December Events, 2006
Paul Kates, Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison
Events Summary
- Term Dates
- Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - last lecture day of F06 term.
- Friday, Dec 8 - Friday, Dec 22 - on-campus exam period.
- Saturday, Dec 23 - posting period starts for unofficial grades (after exams).
- Saturday, Dec 23 - Monday, Jan 1 - UW holiday period (library closed).
- Wednesday, Jan 3 - Tuesday, April 3 - W07 term lectures.
- LT3 Events
- Seeking Views on Classroom upgrades
- Innovative and Effective Ways of teaching with UW-ACE
(Tuesday, December 12, 2-3pm)
- using the Action Editor to release generic feedback to selected students
- using UW-ACE to create a student debate that explores controversial issues
- students create an online self-assessment quiz for test and exam reviews
- A Learning Object to Promote Understanding of the Monty Hall Dilemma (Thursday, January 11, 2-3pm)
- E-Merging Learning Workshop: Meet & Greet Introduction (Thursday, February 15 12-12:30pm)
- WatITis 2006 (Wednesday December 6 all day)
- sessions on using IT at UW for teaching, communications and support activities
- Online Grade Submission
- UW-ACE and Online Grade Submission Through Quest
- Hiding grades in the UW-ACE Gradebook
- UW-ACE News
- request a UW-ACE Winter 2007 Course via email to pkates@uwaterloo.ca, or uwacehelp@ist.uwaterloo.ca
- UW-ACE works with Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox 2.0
- how to give public access to UW-ACE courses
- Lecture Podcasting
- MathFrog and WiredMath (grades 4-9)
- Maple, MapleTA and On-line Quiz Systems
- UW-ACE Documentation
- Liaison Information
Term Dates
- Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - last lecture day of F06 term.
- Friday, Dec 8 - Friday, Dec 22 - on-campus exam period.
- Saturday, Dec 23 - posting period starts for unofficial grades (after exams).
- Saturday, Dec 23 - Monday, Jan 1 - UW holiday period (library closed).
- Wednesday, Jan 3 - Tuesday, April 3 - W07 term lectures.
LT3 Events
Seeking Views on Classrooms
LT3 is gathering information on UW classrooms to assist in identifying locations and types of upgrades for future classroom improvements. If you would like to help by offering suggestions for alterations or appraisals of rooms, labs or other teaching areas, please send me your comments.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 2-3pm
- Innovative and Effective Ways of teaching with UW-ACE
Presented by Sandra Campbell, Lisa Prokopich, and Pat Wainwright.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library room 329- using the Action Editor to release generic feedback to selected students
- using UW-ACE to create a student debate that explores controversial issues
- students create an online self-assessment quiz for test and exam reviews
Thursday, January 11, 2007, 2-3pm
- Stay or Switch?
A Learning Object to Promote Understanding of the Monty Hall Dilemma
Presented by Prof. David DiBattista, PhD., Psychology Professor, Associate Dean of Social Sciences, and Chancellor's Chair for Teaching Excellence, Brock University.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library room 329 The Monty Hall Dilemma is especially interesting because many people - including some mathematics professors - struggle mightily to understand the probabilities behind the correct solution, and many highly intelligent people never do so at all. Furthermore, people are often resistant when the correct solution is explained, continuing to insist that staying and switching are equally likely to result in winning the car. Why is the Monty Hall Dilemma so challenging? And why are so many people so resistant when the correct answer is explained? The Monty Hall Dilemma learning object displays an animated, set-based explanation of the probabilities underlying the problem and lets users actively participate in games to increase their understanding of these probabilities.
Thursday, February 15, 2007, 12-12:30pm
- E-Merging Learning Workshop: Meet and Greet Session (for Introductions)
Presented by Dr. Mark Morton.
Location: FLEX Lab, Lib 329, Dana Porter Library Each term, the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology (LT3) offers the E-Merging Learning Workshop to assist instructors in devising ways to use online learning technologies as effectively as possible. The workshop entails a number of online modules (which instructors work through at their convenience over the course of about four weeks) as well as two face-to-face coaching sessions. Details regarding the objectives, parameters, format of the workshop are available at http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/programs/ELW.
