Course Management Systems

 

For faculty wishing to make class materials available on-line, two course management systems are available as well as a number of specialized system. The Campus Pipeline system is an easy-entry course management system with "lite" features suitable for a occasional use and the GeorgiaVIEW Vista (a.k.a. WebCT) system is a full-featured course management system capable of sustaining fully on-line classes.

Comparing the most commonly used features of the two systems:

Features	Campus Pipeline	GeorgiaVIEW Vista
Grade book	No	Yes. Columns set up automatically when assessments are created or columns can be manually created. Columns can also be used to store information, like "athlete".
File Repository (Syllabus, Handouts, photos, articles, etc.)	Yes. Can organize into folders.	Yes. Can organize icons in a variety of ways. Can also hide icons until the right time within the course.
Discussion Board	Yes. One.	Yes. Unlimited number of boards and boards can be restricted to specific groups of students.
Chat room	Yes. One.	Yes. Includes Whiteboard and activity and chat logging. Unlimited number of rooms and rooms can be restricted to specific groups of students.
E-mail address book for class	Yes. Internet E-Mail. Easy to use.	Yes, using the internal messaging tool (not Internet E-mail). Messages can be forwarded to Internet E-Mail but you must reply from within the GeorgiaVIEW system.
Calendar	Yes. Note: Class calendars can be difficult to update. Personal calendars are separate. To see them together requires creation of a calendar "group".	Yes. Presumes you want to see personal plus all courses at the same time, but you can request to see entries from just a single calendar. System administrator can place system events on the calendar also - like scheduled maintenance periods.
Announcements	Yes. "Headline" style. The "News" feature is more conducive to long term or longer announcements.	Yes. Can be delivered as a pop-up viewed when the student enters the GeorgiaVIEW system or as a "headline" announcement. (Click on it to see the details).
Rosters	Automatically updated as Banner is updated.	Students enrolled into class area based upon an extract from Banner. If a student drops or withdraws, the roster must be manipulated by the instructor. (Helps to preserve grades).
Built-In Web Page Creation	No	Yes. Includes visual WYSIWYG editor.
Carry over from term to term	It is best to reload materials, discussion topics, etc. each term.	GeorgiaVIEW has built in utilities to extract student-based items and create the next term's class from the remaining content, assessments, etc. The feature is known as a "template".

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Getting Started

 

Campus Pipeline's tools are available to you as soon as you are listed within Banner as the instructor for the section. No action is needed on your part.

GeorgiaVIEW Vista's tools are available to you as you begin to prepare to teach a course. While the listing of you as the instructor occurs as a result of the Banner extract, it is possible to begin loading and organizing your materials well ahead of registration. Contact Instructional Services for an introduction to the system and to ensure your permission levels are set to give you access to the preparation areas.

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Instructor Support and Training

 

The office of Instructional Services and the HelpDesk, IT Services, are ready to assist with your on-line course efforts. It is important that you contact Instructional Services so that we can include you in any local discussions or efforts and so that we can properly report on-line course efforts.

IT Services will conduct training on any campus supported software. We have available a number of handouts to assist students and other materials of a tutorial nature.

Instructional Services can assist you with selecting the best choices for the instructional goals you wish to accomplish. We act as a consultation service for faculty as well as trainers for faculty to help you get the most out of the systems you use.

Our Faculty and Staff HelpDesk staffing hours are Monday through Friday from 8-4:30 but that doesn't mean you can't get support at other times. The Student HelpDesk is manned by Student Assistants who assist faculty with after hours support. Their schedule changes each term based upon their availability. The goal for staffing is for the HelpDesk to be staffed anytime that the library is open. The Student Assistant on duty may be able to directly assist you. If not, they can submit a request for a staffer to contact you, or if the situation is cortical can contact people via emergency beepers. Consultations during early evenings may also be arranged by contacting Instructional Services at 706-737-1484 during regular working hours.

The University system of Georgia is also committed to assisting faculty with their online efforts. A collection of tools and information can be found on their Distance Education Resources site.

For faculty (and students) using the GeorgiaVIEW VIsta system, an additional set of options exist. The University System has contracted for an Online Support Center with availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At this writing the Support Center cannot reset passwords or enroll ASU people into a section, but they can assist with most other actions, including troubleshooting connectivity issues.

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Student Support

 

The Student Help Desk is located in University Hall room 130, adjoining the 24 hour computer lab. Students are encouraged to stop by whenever they are having problems accessing any system. That allows the Student Assistants or HelpDesk professional staff to "watch over the shoulder" and assess the point at which the problems are occurring. The Student HelpDesk attempts to mirror the hours of the Library while classes are in session which provides for assistance during evenings or on weekends. That schedule is not always possible to maintain because of the schedules of our students, but it is the goal. Information regarding the current hours may be found on the HelpDesk's page.

We recognize that it is not always possible to visit the office, however, so students may call the Student HelpDesk at 706-737-1676 or register a request on-line.

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Best Practices and General Information

 

Faculty wishing to offer a course that replaces some classroom time with time online should discuss the matter with the Chair of their department. While ASU is liberal about supporting such endeavors, there are administrative reporting mechanisms that must be addressed.

The University System of Georgia's Office of Advanced Learning Technologies has compiled the following list of best practice. These standards are used by ALT staff in designing courses, implementing programs and meeting accreditation needs.

• Technical Standards These best practice and standards include recommended operating systems, platforms, plug-ins and service pack information for the latest Vista release.
• Instructional Design Standards These best practices and standards include instructional effectiveness and pedagogy for course design.
• Template Considerations These best practices and standards include recommendations for consistency with look and feel of Vista templates as institutions begin offering a broader array of courses.
• Accessibility Implication for Higher Education of the American with Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998
• Principles of Good Practice
• Survey Instruments These resources include numerous surveys, questionnaires, and research instruments utilized in the course of ALT research and assessments.

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FLO - Facilitating Learning Online

 

FLO is an online course developed by the University System of Georgia to assist faculty teaching online. It offers insight into student interaction differences between face-to-face classes and online classes and suggests methods that can be used to increase student retention of the material and within the class.

For more information about this class, you can visit the University System's Web site or contact Instructional Services at 706-737-1484.

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GeorgiaONmyLINE

 

The GeorgiaONmyLINE web site ( http://www.georgiaonmyline.org ) assists individuals with locating classes and programs that are offered at a distance within the state of Georgia. Each term information about classes coded within the Banner system as being fully or partially at a distance are loaded into the database supporting this site.

For more information, you can contact Instructional Services at 706-737-1484.

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SREB's Electronic Campus

 

The Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) is a non-profit consortium of states that has an "Electronic Campus" listing of programs available from a distance. The process for being listed on this site is similar to the one for GeorgiaONmyLINE.

Please contact Instructional Services at 706-737-1484 if you wish your program to be listed here or if you have questions.

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