February 2006Colby College ITS An Introduction to Course Pages and Forums

February 2006Colby College ITS Topics Course Pages Forums Together What are they? How do they work? What can I do with them? Am I limited by the templates? How do they work together? How do I get started?

February 2006Colby College ITS Before We Start… A brief word from our “sponsor”… Course pages and Forums are bundled under Colby’s new content management system: CommonSpot This system promotes: –Template-driven web page development –A common “look and feel” to Colby College academic web pages –Ease of use But –It does require that you learn the utility –Colby is in the business of learning…

February 2006Colby College ITS Course Pages

February 2006Colby College ITS What Are They? Web pages That automatically contain: –Course description and number –Instructor –Room assignment Which provide a “Blank Slate” on which to create an instructional entity for your course –Minimal OR Maximum –Template-Driven OR Personally Designed –You decide

February 2006Colby College ITS Naked Course Page Title Course Number Schedule Building Instructor

February 2006Colby College ITS How Do They Work? Pull information from Registrar’s database Can include information created by instructor Can be accessed by anyone Intuitive URL academics_cs/courses/coursenumber Registrar’s Database Course Page

February 2006Colby College ITS What Can I Do With Them? As MUCH or as LITTLE as you want –Post syllabi –List Assignments –Provide additional reading lists –Create pages containing research aligned with course –Embed audio and video –Illustrate key philosophies Link them to your personal web site Link them to your directory page

February 2006Colby College ITS Linking Them to Your Other Pages At Colby, you have: –The option of a personal web site –A directory web page –A departmental page You can link to and from your course page to any or all of these Expands the search results

February 2006Colby College ITS Course Page Examples

February 2006Colby College ITS Am I Limited to the Template? No Create your own page or pages “under” the default page –Use CommonSpot to create a personally designed space OR –Create your page in your personal space and LINK to it from the default page

February 2006Colby College ITS How do I Get Started? Contact ITS-Training – Request a course page be created for your course(s). We will: –Create the page(s) –Schedule a tutoring session to introduce you to CommonSpot and Course Pages –Support you as you build your first page(s)

February 2006Colby College ITS Forums

February 2006Colby College ITS What are They? Web pages That automatically contain: –A “Discussion” folder –A “Homework” drop box Which provide an interactive communication utility for students and faculty on topics of interest to and aligned with a course –All members can create topics and reply to topics –The instructor can create folders and grant access to all or a subset of members for private or group discussions

February 2006Colby College ITS Naked Forum Page Homework Default Folders

February 2006Colby College ITS How Do They Work? Add members from the Registrar’s database Are accessed through a forum ID number fusetalk/forum/?forumid=nn Can be accessed only by members and the instructor Registrar’s Database Course Forum

February 2006Colby College ITS What Can I do With Them? Create and monitor discussion of –Readings –Homework –Projects Foster communication between students in a more informal setting than the classroom Use the homework drop box to securely receive online assignments

February 2006Colby College ITS Am I Limited by the Template? Yes You have freedom to –Post what you want –Discuss what you want –Organize the discussions as you please But –We are unable to change the layout or display of the forums at this time

February 2006Colby College ITS How Private Are They? Colby’s forums are created in “standalone” format Only members and the instructor can “see” the forum

February 2006Colby College ITS How do I Get Started? Contact ITS-Training – Request a forum be created for your course(s). We will: –Create the page(s) –Add your class as members –Schedule a tutoring session to introduce you to CommonSpot and Course Pages –Support you as you build your first page(s)

February 2006Colby College ITS Course Pages and Forums

February 2006Colby College ITS Playing Together Created from same data Course PagesCourse Forums Provides a web- based, access anywhere course information repository Can be linked to each other Provides an informal but secure communicati on tool

February 2006Colby College ITS Questions? Comments? Contact: Mel Regnell ext