Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
These webpages can then be used and further developed by future students, and can benefit students in the same area worldwide, whether or not they are following
the particular course on a formal basis. Implications for teaching include being available on demand for introduction and guidance. Implications for learning
include the ability to commit sufficient time and to ask questions freely. Neither of these implications may be fully realised in practice.
Some examples may be followed in courses described at http://venables.asu.edu/grad and student projects to date are
collected at http://venables.asu.edu/grad/appbac1.html
and CPES, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Graduate courses are necessarily given to small numbers of students in each University. For logistical reasons they are often not available every academic year.
Web-based or web-enhanced courses provide a way forward, which emphasise self-study and project work. A key element is that students with various backgrounds
(e.g. in my case physics, chemistry, materials science or engineering) find different topics difficult. This feature can be turned to advantage by setting problems
and student projects, which, if successful, result in webpages linked to the course pages.
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