Melanie Kroening showed some key features of WebCT 6.0, the version of WebCT that is expected to be used for all online classes beginning Fall, 2006. Some instructors will pilot WebCT 6.0 with their summer courses during summer sessions, 2006.

Melanie set up a demo course for participants to access at http://procyon.mc.maricopa.edu

For the appropriate username and password, contact Melanie at mkroening@mail.mc.maricopa.edu

Key features highlighted:

1. Assessment Tool: is how quizzes, surveys and self-tests (ungraded quizzes) are accessed; found on Navigation Bar and Course Content Tool (homepage)

Instructor has option of having the quiz be a pop-up or not. If choose not, students won't have problem with pop-up blockers keeping them out of the quiz.

There are two new types of quiz/exam questions available:

a. Fill-in-the-Blank as part of a series of statements or a paragraph

b. Jumbled Sentence - is like a fill-in-the-blank but students choose from a pull-down menu for the answer

You will be able to save questions in these formats within Respondus for uploading into WebCT 6.0.

2. Green Stars: appear in the Navigation bar when something new has been added since the last time you accessed the course

3. Discussion: has a second level of hierarchy now; can group discussions in a category

If post question in the course "description", it will be archived and loaded into a subsequent semester's course.

You can grade student posts and the grade can be automatically posted into the gradebook.

The HTML creator tool appears for students to create their post. You can insert hyperlinks into the post. Instructors can attach images but not students.

If want to see all messages at once (compiled), click on the box to the left of the names of the various discussion posts. Then click on the "Create Printable View" button at the bottom of the screen.

4. Assignments: replaces the Dropbox, Student Presentation tool, and Student Homepage tool

Student can type into the text area directly. Or they can create a document/assignment in Word and then copy and paste into the text box provided. They can send the text directly to the instructor without it being an attachment this way.

The instructor can publish some or all of the assignments for the class to see.

Group assignments can be done. Only students in the group have access to the discussion/chat sections for their group.

The instructor can choose to allow Multiple Submissions. The student can resubmit the assignment until the instructor posts a grade for the paper. This would encourage revision of early drafts before a deadline.

The student can see which assignments are in their Inbox (have been created but not sent yet), in their Submitted box, in the Graded box, or in the Published box.

Instructor's comments are visible to the student in both the gradebook and in the Assignments tool.

5. Gradebook: The name of the student in the gradebook is frozen, so you can see it as you scroll across the page.

6. Who's Online Tool: if instructor enables this tool, students can see classmates who are online at the same time they are

For more information and demos on WebCT 6.0, click on this link: http://www.webct.com/ce6

FAST Survey Tool (Free Assessment Summary Tool)

Aimee Guerin introduced faculty to an impressive free survey tool being used by the MCC Foreign Language department to for student evaluations of their online courses.

To create a survey for your students, begin by creating an account at http://www.getfast.ca/

You will receive an email with your password for accessing your account.

Click on the course name and use the link provided to add questions to your survey. You have various options of answer format to choose from, including using a Likert scale and a long answer (open-ended answer).

The maximum number of questions you can include in your survey is twenty.

If you choose the allow 1 student/1 survey option, you have to give each student their own password. However, this option prevents students from submitting the survey more than once.

Use the option to change the password for your students to something easy for them to remember, such as your last name.

The tool gives you the appropriate URL that your students will use to access the survey.

You can download student results as an Excel file. Use the Data menu on the toolbar to select "Refresh". Input the password you gave your students for accessing the survey and click "OK". The data from the survey will be populated into your Excel spreadsheet. Students are anonymous.

Aimee creates one survey for all faculty who teach online foreign language courses. Each instructor then creates another course using the same questions that Aimee used (by adding a course). Each instructor gives their students a different password (not the one Aimee uses) for accessing their class survey.

Faculty Development Consultant

Center for Teaching and Learning

Mesa Community College

1833 W. Southern Avenue

phone: (480) 461-7703