__ __ __ __ __ __ web's eye view 12-18-97 | | /| / /| | /| / /| | /| / / alan levine | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction |__/ |__/ |__/|__/ |__/|__/ http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/ ..............New bag of URLs.......http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/ ============================================================================== Last WEV by A1 -------------- We've warned you! This is the last time we'll be sending "web's eye view" via the A1 mailing list. To get your 1998 editions by internet e-mail, take a trip over to: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/list.html where you will find (hopefully) clear instructions. This is also the last mailing for 1997! H A P P Y H O L I D A Y W E B B I N G SMCC Web Site Wins an Award! ---------------------------- Here is a note recently received from Mary Long (SMC): The college's web site, managed by Donna Ransom, won the first place (gold) Medallion award, awarded by the National Council on Marketing and Public Relations, part of the American Community College Association. The awards were from District 6, which encompasses most of the Western states. Much work has been done to provide our schedule of courses, allow online registration, and promote the college in a positive manner to prospective students. The Web Development Committee, led by Mary Long, Donna Ransom, and me, has focused the last year on instructional programs and this year will focus on student services development of web information. Espiritu Charter School is a partnership with SMCC, whereby we have (are in process of) installing a 30 workstation computer lab for offering SMCC classes to the community as well as supplementing K12 technology instruction. This site will be operational by January 13. All stations will be equipped with instructional and productivity software and will have high speed internet access and direct access to district resources. You can see the awarded site at: http://www.smc.maricopa.edu/ Project for On-Line Instructional Support (POLIS) ------------------------------------------------- Billie Hughes (PC) shared this site developed at the University of Arizona. POLIS is both an on-line instructional resource for students and an on-line support tool for instructors. You can use POLIS to put up interactive lessons and other materials on the World Wide Web, which makes them available to your students through any of the various means they might have for connecting to the Internet. You can look at more information and examples at: http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/polis/demo/POLIS.cgi At PC, they have been using a similar product called"webCT", as we recently wrote in an article in the Labyrinth: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/labyforum/Fall97/laby3.html POLIS is another such system and has a bonus... it's free! Billie is working with the U of A folks to set up a demo session in the Spring. Stay tuned. Interactive Biology Web Pages at GWCC ------------------------------------- Jim Crimando (GWC) has created a wonderful set of Biological Sciences pages that include interactive tours of anatomy and physiology. Check it out at: http://www.gwc.maricopa.edu/class/bio201 Project ADEPT (Assessment of Distance Education Pedagogy and Technology) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The description of this project sounds interesting, but at first glance it looks like more attitudinal surveys. What do you think? During the Spring 1997 semester, Hal Schlais The (University of Wisconsin System Administration's specialist in Learning Technology Projects) and I are working on a project to assess what combination of technology/pedagogy/learner characteristics best enhances student satisfaction with distance education courses. In looking at students' level of satisfaction with distance education, we want to assess what factors contribute to that satisfaction; the extent to which delivery format affects whether they will be more or less likely continue to pursue higher education and be life-long learners; and how they will likely go about learning in the future. http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~tcreed/adept/ Virtual News ("because 'Virtual' means 'Almost') ------------------------------------------------ California Virtual University California colleges and universities are working together to create the a virtual university -- with courses, degree programs and other services. Note: This involves all of the california community colleges. http://www.virtualu.ca.gov/ A link from this site leads to an interesting tour of the online courses at Santa Rosa Junior College: http://online.santarosa.edu/catetour/ which reminds us that Santa Rosa hosts an annual conference on "Learning on the Net" in April 1998: http://online.santarosa.edu/conference The online tour uses RealAudio (streaming audio across the internet) so that you hear the voices of people from the college and embedded links in the real audio so that it automatically sends the viewer to another web page as the speaker talks. This is an available technology that is under-used. Look for more information about RealAudio (and RealVideo) at: http://www.real.com/ The best performance of RealAudio does require special ($) server software, but the latest version can also be transmitted via a normal web server (but does not "stream" as well) and you can download the free RealEncoder software for turning audio files into RealAudio format. There was recent word the Western Governor's Virtual University was ready to offer its first classes, but I could not find any information from their web site: http://www.westgov.org/smart/vu/vu.html NAU Web98 --------- Several PC faculty raved about NAU's conference on Teaching via the Web last year. Here is a description for this year's version, to be held in May 1998: After a new land is discovered and traversed by intrepid pioneers, the settlers gradually move in. While the pioneers are willing to endure hardship and to travel through the uncharted wilderness, settlers need well-marked trails and some sense of safety and order. On many campuses, pioneering faculty have struggled "to be there first" as they developed the first web-enhanced and web-based courses. As a result of their efforts, solid infrastructures, well-designed tools and readily accessible support are slowly developing and will make life easier for the settlers. NAU/web.98 will bring pioneering faculty and administrators together with the "settlers" to discuss such questions as "What are the elements of a good WEB course?" "How do I assess student learning?" "What institutional policies will have to change?" "How do we encourage more faculty to become involved?" "Is a virtual campus right for us?" "How do I combine the Web with my face-to-face classes?" http://star.ucc.nau.edu/~nauweb98/ Syllabus Publications -------------------- Syllabus is a free publication on Technology and Learning. You can sign up for a subscription and view their online resources at: http://www.syllabus.com/ They feature reviewed web sites (many of which I scavenge and forward) such as: Internet Site Offers Virtual Publishing 1stBooks is an Internet site that affords authors a means of inexpensively testing the market and self-publishing their works. The company structures their site as a "pay for service" library making it possible for authors to publish their work and still retain full legal ownership and rights. For less than $500, the company will digitize an author's book and publish it on the Web, along with a digital book jacket. The book jacket offers the prospective reader the same information as a traditional book jacket with a cover illustration, a summary of the book, and a biographical sketch of the author. The site also offers authors full-service accounting and record keeping as well as marketing, and customer tracking. Authors receive a commission or royalty of 40% of the selling price. http://www.1stbooks.com Engineering Animation Inc. announced a contract with McGraw-Hill-Companies Inc. to produce a series of 12 multimedia educational products. A leader in the development of 3D visualization products, EAI will use its technology to enhance educational textbooks in psychology, geology, history, and biology. EAI will reportedly deliver materials that incorporate interactive quizzes, state-of-the-art animation, and rotatable 3D graphics. http://www.eai.com New Online Forum for Writers Chadwyck-Healey has launched a new Web site that is dedicated to creative writing. The Writer-in-Residence offers users help with writing, the chance to discuss poetry over the Internet, and read and hear selected poems by a featured writer. Users can post comments to message boards or even submit poems for online publication and criticism as part of the Poetry Surgery. http://lion.chadwyck.com Owens Community College Web Master Receives International Kudos Jim Specht, Web Master for Owens Community College, is receiving international kudos for writing a computer software program, known as Lightning HTML Editor. The program, used to design Web pages, received a rating of eight out of 10 in PC Plus, an international computer magazine popular in Europe and Canada. http://www.owens.cc.oh.us/Lightning