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June 2004 - WebCT Faculty Development Workshops

Schedule for June 2004 Workshops will be available in early May. Individual help is available in the Academic Computing Instructional Media Lab, Lederle A213. Telephone 413-545-2823 to set up an appointment.

The Office of Information Technologies typically offers the following WebCT courses to faculty.

Course Web Sites Preview – Why and How

Compares do-it-yourself course Web sites with course Web sites developed in WebCT to help you decide which will work best for you. Covers differences in development time, how each can help faculty manage course materials, and how each can enhance the student’s experience.

WebCT Preview – from the Student's Perspective

Try out WebCT from the student’s viewpoint. Take a tour of the basic structures and tools that are available in WebCT and discuss with other faculty how they might make a difference when used as an extension to a face-to-face class. (This is a good introduction for faculty who are planning to take other WebCT workshops.)

WebCT provides the quickest method, with a Web-based interface that provides a customizable site structure. WebCT sites are limited to the students in your course and offer a robust set of tools that can be used to manage student information and add interactive elements such as bulletin board discussions and online quizzes.

Quick Site in WebCT

In this workshop you will create a course Web site using WebCT. Faculty who bring in basic course content (a syllabus, schedule, and a list of links) will leave with a complete course in WebCT. This hands-on workshop also provides a good basis for further exploration in WebCT.

Faculty who have completed the Quick Site workshop or who have experience with WebCT can also register for the following special topics workshops.

Student Management in WebCT

The student management tools in WebCT allow faculty to track student activities, record and calculate grades, and provide student access to grades without compromising the privacy of other students in the class. This workshop gives faculty hands-on training with the tools and discusses other ways WebCT can make managing student information easier.

Posting Content in WebCT

How to use the file management tools in WebCT to transfer content into your WebCT site. This hands-on workshop will help you learn how to post simple Web pages into WebCT and touch on the processes for converting and posting PDF and PowerPoint files.

Using Links and Library Resources in WebCT

Tips and tricks for managing links to outside resources within WebCT. This workshop focuses on methods for linking from WebCT to special online databases and journals that the Library purchases for use through the UMass networks.

Online Quizzes and Surveys in WebCT

Learn the basic process of building a quiz in WebCT. Starting with categories of questions, you add questions to the pool and then create quizzes that draw on specific or randomly selected questions in the pool. We will also cover the many ways you can control access to quizzes and provide students instant access to feedback and grades.

Building Content Modules in WebCT

Practice uploading and linking pages into a content module. Navigation, table of contents, and a variety of other enhancements will be automatically generated with the module. Students using content modules will be able to take notes, sort, and search the content. Content pages can also be linked to discussions, quizzes, audio, video, and lists of resources.

Communication and Collaboration in WebCT

This hands-on workshop gives you a chance to experience bulletin boards, chat, and email. We will discuss the different ways these tools can be useful to meet specific learning and teaching objectives. We will also demonstrate the assignment drop box and student presentation tools that allow students to exchange files with the instructor, group members, or the entire class.