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> Teaching & Learning Resources
Summer Online Courses:
Information for Instructors
INSTRUCTOR CHECKLIST
| Date |
Task |
| By October 1 |
Meet with your department head to discuss offering an online course; secure department head approval (he/she will discuss with college dean and notify director of Summer Session) |
| By mid-October |
Notify your departmental administrative associate of your intent to offer an online course (refer to departmental checklist); cap should be set at 25 |
| Fall/Spring Semesters |
Participate in WebCT training as needed (offered by Burns Technology Center; for schedule, see http://eu.montana.edu/btc/tlt/training)* |
| By December 1 |
Request WebCT course shell using online request form at https://btc.montana.edu/secure/webct.aspx
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| By mid-February |
Discuss your textbook needs with your departmental administrative associate; he/she will process requisition |
| April/May |
Attend online instructors luncheon—meet other summer online instructors and BTC staff |
| Preferably by May 1 |
Post Welcome Page on the WebCT server (see details, below) |
| At least one week prior to class start date |
Send Welcome Letter to your registered students (see details, below) |
| About one week prior to class end date |
Direct your students to online course evaluations (see details, below) |
| September |
Attend online instructors luncheon—share teaching experiences from the summer and meet some of next summer’s new online instructors |
*BTC will also notify instructors about upcoming WebCT training sessions via faculty listserv and notices in MSU Today
WELCOME PAGE
Welcome Pages are posted on the WebCT server and are accessible to the public. Your Welcome Page might include such items as a course syllabus, a list of required textbooks and how to obtain them, instructions on how to login to WebCT, a brief introduction to you as the instructor, and what you expect of your students as online learners.
Some instructors also include the following cautionary notes to students:
Click here to view an example of a Welcome Page that was posted for a 2007 summer online course.
Preferably, you should post your Welcome Page by May 1. Once you have requested your course shell, you will create your Welcome Page as follows:
- Go into your course shell
- Click on Control Panel
- Click on Course Settings
- Click on Edit Welcome Page
- Add text and save
Your Welcome Page will be accessible to the public via the following steps:
- Start at WebCT Homepage (https://webct.montana.edu)
- See courses on this server
- View by term – Summer 2008 – Update
- Click on the “i” icon in the Course Information column, in the line corresponding with the selected course
Welcome Pages will also be linked to the course titles at the Summer Online Courses page (http://www.montana.edu/summer/online). Until the Welcome Pages are posted, the titles will be linked to the course descriptions in the online catalog.
WELCOME LETTER
At least one week prior to the start date of your class, you should make contact with your registered students via a Welcome Letter. You may wish to include the following in your letter:
- Something about yourself, your academic background, your role as a teacher at MSU, and how you may be contacted
- A list of required textbooks and how to obtain them (if not already mentioned on your Welcome Page)
- Instructions to students for checking their Internet connection/browser
- Instructions to students on how to login to WebCT and get started in the class
- Contact information for technical assistance
Click here to view a sample of a Welcome Letter from a 2007 summer online course.
You can send your Welcome Letter using the MSU Class Roll E-mail Lists. For each section class roll that is available for the current term, a corresponding e-mail list exists on the MSU list server. The lists are updated nightly to track enrollment changes. For more information about Class Roll E-mail Lists and how to use them, please visit https://www.montana.edu/itc/classrolls/email.html.
ONLINE COURSE EVALUATIONS
If you would like to use the online system for conducting end-of-course evaluations, simply direct your students to the URL below about one week prior to the end date of your class. Students will be asked for their IDs and PINs, which are the same as those they use to login to MyInfo. The system uses the Knapp form, which is already used by most departments, and the results will be summarized and reported in the normal way.
https://www.montana.edu/cgi-bin/itc/ieval/login
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