Where Do I Begin

Where Do I Begin?
10 Simple Steps to Putting Your Course Online

1. Prepare Yourself

Educate yourself. Read articles about distance education, web-based training, instructional design, technology education and online learning.
Practice using the WebStudy® software.CLICK HERE and follow the instructions to log in as a guest. Explore the program.
Take a training course in WebStudy or work through training materials your self with guided help from those already familiar with the program. There will be WebStudy training sessions available both on and off campus.
Locate and introduce yourself to the WebStudy administrator on campus. That is Lilia Juele, who can be reached by e-mail at ljuele@ccp.edu. Set up an appointment to discuss what you would like to do.
Ask your WebStudy coordinator to establish a Course site, user name and password. You will also need to have web space of the faculty server as well as an e-mail account.
Understand hardware and software specifications. make sure that your computer is configured (set up) with the correct requirements, such as a web browser.

2. Prepare Your Materials

Gather your course material and content in a single location. Set up a folder for the course materials on your computer and set up a physical folder for non-electronic materials that may need to be converted. Include items such as syllabus, handouts, slide shows, overheads, lecture notes, projects, assessments (exams and quizzes) and discussion topics.
Determine in what formats your materials exist. Take special note of items already in an electronic format such as Word documents, spreadsheets, etc.
Be prepared to accommodate different learning styles. Be sure that you have some graphics for visual learners and associated text to foster learning. Provide narration with factual material for verbal learners.
Identify measurable course objectives. These should incorporate materials both online and offline. Determine what core competencies and knowledge students will need to meet the course objectives.

3. Construct an Outline

Make an outline that matches each course component with an associated date, lecture materials, labs, assignments, projects, etc. This comprehensive outline will be useful when you are ready to construct an outline for your course online.

4. Determine How To Deliver Materials

Determine which materials should be delivered online and which items should be delivered offline. Select items that are relevant to course objectives and student learning experiences.
Prepare the materials for electronic delivery. This may include scanning graphics, creating HTML files or Word documents. Consult your WebStudy administrator Lilia Juele) and/or your instructional specialist (Don Friel) for advice.
Avoid delivering materials that will distract the student from the course objectives. Do not add irrelevant information to "fill up" your web site.

5. Build an Course Skeleton

Log in to your WebStudy course. Create the organizational structure of your course. This involves setting up "sessions" in the WebStudy online "syllabus" with which course materials (content and tasks) will be associated.
Either create a session for each item in your outline or mimic your syllabus structure. If neither of these approaches seems practical, contact your WebStudy administrator for more ideas.
Use the Administrate icon to enter information about your course, including when it begins, course summary, grading standards, etc. This information will automatically be reflected in the course proper under the About tag. You can optionally upload a photo of yourself (JPEG format. 50K or less is recommended. get help if you don’t know what you're doing here.)

6. Add personal Information

Click on the Personal icon and fill out the form. The contact information will automatically me made available under the About tab to students.
Also fill in private contact information and be sure to select "No, hide it" from the drop-down box. WebStudy can use this information to contact you or confirm that it is you who calls them should you require technical support.

7. Add Course Content

Course content is added in the WebStorium bookshelf. You can refer to your instructor's guide and training materials to do this. This is a 3-step process: filling out the description and identifying the media type, uploading the content file (or typing in plain text), and making it available as a "reading" to a course category.
After uploading your content materials, associate it with a syllabus session, but editing each syllabus session and selecting the content titles that will now appear in the scroll boxes.

8. Incorporate Other Course Components

Create at least one Forum. Post an introductory assignment. Ask each student to write a brief paragraph explaining who they are and why they are taking your course (for example). Ask students to read entries from other students.
Have students send you and a few other students internal WebStudy e-mails. This is just to be sure that they understand how to use this facility and as a warmup.
Add some external webpages (URLs) as "readings." This is also done through the WebStorium. You may want to structure an assignment for students to explore these sites as a "virtual fieldtrip" and write a brief report.
Discuss how to use other technology components for your course where it makes sense.

9. Create an Introductory Assignment.

Here's one idea. Ask each student to take the online self-assessment (ask your WebStudy administrator how to code the link) and ask students to report their scores back to you.
Also, ask them to complete their own personal information in WebStudy by clicking the Personal icon and filling in the form. (TIP: You will find that the students who fail to do these two simple tasks will generally not complete the course without a lot of prompting from you. They will probably not do the work even with prompting.)

10. Complete the Course

Login using your student login and check each link, proofreading descriptions. Test links, practice quizzes, etc. from the student perspective.
Have the Director of Distance Education review your course. You should have been working with both him and the instructional specialist during development to avoid having to redo components, so this should just be a quick review to look for flaws and get some suggestions for further enhancements that you may want to do in the future.
Make sure that you also have a public webpage with your generic syllabus and contact information that meets the College's Distance Education Standards. Your instructional specialist will help you do this.
Disseminate instructions to your students for accessing your WebStudy course after logins are created for them by your campus WebStudy Administrator. You will need to notify your WebStudy Administrator of any late adds to your course. (There should be few or none, but last minute adds after the setup period can and will be missed.)