Turning on all the tools

Consider making many WebCT/BB tools available to your students. They appreciate having them even if you do not use them in your course.

If you don't use:

• Announcements
• Assessments
• Assignments
• Scorm
• Goals
  
• Learning Modules
  
• My Grades
  
• Web Links
• Media Library
  

then you don't need to add them as there is nothing students can do with them.

These should be available whether or not you use them in the course:

• Calendar
• Chat
• Mail
• Roster
• Search
• Who's Online
• My Files
• My Progress
• Notes
  

There are ways for students to use them even it they are not used in the class. So if the students can find useful things to do with these tools, why not make them available?

For example if Roster is available and if the student edits their entry to include an email address they can then go to Mail and have all WebCT email forwarded to this account. Some find this useful.

But they can only do it if you also change the setting for the Mail tool (go to Manage Course>>Settings>>Mail to allow this). If you decide to do this, change the attachment size while you are there so that students (and you) don't get error messages when they try to attach a file that exceeds the limit in the setting.

Some teachers don't use the grade book, but students really like the it.

Especially if the teacher takes the time to turn on statistics for each graded event and remove non graded events. It is disorientating for students to review My Grades and see many entries that are not used. Once the grade book is set up and you allow statistics for each graded event it keeps itself. As students takes tests those grades go to the correct column and the same is true for Discussion Questions and Assignments.

Statistics allow students to compare each of their grades with others in the class. When they View Statistics they can see a histrogram with the distribution of grades for this event. They can also see the Count, Average Score, Median, Maximum, Minimum and Standard Deviation.



My Files allows student to save their work to WebCT and wherever they go and log on their work is there with them. When it is ready to submit they can attach the file directly from My Files to the Assignment.

My Progress shows students detailed information about each session they have in WebCT along with information about how long the session lasted and what they did. One of my classes uses this tool to help them report how much time they spend on the course each week. But even if not used in the class, students like to review these statistics about their WebCT sessions.

So consider making WebCT tools available in your courses even if you don't use them. Many students will use them and they will be grateful.

Some Interesting Articles I've Seen Lately

Faculty Focus is a great resource for online instructors. Check out some of the recent articles:

Tips to Reduce Cheating in the College Classroom

Understanding What’s Needed for Online Teaching Success

Reaching Online Students with Learning Disabilities

Assessing Online Learning: Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities  (Free Report, but must sign up)

Using student's self introduction to get best practices

This semester I asked students when they did their self introduction to include a best practice for Web courses that they saw in other courses, had heard about or just what they would like to see me do.

In my 2 Web courses the most often cited item was prompt feedback.

Several students mentioned other courses where they waited up to 2 weeks for an answer to a question.

Several more mentioned that they had to submit a second assignment before the teacher had graded the first one and so were unsure how they would do.

Many cited hating a course with multiple graded events spread out through each week. Especially when the teacher only grades once a week or less often. They prefer all graded events due on one day.

Others liked the fact that they could access all the different tools many ways in my courses.

For examples they can get to quizzes and tests by going to Assessments, the course calendar, or through learning modules. Some mentioned courses where the teacher forced students to navigate to certain things certain ways.

Others mentioned they like it when they have access to the whole course immediately. They explained that in some courses they have to wait each week to see what they will do the next week because it is only available one week at a time. They did not know if the teacher was building the course or if the teacher just wanted the student to only see part of it.

So give it a try...force your students to provide a best practice and see what you can learn about making your course better.

John

Anonymous Feedback or Suggestion Discussion Topic

Actually all my discussion topics are anonymous except ones where I have to see who is posting what like the self introduction topic.

An anonymous feedback or suggestion topic is one way to get input that you otherwise could not get. Some have told me that they don't want to see feedback from someone who is afraid to post their name along with their comment. But students have many reasons for remaining silent if they know that what they say can be identified with them.

Have you never been in a situation where you would like to say something but don't?

I am grateful for any feedback I get. Even though most of my discussion topics are anonymous, several students don't mind sharing and signing their posts.

During the semester I will ask questions in the suggestion topic like what would be a better way to form groups than the way I did and often I get valuable ideas on how to improve the course that I am not smart enough to think of.