By: Samah Sabra
Before Fall 2012, I knew there were plans to retire WebCT this April. These plans left me with two options for the next two terms: (1) keep going with WebCT until it was no longer an option or (2) start using cuLearn now that it was available to me. The first option was appealing insofar as I knew the system and had already taught the same class in it the previous year. The second option would require a bit more work with getting to know and use a new LMS.
I spend a bit of time each spring/summer reflecting on the previous year with a class and using such reflections as the impetus to make a few changes for the upcoming year. I was already putting energy into the course redesign while working a new job at the EDC, which involved designing programs for teaching and professional development. In other words, I was already learning a lot of new things and found myself wondering if it was wise to add yet another item to my list. At the same time, I had two recurring thoughts. First, I felt that since I teach a first year seminar, it made perfect sense to get these incoming students started in their post-secondary educational experience with the new system. Second, since I worked at the EDC, I wanted to be able to answer questions faculty, contract instructors and teaching assistants might have about the new LMS. These two recurring thoughts finally won out and I decided that it made the most sense for me to switch to cuLearn.
Once I made this decision, I gave myself a weekend to play around with my course in cuLearn to find out what I would or would not be able to figure out without any training. I used the on-line support material to set up a course page arranged by date: each day had a description of what we would be doing, including content, activities and items students would need to bring with them. I also included all due date and reminders about assignments in the appropriate date section as well as in the course calendar. I was very proud of myself when this design seemed to work really well. Halfway through the fall term, however, I realized that it had become less than ideal; as the semester progressed, students in the class and I had to scroll through a lot of material – the class was offered twice a week – before getting to the appropriate class for the day. While this was clearly not an “end of the world” situation, it was certainly annoying and tedious. I realized that while I might have been able to figure out some of the technicalities of using cuLearn, training might have helped me to anticipate these kinds of issues.
Over the month of December, I designed the Winter 2013 cuLearn page for my FYSM. This time, I had the benefit of training as well as the benefit of having seen various ways of setting up cuLearn pages from speaking with colleagues at the EDC and in FASS. I divided the page into a welcome section where I listed all assessments, due dates and grade weighting followed by one section for PowerPoint slides for the term and a section for each assessment item, which included the directions and rubric. I also added some colour to the page by inserting a one-by-one table for each topic. I was able to colour-code the cuLearn environment so that students and I knew to look for the blue section to find all relevant deadlines, the pink section to find information about the paper outline assignment or the green section to find anything related to their reading responses, for instance. This meant I had a page with only six sections which students found much easier to navigate.
I encourage anyone to sign up for the EDC’s training or to email any of us here to ask questions about cuLearn. The transition may be difficult at times, but it can also be invigorating!