Online Life at WSU

Online Life at WSU
David Bowen, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Wayne State University
This document with live links at http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/OnlineLife/OnlineLifeBrief.htm

Last updated: 11/6/03
Wayne State University has many functions online; here is a guide. You do not have to use the free University Internet access in order to use your free University email. Your AccessID and password will be the key, so you need to make sure that these are working. Also, if you will use another email account, activate and forward your WSU email to that account. (WSU Internet access is full Internet access, and WSU email is full email to any address that has a "@" in it.)

Living online at WSU - the basics
1. The key - AccessID and password
  1. Every WSU student (and staff or faculty member) is assigned these. Lost the notification?
  2. Help Desk (computer-related) for students, staff and faculty: Telephone - 313-577-4778, 8 AM - 8 PM Mon - Fri, Online - http://support.wayne.edu
  3. To find your AccessID, use WSU Online Directory via email at http://networks.wayne.edu/onlinedirectory/ and click on "WSU PEOPLE SEARCH" (there is a link on the right and a button on the left).
    Then follow link to Online Directory as shown below. In the "Name" box, type in your first name, then a space, then your last name and click the "Search" button.
    
    Fig 1: WSU Online Directory opening screen
    1. (Search for anybody at WSU using this directory. Click their "view" link to see full information. Type Department name to see whole department. Very useful site.)
    2. Now your Password - now initialized to 9-digit Personal ID (PID) on your One Card and tuition statements etc. Call the Registration and Scheduling Office 313-577-3541 to ask by phone.
      1. PID is public within WSU and is therefore insecure. Change password soon. (stays the same for your WSU career.) See "Account below.
    3. Have trouble with AccessID / Password? Call the Help Desk.
2. WSU provides free Internet access - use Access ID and Password to log in.
  1. Dialup number that is a local call for you - http://support.wayne.edu/allwsu/dialin/dialsearch.php
  2. You already have the software you need for WSU Internet access on your Windows 95 or later computer (probably for your Macintosh also). Or, with free WSU Internet Toolkit, much setup is done for you.
  3. Dialing in through WSU now offers you some level of Internet protection; you will be safe from some of the worst Internet vulnerabilities. You will still need computer virus protection, but Norton AntiVirus is available for free download for students at support.wayne.edu.
3. Activate your free WSU email and forward it if you are not going to use it. If you plan to use another email account, you should definitely forward your WSU email to this other email account. Other people and the University and your Instructors can send important email to your WSU account even if you do not use it.
  1. You activate your (free) WSU email by logging in to Pipeline at pipeline.wayne.edu with your Access ID and Password. The first time you log in to Pipeline, you are prompted to answer questions about your email. Answering these questions also activates your WSU email. You will not be able to use your WSU email until your activate it.
  2. To forward your WSU email once you have activated it, (1) go to WSU Pipeline, log in as usual, (2) click on the "Account" button in the upper right, (3) select "Mail Forwarding," type in the address you want to forward to, and click "OK."
    1. Leave "Do not keep a copy of forwarded messages on server" checked, especially if you do not plan to check your WSU email regularly; otherwise your WSU mailbox will overflow and stop working.
    2. You can also manage your WSU online accounts here (except for Blackboard); change passwords and so forth.
4. Web-based email at WSU
  1. Your UserID or email name is your AccessID. Choose synonymous "email name." "Synonymous" means that it is just one account with two names. Set up email name at the Account section of Pipeline, described above. For example, I am either aa2012 or d.r.bowen.
  2. Your email address on this account is AccessID@wayne.edu or EmailName@wayne.edu.
  3. Your Password is the one that goes with your AccessID
  4. Can use simple web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer for email. For web-based email, start your browser and go to http://webmail.wayne.edu.
5. Free Internet software from WSU: Download over Internet from http://support.wayne.edu/toolkit/index.php#software or WSU Internet Toolkit CD-ROM.
  1. The WSU Help Desk will help help you make an Internet connection to WSU, even from your Internet connection at work. They generally do NOT support all Internet software however; just the software on the Internet Toolkit, or downloaded from WSU.
6. Students are listed in the online directory by default. You can add information to your online directory listing (e.g. home telephone number) or update information, or request that all online information about you be withdrawn, by going to the online directory at http://networks.wayne.edu/onlinedirectory/ and clicking on the HOT TO UPDATE INDIVIDUAL LISTING button
  (Careful - if your Browser window is too small, you can't see the second line on the button !)
  1. Note that you actually go to Pipeline to make the changes; this site only explains where to go in Pipeline.
  2. Keep your Directory information up to date using Pipeline. The University has trouble finding many students because they move, change telephone numbers, and change email addresses without updating this information with the University.
Online life at WSU - Intermediate - this is changing rapidly and new features will be rolled out or added
1. Central WSU web site at http://www.wayne.edu
2. DIS web site at http://www.is.wayne.edu.
3. Pipeline: http://pipeline.wayne.edu - use your web browser to access this portal or online hub, probably with links to all of the items below, plus:
  1. Email your professors
  2. Email your class
