Web-based learning: Challenges in using the Internet in the undergraduate curriculum

Often compared to Gutenberg's introduction of the printing press in the 1450s, the use of the Internet in education, and especially within the undergraduate curriculum is ubiquitous. Yet the development and presentation of electronic undergraduate curriculum specifically on the Internet is a relatively new venture. Although guidelines for course development are emerging as quickly as the technology is introduced, several problems associated with i) style (appropriateness and effectiveness), ii) process (mechanistic and communication based), and iii) edited content of relevant information, continue to exist in the typical undergraduate applications. This paper describes the development of electronic curriculum in two undergraduate courses. The courses were an "Introduction to Quantitative Methods", and an "Introduction to Epidemiology"; both of which typically use computers and as such, the introduction of advanced technology was not expected to have been an issue. In addition to the successes and shortcomings experienced in the presentation of these courses, the paper discusses an underlying theoretical framework upon which the development of the Internet components of the courses were based. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers,.