[LON-CAPA-users] Announcements, blogs, RSS feeds, etc...

[Todd Ruskell]

Mark,

For announcements I've been using the "Syllabus" template page as the first 
resource.  It is still 1-removed from the NAV-map page.

This page automatically grabs the CLDR entries and places them at the top.  
These aren't necessarily formatted in the cleanest fashion, but it works 
reasonably well.

This page also has the benefit of listing all faculty/TAs associated with the 
course, sorted by their roles, and provides a direct link to each of their 
"About Me" pages.  I make everyone involved with the course edit their "About 
Me" page to either include their contact information and office hours, or 
provide a link to where that information can be found (although I'm not 
always successful with the TAs).  This makes it pretty easy for students to 
figure out how to get hold of us.

Since I provide actual syllabus information in a different format, I just 
leave all the fields blank, and only make use of these two automatic features 
of the template.

This is what it looks like:
http://loncapa.Mines.EDU/public/csm/1n312841c4eda44f2csml1/syllabus

Todd


On Wednesday 06 September 2006 03:15 pm, lucasm@ohiou.edu wrote:
> I'm looking for some creative advice here:
>
> We have historically structured our courses with an introductory web page
> that comes up when students log into the course. It has a nice banner,
> some side links to Navigate Contents, Acroread, Physlets, etc.... We post
> sample exams, external links and some announcements.
>
> What we don't do is keep up very well with these announcements. We're
> falling back to making NAVmaps the first page of a course. I was curious
> how people handled the issue of announcements and trying to get them
> linked into the course so the students see them easily, but perhaps
> without the urgency of critical messages.
>
> Several options come to mind:
>
> * We could actually create a discussion board as the first page of the
> course and post new announcements there.
>
> * We could somehow link the calendar into the course as the first page.
>
> With both of these solutions, the navigate contents page is one level
> removed, which is not a problem once a student has been trained, but can
> cause headaches early on.
>
> * Has anyone considered the possibility of a course specific announcement
> space that can be inserted at the top of the NAVMAPS page, just as machine
> announcements show up at the bottom?
>
> * Is anyone willing to give the 2 paragraph explanation of blog and RSS
> functionality. How does one access a blog once it is created? How do
> students access the course RSS feed?
>
> Just curious - we're looking for ways to streamline and improves such
> things.
>
> Later,
> Mark
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>- Mark Lucas					email: lucasm@ohiou.edu
> 252D Clippinger Lab  				phone: (740)597-2984
> Department of Physics and Astronomy             fax:   (740)593-0433
> Ohio University
> Athens, OH 45701
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-- 
Dr. Todd Ruskell
Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics       Office:  Meyer Hall 326
Colorado School of Mines                     Phone: 303-384-2080
1523 Illinois Street                         Fax: 303-273-3919
Golden, CO 80401