colleagues have also requested permission to print and distribute to their classes some of the material posted in my page. Finally, I have received calls from lawyers looking for expert witnesses in my field, reporters and others who indicate that they found the information in my page useful.

Now that most of the work is done, maintaining the site has become much easier. I only tinker with it as I learn more about HTML design, and update the materials. I have also found that the page answers so many of the students' questions, that office hours are spent on more important matters. The page has become a normal and appreciated part of my teaching and of my other professional interests.

The Future of the Site

I hope to incorporate proper projection technology into my classroom in the near future. I have tested several powerful LCD projectors and two interactive computer white board systems, which will work well in any classroom. Both systems include sophisticated HTML export features that will allow me to publish lecture notes to my web site immediately after, and perhaps during class.

The new version of Smart Technologies, Inc.'s Notebook software, 2.0, allows the instructor to capture notes and graphics written during class on the touch-sensitive Smart Boards directly into computer files. When you hit the "Save as HTML" command on the File menu, the program generates a complete session web page, with graphics in large size and in thumbnail sizes for easy navigation. I have discovered a bug in this newly-issued software that creates problems for anyone working on UNIX servers, but the company is in the process of resolving it. The HTML export feature of the Tegrity Digital Flipchart software is just great. Tegrity uses a digital video camera to capture notes written on a standard white board into MS PowerPoint slides. Before quitting the software, you are prompted to save the standard PowerPoint session file and asked if you want to generate e-mail or HTML exports as well. The HTML export filter automatically generates a session web page that includes a graphic viewer interface that allows the user to navigate within exported slides that are presented in full-size and thumbnail versions. I had no trouble generating these files and posting them to my web page. The export will prompt you to save the graphics in either GIF or JPEG formats, and gives several other file alternatives.

The systems have limitations and some redundancies that might be a problem for those of us with limited web page space, but these are matters that can be worked on in future development. Class sessions can immediately be followed up with published files for students. The HTML export feature of the projection systems will allow me to bring the web to the classroom and the classroom to the web.

Conclusion

I have had very good and very bad experiences with technology. Because I believe that life without risk is pretty boring, I have few personal regrets. Nevertheless, I have learned to tell the difference between what works and what does not more quickly. Good technology can really enhance our ability to communicate ideas and is well worth our time and effort. Never be afraid to try something new, but do not waste time trying to make inadequate technology perform, especially in the classroom.

A web page is a wonderful way to supplement the classroom experience and to improve your effectiveness as a teacher. It motivates students to review more information outside of class and allows us to expand upon the material outside the classroom, and to keep a better focus in the classroom. It also instantly publishes our ideas for the world to see, which is good, most of the time. The web is a winner, and it is now easily accessible to most faculty and students. I give it an unqualified endorsement. Surf's up!

Additional Resources

© 1998 by Pedro Malavet. All rights reserved.
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 The views expressed in this column are solely those of its author, and do not reflect those of JURIST, its Advisory Board, its staff or its host institutions.
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