WebTycho Model
Author:  Dr. Claudine SchWeber

Overview of the WebTycho Model 
 
  INTERACTIVE  NON-INTERACTIVE 
PUBLIC 
  • Conference
  • Roster
  • Discussion Room
  • Syllabus
  • Faculty Information
  • Reserved Readings
  • Course Content
  • Announcements
PRIVATE 
  • Assignments
  • E-mail
  • Study groups
  
 


Interactive and Non-Interactive Domains

UMUC's WebTycho offers the instructor the opportunity to use two critical features: the "Interactive" --Conferences-- area; and the "Non-Interactive"--Course Content--area. That is, the Conference area, in particular, allows you and the students to regularly interact about the ideas or topics; the Course content area is a "read only" feature, in which communication is one-way, from the instructor to the students, and is used to deliver information, data, notes, etc. without feedback. [note: other interactive areas are assignments, email and study group activities; additional non-interactive items are the announcements section and the reserved readings.]  

As you plan your Web course, you should consider how to take advantage of these online benefits. For example, you might use the Course content area for the following:  mini-lectures organized on a weekly basis; assignments; Web resources. You might use the Conference area to: introduce yourself and the class; to put up a conference called "mini-lectures" with topics for each week's presentation and student responses; to have the entire class read and respond to projects done by the study groups; to have a discussion about individual or group presentations. 
 

INTERACTIVE 
NON-INTERACTIVE 
  • Conference and topics
  • Syllabus
  • Assignments
  • Faculty Information
  • Study group activities
  • Course content area
  • E-mail
  • Reserved reading area
 
  • Announcements
 


The Public and Private Environments

In fostering a learning environment, UMUC's WebTycho allows for both public and private communications. In the public arena are those which are open to everyone in the class: syllabus, faculty information area, conferences, items in Course Content area, roster, reserve readings, and announcements; in the private arena are those functions which are available only to an individual or a designated group of students, such as: individual e-mail, student assignments, and study groups [note:  faculty have access to all student assignments and study groups]. Understanding these differences allows the faculty member to balance student learning which is shared among class members and that which fosters individual growth and development.  

The important point about these two aspects of the Web is that online courses cannot be directly transported from their traditional face-to-face formats; instead Web courses must be modified to take advantage of the interactive capabilities of this technology.  

The Public and Private Domains of the Online Course 
 
PUBLIC 
PRIVATE 
  • Syllabus
  • Individual E-mail
  • Conference
  • Student Assignments
  • Course Content
  • Study groups (conferences, documents and chat)
  • Reserved Readings
  
  • Roster
  
  • Announcements
  
 

WebTycho Conferences 

The conference area is the "heart" of GSMT's WebTycho classroom.  In the conference, faculty can foster a high level of interactivity among participants.  
 

WebTycho Class Conference Model