Customized Instruction In A Web Based, First Year Class: Maintaining Presence And The Importance Of Transition Using Content Management Tools

Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) is a learning strategy employed in a situation where common academic goals are achieved through the individual efforts and advancement of a particular user. This strategy is particularly useful in first-year programming classes where students with varied backgrounds are introduced to advanced coding practices. Since high schools do not provide equivalent computer exposure, expecting students from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds to assimilate computers and related technologies at the same rate is unrealistic. PSI offers students the freedom to identify their own individual strengths and weaknesses and therefore ascertain the amount of work they personally must invest to successfully complete the course. However, all registered students need to share a common platform that allows them access to the same set of material and tests. It must also implement the requirement of conditional access to new subjects as students progress. This framework is realized through internet and web-based resources where study material is stored for browsing by the student depending on his/her progress. This paper addresses two often neglected elements in this course format: presence and transition. It is imperative for the teaching staff that does not regularly interact with students – to maintain an engaging presence within the course material so students are neither overwhelmed nor overlooked. Presence is important to provide continuous assistance and mentoring by engaging students in a way that happens naturally in the classroom setting but must be actively sought in this course format. Also critical is the ability to transition to new content, instructors, and implementations, so that the presence, style and preferred content can be customized and easily refreshed. New course instructors may not be adept at using the current system. Thus the learning curve and time investment must be reduced without a commensurate reduction in implementation creativity and flexibility. In an attempt to address these issues, this paper provides a case and implementation strategy for how web-based instruction can be administered effectively while maintaining presence and easing transition.