Volume 29 - Number 15 - Thursday, April 24, 1997


Mastering your own web page

by Alison Ramsey
Seminar instructor Herong Yang from the Computing Centre

Professors who know enough to browse the World Wide Web can have their own web pages up and running faster than it takes to correct a sheaf of term papers.

A free seminar called "Creating a Course Web Page" is being offered by the McGill Computing Centre, the Instructional Communications Centre (ICC) and the Centre for University Teaching and Learning (CUTL).

"It's a major enhancement to the learning experience," says Sander Wasser of the Computing Centre. "If someone misses a class because they're sick, they can find their homework assignment on the web. There are lots of uses."

In the first of two three-hour sessions, professors are given a template for a course web site and are taught basic skills to modify the design to suit their needs. They are asked to insert their course material before the second session the next morning.

During the second session, the teachers are assisted in polishing their web pages and any questions are answered. At the end, the completed pages are thrown up on the web.

The session is an offshoot of "The Course Outline Project" that began a year ago. In the project, three professors at a time are taught to design their own web page in about 30 hours of instruction. It is a step-by-step, thorough process that not everyone requires. When professors with basic computer skills started asking if there was a faster way, the centres launched the seminar.

"This one's for do-it-yourselfers," says Gerry Leclerc of ICC.

Microbiology Professor Eddie Chan attended the first seminar, which took place in March. "I'm not high-tech," says Chan, "but I do use computers for work."

He wanted to bolster resources for students, especially those in his class of 300, where individual attention is at a premium. His web page--like most--comprises data currently in the Course Calendar, an outline of course content, his expectations and the way he evaluates students, a reading list and his e-mail address for students who have questions.

"I'm also putting in examples of old test questions," he said, "so they don't have to bug me for old exams."

The seminar not only helps create web pages on the spot, it tells professors what is required to maintain the site. Some exercises within the seminar have unexpected benefits.

"On the second day, when they talk about what constitutes a good course outline," says Leclerc, "they do a self-evaluation to ensure that their web site emphasizes what is stressed in class."

"It leads to an inspection of their course materials," says Wasser, "which is something that a lot of professors want to do but don't have the time to."

A second seminar, planned for May 5 and 6, was advertised by the Computing Centre at 4 p.m. last Thursday. By 9:30 the next morning so many requests had come in that two more sessions were added. The tentative dates are May 13 at Macdonald Campus and May 14 and 15 downtown.

"There's a real interest in certain quarters," says Leclerc. "But there's an even larger group that we're not reaching because they're technologically afraid, or they realize it will consume a fair amount of time" to maintain the web page.

Maintenance depends on the complexity of the page and the nature of the course, and whether the professor teaches in a field of rapid changes, he adds.

For now, seminars are free because the three centres are volunteering their employees' time. A request for funding as of June 1 has been made. If the money fails to appear, "we might creep along for another year," says Leclerc.

To register for the sessions, or for more information, call the Computing Centre at 398-3706 or check out its web site at: ww2.mcgill.ca/cc/seminar/wint97/dinw97.htm#cwebpg1.




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