WatITis 2006
Wednesday December 6, 2006, all day
WatITis is a one day conference for those involved in IT planning, support and decision making at the University of Waterloo. It is an opportunity to see what others are doing on campus in information technology, to exchange ideas, and make new contacts.
See the link above for session listings and registration.
Uploading Grades into Quest
Quest describes how to submit grade files online, including how to first download grades from UW-ACE. Follow the link to find
- Electronic Grades Submission - MAC Users (PDF)
- Electronic Grades Submission - PC Users (PDF) (importing grades into Quest for faculty)
- Exporting Grades for Electronic Grades Submission - UW-ACE Users (PDF) (exporting UW-ACE grades in a form to upload into Quest) These documents were written in the Winter 2006 term. The name of the Tools tab in UW-ACE has since changed to Manage tab in the Fall 2006 term.
Grades can be re-submitted until the first day of W07 classes. After this date, only paper versions can be submitted (see page 1 of the "Quest Electronic Grades Submission - PC Users" mentioned above).
Quest won't release grades to students until the day after the end of exams, following university policy 19:
3. POSTING OF STUDENT GRADES
Provided the identity of individual students is protected, an instructor may convey information about student academic performance (e.g., grades on assignments, mid-term or final examinations) by posting results in a public place such as an office door, bulletin board or course website. Final examination and final course grades shall not be posted before the final examination period ends.
If modification of grades is needed due to missed exams, incomplete term work etc, a list of alternative grades is located in the Quest page about unofficial transcripts and in the university calendar. These non-numeric grades e.g. INC, can replace number grades in grade files submitted to Quest.
The required six columns of the grade text file submitted to Quest in .csv comma-separated-values format are
- student number,
- term number (1069)
- course subject name (uppercase, e.g. MATH or CS)
- course number (e.g. 127)
- class section number (e.g. 1 or 2 or ...)
- grade (integer 0-100)
e.g. 22222795,1069,CS,401,001,75,pkates,"Kates, Paul Adam"
Extra columns submitted (like the name column in the example above) will be ignored by Quest. Partial class files will be accepted by Quest. A student grade won't be changed it is if not included in a partial class file.
UW-ACE Grades for Quest
When a course gradebook calculates a student's final grade then the grade file downloaded from UW-ACE can be uploaded into Quest. The file is created with a UW-ACE command in the Manage tab:
Manage > Quest_Gradebook_Export_Final_Marks (in Instructor Tools box)
The grade file contains a single mark column, not all the marks in the gradebook.
When a course gradebook does not calculate a student's final grade then final grades can be added to a .cvs spreadsheet classlist file available from
- Quest (log in to Quest with UWDir name, find your term and course, view the class list, download the class list). The download file format includes the information needed by Quest's mark submission format.
- UW-ACE, from command "Quest Gradebook Export Final Marks" under Manage. The download file format matches the format needed by Quest's mark submission format.
NOTE: Grades taken directly from the UW-ACE Gradebook (via Manage > Gradebook > Export Grades) don't include student numbers required by Quest. But, the student number column is in the file "Quest_Gradebook_Export_Final_Marks" under the Manage tab. Final student grades will have to be entered or merged into your copy of "Quest_Gradebook_Export_Final_Marks" before uploading marks into Quest. If this is unfamiliar territory, please get in touch with me.
Hiding grades in the UW-ACE Gradebook
When a course uses the Gradebook, students normally see their individual marks through the Report tab (and sometimes the Course tab). Gradebook settings control which marks are visible to students.
To hide UW-ACE gradebook final grades (until after the examination period), navigate in UW-ACE
Manage > Gradebook > Preferences
and uncheck the option box "Display Overall Average" and Save.
