Professors can now publish their coursework directly on the World Wide Web without having to make Web pages, using a new tool the Adobe Acrobat allowing them to put existing files they have made on the Internet.

A lot of professors see the Web and when they realize they have to write Web pages (a page set up on the Internet that has an address) they say forget it because it’s too much work,’ Steve Miller, a member of the information technology campus-wide information system team, said. Although many professors are writing Web pages, the (Adobe Acrobat) is allowing professors to avoid the task.

Gordon Bruner and John Grant, associate professors in marketing, are in the process of putting lectures for some of their fall classes on the Internet, allowing SIUC students and 20 million other Internet users to browse the material at their convenience.

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If students in Chicago get snowed in and miss class on Monday, they can get the lecture over the Internet, Bruner said.

Students who want to use the Internet to get the lectures must be on Netscape, where they can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader free of charge through their own computer.

After you download the Adobe Acrobat Reader once, you’ve got it and you don’t have to do it again, Miller, a graduate student in workforce education and development from Carbondale, said.

Professors can put graphics on the computer much easier when they do not have to develop them on Web pages, according to Miller.

The Adobe Acrobat allows you to put Powerpoint slides directly on the Web, something you couldn’t do before, Miller said. This saves you a lot of work to publish on the Internet.

Grant said he is adding a special feature to his lectures on the Internet called Cool Links.

I wanted to do an interesting home page link with each lecture, for students who want to find out more, Grant said. For my lecture on consumer behavior, there is a link to an online service that gives you a quiz about your own consumer behavior actions.

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Another advantage already being used is e-mail.

Students whose schedules conflict with their teacher can use e-mail to ask questions that can be answered through e-mail, according to Grant.

Bruner said even with all the advantages he did not want to give the whole class away over the Internet.

I still want students to have the incentive to come to class, but I am giving them the hard-core notes from class over the Internet, Bruner said.