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| Student Handbook for online classes at SRJC | More information for students CATE SRJC |
Chapter 8: Structure of class sites
Although Web-based educational materials can be created with a limitless variety of styles and structures, most online classes at SRJC are constructed with the CATE courseware package, most instructors follow a few basic guidelines, and most class websites display considerable family resemblance. This chapter describes the overall structure, the kinds of pages, and the navigational elements you'll find in most online classes at SRJC.
Topics on this page
A. Components of a class website A. Components of a class website Most online classes at SRJC comprise some or all of the following components: Instructor homepage: Almost without exception, class websites include the instructor's personal homepage. That page is created and maintained by the teacher and contains email address, phone number, office number and building, office hours, daily schedule, and similar information.
Course homepage: Every course at SRJC has a system-generated homepage with links to the official SRJC course outline, description, and catalog information plus links to homepages built by faculty for individual sections of the course. (Note that instructors seldom build section homepages unless the class is taught online or offers some Web-based resources.)
Section homepage: If a class is being delivered online or if the instructor has created Web-based resources for a face-to-face class, almost without exception he or she will also build a section homepage to serve as the nexus of the class. The section homepage should contain information such as the section number, start date, ending date, expectations, textbook, grading, participation requirements, etc. (Note that face-to-face classes without Web-based resources seldom have section homepages.) The section homepage, when appropriate, will also contain a link to the check-in page so you can create your class username and password and notify your instructor that you're ready to begin. Note that the check-in link is only available during the time period chosen by the teacher, and you won't be able to check in before the opening date or after the closing deadline. The section homepage should also contain a link to the Student Configuration Manager, which allows you to edit your class information (such as your name, password, etc). Finally, the section homepage will provide links to the other class pages. Depending on the structure of the class site, the number of pages, and the instructor's preferences, these links could take the form of a nav bar (a row of clickable navigational buttons) at the top of the page, one or more clickable links under the "Class Links" heading, and/or one or more clickable links under the "Links" heading near the bottom of the page. In most cases, the section homepage serves as the gateway into your class and as such is probably the most important page in the class website. You should definitely bookmark your section homepage(s).
Schedule page: Most online classes include a schedule page which lays out in tabular format a detailed, week-by-week list of all the assignments and activities for the class, including deadlines and links to lecture pages, tests, etc. Instructors are always strongly encouraged to have their class schedules complete and up to date by the time class begins so students will always know exactly what's happening and when it's happening.
Lecture pages (also known as presentation pages): Depending on the magnitude and complexity of the class site, you can expect to find as many as twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty lecture pages. Typically these don't replace a traditional textbook, but rather these pages contain, in text rather than verbal format, classroom lectures. Instructors will generally fill their lecture pages with text, images, animations, links to audio and/or video clips, etc. On these pages you can also find other class components such as flashcards, Message Boards, In Boxes, etc. The amount of text on class lecture pages might seem overwhelming, so it's often a good idea to print the pages to make them more convenient to read when you're away from the computer. However, it's important to remember that SRJC computer labs prohibit printing of webpages, including class lectures. Please don't get yourself banned from the labs by trying to break their rules.
Quizzes, tests, and flashcards: Most classes will include a variety of interactive pages such as practice quizzes, tests, exams, flashcards, etc. Links to these pages can generally be found on the class schedule, lecture pages, etc, but different instructors will design different classes in different styles. See Chapter 10 of this Handbook for more information about online test-taking.
Message List and/or message board: Online classes almost always include a message system for communications among the teacher and students. Depending on the needs and preferences of the instructor, this messaging might take the form of email and/or webpages. See Chapter 9 for more information on Message Lists.
Gradebook: Instructors always provide some mechanism for making grades available to students, and often that includes an online gradebook. See Chapter 11 for more information about gradebooks.
Chat Room: Although not used as often as the other components listed here, some instructors provide one or more Chat Rooms for their classes for live, synchronous communications. See Chapter 13 for more information about Chat Rooms.
