Creating a useful introduction learning module

In a better world, students would not take Web courses until they proved their proficiency in WebCT  and basic computer and study skills. Since this is not the case, consider taking the time to build a useful introductory learning module where you can show students:

• How to use the WebCT tools in your course (and basic computer skills)
• How the course is set up
• How to study (where, when, how long, and how to read a textbook)
• About related professions

In the WebCT tools sections you can explain each tool and have them do so some simple practice. For example explain how the assignment tool works and have them submit a practice assignment using the procedures they will use in the course.

Don't forget to mention the timeout period and how to stay logged in by going to Mail and clicking the auto-refresh box.

You might give them the course URL so they can bypass MYCSMD, saving a few clicks and seconds and come right into the course. Each course has a URL listed at the bottom of the page in the Manage Course section.

Show them how to set the paging preferences throughout WebCT in the My Settings link on the WebCT login page. Too many students don't seem to notice the paging controls scattered throughout WebCT and this causes many issues.

In the about the course section you can cover Netiquette and list CSM services for Web students and how to do some basic computer maintenance.

You can handle computer maintenance with a link like this or this. 

And college students can get Office 2007 ultimate for 91% off the suggested retail price here. (They have to take a picture of their CSM id and upload it since we don't have student edu email accounts here.)

This is also a good place to list characteristics of good students and instructors.

The how to study section can come from links, too. 

The last section deals with related professions.  Consider posting a link to careeronestop like this one that shows the 50 fastest growing professions in Maryland.  And you can include one that gives more information about the profession.

One way to know if students go through the introduction learning module is to have them do sample activities like take a sample test or turn in a practice assignment. 

A gentle reminder to students who miss these activities often is all it takes to have them do it.

By taking the time to do this the student will be better able to focus on what you want them to learn. And you can point to this section when questions arise during the semester.

Thoughts?

John

Testing, 1, 2, 3

In my classes all tests are available the entire semester. A student could take all the quizzes and exams the first week if they wanted to. This has not happened yet, but I do have students take quizzes/exams well before they are due.

My tests are open book, untimed and students can take them twice, the average of the 2 tests is their grade. Each time they take a test/quiz they get a different set of questions because I use question sets.

There are simple ways to make open book tests more challenging.

First you can deliver questions one at a time and allow students to revisit them. You can also not allow them to revisit them. These options are quick to change. By only seeing one question at a time it is hard to quickly go through the test and compare your answers with another. 

For each type of test I have a different pool of questions.

For self tests (which are not part of the grade they simply allow students to test their knowledge of the material) I use short answer questions. WebCT/BB does terrible at grading short answer questions but I tell the students they are smart enough to look at their answer and compare it with the right answer is and know if they got it right.

For quizzes I use True/False questions. Quizzes are always due a day before we meet in class. For web classes I have all assignments and tests due on the same day of the week. But students can take the test anytime they wish.

For exams I use multiple choice questions.

I always use question sets.  A question set consists of all the questions for a chapter.  The question set is quite large and the number of questions on a specific test is quite small. So although some questions might be given to more than one student, usually they are not.

A question set chooses a set number (you decide how many) of questions to give to a student when they begin an exam and presents the questions in a random order. So one student might have a chapter 4 question first while another might see a chapter 5 question first.

Next you can randomize the answer order so the answers are not listed the same for each student.  This takes time as you have to change this setting for each question in the test bank. Also you want to make sure not to randomize answers if the answers need to be in a specific order. Example: one answer is "all the above." Naturally you want this to be the last answer.

So the questions are presented in a random order and the answers are random and the students can only see one question at a time. It they decide to take the test again they will see new questions.

Since the goal is to have students spend time with the material, this is one way to ensure that.  Students may not read a chapter before they see you, but you can bet they will crack the book when taking an exam.

What I find impressive about all this is that I still end up with a normal bell curve for my assessments. I wonder if this is because good students will take the time to do well while poor students won't.

You could try these techniques on one quiz or exam in one class and then compare your results and tell me what you find.

Preparing for the next semester

Even though I use a master shell some settings don't copy over to the new shell. So after I copy the master shell to the new shell I have to go Manage Course then to Settings to change a few things.

Chat: Allow Students to view chat logs -- change to True.

I use chat and sometimes students chat without me.  It is nice for them to go back and see the logs.

Discussions: Enable the My-Posts view so students (and I) can see all the posts we make.

Grade book: Display unenrolled members in Grade Book -- set to false so I don't see those who registered or dropped the class.

Mail: Allow messages to be forwarded to an external e-mail address -- set to true. I don't forward my mail but I know students who like to be able to do this.

Maximum attachment size (KB) --  I add a few 9s here so no one has trouble sending an attachment.

Enable My Computer Applet: Maximum number of files per upload -- I change this to 20.  This number is how many files you can upload at one time.

My WebCT: here I decide what news icons will display on the My WebCT page.


Any postings in Discussions will not copy over, so I keep the shell from the previous semester handy so I can reuse some of the postings.

Thoughts?

John