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Constraints

Before you begin to use technology in instruction, you need to know what the limitations are.

Student Experience & Attitudes

  • Do your students have experience doing academic work using computers?
  • Do they feel reasonably in control of what they are doing when they work on a computer?
  • What is the range of experience levels and the variety of attitudes present in your class?

Sometimes, it is useful to survey student attitudes early in the course.

Student Skills

  • Do your students have existing skills using the hardware and software necessary to participate in the course?
  • If not, how will you train the students to use the technology?
  • Do your students have experience conceptualizing and navigating a web of interconnected information?

Your Skill and Attitudes

  • Do you have the skills necessary to instruct with technology?
  • If not, do you have the time necessary to learn the skills?
  • Developing Technology for instruction takes a huge front-end time committment? Do you have that committment?

Hardware & Software

  • What hardware and software do you assume your students will be using?
  • What are the minimum hardware and software requirements for students to participate in your class?
  • How expensive are the hardware and software components?

Internet Access

  • If you are going to use the web, how reliable and fast are the internet connections students will be using? The University of Alabama has a fast network, and if students work in a lab on campus, connection speed is not a problem. However, what if, like most of them will be, they are off campus?
  • If the students are on dial-ups, you are severly limited in the kind of technology you can use.
  • Are there "crunch times" when student access might be unavailable or slow? Sunday night?

Server Capabilities

  • What resources (storage, software) will you have on your server?
  • Does your server give you the access controls you need?
  • Does your server handle the programs (CGI, Java, etc.) that you intend to use?
  • Is your server configured to handle properly the kinds of files you intend to link to your Web pages?

If you are on "Bama," these issues are not a problem. However, if you are on Bamaed, the College of Engineering server, or some other, you will need to do some checking.

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