UW Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, Instructional Computing Services

From the Ground Up:  Course Materials to Course Website

Last Update:  8 May, 2009
R. Hill

What have you got?

Course Materials:

  • Written lectures
  • Exams and Homework
  • Assignments and Projects
  • Websites
  • Audio recordings
  • Books
  • Pictures and graphics
  • Group work
  • Guest Lecturers
 Note that some of these are one-way, whereas others require student input.

What do you want?

Teaching Goals:
  • Distribution of materials
  • Student discussion and collaboration
  • News, announcements, and references
  • Interactive student assignments
  • Document repository and archives
  • Maturation of student opinion through discourse
  • Submission of surveys by the public
  • Showing student work to the world
  • Grade computation and display
 Note that some of these are low-level mechanics whereas others rank high on Bloom's taxonomy.
Technology: You need a server with a URL and some file space with read/write privileges. Your students need Internet connections and browsers.  You and your students may need commercial software for editing web pages.  We will assume that you are using an online course platform, in particular, WyoSakai (but others would work as well), which provides all of these elements.

As an example, in addition to your own courses, we will use my imaginary course in Academic Regalia.  (No one is to infer that the University of Wyoming considers this worthy of academic credit.)  A mapping worksheet will help.

Further Considerations:

Practice
Facility with the course platform operations is a skill that you need to acquire in advance.  Please provide testbeds for your students, as well, such as discussions for the purpose of self-introduction, and exams for the purpose of testing familiarity with the syllabus.
Editing
Plain HTML is the underlying code, using tags in angle brackers, but online course platforms usually provide a rich-text WYSIWYG interface.
Access
An online course is (or can be) limited to the students themselves, with grades and assignment submissions and returns restricted to only the individual student concerned.  On some systems, you can arrange for outside experts to participate.
Users' Systems, Support, and Compatibility
Modern computers come with a browser installed, but advanced features, products, and scripts may be out of the range of many modest systems.  Note well the support restrictions given for your online course platform, and work within them.
Notation
Mathematical notation, symbols, and diagrams pose challenges, both on the authoring side and on the browsing side.  See this office for help.
Accessibility
Simplicity is the cardinal design principle for web pages.  Compliance with ADA 508 guidelines will yield a website that is cordial to not only disabled students but everyone else.

For a more detailed look at the alternative scenarios possible, please attend our workshop "How Supplemental Online Courses Can Enhance Your Teaching."