| Dear all
I have been developing Japanese language courses using various technolgoies and WebCT. I have migrated my third year Japanese course to WebCT 6 version as a pilot faculty in Fall 2005, but I am still using WebCT 4 version for the first year Japanese language class. I will migrate all course to WebCT 6 by Fall 2006. WebCT 4 Click
here for the image of my WebCT Homepage. You see the course
icons: Getting started, Calender, Class Content, Quizzes & Exercises,
Discussion, Private Mail, Grades, Games, Audio Recording, Links
to Internet, and Student Homepage. Click
here for the image of the Class Content Folder. Click
here for the list of items that I put into each lesson folder.
I
highly recommend that you take WebCT workshops or read the manual
on WebCT to have a basic understanding of how to develop a course
using WebCT (Click here.
You can get a lot of information when you log in to WebCT as a designer
using the online help.In
this section, I would like to share some steps on how I have created
various materials on WebCT. For help on uploading these materials,
click "help" on the designer mode screen and you will
find out how to do it. If you have no idea, contact UCCS people
(Click here).(1) Creating course content using WebCT. I uploaded PowerPoint
presentations, PDF files, HTML files, & RealAudio files.
-
Creating on-line PowerPoint presentation, using JAlbum (JAlbum)
It was a little bit tricky to do this. Click here
(PowerPoint presentation via JAlbum) to see how I made on-line
PowerPoint presentations on WebCT.
Do you want to use a remote control for PowerPoint presentations?
If so, go to Keyspan. I am using a Digital Media Remote Control.
Making
PDF files from Word. OS X has the builtin capability to create
PDFs so you do not need to have the Adobe Acrobat software. After
creating the Word document, go to Print, and Save As "pdf".
For Windows or Mac OS 9, you need to have Adobe Acrobat to create
PDF files. (Click
here).
Making
html files using Dreamweaver.
I create my daily schedule, handouts, etc. using Dreamweaver. UCCS offers three workshops on Dreamweaver (Click
here). Dreamweaver documents work very well on WebCT.
- Making "RealAudio" files and uploading them to CSUS's Real
Media Server. In this way, students can listen to any audio files
on WebCT.Click
here (pdf) for the detailed instructions.
Why do I use CSUS's Real Media Server? I can use QuickTime (Mac)
- but the audio file is too big so that it takes time for students
to download and listen to the file. On the other hand, many students
have a plug-in program (RealOne
Player) for real media files. It is faster. It is a little
bit tricky because you have to convert mp3 files into rm files
and you need to know how to upload to the CSUS's Real Media Server.
Hope that my instruction will be helpful.
For foreign language teachers who use the Teaching Lab (Mariposa
2000), you can record your voice and create rm files directly
using the Diva©e program. If you want to edit your voice
file, use the Cool Edit program. I can show you how to do it.
Knock on my door.
(2) Developing exercises (On-line exercises created using Web-based
databases, and Flash). See the images of on-line exercises (image
1, image
2, and image
3) that Andrea at UCCS created for the course.
- Contact
UCCS people.
They can make a variety of web-based exercises using Flash and
Shockwave that will meet your students' needs.
(3) Presenting students’ work via “Student Homepage”
(4)
Doing research via “Discussion board”
- Take
WebCT classes via UCCS
- Pedagogical
tip. Create a topic. Under this topic, create a posting that explains
what students are expected to do for the exercise. There are always
some students who post their comments under the wrong topic. So
your job is to make sure that students' postings are in order.
(Designers can move postings from one topic to another.)
(5)
Assessing students’ learning (“On-line quizzes and surveys”)
- On-line
exercises: Take a WebCT
workshop, or click WebCT On-line help that appears in the
Designer's mode. For PC users, I highly recommend to take a workshop
on Respondus, which is a simple, effective way to create on-line
quizzes. After making quizzes, you will upload them on WebCT.
(6) Managing students’ learning (“Grade Book”)Take
a WebCT
workshop. You will learn how to add new columns for Grade book.
At the end of the semester, you can download them as Excel files
and calculate students' grades. It is an effective and convenient
way to post students' grades.Beside WebCT, what else do I do?
In my daily teaching, I also use the following programs: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Entourage), Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Acrobat, Grab, Preview, iCal, iChat, iDVD, iMovie HD, iPhoto, iSync, QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, Fetch, StuffIt, and VPNClient. I have just started Podcasting in Japanese and use Audacity, Cast Easy, iTunesand, and GarageBand programs. My favorite browsers are Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape |
