Learning Technologies: Design & Applications

RE: WebCT & WebCT/Vista: different or the same?

According to wikipedia:

RE: CMS for a business coures

More reflections

•  One must remember to mention the rules of “netiquette“
• I find that to organize the materials is what takes me the longest… because it (directly or indirectly) involves the assessment procedures.
• Evaluations are, for me, the most difficult aspect of such courses.
  • They should be intrinsically linked with the course content and must be clear, well scheduled and at an appropriate level. And they are so important for students!

Module 2: Presentation Tools: Spaces, Places and Platforms for Learning / Learning Management Systems

RE: Business Writing course

How much development time (in weeks) would you estimate Benoît would need to develop Business Writing, the online version?

According to my estimate, with 5 hours a week available to work on his new LMS, Benoit would need 8 weeks to complete his online course.

Rationale: (using the MIT Stellar Class/Project Sites / Standard Features)

Week 1: Learning curve  / Create a homepage for the class

• If he chooses WebCT, he will still have to add some interactive activies. He has used this CMS before, but just to present information, not to create interaction.
• If he uses Moodle, he will have to learn how to organize the site and might have to elicit the support of the IT staff to do so.
• Write a course information and description
• Add an image
• Prepare an announcements to the class
• Find out how to edit information

Week 2: Materials / Schedule/Calendar

• Add intro text
• Organize by topic
• Add documents, webpages, and links
• Reorder topics/posted materials
• Restrict access to materials
• Add intro text
• Show academic calendar
• Add/remove event
• Add documents

 Week 3: Homework & Forums

• Add intro text to this section
• Add topics
  • Find out how to: Reorder topics
• Post assignments and solutions
• Find out how to: Collect homework submissions
• View, grade, and comment on homework submissions
• Find out how to: Allow students to read and comment on each other’s work after due date
• Find out how to: Create and moderate online discussions
• Learn how to: WYSIWYG editor for posting messages
• Learn how to:Attach files to messages
• Set: Personal user profiles
• Learn how to: Watch discussions
• Learn how to: Bookmark discussions
• Learn how to: Search discussions

Week 4: Membership Management & Sections

• Learn how to: View list of registered students
• Learn how to: View/add/remove members
• Learn how to: Control access to the site
• Learn how to: Manage section membership
• Learn how to: See photos of enrolled students
• Learn how to: Email members
• Learn how to: Create and configure section subsites
• Learn how to: Allow students to sign up for section until a cutoff date
• Staff List
  • Learn how to: List contact information for instructors and TAs

Week 5: Website Settings; Help & Search

• Customize site navigation bar
• Choose website style from available templates
• Learn how to: Import content
• Learn how to: Edit class metadata
• Learn how to: Present a list of most relevant help topics
• Learn how to: Search the site
• Learn how to: Search help pages

Week 6: RSS Feeds & Gradebook

• Learn how to: make available for Updates and for individual classes
• Learn how to: Subscribe to feeds to get notified of changes to site content
• Learn how to: View class performance summary
• Learn how to: View student summary
• Learn how to: View assignment summary
• Learn how to: Add grades and approve
• Learn how to: Apply grade weighting
• Learn how to: Add comments for students
• Learn how to: Export grades

Week 7: Wiki; Survey & Images

• Learn about: Collaborative authoring of content
• Learn about: add pages and links
• Learn about: Track changes
• Learn about: Creating and conducting online surveys or polls
• Learn how to: Upload images
• Learn about: Federated search across several image banks and repositories
• Add images to slideshow
• Organize slideshows
• View and present slideshows

Week 8: Verify settings and information

Ref: Panettieri, J. (2007). Addition by subtraction. University Business, August, 58-62. Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845