a2a deadline reminder email went out to all designers this morning.... (note to self: we need to stop calling the system WebCT!)
--
To ensure that your students have access to your WebCT site from the first day of semester you will need to complete preparation of your site and submit an Application to Activate by June 27th, 2007.
Would you believe we've already started getting a2as for Semester 2 sites? Not many, but they're starting.
So-- the a2a deadline for Sem 2 sites is a month before lectures start:
Monday 25th June, 2007
Remember, if you get it in earlier than that, your site will be checked & ready well before start of semester. :)
Interested in recording a narrated slideshow of your lecture while you give it? Facilities Management has put Camtasia software in many of the lecture threatre computers. If you're using an MS Powerpoint slideshow for your lecture, you can launch this software and it will record your narration and slideshow as you lecture, then give you an AVI movie file at the end. You can then upload the movie to your WebCT or other teaching site and allow your students to download your lecture and relive the happy hours you've spent together as they revise (or catch up on the lectures they missed).
Read on for more info, a list of eqipped theatres, and details about our WebCT site "Using Multimedia in Online Teaching & Learning".
ce6.1 migration checklist (for sites migrated from ce4.1)
I have made a checklist for our team to use when checking webct ce 4.1 sites migrated to ce6.1:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/webct/form/ce6upgrade/ce6-migration-checklist.html
It ain't perfect, but it highlights the issues we suspect we're going to find in many of the sites we need to migrate.
WebCT Wishlist: selective release in all areas
In WebCT ce 4, "content module" (henceforth CM) pages are often used to present lecture materials. This means the files are presented as a simple hierarchicial list.
Another one for my webct wishlist: better site notification / visibility for students.
One of our most common student enquiries at this time of year (start of semester) is "Where are my sites?". Students often expect that there will be a site in WebCT for each of the units of study they're enrolled in. This isn't currently the case.
webct wishlist: persistent student records
Another thing missing from WebCT 4.1 is persistent student records. E.g.: A student can't make a homepage in one course and use it in another course (unless they make another copy in the second course, but that's not the same thing at all), or use it the following semester. Because courses get archived, a student can't check back on their previous material, work, posts or marks within the system-- even across semesters.
wct wishlist (possibly to be fulfilled with upcoming upg to ce 6.1)
includes
heterogeneous content modules
Dear Rebecca,
We are currently experiencing technical problems with our development server.
We anticipate that it will be back online by 5pm this afternoon.
The live server and student access are not affected by these technical problems.
Kind regards,
The WebCT Helpdesk
And the 9 new faculties announced are...
• Faculty 1: Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Dentistry
• Faculty 2: Science, Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Veterinary Sciences
• Faculty 3: Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
• Faculty 4: Conservatorium, Sydney College of the Arts, plus University Theatres, exhibition spaces and public Museums
• Faculty of Economics and Business, including the Graduate School of Government
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Education and Social Work
Today VC's All-Staff Forum was a Q&A with Big Gav.
He didn't actually announce in his invitation what the Forum was about (which is a bit dodgy, really, if you're looking to really communicate with people), but of course it was about the current massive Faculty & HR Restructure.
