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Ann Luck, Senior Instructional Designer, Dutton Institute (revised 19 October, 2006 )
This document is designed to serve as a checklist for EMS faculty and teaching assistants who teach online courses that are delivered through the University's course management system, ANGEL.
NOTE: You may want to print this document each semester to serve as a checklist. (The red check marks will appear as check boxes on your printout!)
The information below is divided into the following time frames:
By default, a new course section is "disabled," meaning that registered students will not be able to see it when they log in to ANGEL. As the instructor of record, you are responsible for "enabling" your course so students can access it (unless other arrangements have been made).
Resident instruction students will automatically be given access to your course as they register. If you have enabled your course but there are materials you do not want students to see, we suggest "hiding" those.
World Campus students will be added to your course by the World Campus Help Desk one week before the course begins (unless other arrangements have been made.) Please do NOT add or delete students from your course, or change the access rights of any user, without first checking with your Dutton Institute instructional designer or World Campus Help Desk.
FOR WORLD CAMPUS COURSES WITH CDs: If you need to revise
your course CD, the World Campus needs the new master CD no later than 8 weeks
before the new course begins. That enables their bookstore, MBS Direct, to
have the revised CD on the shelves on time.
Import the copy of your previous offering into the new ANGEL
section. This step is necessary only if you have taught this course in ANGEL
previously and want to use the same course again. And it assumes you have
previously exported a copy of your old course! If you don't have a
copy of your previous ANGEL offering, see the "End of Course" section of this
document, below.
Important: Before you import the copy of your previous offering into the new ANGEL section, you will need to capture the number located in the General Course Settings/Keywords field. To get to that number:
- Enter your current ANGEL course section
- Click on the "Tools" tab
- Scroll down to “General Course Settings”
- Write down the number that is in the “Keywords” field.
When you go into your new course section (after importing the old section) you will need to enter that number in the “Keywords” field (replacing the other number that is there).
Double-check the "new" course to make sure everything is in place!
Make sure the default tab setting (the page where students "land" when they
enter the course) is set to "Syllabus" AND that the announcements page
is activated.
EXAMPLE: Most course syllabus URLs
that are hosted on our server look like this:
http://www.e-education.psu.edu/courses/geog5121/syllabus.shtml
Not sure what your syllabus URL is? Try substituting your course ID for
"geog512" in this example.
Finalize your course content revisions (if any). Your course
content (except for quizzes and surveys) resides on the Dutton Institute server,
not in ANGEL (we just link to it from ANGEL).
Update your course syllabus. Your course syllabus is located
on the Dutton Institute server, not in ANGEL (we just link to it from ANGEL).
It typically called "syllabus.shtml."
NOTE: For most World Campus courses, there is a second document on the server called "syllabus_prospective.shtml" - that document contains a version of your syllabus that is viewable to prospective students (from the World Campus Web site), in order to give them an idea of what your course will be like. That version of the syllabus has been modified to enable it to remain static from semester to semester (e.g., it contains no dates).
Update your course calendar
Update any ANGEL-specific links within your course. In their
course content, some faculty like to provide direct links to items like ANGEL
message boards. Doing so is a great strategy, enabling students to quickly
and easily participate in specific discussions. However, there is a "maintenance"
drawback--the links are section-specific and will no longer work when a new
copy of the course is created. So you will need to determine the new URL(s)
for your message board(s) and update the links in your course each time the
course is offered.
Standard practice for World Campus courses is to give students access to the course one week before it officially begins. This period of time is referred to as "Orientation Week." It enables distance learners to try out their Access Accounts and to familiarize themselves with the course environment so that they will be comfortable and ready to learn on the first day of class.
Most of our courses include a document, linked to the syllabus, titled "New? Start Here!" which takes students through a course site orientation that can be completed during Orientation Week.
EXAMPLE: See the syllabus for PNG 511, http://www.e-education.psu.edu/courses/png511/syllabus.shtml
If you wish to have lessons hidden from students until a certain point
in the course, use the "start date" setting so that the lesson will
automatically be revealed on a certain date/time.
