Web.Edu Agenda 3

Last Updated: 9/17/03
Link back to course Welcome...

Web.Edu Agenda 3
for class on September 20, 2003

Startup
1. Turn your computer on and go to the course web site. Your computer login is your AccessID and Password.
2. Reminder to sign in during the class, using the online signin form on the course web site, and sign out when you leave.
3. Pictures for a class photo album - this is not a course requirement
4. Online course information page. You can double-check your course information and update it. To view or update your course information, you will need the password that you gave yourself when filling out the form the first time. This will also be your password for online grade reports.
5. Internet tips
  1. Single Vs double clicking. On the web, everything is single clicks. Double-clicking sometimes causes trouble - that second click can do something unpleasant.
  2. Dialup connection problems, especially if writing a long message. Don't change anything, don't leave and start over, just redial and reconnect and pretend nothing happened.
  3. Pushed the wrong button and "lost everything"? - use your Browser's "back" button
  4. Online writing and grammar guide at http://www.is.wayne.edu/isp, then click on "Special Projects" button, then scroll down and click on link "Online Writing and Grammar Tutor". Also an Online Math Tutor has a link at the same place.
Weekly course progress reports
Computer conference. Follow the link on the course web site. Notice the link to the online guide just below.
1. A computer conference is a part of most Internet courses. It is used for class discussion. For people who like Internet courses, the online conference is usually the best part.
2. The grey login box will appear. Enter your User Name and Password and click "OK." At this point you can also bookmark the computer conference; selecting the bookmark later will pop up the grey login box immediately
  1. Karen Brooks: Use your earlier account from Winter 2002 with the User Name "kbrooks" (without the quotes).
  2. Shalon Pettway: OK
  3. Alba Sullaj: OK
  4. Sonia Turner: OK
  5. Gail Withers: created two accounts, which will confuse you. I have deleted the second one, and kept the one with the User Name GailW. I will have the password for you if you need it.
  6. Cameron Johnson: Not done, see me for the User Name and Password I have assigned you
  7. Toryo Rahaman: See me for the User Name and Password I have assigned you.
3. In a computer conference, messages are usually arranged in "threads" of top-level messages (here, postings) and replies. A message and all of its replies are called a "thread."
4. Many of your messages will be replies. Someone else may read your reply a week after the original message was posted. Unless you provide some context in your reply, your reader will not have a clue what you are talking about. Provide context by including the original message in your reply, but edit out everything except the part you are actually replying to.
5. On the left you will see a yellow panel with the clickable list of conferences you belong to; on the right, a white panel with a clickable message about new messages
  
  You should see at least two conferences listed in the left pane. The one for this course is "F03WebEdu (Bowen)." "The General Conference" is for people who make mistakes or lose the directions, or something like that. The only conference that you are required to read and post in is the one for this course.
6. To see messages, you can
  1. click on a conference to see a clickable list of all the messages in it.
    
    Here, replies to a top-level posting are listed below the posting and indented from it
  2. Or you can click on the number of new messages to see a list of new messages
7. Once you have a clickable list of messages either from 1 or 2 above, click on an individual message to display the message in the right panel (the left panel always displays the clickable list of conferences)
  
  All replies to a message are also displayed underneath it; scroll down to read all of the replies also
8. Here are descriptions of the functions for the clickable items in the menu bar above the message:
  1. Post - compose a new top-level message (start a new thread)
  2. Reply - compose a reply to the current message, the one you are reading in the right pane.
  3. Reply/Quote - same as Reply, except the original message is automatically included. Edit this down! But use Reply/Quote, because it creates a context for your readers. There can be a considerable delay between A posting a message, B replying, and C reading B's reply. Most likely, C won't be able to understand B unless B creates a context by quoting from A.
  4. Email Reply - a private reply via email to the author of the current message.
  5. Delete - Delete the current message, but only works if you are the author.
  6. Edit - Edit (change) the current message, but only works if you are the author. But this is great! You can change what you said, after you said it!
  7. Previous - move to the previous message in the thread, the one that the current message replied to.
  8. Next - move to the message after the current method in the thread.
  9. Previous Topic - Move to the previous thread (as listed under the conference in the left-hand or yellow panel)
  10. Next Topic - Move to the next thread (as listed under the conference in the left-hand or yellow
9. Writing a reply
  
  You can use the standard edit keys in the title (red) and composition (green) windows, as well as the keyboard. When the message is ready, click on the "Post" button (outlined in blue) to preview your message.
10. Look over the preview.
  
