I. Using expanded web resources and enhancing your site

In Workshop 2, you considered some of the methodological issues related to teaching with technology. Today, you are prepared to start thinking about how you want to expand your course site, which may include adding a resources page and useful links to interactive web exercises. There are a variety of technologies and software programs that will enable you to expand your course site. Communications technologies (instant messaging, bulletin boards, newsgroups, listservs, etc.) provide different kinds of forums for students and instructors to discuss classroom issues and/or prepare course material for discussion.

A. Using Technology for Course Discussion

The following technologies are some of the most popular and available methods of communicating online. As you view them, consider which resource most adequately meets the needs and demands of your class.

1. Mass emails

Sometimes the most effective uses of technology are the simplest. An introductory email or discussion prompt from you, addressed to the entire class and with the instruction for them to reply to all with responses to your prompt, can be an effective and simple way to conduct online discussions.

Pro: doesn't require any set-up, maintenance or administration (beyond moderating the terms of the discussion).

Con: emails sent to students from webfac will not allow students to reply to all. Discussions involving several discussants can be difficult to follow if several students post at once and in response to previous messages.

2. Listservs

A listserv is a more technologically managed method of communicating online, requiring users to subscribe to a dedicated account. Individual messages are sent and received through a common email address specific to your course (e.g. “hiswine@artsci.wustl.edu”). A listserv sends e-mail directly to your e-mail inbox. Each message addressed to the listserv will be duplicated and sent to the e-mail accounts of each member of the listserv. Only members of the listserv can send and receive messages addressed to this account (this makes communication much more restricted). Listservs may also be moderated; that is, as listserv moderator, you can - if you wish - determine which messages are posted to the entire list. Washington University offers listserv accounts through Arts & Sciences Computing. To set up a listserv account see the information below about setting up listservs and newsgroups.

Pro: guarantees devoted and restricted space for course discussions.

Con: requires some set-up and administration.

3. Newsgroups and other utilities

Newsgroups allow students to compose e-mail messages in any email host (Pine, Outlook Explorer, Netscape Mail, etc.) and post those messages to a remote account that is accessible on a voluntary basis. These messages are on a separate server and do not appear in discussants' email inboxes as messages do with a listserv or a mass mailing. Messages posted to newsgroups are only available when discussants open the newsgroup and download messages. Washington University offers newsgroups on its server for your class at no cost. To set up a newsgroup see the information below about setting up listservs and newsgroups.

Pro: email accounts aren't flooded with incoming messages.

Con: because messages are stored in a dedicated account, it's more difficult to get students to regularly and reliably access and respond to the discussion.

4. For more information about newsgroups and listservs

Newsgroups are available on the Washington University campus and are organized by the Office of the Network Coordinator (ONC). New newsgroups can be requested by sending mail to requests@news.wustl.edu. You should request your own name for the newsgroup. ONC offers this tip in naming your newsgroup: To name your newsgroup the hierarchy is wu.school.dept.name (for example wu.artsci.bio.misc). If needed the school field can be dropped (for example wu.cs.423 instead of wu.seas.cs.423).

Listserv information is located at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/ASCC/documentation/listserv.html

B. Workshops on Software Programs

Before considering specific web exercises or activities you might like to integrate or incorporate into your course and your course site, you should be aware of some important ways to expand your technical skills and fluency with various kinds of technology so that you can integrate a wider variety of tools into your course. While simple web activities based on web searches and text can be created in Netscape Composer (click here for an online tutorial on how to create a basic web activity from Summer 2001), many of the most effective and useful web activities and exercises are created using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft PowerPoint, Half-Baked's HotPotatoes, Quicktime, or RealPlayer. There are a variety of tutorials and workshops available to help you learn software applications and teach you valuable skills that will allow you to integrate a wider range of technology into the classes you teach.

1. The Language Lab

The Language Lab has a web site with a collection of teacher's resources that includes links to pages with accessible instructions on advanced web design (including how to integrate audio into your site or create audio-based web exercises, for instance).

2. GradLab

The GradLab presents workshops on various software programs during the school year. Register on the GradLab site to receive more information about these programs and to use to the lab, which gives you access a variety of software applications.

3. Other tutorials

The Becker Medical Library offers a variety of workshops and tutorials; some are free. For more information, visit the library's web site https://aladdin.wustl.edu/medlib/classes.nsf/summaries

4. HotPotatoes Online Tutorials

HotPotatoes: Half-Baked Software at the University of Victoria has developed software (HotPotatoes) that enables instructors to produce interactive exercises, such as short answer, multiple choice, and gap-fill exercises.

5. Graduate Online Lecture project

The Graduate Online Lecture (GOL) project is a series of more advanced workshops created under the same GSAS initiative as this workshop series. Workshop participants learn how to use Macromedia's Flash software--a program that allows for the dynamic interplay of text, image, sound, and animation on the web. For a more comprehensive description of the GOL from last year's workshops, click here. To see the homepage of the GOL, click here.

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II. Learning management systems

A. What is a learning management system?

Increasingly, courses and related content are being organized and administered online by programs that collect and distribute information to students through centralized computer systems. These learning management systems (like Prometheus or Blackboard) allow instructors to create course-specific accounts that can be customized to some degree to meet specific course needs without requiring the instructor to design and maintain individual pages or sites. Instead, instructors use online accounts for each student in the course, uploading content that students access through the site and using the site as the access and communication point for all course related communication online.

B. Brief introduction to Telesis

Washington University will begin implementing its own learning management
system in the coming academic year (2003-04). Telesis replaces its predecessor Prometheus and improves on many of the core elements and much of the functionality of Prometheus by designing special features that address specific needs of Washington University courses. This preview of Telesis will introduce you to the system.