In Box: If your instructor requires you to submit electronic documents (such as term papers, spreadsheets, etc) then he or she will probably provide an In Box that allows you to upload the document directly to the instructor without using email. See Chapter 12 of this Handbook for more information about using In Boxes.
Most class websites include a nav bar (a row of clickable buttons) to provide a consistent, standard navigational interface for students. Generally, the following class pages will be tied together with the same nav bar:
Clicking on the appropriate button in the nav bar will take you immediately to the corresponding page, and on that page you'll almost certainly find the same nav bar with the same buttons so you can quickly move around the class site. In addition to that nav bar, many class websites also utilize a secondary nav bar. A secondary nav bar is used only on lecture pages and appears under the main nav bar, with one button (usually a number) leading to each of the lecture pages. This feature allows you to jump quickly from one lecture page to another. Whenever you start an online class, one of the first things you should do is to begin exploring all the pages and learn how the site is structured and how the teacher has designed the navigational interface. In addition to navigating around a class site, most instructors also allow you to search the site. See the separate chapter for more information about searching your class site. Most instructors will implement password-protection at their class sites in order to limit access to students enrolled in the class, but this is entirely optional. Likewise, for the most part it's entirely up to the instructor which pages are protected and which aren't. The following pages can't be password-protected:
The following pages can be password-protected if the instructor wants to do so:
The following pages and resources must always be password-protected:
When you go through the check-in process for your class, you'll create your private, unique class username and password. However, your username and password will not become functional until the instructor accepts you into the class. In general, most instructors construct their passwording so that passwords of all their students will work on all password-protected pages in the class. If you run into problems with accessing password-protected pages, you should contact your instructor, not the webmaster. Note that—due to a variety of factors—in some cases your username and password will be case-sensitive. Therefore, you should always use the same combination of uppercase (capital) and lowercase characters as when you originally created your username and password. In some situations in some classes, when you enter your username and password and/or when you move from page to page within the class website, the CATE server might place a cookie in your browser. A cookie is a short string of text that in this case allows the server to help you navigate through your class. A cookie set by the CATE server is absolutely harmless and can do no damage whatsoever to your computer. However, you are never required to accept a cookie. Of course, if you reject CATE cookies, you'll probably find that you'll constantly need to enter your username and password as you participate in your class. After the CATE server sets a cookie in your browser, an unobstrusive "log out" link will appear in the upper left corner of most of your class webpages. If you're the only one who works on the computer, there's no particular need to log out of the class. However, if you share the computer with someone else, and in particular if you're using a publicly accessible computer such as those in campus labs or the library, then you'll want to make sure you click the "log out" link when you've completed your session of class activities. If the "log out" link doesn't appear, then you don't need to do so. Note that passwording is completely different from page accessibility. Some instructors will make their pages accessible at all times. Other instructors will open and close pages at different points during the semester. For example, you might not be able to access lecture pages for the final chapter until the last week of class. That's entirely up to your instructor. The combination of accessibility and password-protection leads to the following four situations: Open, not password-protected: In this case, anyone can access the page
Open, but password-protected: In this case, the page can be accessed only by those with a valid username and password
Closed, not password-protected: In this case, no one can access the page
Closed, but password-protected: In this case, no one can access the page, even with a valid username and password If you encounter problems accessing a page—either because it seems to be closed, or because your password doesn't work, or because it's "not found"—you need to contact your instructor, because that's the person who sets the accessibility and passwording configurations which determine whether or not you can see the page.
Take the self-assessment quiz to ensure you're comfortable with all the concepts and skills in this chapter. The quiz will open in a new browser window, and after submitting the quiz you'll immediately see your score. Practice exercise: Visit your class website and make sure you understand how it's organized and what navigational tools have been provided for you. |
| Distance Education office Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA USA Last Modified: Tuesday, 10-Feb-2009 09:11:07 PST |
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