  3. Go to your course web site
  4. Set up your class schedule (also download/merge to a PDA)
  5. Register for classes
    (The Help Desk says that you may have trouble using Pipeline if you are behind a firewall. Call the Help Desk for help.)
4. WSU online directory for faculty and staff - supply any one piece of information. Students are not listed unless they choose to be. Why choose to be listed? - instructors, other students and employers will be able to contact you. Probably name and email only for students.
5. Web-based course schedule and registration started Fall 2002, Touch-Tone will be phased out. http://www.classschedule.wayne.edu/course_web/schedule/index.cfm
6. Library services (existing)
  1. Online card catalog (covered in UGE 1000)
  2. Many journals and databases (e.g. Nexis/Lexis) available online using Access ID. These contain the full-text articles for journals of academic interest.
7. Library services (new)
  1. electronic course reserves
  2. Multimedia file creation (multimedia servers are an open issue)
8. More, we are promised, to come.
Online courses. Online courses are probably the biggest change in online life at WSU. They are an option, not a requirement. Personally, I feel that we owe it to students to help DIS and our students to prepare for what is coming, or what is already here.
1. What are online courses? At the least, at least some course work is done on the Internet, with fewer class meetings. Could mean that all work is over the Internet and there are no class meetings. If you are in doubt, and the differences are important to you, at this point, find out.
2. How do online courses work?
  1. Almost all current Internet courses have the following:
    1. Usually no special software needed aside from web and email access
    2. Use normal textbooks (some readings may be online)
    3. A course web site that is the "hub" for the course
    4. Web pages for handouts such as syllabus, assignments and lectures
    5. An online discussion forum for class discussion
      1. Many people think this means "chat room." A chat room may also be used, but is not a "discussion forum" For a chat room (1) everybody must be online at the same time, so this is usually at scheduled times for a class, and (2) there is usually no record of the discussion available after the discussion is over. For a discussion forum, (1) participants can come in at any time, not necessarily together, (2) when you come in, you can see everything from previous participants and make your own contributions, and the next person sees everything including your contributions, and (3) there is a record available for reference.
      2. The discussion forum can also be based on email. When we tried several types in GST 1600 (Web.Edu: How Internet Courses Work), students preferred the email forum (Internet "ListServ"). There is a ListServ email address; send a message to that address and it is distributed to the class.
      3. Many people assume that online courses are impersonal. If the discussion forum works well, however, most participants will say that these is the most intensely personal intellectual experience that they have had. To get this benefit, you must actively participate instead of "standing back" and observing.
    6. Some online method for turning in work and for getting it back. This may be simple email with attachments, or a special web-based tool on the course web site.
  2. Internet courses can also have:
    1. Online web-based tests, reports and/or forms
    2. "Real" (in-person) tests and/or exams
    3. Student web pages
    4. Online reading
    5. Online workgroups
    6. Online Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
    7. Internet multimedia (video and audio)
    8. Required course meetings
    9. Optional course meetings
    10. Online chats, optional or required. This is like a required class meeting.
    11. Workgroup software - everybody works on the same thing on screen.
3. Finding online courses.
  1. DIS offers many more online courses than its size would predict. DIS will also most likely be the first academic program at WSU to offer a Bachelor's degree online.
  2. Online courses are an option, not a requirement.
  3. WSU (and DIS) is at present (Fall 2002) not consistent about making information available to students. This will doubtless improve in the future.
  4. Most DIS online courses have fliers that are mailed with the DIS schedules every semester (but mailing schedules is getting to be too expensive and will be discontinued).
  5. For DIS, http://www.is.wayne.edu/courses/OnlineCourses.htm
  6. WSU listing http://www.classschedule.wayne.edu/course_web/schedule/index.cfm, then link to "web courses." Many online classes that are not listed here.
4. What do you need to know about an online course
  1. Before classes start
    1. Are there required face-to-face meetings? How many? When?
    2. Optional face-to-face meetings?
    3. Is Syllabus available online before the course starts?
    4. Is special software required beyond email and a web browser (usually not, but for example Business Schools often use Lotus Notes)
  2. During the semester
    1. Bookmark the important course sites
    2. How will changes be announced?
    3. If files turned in electronically, is your software (for example Word Processor, Spreadsheet) compatible with the Instructor's? Instructor reads your homework files, You read the Instructor's graded homework files.
5. Finding out if a course you have registered for is online. Best advice: call or email the Instructor or the Department (here, DIS). Don't know how to do this? Use Online Directory.
6. If a course is online, what do you do to get started?
  1. Find course web site, may mean finding the Instructor. Hint: Online Directory.
7. Can the Instructor find you?
  1. Changes in your email address
8. Check email, web site and conference at least weekly
Technical issues for online courses (technical issues are almost never "show stoppers"!):
1. What happens if your Internet connection is broken in the middle of a session? Most likely with a modem (not cable or network connection from a lab). A message box will pop up on your screen.