(Some faculty like to hide their lessons so that students won't work
ahead. By setting a start date in ANGEL, you are telling the system when to
automatically unhide a given folder or individual item in your "Lessons"
area.)
"Enable" your course so students can see it (if you have
not already done so)
Post a "welcome" message to the course announcements area.
This is what your students will see when they log in. There are a few things
we recommend that you mention in your initial announcement (see example below):
If you imported your course contents from a previous ANGEL section, your announcements will have been imported, too. Simply follow these steps to update the dates:
To add a new announcement:
EXAMPLE:
Welcome to the PNG 511 "Orientation Week!" Please begin by reviewing our course syllabus, located under the Syllabus tab, above. Be sure to click on the "New? Start Here!" button, located on the course syllabus, to begin the REQUIRED course orientation.
This course is 10 weeks in length, with an orientation week preceding the official start of the course.
Right now you are using Penn State's course management system, ANGEL. On your ANGEL Profile page (the screen you see when you first log in) you have the option of being alerted to any new items that have been added to your courses--including announcements, message board postings, and e-mail messages--by turning on the "My Announcements" and "What's New" alerts. We recommend that you turn on these alerts to ensure you don't miss anything! Complete directions for doing so are included in your course orientation.
Reminder for World Campus Students: Your Penn State Access Account is only valid for one year from the start of your first course in the program. Should you need longer to complete the program, you will be required to purchase additional time at a prorated fee. Contact World Campus Student Services if you have any questions or concerns regarding your Penn State Access Account - See http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/home/studserv/ for contact information.
Most courses begin by asking students to post a self-introduction to a course message board, and many include a student survey that students are asked to complete at the beginning of the course. (The latter typically takes the form of an ANGEL survey.)
Review the personal introductions students post to the course
message board and respond to each, or to the entire class in a single note,
as a way of welcome.
Review the course's student survey to get a better feel for
who your students are and what they are bringing to the learning experience.
Post a note to the Course Introduction message board that
summarizes for the class what you've learned about the class make-up (from
the Student Survey) and addressing their course expectations (e.g. "Several
of you stated that you hoped to learn more about...in this course. While we
won't be covering that specifically, we will address the more general issue
of...")
Review the ANGEL "Login Report" to see who has NOT yet logged
in to the course. To access the Login Report:
How often you check the course is an individual decision, but you should let your students know, up front, how often they can expect to hear from you. Checking in at least once each business day and once over the weekend is a good way to keep in touch and to keep the e-mail in your inbox from piling too high!
Check the course message boards for new items needing your
attention
Check your course e-mail for new messages needing your attention
NOTE: You can easily see if you have new messages or e-mail when you log in to ANGEL by activating the "What's New" tool:
Once a week (typically on the same day of the week that the course began on) we recommend that you...
Post a note to the course announcements area, telling students
what you will be covering in the coming week and reminding them of any due
dates
Post any new due dates to the course calendar
Reveal the next lesson (if course is revealed sequentially)
Grade assignments and give students feedback by e-mail or fax
The course includes an electronic grade report, but currently that tool only
records ANGEL quiz/survey results. (Students will not be able to see other
students' grades, only their own.) So grades, along with detailed feedback
on assignments, should be shared with students by private e-mail or fax. IF you should choose to post grades "publicly" in ANGEL, be sure that ONLY each student's PSU 9-digit ID is used for identification. No names, Access Account IDs, or social security numbers can be displayed.
TIP: If you have a dropbox in ANGEL with many submissions, and you'd like to download all submissions at one time so you can view them offline, here are the steps to follow:
The manner in which the file is downloaded varies by browser and platform and the ZIP utility used to open the files. You need a program that will unZIP the downloaded file. Folders from the ZIP file are named according to internal ANGEL database rules, so expect to see some funky folder names! NOTE: This procedure does NOT work on the Macintosh Safari browser. We suggest you use Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox instead.
