Designing and Organizing Content for WebCT Vista

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Designing and OrganizingContent for WebCT Vista

• Center for Excellence in Teaching
• Raleigh Way

This document illustrates an approach for
designing and organizing content in WebCT Vista,
and suggests ways to orient and inform your
students about important course policies and
course management issues. This handout
corresponds to an actual WebCT Vista demo course.
To access the course, log in to your
MyGeorgiaSouthern.edu page using the
following Username trainingGuest Password
letmein
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Table of Contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Vista Home Page
• Welcome Statement
• Student Discussion area or Café and Lounge for
  Students
• Student Chat Room
• Online Office Discussions Area
• Learning Modules
• Naming Learning Modules
• What is in a Learning Module
• Inside Start Here Module
• First Page of Every Module
• First Page of Every Module (Contd)
• Overview Page
• Overview Page (Contd)
• Blooms Taxonomy
• Course Structure

• Course Map
• Course Map vs. Overview Page
• Alternative Designs for Course Map
• Bottom Line for Using a Course Map
• Syllabus Information
• Technology Needs
• Communication Rules
• Student Introductions
• Discussion Introduction
• Survey about You, Gather information with
  Surveys
• Self-Test on Start Here Module
• Quiz on Start Here Module
• Evaluate Your Course Formative Feedback
• File Naming Conventions
• Checklist of Items in Presentations
• Support Files for this Workshop

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WebCT Vista Home Page

• Welcome Page
• Learning Modules
• Online Office Discussions
• Student Discussion Area or Café and Lounge
• Student Chat Room

Notice the orange folder labeled learning
modules. Well come back to this.
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Welcome Statement
Welcome statements set the mood, tone and pace of
the class. Its your first contact with your
students in an online course. You might use it as
a general orientation to the class. If you are
doing a completely online course, you might want
to think about adding audio or video of yourself
to add a more personal touch to your introduction.
Jot down some reasons how and why you might use a
welcome page.
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Student Discussion Area or Café and Lounge (for
their personal use)
Provide an asynchronous discussion area for
students only. This will allowthem an area to
discuss off-topic issues. Let them know that you
will not check this area for questions about the
class.
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Student Chat Room(for their personal use)
Provide a synchronous chat (live communication)
area for students only.Chat is like instant
messaging. This will allow them an area to chat
about off-topic issues. Let them know that you
will not use this area for class chats.
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Online OfficeDiscussions Area
We usually think of office hours as face-to-face.
You might save yourself and your students some
time if you provided them a way to have online
office hours. You could do this by using a
discussion area. Manage your time wisely,
though let them know that you will only check
for and reply to office messages once a day.
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Learning Modules
Remember the orange iconon the home page
calledlearning modules? This is an area
where your contentand teaching take place.
Insidethis area you can build individuallearning
modules. We will take a close look at one of
these modules.
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Naming Learning Modules
Learning modules may be named anything your like,
such as Week 1, Unit 1,Chapter 1, etc.
Each module is a self-contained unit of
instruction. The designerof this course used a
Start Here module followed by Topic modules.
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What is in a Learning Module?Answer Anything
you want.

• Content files (Word, PowerPoint, PDF, HTML,
  others)
• Assessments (quizzes, self-tests, surveys)
• Assignment tool (creates column in grade book)
• Chat tool
• Discussion tool
• Links to Web sites

Remember Each learning module may be thought of
as a self-contained, single unit of instruction.
You may have any number of learning modules to
use in any way you choose to suite your
instructional style.
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Inside Start Here Module
Start Here Module
The designer of this coursedecided to name the
first learning module Start Here. The module
will be used to orient the students to theWebCT
course. Think of this module as class
pre-flightinformation. It is here that
theinstructor provides the studentswith
important information aboutcourse structure,
function, and management issues. We will look
at the documentsin this area more closely on
thepages that follow.
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First Page of Every Module
Start Here Module

• The first page of any (all) learningmodules
  should
• be an HTML page, and
• serve as a module overview that gives
  explicit instructions for how the students
  will work through the information in the
  module.

