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[greenphd]

Do any of you who have taught online courses (completely online, with NO in-class components) have any gems you can offer a junior prof on the do's and don't of using WebCT? Maybe the heads will come together for a top ten list?

Any and all contributions to help me ease into this transition to online teaching will be appreciated!

[E. F.]

1. Assume your students know nothing about computers or how to use any of the programs on their computers.

2. Keep backups of everything: only really stupid people don't back up their courses in WebCT and on their hard drives.

3. Don't do discussion boards just for "student interaction." Discussion boards are grossly overused and frequently pointless. If you are going to use the students' time for discussion boards, be sure you have clear goals for the discussions and that the discussions actually give knowledge to the students.

4. Assume your students are using dial-up connections in their Unibomber shacks. Don't get too fancy with PowerPoint, streaming video, and other high-tech programs that students can't view or download quickly.

5. Don't put anything more than 2 mouse-clicks away from the home page.

6. Learn how to use the WebDAV function so you don't have to upload your documents one at a time. This will save you about a billion or so hours of mindless uploading and downloading.
Hope this helps!

Hope this helps!

[melba]

1. A small technical tip
Do NOT use the WebCT syllabus function. It makes you type in all the pieces of your syllabus in separate bits and pieces. Instead just type your syllabus up as normal (say in Word), save as HTML, and post somewhere on web CT. (And ALL documents you post should be saved as HTML so the student doesn't need specific software to open them).

2. Starter Assignment
Make a list of the technical procedures students will need to do to get through the course, such as (this is just an example)

a. take a quiz
b. use the chat
c. use the discussion
d. submit assignments
e. etc.

Then create a first week assignment that requires them to complete all those things in a token way so that they can master the mechanics. (For instance, the quiz is about syllabus policies, the chat is just to say hello, the assignment is just to type up some simple document,  etc.). You should give a small amount of credit for this assignment, but on an all-or-none-basis (pass/fail) so you make sure they have everything done. You'll end up with a million questions as students struggle through these steps, but it's better to get them out of the way sooner rather than at the last minute.

[another note]

Rather than saving as html all the time, which can cause ugly formatting issues or keep you from the layout you'd like, you can always save to PDF format and not have to worry about software compatibility. Most mid to larger schools will provide you with Adobe full version if you ask, or if you are using a Macintosh with OS X, it's built right in- no need for Acrobat. There are also some shareware programs for Windows machines, and at least one freeware app that I know of.

[curious]

another note wrote:

> There are also some shareware programs for Windows machines,
> and at least one freeware app that I know of.

Could you tell me where to find the Windows freeware application to make PDFs? Thanks!!

[Untenured]

I think that application is called PDF995.  It may be found at www.pdf995.com.

Untenured