| Here are a few of the usual question asked
about dCourseWeb . . . |
| |
| 1. |
Who is dCourseWeb's market? |
| Basically, members of ABHE (The
Association for Biblical Higher Education) |
| |
| 2. |
What is dCourseWeb? |
| dCourseWeb is
Nazarene Bible College's home grown Online Administrative
Software package. It has several modules that address
different aspects of Online education and helps solve some
of the more difficult issues like student retention. |
| 1. |
It has
an advising module to help prevent students from falling in
between the cracks. This includes the structure for
working each student through each stage of the process.
For example, the system knows: |
| a. |
When a specific
course has been recommended to a student |
| b. |
When the student
has actually been scheduled for that course |
| c. |
When the student
has confirmed that they will be taking that course |
| d. |
When the student
is actually enrolled in that course |
| e. |
Whether or not the
student ever accessed the course |
| f. |
If the student
withdrew |
| g. |
Whether the
student passed or failed |
| h. |
Also, if a student
is not being worked during a given section |
| Now
you may think, so-what, my student system already does some
of that stuff. Well, so does ours but online education
and particularly distance learners are on a significantly
different timeline than traditional students. Books
need to be ordered and shipped (international shipping can
take a while), adjunct faculty need to be scheduled, and
online classes by their very nature are paced much faster
than campus courses. By the time your registrar gets
everything settled, the student would will have lost
valuable class time. Furthermore, to be successful,
online students need to be communicated with. You just
can't set them and forget them. This system insures
that they are a part of your institution not just an
anonymous connection somewhere out in cyberspace.
What's more, the advising dashboard makes it extremely easy
to blast off numerous personalized (like mail merge) emails
to any number of different groupings or categories of
students, instructors, administrators, and much much more. |
| 2. |
The
content delivery module provides for a single source of
content per instructor. The system has many defaults
that can be overwritten when necessary. For example,
you may have standard syllabus items that all your adjunct
instructors must use but your faculty instructors may want a
little flexibility. Also, things like when the class
opens, when the student can post notes, and when weekly
schedules are available are all controlled automatically.
The course offering in conjunction with configured options
determines all these things and are individually set for
students, instructor, and by location. Online classes
typically run six weeks while campus run eleven.
Their start dates are different and you may or may not have
break weeks. Lastly, even though there are many pieces
or modules, the course portal ties them all together in an
attempt to create seamless transitions and keep the
technology out of the way. |
| 3. |
Authenticated web based access. Whether the student is
reading lectures, posting notes, taking tests or
communicating through instant message, once they're logged
in to their course portal, they are only a click away.
Furthermore, for those who want fast and easy threaded class
discussions, with the ability to batch upload and download
discussion messages (ideal for dial-up connections and
travelers), they can use Outlook Express or any other
compatible newsreader. |
| 4. |
No
delivery system would be complete without an integrated
grade book. We took it to the next level. With
dozens of options an instructor can configure a grade book to
adapt to specific types of grading ideology.
Assignments by week, category or mixed, whether there is to
be extra credit or point adjustments and how the student
sees their grades. Show them where they stand against
the rest of the class and/or how they are doing to-date.
Enter grades by student or by assignment and when totally
done and electronically signed, send all the grades to the
registrar or those authorized to receive this information.
Lastly, as a side note, scheduled events can, if desired,
disable student access to the grade book until the student
complies with the event's requirements. Course
evaluations for example. |
| 5. |
We are
working on a web based version but currently offer a Windows
application that the instructor can use to create and
maintain web based quizzes. These quizzes support
multiple question types, context sensitive pop-ups for
faster answer input, and additional information; so, that when
a student answers the question wrong they can be told why
and where they can go to find out more. This turns
exams into learning experiences. Tests can also be
timed or only viewable once; this is at the instructor's
discretion. Perhaps best of all, for true/false,
multiple choice, matching, and short answers, the grading is
automatic. The results are written into a table and a
copy is emailed to the instructor. Whether or not the
student get to see these results is again, up to the
instructor along with exactly how much of it they are
allowed to see. |
| 6. |
Although the dashboard provides most of the information you
would ever need, there are also, dozens of web based
reports. Quick looks at how many students per advisor,
course offerings by session, class rosters, historical class
counts, and more are being added all the time. |
| |
| 3. |
When will dCourseWeb be available? |
| dCourseWeb is
actually in its second revision. It started back in
2001 and continues to evolve. Besides NBC, there are
several other institutions that are currently delivering
online education through this system and more in the process
of getting started. |
| |
| 4. |
Where is dCourseWeb served from? |
| dCourseWeb is
primarily a hosted solution. Nevertheless, the program
was designed so that it could be installed and run from
anyone's network. However, online or distance learning
requires high availability with around the clock access.
Our datacenter was designed specifically for delivering
online education. Redundancy rains supreme and other
than scheduled maintenance windows, students enjoy a greater
than 99.9% uptime. We have a state-of-the-art ten-ton
Liebert temperature and humidity control system, a dedicated
automatic 250amp Onan natural gas generator, two hours of
backup battery power, and system monitor that keep watch of
every critical component 24/7. We also have high-availability routers and firewalls along with a huge core that provides phenomenal internal bandwidth and
a DS3 with a failover T1 for our Internet connection. |
| |
| 5. |
Why should I consider dCourseWeb? |
| Simply put, value,
security, reliability, ease-of-use, and a proven track
record. Although dCourseWeb can do course
augmentation, it was designed for distance learning.
Also, the advising section was designed to reduce the
typical workload associated with distance learning systems.
Administrators instantly get a very clear picture of where
the program is in relation to numbers, students, courses,
and instructors. |
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