  1. If you are using your web browser at the time, do nothing with your program - do not send, do not close, do nothing. Redial your modem and continue as if nothing had happened.
  2. On other Internet software, such as specialized email programs, may have to close down the software, redial, then restart software. You lose any work that hasn't been sent yet. One way to protect yourself is to select it and paste work into Notepad, Word Pad, Word or some other editor, then paste it back after the software is restarted.
  3. If the Help Desk is closed, LIMITED support from the people that run the WSU network, Network Operations, at 313-577-4746. These are the real techies, and if there really is a problem they may be too busy fixing that.
2. Email systems.
  1. Maximum amount of storage for each user; fill this up and any further incoming email will be "bounced back" without any notification to you. Hotmail seems to particularly susceptible to this problem, because of the large amount of junk email sent there.
  2. Large files can be refused by your Instructor's email system (beware of graphics).
3. File format compatibility.
  1. Can be the most vexing. You exchange files with the Instructor, must find compatible format. Can go wrong, especially with "off brand" word processor. Generally, the two "standard" word processors are Microsoft Word and WordPerfect (e.g. Lotus Notes). WSU bookstore has great software prices.
4. Email: one method of transferring files, but there are alternates: (1) Web upload, (2)FTP.
5. Getting help. (At the present time, many Instructors may not be aware of all problems).
  1. Other faculty, me for example.
    1. d.r.bowen@wayne.edu
    2. 313-577-1498 on campus (generally Mon, Wed Thu during the academic year)
    3. 248-549-8518 at home
    4. 313-390-2155 at Ford Motor Company during the Summer, and Tue and Thu during the academic year
  2. Help Desk.
  3. The system administrator. Web Server administrators often have "mail to."
  4. Collect information on the problem (what happened, the exact error message if any, what was on the blue bar above the error message, what program (name and version) were you using, and what were you doing at the time).
6. Very rarely these problems may threaten to affect your grade, and if your Instructor is not supportive or understanding, you may need help to avoid being penalized for technical problems. Two normal methods of this type of non-technical help are:
  1. Most Universities require academic departments to have a grade appeal process. These processes must be accessible to students; see the literature or ask a counselor.
  2. Most Universities also have an Ombudsman. An Ombudsman is a designated person to assist students with academic problems.
Non-technical issues (most problems in online courses are non-technical):
1. Can have problems for some students
  1. Those who really didn't have time but thought they could manage anyway
  2. Those who can't "get into" the online discussion
  3. Passive, not active
2. Instructor can also not do his/her part - one saying is that the Instructor is "not the 'sage on the stage' but the 'guide on the side'"
  1. Instructor can feel that the assignments are set, the discussion is primed, now I can sit back and let this little machine run by itself - grade assignments, participate in discussion
  2. Doesn't work - Instructor must take a hands-on role if students are to make it through the course
  3. Advice - don't hesitate to push the Instructor if you feel this is going on
  4. Student can feel - mistakenly - that they are "out there" all alone. When all else fails, call the Instructor.
On balance
1. Make no mistake, I am an advocate - I love computers and the Internet, and also - how can I give learners more control over their learning?
2. Works extremely well for many or even most students
  1. Can often preview a course in detail from an earlier semester, or from an advance syllabus for the upcoming semester (not all systems allow this)
  2. Organized and active students love the control and responsibility
    1. Will often teach each other
  3. Many students remark that they like the discussion forum - they can always say their piece, and can say it the way they want to - edit, explain, use formatting
    1. Give and take is better - can follow up
    2. Easier for students to bring in their own expertise
    3. Usually the online discussion is not graded for content, but I have begun to feel that sometimes so much care is put in and the quality is so high that it deserves credit. I do encourage students to quote the online conference in their paper.
    4. If it works well, involved students often say that they haven't been that energized over learning before.
  4. Shy people who may not speak up in class find their voices online
  5. Many students who have taken a first online class keep coming back to take more - they take all we offer
  6. Students come back to the discussion forum after the class is over (not all systems allow this)
Coming up
1. DIS is trying to start on online degree program, and a concentration in "Internet Studies"
2. Universities and faculty will learn how best to use this new medium.
  1. Making information about online courses more available, including what courses are online, what the course web site is, and how to get started
  2. Better way to identify online students and get information to them
  3. Technical support must be around the clock.
  4. More consistent use of email
  5. Better way to send email to a class, including updating email addresses
3. Present technology will improve
  1. Faster and more reliable Internet access
  2. Easier and more uniform email attachments
  3. Where access is required, will become more transparent
4. New technologies
  1. Internet videophone, multimedia (experiment with sound on the DIS web site)
  2. Talk and data at the same time
  3. Video conferencing
  4. Returning assignments via email to a group instead of one-by-one
  5. Better way to make sure that students are staying involved in the course

