The schedule below is being revised continually. The most recent version can be found at www.nvcc.edu/home/wpegram. Material listed under "other resources" is material on the topic not covered in class and the student is not responsible for this material. Material will be moved into and out of this category as the course progresses. The chapters listed for Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours are those that correspond to the topics covered that session; those using another HTML book or an online reference may find it helpful to read similar material.

CTCH 603 - Schedule

In addition to the topic listed in the heading, most sessions will include instruction in specific technologies (HTML and HTML editors for the first part of the course).

SESSION 1: September 12, 2003 - Course Overview and Definition, Introductions

Tonight we will get to know each other and discuss what we want the course to be. This discussion will be continued in a webCT discussion board during the following week so that the course content can be determined prior to the last day to drop with no tuition liability (Tuesday, September 23).

Readings: Why Use Technology?

  1. Shirley Veenema and Howard Gardner "Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences", The American Prospect, Vol. 7, No. 29, November 1, 1996-December 1, 1996, available at www.prospect.org/print/V7/29/veenema-s.html
  2. "The Wizards behind the Screens: What are Online Teaching and Digital Degrees Telling Us about Learning" at www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/wizards01012003.html
  3. Karlyn Morissette "Exploring New Learning Technologies: An Interview with Wirth Professor Chris Dede", March 1, 2003 at www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/dede03012003.html

Assignments:

Submit resume and completed technology skills survey to instructor. Due Sept. 19

Other resources:

SESSION 2: September 13, 2003 - Course Management Systems

Today we will focus on learning webCT from both the point of a student and an instructor

Readings:

  1. Widmayer, Sharon "The Convergence of Teaching and Design in WebCT", Inventio, Fall 2000, Issue No. 2, Vol. 2, available at www.doit.gmu.edu/Archives/fall00/swidmayer.htm
  2. Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours, Chapter 1-2
  3. WebCT Workshop Guide, pp 1-11, 16-25

HTML Skills - We learned out to create a web page in Notepad, revise it, and do some simple text formatting
Software Skills - WebCT - Intro to WebCT, adding students to course, participating in discussion board, creating student homepages

Assignments:

  1. Participate in discussion on syllabus redesign in webCT discussion board. Due Sept. 22
  2. Create a home page for yourself in webCT with a photo of yourself (if convenient), your email address, 2-3 paragaphs of information about you (what areas you include are up to you), and use some HTML tags for formatting. This assignment has two goals: (a) Give you some experience with Blackboard and HTML, and (b) Provide some information to your classmates to help build community in the class. Due Sept 22
  3. You will need some place to post your web spaces that you do this semester. The easiest way to do this is to activate your Mason cluster account at http://mason.gmu.edu by clicking on the link "Obtaining Your Mason Account". On October 10, you will learn how to transfer material to this web space.

Other resources:

SESSION 3: September 13, 2003 - Finding Material on the World Wide Web

No class meeting for this topic. Search engines are relevant but not covered.

Assignment:

  1. Register for MERLOT and review one of their materials. You can choose from any area you like. Post your review on Merlot and in the class WebCT bulletin board about Merlot. Your post in WebCT will need to indicate the website you reviewed. Due Sept. 29.

Other resources:

SESSION 4: October 10, 2003 - Text Formatting, Links, File Transfer

HTML Skills - Text formatting (continued), creation of links
Software Skills - downloading and installing software, using WS_FTP LE

Reading:

  1. Teach Yourself, Chapters 3-7
  2. WebCT Workshop Guide, pp. 48-92
  3. FTP Instructions
  4. Default Documents and Directory Browsing

Assignments:

  1. Download WS_FTP LE, install it, and configure it at home or elsewhere for your Mason or other account. You can consult if you need help. In Notepad, create an home page with a link to an external site and a relative link to another page in your site. FTP the pages to your account. Email instructor your URL. When you due other work in this class, you will modify this home page to link to this work. Due October 21.
  2. Build a dummy course in webCT or Blackboard. This assignment has two goals:
    • Provide experience with designer view in WebCt or Blackboard
    • Provide understanding of the capabilities and limitations of webCT or Blackboard
    See Guidance on Course Management System Dummy course. Due December 12.

Other resources:

Web sites for learning HTML and related technologies:

SESSION 5: October 11, 2003 - Images and Associated Software

HTML Skills - Using images in web pages. Alignment of Text and Images
Software Skills - Using Fireworks to resize and crop images, exporting to web (setting quality or number of colors)

Reading:

  1. Teach Yourself, Chapters 8-11

Assignment:

1. In Notepad, put one or more images in your site. Specify appropriate attributes for the img tags. Create a thumbnail (an image link to a larger version of the picture). The thumbnail should be created by resizing the original image with a graphics program. FTP all files to your web site. Due October 21.

Other resources:

SESSION 6: October 11, 2003 - Tables, HTML Editors

HTML Skills - Using tables in web pages. Examples of uses of tables in web pages
Software Skills - Dreamweaver - text formatting, links, images, tables, possibly site management

Reading:

  1. Teach Yourself, Chapters 12-13.

Assignments:

  1. Post proposal for web project on webCT bulletin board under board for your name. Due October 26. The final website is due December 12. See Proposal and Web Site for detailed guidance.
  2. Post comments on other people's project proposal in webCT bulletin board. Due October 30.

Other resources:

SESSION 7: October 31, 2003 - (Conducted online as distance education class; we won't meet at GMU)

Conferencing Software

Reading:

  1. Teaching with Technology, Vignettes 7, 8, 17, 23, 28, 29, 40, 46 (all describe distance ed courses)
  2. WebCT Workshop Guide, pp. 26-47.

SESSION 8 and 9: November 1, 2003 - Conferencing Software, Distance Education, and Hybrid Courses

Distance Education

Hybrid courses:

Assignment (Never assigned):

Use an online learning resource to learn a technology skill and critically assess the online learning resource and suggest specific improvements. This assignments has four goals:

We will decide on the length of the online course. If very short, we may do a couple courses and a couple papers instead of one.

SESSION 10-12: November 21-22, 2003 - Student Presentations on Websites, webCT courses, and software, Course Evaluation - Guidance on Software Review

Instructor Presentations:

Reading:

Some examples of discipline-specific software are shown below.

Geometer's Sketchpad (dynamic visualization software)

(many of the links for Sketchpad are taken from Stanford University Professor Roy Pea's syllabus for Visualizations in Learning)

Other Math software

Statistical software available at GMU

Visualization Software

Language Software

to be added

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Material not dovered in course:

Technology for assessment & video

Microsoft Office Overview and Some Specific Features

Revised: October 10, 2004. Comments to William Pegram, wpegram@gmu.edu