FAQ for Internet and Hybrid Faculty
Resource Access and Administration
1. Does NIC use Blackboard or WebCT for its learning management system? Answer
2. I want to begin teaching online, or at least have some resources online for particular classes. What do I need to do to get started doing this? Answer
3. How do I get a WebCT account and how do I log into WebCT once I get the account? Answer
4. If I get my "stuff" together, may I have someone else "build" the actual online site I can use with students? Answer
5. May I use my home computer to work on my online site? Answer
6. I want to begin developing an online site for a course, but I don't want to use it right away. May I do this? Answer
7. Do I have to ask for course sites each term? Answer
8. I think I want a WebCT site for a singular purpose, giving exams online. May I do this? If so, may I do this for several classes (sections) from one site? Answer
9. I’d like to know more about what my teaching colleagues are doing online. May I have access to one of their course sites? Answer
10. Someone who teaches in my division has a “FrontPage” account and site. What is this and how do I get one? Answer
11. How do my students get access to my sites? Do I have to give them access or create accounts for them? Answer
12. How will students know my online course exists, when it starts, and how to access it? Answer
13. Are my students charged a fee for online access? Answer
14. I got a call from the Registrar asking me if student John Smith participated in my online course last fall. I didn’t keep “attendance” information for this online class, so can I get that information now? Answer
Archiving
15. How long are course sites available after a term officially ends? Answer
16. Does the college keep archives of course sites used in the past? Answer
17. Am I responsible for “backing up” my course site in case some emergency occurs? Answer
Training
18. I was told I need training before I can use WebCT. Why? Answer
19. What does training typically consist of? Answer
Instructional Design and Curriculum Development
20. I have "tons" of resource material I currently use with my conventional classes. May I get some help with this material? Answer
21. The textbook I'm using has an "e-pak" available. What is an "e-pak" and how do I get this to review? Answer
22. Are there good tools built into WebCT for creating media and other content? Answer
23. I'm very interested in using an online site to give exams to my "face-to-face" students, thus freeing up this in-class time for better things. What can I do and can you help? Answer
Course Site Standards
24. Do I need to follow any guidelines or standards when I create and use an online site with students? Answer
25. How do copyright laws apply to what want to use in my online course site? Answer
26. I have a student in one of my online classes that is severely sight impaired. How can he use an online site? Answer
Getting Help
27. If I get stuck, how do I get some help? Answer
A. NIC's learning management system is called MyNIC Courses and is hosted by ANGEL Learning.
A. Contact your division chair and indicate which courses and sections will need sites and a date when you intend to begin. The degree of online activity you plan will dictate if your course/section site will be an Internet (INT), Hybrid (HYB), or Web-Enhanced (WEBE) course. You will be notified when your sites are available to you and what training and other resources are available to help you prepare.
A. You may already have a MyNIC Courses account and not be aware of it. Try logging in with the same account ID you use for NICOnline, and use your date of birth in mmddyy format as the password. If you need an account, please email Tom Lyons, indicating your NICOnline ID. To log in to MyNIC Courses, to to: http://nic.angellearning.com
A. Yes, with a little lead time, usually at least a week, and with your willingness to review the work while it's in progress. See the "Instructional Design" area below for more detail. Remember that some training will be required for you to use and do basic maintenance of any site.
A. Yes! If you have a viable internet connection, you have access to MyNIC Courses.
A. Yes. Contact eLearning & Outreach directly for a "development" site when the site is not directly associated with a specifically scheduled course section.
A. No, all course sections have a companion, online site on MyNIC Courses. It is the responsibility of you and your division office to "tag" a course section as being INT, HYB, or WEBE.
A. Yes and no. Any instructional course section may have a WebCT site, but grouping or aggregating sections into one site is a practice that is discontinued beginning Spring 2007. Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis.
A. Yes! Contact the instructors whose sites interest you. Each has the authority to grant you access to any of their sites by adding you as a student or auditor. If you'd like to have higher level access to view specifics of the way resources were added or managed within the site, please have the instructors contact eLearning and Outreach and we will enable such access.
A. A "FrontPage site" is a part of the College's public internet services at www.nic.edu. Instructors and various departments may have and maintain "subwebs" that are part of this main web by contacting the NIC HelpDesk and making the request. FrontPage is often the software program used to author and organize information for each subweb, thus the common reference to these subwebs as FrontPage sites. FrontPage software is installed on most NIC computers. Training is available.
A. Students log in to WebCT in the same manner as faculty. Access to specific sites is based on registration and enrollment data that is entered into WebCT. In this way, faculty need not be concerned with creating student accounts or providing individual access. Faculty may deny specific students access to their site(s) via the site GradeBooks.