You cannot grade the submissions offline. You have to be in the ANGEL dropbox to do so.
Do NOT try to upload anything to the Associated File Manager. ANGEL will not know what to do with an uploaded file, and you'll then have extra, invisible "garbage" files attached to the course. If you have a file you want to attach as a Feedback File to a submission, use the regular dropbox grading screen to upload and attach it.
Consider holding online office hours
Giving your students a chance to communicate with you in real-time can help
build strong relationships and motivate students. ANGEL courses can include
chat rooms where you can have synchronous, text-based discussions with your
students. Some faculty opt to hold weekly office hours in a chat room, letting
students know in advance when they will be available in the chat room (e.g.,
"Wednesdays from 10:00-11:00 a.m., EST) and inviting them to "stop
by." Yes, the telephone works, too, but sometimes a chat room is a less
intimidating way to communicate with one's professor! To add a chat room:
A great way to see how your course is going, from the students' perspective, is to gather mid-course feedback from your students. You can do this a number of ways, from creating a "survey" in ANGEL where you ask specific questions (a member of the Dutton Institute staff can assist with this!) to using Penn State's "Student Evaluation of Educational Quality" (SEEQ). The latter is administered by the Schreyer Institute and can be given to your students online (you would simply provide them with a URL once you set up the SEEQ with the Schreyer Institute). See more information at http://www.psu.edu/celt/SEEQ.html.
GIS Faculty: Please send a registration reminder to your students at mid-course: "Registration for most courses begins three months from the start of the course. Given the limited number of seats available in our courses, early registration is strongly encouraged. MGIS students are allowed into the courses first; then, if space is available, other students can register."
Collect End-of-Course feedback
Gathering feedback from your students at the end of your course can help you
to improve their experiences next time. In addition to the SRTE that is required
for undergraduate courses (and available for graduate courses, too), consider
what YOU are interested in learning about! (Examples are available - contact
a member of the Dutton Institute staff for more information.)
NOTE: For most World Campus courses, the World Campus requires the inclusion of a World Campus End-of-Course Survey. If applicable to your course, a link to that instrument will have been included during course development. (Please do not remove that link!)
Post an end-of-course announcement as a wrap-up to the course.
EXAMPLE: I hope that you will be able to find about 15 minutes to complete our Course Evaluation Survey. We rely upon your anonymous feedback to guide our continuing efforts to make this course worth the time and money you (and in many cases, your employers) invest. Whether your feelings about the course are positive, negative, or mixed, please take a few minutes to let us know. A link to the Course Evaluation Survey appears under the Lessons tab, just after the Final Exam folder.
EXAMPLE: Your Penn State Access Account is only valid for one year from the start of your first course in the program. Should you need longer to complete the program, you will be required to purchase additional time at a prorated fee.
Report final grades and feedback to students individually
by private e-mail.
FOR WORLD CAMPUS STUDENTS ONLY - Complete and submit World
Campus course rosters.
* NEW - DECEMBER 2004* You can now access your World Campus course roster(s) electronically through the World Campus Help Desk Customer Service Management database (AKA Clockwork). Please follow the steps listed below:
Then click on the link that says: "Click here for printer Friendly version with empty Grade Column"
Now print that page and fill in the grade column and send the grade report to your Student Services Program Staff Assistant.
If you have any problems or need additional information, please contact the World Campus Help Desk at 1-800-252-3592 (select option 4) or 865-0047. They can also be reached by e-mail at wdtechsupport@psu.edu or online at http://tech.worldcampus.psu.edu/.
The electronic roster replaces the print roster that you previously received from Student Services staff. Student Services will maintain this electronic roster and you should have more up to date information when students drop/add a course. Unfortunately, there is still some manual intervention to keep this roster current. If you have a concern regarding a student in your course, please contact your Student Services Representative at 800-252-3592 or email psuwd@psu.edu.
Export a copy of your course (to use for next offering).
To export...