Faculty Showcase: DENT320
Spring Semester 2002
| Carlene Paarmann Asst Chair/Professor, Dental Hygiene Phone Ext: 3101 paarcarl@isu.edu |  |
Showcase Pages: Home | Use of Images | Use of CD-ROM | Accessibility Design | Enhance Content
Carlene Paarmann's course, DENT320 Local Anesthesia, has been selected as the ITRC Spring 2002 Faculty Showcase course. This course combines regular class meetings with an online component where students retrieve course materials, including topic-focused images and graphics that reinforce course concepts and display the performance of some course skills. Additionally, students participate in discussions and access materials from a CD-ROM (e.g. videoclips of different injections and sample patient-clinician dialogues) associated with the course content. The course would be identified as a "level 3" site (Harmon & Jones, 1999), where the course site is an integral component of instruction providing course materials and enrichment resources.
The design of DENT320 demonstrates a pedagogically effective application of instructional design theory. Each section of content lists the goals for the module, providing guidance to the learner about where to focus attention. Content pages also include reflective questions, prompting students to practice concepts and test their own understanding prior to taking the quiz for each section. A variety of animated graphics have been placed on many of the pages, attracting the learner's attention and visually demonstrating important concepts. The advantage of Paarmann's design is that the selection of WebCT features is based on the goals of the course and the needs of the students, enhancing student performance and helping to maintain student motivation and interest.