From a former student (graduated)
"I decided to take an online course because the idea of completing a class from the comfort of my home appealed to me. I think that I, like others, believed that it might be an easier way to get through a class. What I found out was that it required every bit if not more time than any class that I could attend physically. There were benefits, too, that I had not anticipated. These were the ease of contact with other students and the instructor. I felt as though I were attending a class where I was able to get help from someone for any question I might have. Dr. Bowen's weekly requirement that I post a comment helped me to overcome any shyness I had about posting. After I had posted for the first time, I realized that it was no different than talking to my neighbor in class, it was helpful and it put me in touch with everyone painlessly. I also realized that when it came to questions about the course, I was one-on-one with the instructor. It was an aid to the learning process.

"My method of attending was this, each day when I arrived home from work, the first thing I did was sit down at my computer to see whether any messages had been posted to "our" site. I would answer if I could, but I might just post a "hello" to everyone. Then, I would go about the business of coursework. That might be reading or composing a paper, but whatever, I would do something. I might have plans or have to clean or do laundry, but first I would do coursework. It was important for me not to put it off, because if I did, it became easier and easier to do so. I have much experience in procrastinating and have learned that the more I put it off, the more I feel guilty about it, and the more I put it off. I need to police myself. I need to keep myself in the work and do something each day or it becomes easier to quit acting. I begin talking myself into quitting.

"Internet classes were the most enjoyable classes that I took at WSU. I know that they're not for everyone, some prefer the interaction of a classroom. I prefer to settle down at home and work. I like the personal contact with the instructor as well as the students. We're all there to learn something and we all do!"