The next page will explain in more detail.
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First Page of Every Module(continued)
Start Here Module
To further explain the previous page

• The first page of every module should be an HTML
  file. HTML fileswill display immediately. If
  you place anything but an HTML (Word, PowerPoint,
  etc.) in position 1, the student will be
  prompted to open or download it, which could
  cause confusion.
• Use the first page to highlight what is expected
  in this module. Thinkof it as a blueprint of
  instruction, and overview. This is a good place
  to state goals, objectives (expected outcomes),
  and activities for the learning module. You also
  want to be VERY explicit on how to work through
  the material in the module.

How might you use the first page as an overview
pageto explicitly explain what you want the
students to do? Read on
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Overview Page
This is one possible approach for an overview
page (first page) in a learning module. Notice
how goals, objectives and activities are
listed. The next page will explain just a little
more about goals, objectives and activities.
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Overview Page(Continued)
Start Here Module
The overview page is used to

• State the goal of the module
• State the learning objectives of the module
• State the activities (sequence of events)

Goal General statement about what will be
presented in this learning module. Learning
objectives (a.k.a. learning outcome statements)
Very specificstatements about what the student
will be able to do or demonstrate at the end of
the instruction in this particular learning
module. The student willbe able to insert
action verb from Blooms taxonomy Activities
Activities explicitly explain what the student
will do in this module 1. Do this, 2. Do
this..., 3. Do this, etc.
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Blooms Taxonomy
Time out for a second
Though Blooms taxonomy is not part of the
intended instruction in this presentation, it
deserves mention at this point. When trying to
decide how to state learning objectives (student
outcome statements) in your syllabus or elsewhere
in your course, a useful reference is Blooms
taxonomy. I wont say more about it, but if you
are interested in learning more, visit the link
below. http//academics.georgiasouthern.edu/cet/w
orkshops/go/index.htm
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2. Course Structure
Start Here Module
Item 2 in the Start Here module is the
Course Structure document, which explains what
WebCT tools you are using and the function or
purpose of each in your course. It also explains
that the content is organized into learning
modules.
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3. Course Map
Start Here Module
Think of a course map as a blueprint for
instructionand learning. It outlinesdates,
topics, objectives,tasks, resources, and
assessment strategies for the entire semester.
Of course a course map may contain more or fewer
items depending on yourneeds. What is the
difference in an overview page of a learning
module and a course map? See next page for
explanation.
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Course Map vs. Overview Page
Course map a matrix (table) with dates,
objectives, tasks, resources and assessment
strategies for the entire semester. A calendar
of events a blueprint or roadmap for teaching
and learning activities.
Overview page for a specific learning module a
subset of the course map. Purpose to give the
students focus for what they are to do in a
specific learning module. Each learning module
has its own, unique overview page.
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Alternative Designs for a Course Map
Start Here Module
Course maps may be constructed in a left-to-right
fashion as you see here
Notice that each row represents a different date.
You are limited to the amount of information you
can include, but it serves as a concise, quick
reference to class events.
or they may be constructed in a more layered
fashion
In this map, the date is followed by any number
of rows and details you need. The benefit of
this example is that you can include more details
per date.
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Bottom Line for Using a Course Map
For the Instructor
For the Student

• Helps the instructor to organize thoughts about
  how the course will be delivered
• Shows flow and sequence of activities
• Serves as a checklist of activities in planning
  stage
• Helps the instructor align learning objectives
  with learning activities and assessments
• Centralizes activities in one document

• Explicitly presents a logical sequence of events
  for activities, assignments, readings, assessment
  and more in one document for the entire course
• Visually organized for visual learners
• Keeps students on task because they know what to
  expect and when
• Reduces the number of documents with important
  information

