News Murdoch WebCT Newsletter

WebCT Newsletter - January 2006

A few reminders as you prepare for your teaching in semester 1:

As you prepare for semester 1 we would like to notify you about some changes and also remind you about preparing your WebCT unit for teaching.

• Requesting a WebCT unit
• End of Teaching Period
• Preparing your WebCT unit for teaching
• Respondus
• Unwanted WebCT units
• Enhancing use of WebCT

Requesting a WebCT unit

Each unit you want to run on WebCT in an coming teaching period must be requested online from the WebCT login page at http://online.murdoch.edu to ensure it will be available for students. After specifying the unit code and teaching period you can choose to have a new WebCT unit created or use an existing unit. You will also need to select all the student cohorts which will access the WebCT unit.

End of Teaching Period

Once a student’s final grade for a unit has been entered into Callista the student will be unable to access the WebCT unit. Thus, units will remain available to students who have deferred or supplementary exams. When all students have a complete grade the unit will be backed up and a copy held by TLC.

Preparing your WebCT unit for teaching

If there are items in the template which you are not using (eg link to Lecture Material) it is best to hide them so that students don’t see them. The links need to be hidden on both the Home Page and the Course Menu.

To hide tools/items on the Home Page

• Select tool/icon
• Select Hide from the Action Menu

To hide an item on the Course Menu

• Select Course settings
• Select Edit Course Menu
• Select item to hide
• Select Hide link

If you used iLecture in a previous teaching period and are not using it in the current period, hide the iLecture link on your unit's Home Page so students won't try to access non-existent recordings.

Are you using a WebCT unit from a previous teaching period?

If yes, then some 'spring cleaning' of the unit is needed.

1. Remove the previous student data- reset the unit
2. Delete columns in the student database which are not needed
3. Delete files in the My-Files area which are no longer needed

Respondus

We have a 12 month licence for the program Respondus which can be used for creating and managing quizzes. You can create the questions in Word, and Respondus will create the quiz and publish it  directly to your WebCT unit.

If you would like more information please contact Rhondda Tilbrook

Unwanted WebCT Units

Are there old units listed on your MyWebCT page which are no longer needed?

Email webct@murdoch.edu.au listing the units which you no longer need to access.

Enhancing use of WebCT

The Library has provided TLC with a list of units with items on eReserve or ECMS for semester 1 2006. We are updating the ECMS link from the WebCT home page to go directly to a unit’s entry on eReserve. This will make eReserve more accessible for students.

Here are a few suggestions for enhancing the students’ experience of WebCT:

1. Use the Calendar tool to remind students of important dates and provide links to documents
   eg an entry can be made for an assignment due date and a link made to the assignment details in the Unit Information section.

2. Use My Grades tool to release the following to individual students:
   • marks
   • tutorial / seminar groups
     
3. The Self Test tool can be set up with multiple choice or true/false questions so students can check their understanding. Feedback can be provided with the answers to explain the answer and enhance the students’ learning
   
4. In the Discussion tool:
   • Create a topic “Messages from Coordinator” and lock the topic so important messages do not ‘get lost’.
   • Create topics for different subjects – either content related (eg for each tutorial topic during the teaching period) or administration (eg different tutorial times)
     
5. Use the Presentation tool to:
   • allocate students to groups
   • set up a private Discussion topic for each group
   • provide each group with a different project topic
   • enable students to upload their work to WebCT and make it accessible to other students
     
6. Use the Survey tool to collect data from students  eg their preferred tutorial time or feedback on some aspect of the unit
   
7. The TLC has developed a self test module which displays a list of statements to students.
   A student selects the options which meet a criterion eg Which of these statements is incorrect.
   The student can then click a Feedback button and a window containing correct options and feedback is displayed.

Use of this module can help a student check their knowledge and understanding.

If you would like more information about any of these enhancements please contact webct@murdoch.edu.au or look for the workshops which cover these tools.