Using WebCT Technology to Introduce Students to Islam 

Technology Fellows Proposal for Summer 2001

to the Associated Colleges of the South

John Kaltner, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

Rhodes College

October 14, 2000

I teach an Introduction to Islam course at least once each academic year and my experience doing so has consistently underscored two facts. On the one hand, students who choose to take this course are, for the most part, deeply interested in the subject matter and wish to expand their knowledge of the faith of Muslims. On the other hand, virtually all of them come into the course with many presuppositions about Islam that are incorrect and are the result of distorted images of the religion that have been perpetuated primarily by the media and Hollywood. Consequently, much of my time in class is directed toward the task of disabusing them of these stereotypes and replacing them with a more accurate picture of Islam and its adherents.

The goal of this project is to make use of the resources of WebCT in order to assist me in the effort to instill in students a proper understanding of Islam. The various features and capabilities of the WebCT technology will allow me to do this in a number of new ways that will move beyond the traditional methods of lecture, discussion, and assigned readings from text books and articles. This wider approach will greatly enhance the students' experience in the course and expose them to a variety of resources and learning models that are currently unavailable to them.

This proposal allows for the creation of a WebCT web site for my Introduction to Islam course. Such a web site would extend the opportunity for learning about Islam beyond the classroom through the use of links to relevant Internet sites, audio and visual resources, daily on-line quizzes/writing assignments, a chat room and student access to the PowerPoint presentations that are part of the classroom experience. In particular, the proposed web site would allow students to take advantage of some of the many fine Internet resources that are related to Islam. A partial list of the ways the proposed web site might be used includes:

1. links to recordings of the Muslim call to prayer, Qur'an recitation, Sufi (mystical) chant and other audio and visual resources that would allow students to hear them in their original language
2. links to images and biographies of individuals discussed in class
3. links to images of places and material culture treated in class, including virtual tours of important Islamic sites
4. links to Internet resources that would allow students to read and hear how Muslims describe and understand their faith
5. daily on-line writing assignments that would enable students to interact more personally with the material and function as a type of journal for them
6. a web site chat room that would encourage students to continue the discussion begun in the classroom or raise issues not addressed there

Included in the proposal is a request to spend a brief period of time (3-5 days) at the ACS Technology Center housed at Southwestern University. The purpose of this would be to spend time working with ACS staff who would be able to assist me in developing certain skills I presently lack but that would enhance the design of the web site. Specifically, I wish to learn how to incorporate video and audio clips into WebCT so that I might, for example, be able to have students comment on how Muslims are depicted in a scene from a movie like "The Seige." Another area in which I need some assistance is how to make PowerPoint presentations available for student use on WebCT. While the WebCT technology is currently available at Rhodes and I have made some limited use of it in other courses, no one on campus is sufficiently familiar with it to give me the help I need.

With the help of other Rhodes faculty and staff trained in evaluation methods, I will develop an evaluation tool to be used at the end of the first semester this course is taught. Given the goal of the proposal, student reaction to the web site will be a key factor in the overall success of the project. Consequently, the tool will solicit student reponses to a number of questions designed to determine the effect the web site has on the students' experience in the course.

The proposed project has much potential for other institutions. Faculty who teach Islam, monotheistic faiths, world religions, comparative religion or any other courses that have a component on Islam would find the proposed web site to be a useful tool or model for their own teaching. Similarly, it might also serve a purpose for faculty and students involved in the new ACS initiative in Turkey since Islam plays a central role in that program.

John Kaltner