October 2006 Volume 9 Number 4

Stage Tasks
Table 1. List of the functions for each stage
Functions
1. Analysis Learners’ characteristics analysis Students’ basic information analyzer and manager
Students’ score manager
Teaching material analysis Notepad
Multimedia resource bank
Web browser
URL collector
URL browser recorder
URL resource bank
2. Design Developing course outline Weekly course scheduler
Syllabus builder
Developing unit and lesson plans Unit plan builder
Lesson plan builder
3. Development Preparing teaching materials and Web Course page editor and manager
pages such as online handouts, Personal webpage editor
assignments, learning worksheets, Learning worksheet editor
demos, references, supplementary Slide editor
information, test questions, and slides for Test editor & manager
classroom use.
4. Practice Carrying out class teaching activities Daily course bulletin
Online evaluation & communication Online synchronous communicator
Online asynchronous communicator
Online assignment evaluator
With regard to teaching material analysis, teachers may utilize built-in databanks or conduct Web searches to
collect information for the analysis and design of teaching materials. According to Keller (1983), multimedia
presentations of materials usually increase cognition and arouse interest in learners. Therefore, the system
provides a multimedia resource bank for easy retrieval by teachers. This databank contains many multimedia
resources for teachers. Teachers can type a keywords related to the intended theme and relevant multimedia
resources will then pop up for selection. Teachers may integrate these with the teaching materials they are
developing.
It is also noted that because of the complexity of Internet hyperlink connections, teachers often find themselves
losing focus during Web searches (Park, 1991). In the other word, the hyperlinks around the Internet provide
many different forms of various information. It is difficult for instructors and learners to search or even to use
the resources in teaching or learning and it costs the learners too much time to filter the unrelated information.
Furthermore, instructors and learners may perhaps get lost in many hyperlinks paths. To solve this problem, the
system provides a notepad for teachers to record important information from the Web at any time during their
online search. Small, Sutton, Miwa, Urfels, & Eisenberg (1998) pointed out that the chances of a teacher locating
the right resources or adequate multimedia materials with just a few Web searches are slim. Hence, in addition to
a web browser, the system provides teachers with a URL collector, a URL browser recorder, and a URL
resource bank to assist teachers with online resource searching and gathering.
The URL collector allows teachers to add new websites that they frequently use, and provides keyword search
for URLs already stored in the system. The URL browser recorder helps record the names and URLs of websites
teachers have visited using the system. The URL resource bank stores all relevant and assorted URLs. Teachers
can easily access some other websites via Web links provided by the URLs in the databank and gather
information for teaching materials design. The databank stores two types of URLs: (1) literature of educational
or psychological theories; (2) course related information, such as lesson plans and examples of teaching activity
design.
Design stage
During this stage, teachers produce their teaching outline and plan based on the analyses in the previous stage.
Teachers often draw on past experience and personal beliefs about teaching as they teach (Mannaz, 1999).
Personal styles and beliefs are also reflected in their choice of educational software (Niederhauser & Stoddart,
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