A previous short course written by Jane Fried was the first in this web-based professional development experiment. I used the Internet for research, email, and listservs but, other than that rudimentary exposure, I was not a web aficionado. As such, several questions immediately occurred to me as I prepared to write web-based instruction. While the web can employ a range of sounds and sights, only the written word on a screen was available for use. Despite these questions, I was intrigued by the idea of using the web as a professional development opportunity.
Less reliance is placed on the explicit code or message content.
The reader must rely nearly completely on the denotation of the written word. Any connotation could easily be misconstrued. As a high context person, I prefer a lot of information to synthesize ideas. I need to know the situation and people involved to understand what is occurring. For people with my preference for visual learning and propensity for context, the web is unfamiliar territory.