A. When a student logs in to WebCT, their Course List should contain links to all course section sites in which they are registered. Sometimes a time delay of up to 24 hours may occur before a site will be listed. Start dates are assumed to be the first day of the term unless otherwise indicated on the course schedule. Reminders to students of course start dates are made in various online locations, in literature distributed in the student union, and via multiple emails. These notices encourage students new to online instruction to participate in one of several orientation workshops held just before and after the first week of each term.
A. Yes, there is a flat fee charged to any student using one or more online sites.
A. Usually, no. It is an instructor's responsibility to keep records of student participation in case the Registrar, Business Office or Veteran's Affairs officers need this information. Online courses are no different from other courses in this respect. A "Reports and Tracking" feature is built into each WebCT site to summarize such information for the instructor, An instructor should routinely create such reports and store them offline.
A. One week after a course ends and grades are released to students via NICOnline. A site may be available to the instructor and specific students if a site needs to remain open for students to complete their work. It is the instructor's responsibility to notify eLearning and Outreach of such extensions and the specific students affected before the close date announced.
A. Yes. Archives are made in two forms: backups and templates. Backups are made routinely, about every week, and may be used to restore a course in an emergency. Templates are made by eLearning and Outreach at the end of a term. These templates may serve as the "master" on which other sites for later terms may be based. A course (site) designer may create a template from a "section" at any time as well, and all course instructors/designers have such rights and permissions.
A. No. Making backups of sections sites is resource intensive and must usually be done during "off peak" hours to maintain good services to users. Thus, it's left to support persons. Instructors may make templates of course content or export learning modules, assessments and other files at any time.
A. Unless you have previously demonstrated proficiency in using a course management system such as WebCT or Blackboard, your students will be at a great disadvantage. We team with faculty and support staff, individually and in groups, to provide thorough preparation for teaching online using a tested and effective online curriculum designed for NIC culture and course standards.
A. A learning management system like WebCT offers an instructor four genre of resources: communication, content presentation, student assessment, and course site management. Basic and extended training options in hybrid (workshop and online) form exist for each of these four areas. Contact eLearning and Outreach or your division chair for details and enrollment.
20. I have "tons" of resource material I currently use with my conventional classes. May I get some help using these resources online?
A. Yes! Contact us. We can assist faculty with preparing and organizing resources for student use. Service includes help in adapting templates to specific needs, template web pages, organizational strategies, application of tools, adopting and implementation of publishers' e-paks, interpretation of training materials, and other general assistance.
A. E-paks are professionally created online course site templates, or masters, and can be modified and augmented by the instructor. Many features also mean that it may take several hours or days to fully review their contents.
The process may vary slightly, but typically the instructor will make a request to review or adopt the e-pak. The instructor will be given access to the appropriate e-pak, it's important to indicate that NIC currently uses "Vista, version 3" as its learning management system. The rep will then make a phone call and you will get an email indicating when, where and how the e-pak will be available for download. Forward that message to tom_lyons@nic.edu and we will download and install the e-pak as a "template" available to you. You may review it in that form, or have it assigned to a practice section for further review.
If you choose to adopt the e-pak, it's usually necessary that you have students purchase special PIN access codes to gain first-time entry into your site that's based on an e-pak. In effect, it's another royalty payment to the publisher. Often these access codes come printed on a small cardboard insert bundled with textbooks, so be sure to have the bookstore order texts bundled with the access codes. Otherwise, students would have to purchase these codes online with a credit card. Prices vary from $10 to $40. On occasion, a textbook rep can make available to you an e-pak that doesn't require access codes, so be sure to ask about this option
WebCT has a few tools for creating content, however, its strengths lie in communication, organization and presentation. Consider using other tools for creating content when possible. eLearning and Outreach can advise you on appropriate tools and, in most cases, help you use them.
An online site will provide the instructor with numerous options for assessing student progress, ranging from informal surveys and self-tests to exams and quizzes. Online assessments may be taken by students from any internet connection (honor system) or from a supervised (proctored) location, such as the NIC Testing Center or a public library. eLearning and Outreach can help you through the process of creating and maintaining online assessments. Contact us.
Yes! Faculty-adopted "standards" reflect minimal best practices for content, instructor contact information, and navigation. Standards documentation may be found in the Faculty Cafe site on your MyWebCT course list.
Any law that applies to fair use in a conventional classroom applies to an online class. Because our online sites are password protected, limited access, they are not considered public forums.
At faculty request, we team with Disability Services and other support groups to provide strategies and resources for accommodation to special needs. The Center for Educational Access, an NIC department, can help with one or more suggestions to you and the student to maximize access and success in the class. Sight impaired students often receive "reader" assistants (both human and tech), and you can help by putting "alt" tags on photos that describe the images, and record audio segments that help explain difficult concepts. You may find there are many options for improving access that are readily available and often overlooked. eLearning and Outreach will help you create or implement solutions. Contact us.
For technical questions: Contact the Help Desk (208) 769-3280
For instructional design or best-practices: Call eLearning (208) 769-3436.