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 Faculty Spotlight
Several Faculty at Columbia
State continue to find
innovative, effective, and creative ways to use technology to deliver course
content, engage students, and facilitate active learning. The FITT center will
feature those instructors in our “Spotlight” section. This feature will inform
the campus community of ways technology is used, inspire other faculty to use
technology, generate discussion, and demonstrate how technology can enhance and
enrich instruction, both in and out of the classroom.
Spotlight
on… Ed Wilson
Not only does Ed Wilson use technology for
Internet courses (RODP), Ed also utilizes technology in his on-ground classes.
Ed started out using an external web site
for his courses where he posts his schedule, notes, syllabi, course related links, frequently
asked questions, and tips for all his classes
Ed still uses his web site but has since
enhanced his on-ground courses using WebCT. WebCT is a separately maintained
web site at the college available to all faculty. Ed provides a link on his web
site to the WebCT site. Students then login to the site using the same
username/password as they do for login to campus computers.
Several student and faculty tools are
available in WebCT. He uses the email tool for communication with his students. Students can
email him, or each other, inside WebCT without having to remember someone@yahoo.com
or Imateapotlover@hotmail.com. A side benefit of email is that some students
have used it to attach assignment documents to their email accounts at CSCC.
They can then access the WebCT web site
from home, check their email account and download the documents to their
computers at home.
The quiz/exam tool is another WebCT feature
that he utilizes for his classes.
Ed creates timed quizzes/exams with the auto grade option enabled so that
students can see their grade immediately as well as explanations
and feedback on answers. Since the quizzes/exams are online on the web site,
students can take them anywhere they
have Internet access. Finals are given using WebCT while students are in
class.
WebCT allows you to develop an exam from a
group (or pool) of questions and randomize the question order. Students can
view statistics for themselves and for the entire class. Ed uses the statistics
option as an instructional tool to see which areas students are having a hard
time understanding. For example,
statistics are shown for how many students missed each question so that he can
concentrate on that particular subject area.
Ed is also using the grades tool in WebCT so
that students can see their assignment grades, quiz grades, exam grades,
attendance and current grade average at any time during the semester. This tool
is available without having to keep a separate grade book file in Excel.
Formulas can be entered directly into WebCT for grade calculations. Grades can
also be downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet if needed.
The discussion board and chat tools are used
for online collaboration. These tools are built-in to WebCT. If you were
creating your own web site in FrontPage, for example, you would have to create a
special discussion web site. The discussion board and chat tools allow students
to have asynchronous (or any time, any place learning which takes place online
without regard to location or time) and synchronous meetings where they share
data by attaching files in discussion group and/or email.
What is on Ed’s agenda next? e-Packs…
WebCT has another tool called a “Content Module” which can consist of a number
of pages of content such as lecture notes, assignments, charts, tables and
quizzes. e-Packs (not to be confused with e-Books) are course content developed
by content partners (for example,
textbook publishers) and designed for use with WebCT. WebCT alone offers over
1,500 e-Packs in more than 50 subject areas. Some book publishers offer these
supplemental materials with their books for FREE and some charge the student
(not the instructor) an access fee. Loading the e-Packs into the course is very
simple and the instructor can modify content as needed.
So, what does Ed Wilson think about using
technology in the classroom?
“Technology should not be used for the sake
of technology. It should be used to
enhance, improve, and benefit learning and instruction. Information on my web
site is supplemental to my courses, and classroom attendance is still mandatory
for my campus classes. Tools such as WebCT, the World Wide Web, and computer
software and hardware in general have benefited my students and me by giving us
access to information in ways that would have been unheard of just a few years
ago. We are exposed to new information a lot faster now. However, we must not
lose sight of the fact that nothing beats the good old-fashioned classroom
face-to-face contact.”
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