C. Using course sites vs. learning management systems

Now that you're aware of the two different ways to integrate technology into the classroom - though course sites of your own design and through centralized learning management systems - it is important to think about the different needs each alternative fulfills and the different goals that each method meets.

• What are the pedagogical implications of using a learning management system in the classroom as opposed to a web site you design and maintain?
  
  
• Are there different kinds of classroom situations or courses for which a learning management system might offer more or less assistance in meeting an instructor's administrative needs and accomplishing pedagogical goals?
  
  
• Many popular learning management systems integrate commercial content provision (from textbook publishers and curriculum sources) into their systems. What are the strengths and weaknesses of such features? What kind of implications does such integration have for you as an instructor?

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III. Copyright and security issues

Educators must always consider copyright law and fair-use issues when distributing copyrighted materials to their classes in any form - hard copy or digital. As technology revolutionizes the manner in which materials are disseminated and broadens the scope of distribution, teachers must ask themselves new questions regarding what constitutes fair use. For more detailed information, go to the Web Workshop page on Copyright Issues.

A. Copyright: Fair use, crediting sources, “borrowing” content

1. Fair use

“Fair use” refers to legal provisions that allow educators to use copyrighted material in limited ways for teaching purposes. The fair use of a copyrighted work, including photocopies, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not considered an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the law requires teachers to consider such factors as the purpose and nature of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes (commercial uses violate fair use provisions); the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole (it wouldn't be fair use, for instance, to photocopy a book in its entirety and distribute it to your class); and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. (Note: this discussion is abbreviated and should not be considered comprehensive. For the full statute, see Washington University's statement of copyright laws, which includes an expanded discussion of copyright and fair use and help in obtaining copyrights.)

As the university's web site on copyright and fair use notes, there is no easy formula for determining if a particular use is a fair use. In enacting the fair use law, Congress endorsed “Classroom Guidelines” which, while they do not define the limits of “fair use,” create a safe harbor in which use will not be challenged. The American Library Association (ALA) has long endorsed a somewhat broader reading of fair use (without agreement by or challenge from copyright owners). Even under the ALA's reading, however, fair use is narrower than many people suspect, and its application must be analyzed carefully.

Single Copies. For teaching, including preparation, or for scholarly research, an instructor may make, or have made, a single copy of a brief work or brief excerpt of a longer work, such as a chapter from a book; an article from a journal or newspaper; a short story, essay or poem; or a chart, diagram, cartoon or picture from a book, journal or newspaper.

Multiple Copies. For one-time distribution to a class, an instructor generally may make, or have made, multiple copies if s/he: makes no more than one copy for each student; includes the copyright notice; charges no more than the cost of copying; copies only brief works or brief excerpts of longer works, and acts on his or her own (without coercion).

2. ERes

ERes is a web-based electronic reserves management system provided through Olin Library. With it you can manage course material on the web. Only reserve material in electronic format (included scanned documents) can be placed on ERes. For more information about using ERes to manage course materials, see the library's ERes help page.

B. Privacy: protecting students' privacy and sensitive data

When creating a course, remember that without special provisions and restricted access to your site, the information on your site is widely and easily accessible. Course management systems often provide secure access to information that makes posting grades and other sensitive data safe. However, always remember to keep sites that you create and maintain free of sensitive data or private information unless your site includes password-protection for sensitive data.

The internet affords you exciting and potentially rewarding ways of representing yourself professionally. However, you will want to make sure that you don't leave yourself vulnerable to infringements on your intellectual property rights. For more on protecting your intellectual property, go to the Web workshop page on Copyright and Security Issues.

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IV. Integrating resources into your course site

Now that you're aware of the conceptual, intellectual, and legal issues that are involved in integrating additional and more advanced resources into your course site, you can start to look for the best way to enhance your site, through the addition of web exercises, the creation of original web activities for your course, or linking to valuable web resources related to your course content.

A. Evaluate web activities and resources

Earlier you reviewed some examples of how various courses integrate the web and web resources into coursework by adding online activities. You evaluated at least one web exercise or activity from the list of sites and have found one site that particularly succeeds or fails in using technology to achieve your course goals. Through this activity, you likely started thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of integrating such activities into your site and how to go about integration of web resources in the most effective manner.

In addition to course sites, many academic publishers now offer companion web sites for certain courses and textbooks. For a list of such sites, click here . The resources offered by publishers raise the same questions you might ask of any other web activity, but there are other issues to consider as well.

• Would the use of commercial (but still academic) resources pose any other questions about using a web activity?
  
  
• Would the availability of supplemental material online help you as a teacher in deciding which textbook to require for a course?
  
  
• Does using the resources offered by a publisher restrict your ability to bring other resources into the classroom? That is, would you find yourself limited to using supplemental materials only from that publisher?
  
  
• In pedagogical terms, it is useful to think about what aspects of a web-based activity make it desirable. Is simply using the computer enough to interest a student in the same type of research project that might traditionally be undertaken in a library?

By focusing on the interactivity of the web, instructors often must learn more complex technologies in order to create the most effective interactive exercises (if extant resources are not adequate). In any case, it is always wise to consider the web activity in terms of its usefulness and the pedagogical value added by translating a classroom, lab, or library-based activity into the digital realm.

B. Link to and/or create web activities

Now that you've learned how to create links on your course homepage, you may want to search for a web activity that you could link to your site. After asking yourself the above questions, decide whether or not you feel the activity would enhance your course. If it does, link the activity to your resources page with a short description of how your students should be using it. If not, think about designing and beginning to create your own web activity.

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