  If you like the preview, click on the second Post button (outlined in blue) to finally send the message to the conference. When you see the message displayed as in G above, it is on the conference.
11. I usually work from the list of new messages, click on each message starting from the top of the list and working down, replying to each or not, then using the "Back" button to get back to the list of new messages.
12. Create a signature that will be put at the bottom of all of your messages:
  1. Click on the black-and-white "PROFILES" button
  2. Choose to change your personal profile
  3. Scroll down to the bottom and put signature information there, then click the button. What could go in your signature:
    1. Name
    2. Favorite saying
    3. Nickname
    4. Email address
13. In-class assignment: Pull up the message "Introduce Yourself!", choose "Reply/Quote", add your name to the title, edit out everything in the body except for the first sentence, compose a brief introduction to yourself and post it to the conference. Points you might include in an introduction: where you work, what you do there, family information, how many credits you have towards your degree, when you expect to finish your coursework, favorite saying.
14. Reminder about conference postings: Average of two per week, 26 for the semester
Review
1. Parts of Internet Courses
  1. Fairly common
    1. Textbook
    2. Web Site for course documents and information distribution
    3. Electronic discussion forum
    4. Electronic method for submitting and receiving homework
  2. May or may not be present
    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. (New) Optional course meetings
    10. (New) Online chats, optional or required, for which everyone must sign on at the same time. As far as your schedule is concerned, this is like a required class meeting.
    11. Workgroup software letting everybody work on the same thing onscreen, for example with a word processor
2. Online courses are different because...
  1. Going into an Internet course, most concerns are about technical issues. Is my computer adequate? Do I have the right software? Do I know enough about the Internet? That kind of thing. There are some additional technical problems that crop up fairly regularly, such as: if you put big pictures into your homework files, they may be too big for the Instructor's email storage to hold. However much anxiety there may be going in, with any reasonable effort these technical issues are almost always solved. It is up to the student to make the problem known, or respond to inquiries about troubles. It is up to the Instructor and the educational institution to provide information about available support, in addition to providing the support itself.
  2. The real difficulties that students have in online courses are non-technical. Students who are used to being passive and absorbing information, need to become active. Even in face-to-face courses, active students get more out of a class, and are more satisfied with their degree work, and do better afterwards. What is different online is that the differences between passive and active students get magnified.
  3. Most online courses have a discussion forum. People who actively participate usually end up being enthusiastic about that course, and about online courses in general. For this to work, there must be at least a core of students, together with the instructor, who actively participate. Otherwise, one person cannot have an active discussion alone. What is it that people like about the online discussion?
    1. More time to say what you want to say, the way you want to say it. You can edit, spell check (depending on the system), and even use colors, fonts and graphics in some cases.
    2. Time to understand other points of view, and to have a dialog about them.
    3. Time to write and read about personal information, such as jobs, kids and so forth.
    4. Being able to help other students, and get help from them, both for technical issues and for learning issues.
Reading, How to be a Successful Online Student, Chapter 14 - Getting a Grip
1. Managing yourself - this is the biggest problem that students have with online classes
2. Motivation - the more you need the subject matter in an online course, the more likely you are to persist and do well
3. Estimate for time: for a face-to-face class (F2F), author recommends three hours outside for every hour in class. For a three credit course, that's twelve hours per week; for four credits, sixteen hours.
4. Time management - use a calendar to schedule your time for the online course. I recommend scheduling Plan A and Plan B. (See assignment)
5. Deep Vs shallow approach - I like this, in my words, "be an active learner"
6. See student comments at the bottom of Pg 203 - it's not just me!
7. What can be better about online - pg 206, at your own pace, pg 207, high level of interactivity, speak out about problems
8. Pg 208. Key steps:
  1. Manage your time
  2. Plan ahead
  3. Pay attention and keep in touch
Assignments due next class (from the assignment schedule on the Syllabus - get used to reviewing that)
1. Due last week: Online course registration form
2. For next week
  1. Read How to Be a Successful Online Student, Chapter 15
  2. Turn in a schedule for when you will work on this course on weeks when we do not meet. How many hours a week will you schedule? Do Plan A and Plan B.
  3. Conference postings - average 2 to 3 per week
  4. Weekly progress report
Turning off the lab computers
1. Save any work
2. Sign out
3. Click the "Start" button (if you computer has a "Windows" key you can press that instead)
4. Point to or click on "Shut Down..."
5. Make sure that "Shut Down" is selected
6. Click the "OK" button or press the <Enter> key
7. Wait until your computer turns off or displays a message that it is now OK to shut down your computer
8. These computers turn off the power themselves