UW Instructional Computing Services

An Overview of Course Websites

Last update:  11 May 2009, RKH

Websites in general for courses-- Where can I get a website for my class or research group?

Course websites ("course platforms")-- for posting materials and more, a web service closed to class members, with standard tools for teaching tasks such as materials distribution, assignment submission, quiz administrations, online discussion, grade display and computation, and so forth.  Instructors and student both reach the course website with a browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox; please pay attention to the support restrictions on operating systems and browsers.

WyoWeb-- portal: How does the WyoWeb portal affect my teaching?
  WyoWeb also has other services for faculty-- see WyoWeb Facilities For the Paperwork of Teaching.

Three platforms are available at UW for course websites (supplemental to classroom activities).

• Course Studio in WyoWeb-- file sharing and communications
• eCompanion-- structured units of materials, document sharing, student work, and other standard tools
• WyoSakai-- sophisticated or simple, materials, files, and links, student work, many tools and options

A full comparison (somewhat out-of-date) can be found at Comparison of UW's Online Course Platforms.  Each operates in a different administrative scenario, which generally does not affect instructors.  WyoSakai students create their own user accounts and join the worksites themselves, and eCompanion students have accounts automatically created, then added to course websites in conjunction per their class registration.  For all significant details and instructions, go to the Online Supplemental Courses website at http://www.uwyo.edu/onlnsupp, and then "Faculty Resources."

If you decide to use a course website--

• Do you have a plan for its use?  See the notes for "From the Ground Up."
• Do you want to use the simple choice, Course Studio?  See How to Set Up Course Studio
• Do you want to use a full-blown course platform?  Read the Faculty Resources page and submit the Course Request form.
  For how-to guidance, come to the "Introduction to Online Courses" workshop and peruse the online manuals, "Instructions for Standard Teaching Tasks."

Writing materials for course websites:  HTML is the underlying language; plain text with tags.

• Most course platforms will allow MS Office documents.
• Or you can "Save As..." HTML.
• Or you can type plain text, in many fields and edit boxes.

The Course Sites entry in WyoWeb can be changed with the EDIT button-- use that if you want to select a different course platform server, or some other external website, as the linked website for that course title.

Please maintain all of your course materials on your own systems.  A course website is just a temporary carrier.