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4. Syllabus Information
Start Here Module
The Start Here module would be a good place to
place your syllabus. The information on this
Syllabus Requirements page points to
information in the Faculty Handbook, and to other
examples on the Web at other institutions.
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5. Technology Requirements
Start Here Module
There will always besomeone in your classwho
needs help withtechnology. You woulddo well to
provide themwith links to help resources such as
the WebCT help desk. This is also a good place
to tell your students what type of documents you
will distribute Word docs, PowerPoints, PDF,
others?
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6. Communication Rules
Start Here Module
How do you want your students to
communicatewith you during the course? Do you
want them to useyour Georgia Southern email
account, or do you want them to use WebCTemail?
How do you expectthem to use the chat roomand
discussion areas? Be sure to explain
clearlywhat you expect.
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7. Student Introductions
Start Here Module
One way to get the classrolling at the beginning
of the semester is to have students introduce
themselves to each other. You need to set rules
and guidelines for the introductions, e.g., dont
give out personal information in the discussion
area. Encourage them to use Netiquette. Notice
that item 8 is thediscussion tool where they
will post their introductions.
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8. Discussion Introduction
Start Here Module
As you can see, the discussion tool can
belinked right into the learning module.
Youmay have as many discussion areas as you
like and in as many learning modules as
youlike.
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9. Survey about YouGathering Information with
Surveys
Start Here Module
A lot of instructors like to gather a
littleinformation (demographics) about their
students in case they need to contact them for
whatever reason. You may do this in WebCT by
using a survey (like a quiz) to gather the
information. You then download the information
to your computer and open it in Excel. Voilà!
Instant student address book! You could also ask
information about previous classes they have
taken, why they are taking your class, or what
their expectations are for your class.
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Start Here Module
10. Self-Test on Start Here Module
OK, so your students have readthrough the
material in your Stat Here module. You let
themknow up front that they will betested over
the information in this module. To help them
prepare for the test (quiz), you provide them
with a self-test.They may take the test as many
times as they like. At the end of each
attempt, they are shown their answers and the
correct answers. There is no gradeassociated
with the self-test.
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11. Quiz on Start Here Module
Start Here Module
After the students have read through all the
material and taken the self-test for practice,
they are now ready to take the actual quiz for
a grade. You may set the quiz for one attempt or
more than one attempt. You may also time
release a quiz for specific days and times. If
they dont take it by X day, they loose the
option of taking it.
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12. Evaluate Your Course Formative Feedback
You might want to occasionallyask your students
for feedback on a unit of instruction or about
the course in general. This is called
formative feedback. You could simply ask what
they like best and what they like least about
some aspect of the course. You just might get
some input that would help you target potential
problems in the course. Feedback could be
another WebCT survey (which would also be
anonymous), or it could be done in email.
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File Naming Conventions
You can save yourself a lot of headaches in
WebCTs File Manager by using file naming
convention of your choice. For example, in our
Start Here module, there were several
documents that we looked at. The table on the
left shows thetitle of the documents while the
table on the right shows how the files were
savedusing a file naming convention.

• sh_overview.htm
• sh_course_structure.htm
• sh_course_map.doc
• sh_tech_needs.htm
• sh_comm_rules.htm
• sh_intro.htm

• Overview Start Here
• Course Structure
• Course Map
• Technology Needs
• Communication Rules
• Introduction

Notice that all the file names on the right start
with sh for start here.By doing this for
each module, all module-related files will
cluster together in thein the File Manager of
WebCT. For other modules, you could use w1
for week 1, or m1 for module 1, etc.
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Checklist of Items in the Presentation

• Welcome page (p 4)
• Student discussion area or Café and Lounge (p
  5)
• Student chat room (p 6)
• Online office discussion area (p 7)
• Use Organizer page for learning modules (orange
  folder) (p 6)
• Use Learning Modules to deliver instructional
  units (pp 8-10)
• Use Start Here module to organize course
  policies and management statements (syllabus,
  etc.) (p 11)
• First page of every learning module HTML (pp
  12-13)
• First page of every learning module overview
  for that module (pp 12-13)
• Overview page contains goals, learning objectives
  and activities (sequence of activities) (p 14-15)
• Review Blooms Taxonomy (p 16)

• Course structure explained (p 17)
• Course Map to guide course design and to give
  students focus (p 18-21)
• Syllabus information reviewed (p 22)
• Technology requirements (p 23)
• Communication rules (p 24)
• Student introductions (p 25)
• Survey your students for information (p 27)
• Self-Test (practice test) on learning module
  information (p 28)
• Quiz (for grade) on learning module information
  (p 29)
• Formative feedback from your students as a
  diagnostic tool to indicate how well the course
  or instruction is working (p 30)
• User file naming convention for files you store
  in WebCTs file manager (p 31)
• Download and modify the documents used in this
  demo course (p 32)

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Support Files for this Workshop
http//academics.georgiasouthern.edu/cet/workshops
/vista
If you would like to discuss any part of this
presentation, or if youd like to discuss
planning the design of your WebCT course, please
contact Raleigh Way (rway_at_georgiasouthern.edu) or
Ludy Goodson (lgoodson_at_georgiasouthern.edu) at
681-0049 in the Center for Excellence in Teaching.
Thank you!