poster -
6 Navigating the WebCT Environment: a Self-paced Student Tutorial
Deborah
Mateik, University of Maryland
Faculty at the University of Maryland are being
trained to use WebCT (an on-line learning environment) as an adjunct to their
teaching. They use a variety of tools within the environment, including
calendars, bulletin boards, chat rooms, file transfer mechanisms, on-line
quizzing and grade display.
Courses currently using components of WebCT span a
wide range of disciplines and students in those courses bring with them a
similarly broad range of computer skills. A primary concern for faculty and
students experiencing teaching and learning in on-line environments such as
WebCT is that the tool not drive the progress of the course and that it not be
a divisive factor in student success in mastering course content. Additionally,
faculty do not want to waste precious in-class or on-line contact hours on
teaching students how to use WebCT's tools.
To that end, the University of Maryland's Technology
Enhanced Learning group has developed a tutorial within the WebCT environment
itself that walks students through uses of the various tools available via a
series of interactive exercises. Students can survey the entire environment, or
just those tools they will be required to use in a specific class. This poster
session will demonstrate the on-line tutorial that has been developed this
semester and that will be promoted for use among WebCT student users starting
this summer.
http://www.courses.umd.edu/public/WCTLEARN/index.html