Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:49:44 -0500
To Web-Walkers list:
Summary of December 18 Web-Walkers meeting on Simple Start Program
The next Web-Walkers meeting will be on Intranets -- Wednesday, January 22, 3:00, 209 Manning.
Kathy Thomas and Bob Henshaw described and demonstrated some of the
tools and templates being used in ATN's Simple Start Program
(http://www.unc.edu/courses/ssp/), a program designed to facilitate the
instructional use of Internet technologies.
Approximately 70 faculty members participated in Simple Start last semester.
Bob and Kathy expect nearly twice as many for the Spring semester.
Bob and Kathy said that instructors find learning to use the Internet is
the easiest part; learning to teach with it effectively is more difficult
and requires time and experimentation. They encourage instructors to
start now, keep it simple, get their hands dirty, manage theirs and
students' expectations, and ask for help. There are about 10-15
Information and Library Science students who serve as consultants for
instructors who need individualized assistance. Some departments hire
students to provide onsite help.
Information and Library Science students Sai Balu and Lisa Crenshaw have
developed tools for this program. The tools (see
http://www.unc.edu/courses/ssp/tools.html) include:
The tools are used to build html pages, which can be put on other servers.
Some of the tools are being used in the Intellectural Climate pages (at
http://www.unc.edu/campus/sigs/icc/classroom.htm).
Use of Internet technologies in courses has met with some student
resistance. Only about 1/2 the freshmen are Internet savy. The other half
were hitting the ATN Help Desk pretty hard. Simple Start now offers
in-class student orientation sessions and handouts for instructors who
are interested.
Another problem has been that computers in the labs tend to be very busy
and the students sometimes have to wait in line.
Students have experienced some problems signing up for lists. ATN plans
to facilitate the creation of lists for classes from the class rolls
database.
Instructors generally experience the most problems when they are uploading
files. There is good ATN documentation available on that process, and
Simple Start consultants are also available to assist.
New Chalk, a bi-weekly newsletter (http://www.unc.edu/courses/newchalk/)
focuses on real, practical examples of how instructors use the new
technology in their teaching.
Someone pointed out that the discussion forums do NOT require the
participants to have e-mail addresses.
Roger Akers talked briefly about a project he is working on that will make
it easy to upload and download papers. The papers can be uploaded from any
word processor to the web and then download to any word processor. This
should make it easy to mark up and comment on papers.
Attendees
--------------------------------------------------------------
Judy Hallman (judy_hallman@unc.edu, http://www.unc.edu/~hallman/)
From: Judy Hallman <hallman@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
To: Web-Walkers
Subject: Summary of December 18 Web-Walkers meeting
~~~~~~~~~
Roger Akers, ATN, akers@unc.edu
Alexander Belopolsky, Physics, belopols@physics.unc.edu
Tom Black, Univ. Registrar, tom_black@unc.edu
Tom Bowers, JOMC, tbowers@email.unc.edu
John Cook, OIS, SOM, jcook@med.unc.edu
Elizabeth A. Evans, Carolina Pop Ctr, evans@unc.edu
Judy Hallman, ATN, judy_hallman@unc.edu
Bob Henshaw, ATN, hensr@ils.unc.edu
Barry Hyland, Pharmacy, barry_hyland@unc.edu
Terry Kale, IOG, kale.iog@mhs.unc.edu
Melissa Liles, JOMC/Univ. Registrar, liles@regweb.unc.edu
Bob Stepno, JOMC, rbstepno@email.unc.edu
Kathy Thomas, ATN, kathy_thomas@unc.edu
Trish Towne, OIS, trish@med.unc.edu
Loren Watterson, CPC, loren_watterson@unc.edu
Campus-Wide Information Systems Manager, UNC-Chapel Hill