Web-Based Instruction

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for educators and administrators!
Review: Badrul Khan claims in the Preface to his Web-Based Instruction to have "put together this comprehensive book . . . by incorporating works of talented individuals with unique backgrounds from around the globe." His stated purpose is to "provide readers with information related to design, development, delivery, management, and evaluation aspects of WBI."

Professor Khan fully succeeded in his ambitious mission and overachieved his understated purpose. His fine book represents some of the best thinking of some of the leading figures in the field of computer-based learning and telecommunications, now engaged in advancing the foundations and practice of WBI.

Among the authors, including myself, are notables representing institutions in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia, The Netherlands, Italy, and Germany, and scholars/practitioners from other parts of the world, Khan himself from Bangladesh. It should come as no surprise that the insights presented reflect both richness and diversity.

As may be expected with an edited work, there is repetition, especially pertaining to history of the Web and its distinctive features. And there surely are differences of opinion. But the reader easily can skim over the former, and must view the later as an accurate reflection of differences in perspectives and experiences, not to be edited out of existence.

Exceptionally nice features are the numerous graphics, exhaustive references, authors' email and home page addresses, a smartly organized 19 page subject index, and an 8 page index of authors cited. Consistency of typeface, headings, organization is maintained across chapters and the binding is solid.

The 59 chapters vary a great deal in depth, length, and content. Some are laudatory of the Web and some more cautious. There is plenty here for the instructional developer, the teacher, the trainer, and the futurist. Read, for example, A. J. Romiszowski's speculations on "the real meaning and importance of networks." Lorraine Sherry and Brent Wilson likewise engage the reader in analysis of critical issues, and, like Romiszowski, ground their visions for WBI in sound pedagogy. This makes Professor Khan's book ideal for graduate level courses across the campus, not just within schools of education, and essential reading for college faculty and administrators who very much need to take leadership roles in the evolution of Web-based instruction.

Rating:
Summary: Outdated and redundant
Review: I just finished reading this book from cover to cover and I wish someone could refund me for my time.

It is seriously outdated, many of the concepts are way too simple and other times they contradict themselves. For example, on one chapter you are told to use graphics to make the page more attractive and on the next chapter you are told not to so that students can download the web pages faster.

Some chapters will talk down to you as if you were in Junior High, others will make no sense and not cover what they are supposed to cover (chapter 56 - Teaching Literature on the World Wide Web, comes to mind)

Don't waste your time with this book, there are better choices out there.

I can only recomend this book to someone who has absolutely NO knowledge whatsoever about the web nor web-based instruction. And I would only recomend a small number of chapters, probably no more than 5.

Rating:
Summary: as a whole, not worth reading
Review: The book is mainly concerned with educational theory. It is not a good choice for a reader interested in practical aspects of online teaching. Since each chapter is written by a different author, their quality varies. From reading 35 of the 52 chapters, selected at random, I found only 9 chapters useful or interesting: Ch. 7, 9, 11, 12, 19, 21, 22, 26, 40. Most of the remaining chapters are, in my opinion, without substance.

Rating:
Summary: Outdated and redundant
Review: This book is an excellent resource on the use of the Web. It is a comprehensive look at the state of technology today and the use and vision for tomorrow. The book gives the reader many points of view about the various aspect of technology. I have had the privledge of being instructed by Dr. Badrul H. Khan at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. He knowledge of internet issues and resources is extensive. If you are involved in technology at all you should purchase this book to use as a resource.