Integrating lectures and electronic course materials

In the UK university sector there is a tendency to rely increasingly on the lecture, with its limited resource demands but passive format, and to reduce the more costly interactive formats, such as tutorials and small group work. This trend is at odds with guidance from learning theory which affirms the high educational effectiveness of contexts that promote active student involvement. This paper reports experience using established World Wide Web (WWW) and file transfer protocol (ftp) technology to integrate electronic course materials into existing teaching practice. This has made it possible to rebalance course delivery away from lectures and increase time available for tutorials and small group work. Evaluation of the approach indicates a positive learning benefit for limited additional effort on the part of the lecturer.