Technology Enhanced Learning: Online Course Modules

The TEL Coordinating Committee has been working to facilitate the provision of a series of "à la carte" services/modules which can be activated and used individually by faculty members in their courses on an as needed basis, without the need to learn an entire web based course management tool such as WebCT.

Several services are now available or will be available shortly.

Now available: Discussion groups

Instructors can now use a stand alone discussion list as a part of any course, without the need to learn to use the WebCT online course management tool. If you just want to hold online discussions outside of class time, this more focussed service is quick to learn, easy to use and requires less management than the full version of WebCT. In fact, if you use a York template for your course website, you'll find that the online discussion tool looks much the same. You can link to the discussion tool directly from your course website. The discussion tool also includes a calendar function (see below) to inform students of important dates.

An online demonstration will be available on the FSC website in the near future. Meanwhile, If you'd like to see how the new discussion tool works or if you want to use the new discussion group tool in your course, contact the Faculty Support Centre staff at ext. 55800 or by email at faculty@yorku.ca for more information.

Coming this fall: Calendar function for course websites

Instructors will soon be able to add important reminders to their course websites via a calendar function. You input key dates, such as assignment due dates, into the calendar function for display at the appropriate time. In this way students can be aware of upcoming assignments, tests or other important deadlines in your course.

Now available: gradebook service
In development: grade book mechanism

The FSC currently provides instructors with an electronic gradebook for recording grades in their online courses. However, faculty are still required to transfer those grades to bubble sheets for final processing. The TEL Coordinating Committee is working to facilitate development of a grade book mechanism that will work in concert with the existing gradebook service to allow faculty to submit grades electronically from their course website.

For those who wish to use it, the grade book mechanism will eliminate manual transfer of grades from course websites to bubble sheets.

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