Plants, Pathogens, and People: Extending the Classroom to the Web BERTRAM C. BRUCE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign HEATHER DOWD Hinsdale South High School DARIN M, EASTBURN CLEORA J. D'ARCY University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Plants, Pathogens, and People is a Web site promoting agricultural awareness via multimedia lectures about plant diseases and online lab activities in which students investigate phenomena. The use of the site in large-enrollment classes for 6-plus years affords a well-documented case of Web-enhanced instruction. Qualitative and quan- titative data on student perceptions of the site, their learning, and the relation of the Web site to the course as a whole provide insights into both the benefits and the challenges of Web-based teaching and learning. Students rate the site as an en- hancement to their learning, but there are differential responses to various compo- nents of the site, which provide a fuller picture of how students see Web-based learning relating to their overall educational experience. The use of the Web in college courses has evolved from being an exper- iment into an occasional resource and now a norm. Scholarly and popular media reports, which once highlighted any use of the Web for teaching, now focus on implementation issues such as training, cost/benefit analysis, or instructional effectiveness (see, for example, Campus Computing Project, 2003). It can be argued that in major universities in the United States, all courses now use the Web, since instructors create course materials using Web resources; course information is in the Web-based timetable and cata- log; the complete syllabus is often Web-based; the instructor's address and phone are available through the Web phonebook; students use the Web to obtain additional information for coursework; they check out library books Teachers College Record Volume 107, Number 8, August 2005, pp. 1730-1753 Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University 0161-4681