Undergraduate Web Fair Clicks with Students

Last month, over 300 Penn State students anxiously waited to learn if they were chosen as the winners of the University's first Undergraduate Web Fair--a contest showcasing the innovative ways students are using the World Wide Web to convey academic concepts and theories.

The competition, which opened November 1, resulted in the nomination of 178 Web sites created by undergraduates across the University. To make these selections, faculty members and teaching assistants identified Web sites created in the fall semester by individuals or teams of students that demonstrated sound scholarship and effective design.

A panel of fifty-four judges comprised of students, faculty, and information technology specialists began reviewing the nominated Web sites in mid-January, and notification was sent to individual and group winners on February 14. The winning students attended a luncheon on February 28, where laptops and a variety of other prizes donated by Apple, Compaq, Lockheed Martin, and Gateway were presented by John Cahir, vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education.

According to John Harwood, senior director of the Center for Education Technology Services (the unit that served as the chief sponsor of the on-line competition), the contest uniquely recognizes how the World Wide Web has permeated the undergraduate curricula in a number of ways. "Rather than being consumers of Web resources," he noted, "students are now expected to be producers--not of simple personal Web pages, but of much more sophisticated semester-long projects either as individuals or as teams."

While many institutions hold graduate research fairs, Penn State is singular in having hosted an undergraduate web fair, Harwood added. "To my knowledge no other Big Ten institution has held such an event."

A wide selection of Web sites from University Park and other Penn State locations were submitted for the contest. Entries included Web sites designed to communicate information about such diverse topics as language acquisition, soil erosion, retail marketing, aerodynamics, and traumatic brain injury.

The diverse representation of academic disciplines among the entries was a welcome outcome of the competition, according to its organizers. Although there were many submissions from technology-oriented areas like the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), numerous sites were created by liberal arts, human development, and education students.

Undergraduates report that participating in the Web Fair has helped to give them a range of new skills, such as knowing how to convey complex information in a way that can be understood by large audiences.

"It took hours to develop some of the features in my Web site," remarked Anne Lenox, a senior majoring in Forest Science, who submitted an entry she developed for an Agriculture Education course, "but in the end I felt I created a very aesthetically pleasing site with important information that anyone can access. I know this will reach many more people than a pamphlet about forestry could."

Lenox's Web site, which offers information about the student chapter of the Society of American Foresters at Penn State, has recently been linked to the School of Forest Resources Web page at: http://www.sfr.cas.psu.edu/SAF/saf.htm. Consequently, she anticipates that her site will be accessible to a wide variety of people each year, including potential Forest Science majors.

"With the tools that are available, it's true that anyone can create a Web page," commented Susan Monk, assistant professor of kinesiology, "but designing a meaningful experience for the user is a more sophisticated process. A competition gives the student the experience of extracting important concepts and then planning and implementing the dissemination of those concepts. These are skills that will serve students throughout their lives."

As one of the judges in the competition, Monk carefully reviewed ten student's Web sites for qualities such as appropriate integration of multimedia, use of effective navigation strategies, awareness of the audienceas well as sensitivity to access issues for people with disabilities.

The judges' selections are now on display for the Penn State community at http://www.psu.edu/webfair, a "virtual museum" that contest organizers have created to showcase the winning Web sites.

"The ingenuity evident in students' on-line work makes all our related activities worthwhile," said Harwood. "The Web Fair is an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to share in these significant experiences."

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