To hide a gradebook category average column number, edit the category:
Manage > Gradebook > Categories
- select a category by checking the checkbox
(this makes the command buttons below the category list become active) - click Edit Selected
- uncheck box Average Shown
- click Save
To hide a gradebook category assignment column number, edit the assignment:
Manage > Gradebook > Assignments
- select an assignment by checking the checkbox
(this makes the command buttons below the assignment list become active) - click Edit Selected, the click Advanced
- check box Hidden
- click Save
Hidden assignments and categories are included in the overall percentage student grade. To remove category marks from the overall student average, change the category weight to 0.
To review which gradebook marks are visible, examine the results for selected students from each of
Manage > Report > Learner Profile > Gradebook Grades > View Table
Manage > Report > Grades > Student Grades
To hide category averages showing within the Course tab (recommended)
Course > Edit Page, and click X in the Grades component rectangle
UW-ACE news
UW-ACE Winter 2007 Course Requests
Request a UW-ACE course for the winter 2007 term by sending a note to Paul Kates (pkates@uwaterloo.ca) or to uwacehelp@ist.uwaterloo.ca. Please give the course abbreviation (e.g. MATH 199), your preference for a new, blank course or one copied from a previous term, and if known, the names of additional instructors and TAs.
Pre-scheduled UW-ACE sessions by IST are no longer being offered. Individuals, department and faculty groups can contact me to arrange times for sessions on their topics of interest, e.g. gradebook and Quest mark handling, communication via email, forums and calendar, and writing LaTeX-quality math in UW-ACE pages and quizzes without using postscript or PDF documents.
A 21 page pdf guide to the Gradebook is available in the Help area of UW-ACE.
IE7, FF2.0 and UW-ACE
UW-ACE now works with the new browser versions Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and FireFox 2. One remaining problem with using IE7 occurs in courses with more than 15 teams when trying to give team-only access to course content items like files, folders, quizzes etc. Steps are being taken to fix the problem and a workaround solution is available. Please contact me if this or other problems using IE7 arise in your course.
IST has not lifted their earlier recommendation that the installation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 browser IE7 be delayed for the time being because Quest, Trellis and other software at UW still needs re-tuning to work with the much changed and improved browser.
More information about IE7 (installing, uninstalling and reviews) is available in last month's events listing under UW-ACE News.
Making UW-ACE courses part of the university community
As with earlier versions of UW-ACE, access to course content like the syllabus, assignments, FAQs, subject resources etc is controllable through settings made available to course instructors. Confidential information about names and grades is restricted and protected by default. Different access levels - instructor, student (in course), UW member, general public - can be assigned to each command tab and every individual item in the main Lessons folder. Instructors can thus share their course with potential students, other courses and faculty members or the general public.
UW-ACE course Lesson pages look like and act like Windows folders, but they are more than file directories. Each folder displays a name and a HTML web page when selected. Instructors/editors can add text, style, layout and colour HTML features. Even JavaScript can be used. (See, for example, jsMath, a JavaScript program that translates LaTeX math expressions into LaTeX-quality HTML mathematics.)
Public Access to UW-ACE Courses
By default, the Resources tab and the syllabus located within the Resources tab are set up for public access. Using the UW-ACE course search feature, students can read the syllabus of any UW-ACE course.
Unlike the Resources tab, the Lessons tab can contain a collection of files, folders and subfolders. Public access to one or more files and folders is simple to set up by changing the access settings on the folder, file, quiz, ...
Lessons > settings of folder,... > Access > Viewable by Everyone
and making the Lessons tab public
Manage > Tab Settings > Content/Lessons > Veiwable by Everyone
Lecture Podcasting
Read about how and why to podcast lectures.
Read about podcasting in the December 2006 LT3 Spotlight.
And more podcasting information will be appearing at UW WatITis 2006 - see above.
MathFrog and WiredMath
Two sites for playing and learning about mathematics, for grades 4 to 9. Very popular (10s of thousands of hits per month) with kids, parents and teachers.
Maple, MapleTA and On-line Quiz Systems
Read about teaching mathematics using the computer algebra system Maple and the computer algebra assignment and quiz system MapleTA.
In addition to MapleTA, June Lowe (x33888) in Engineering uses a quiz system based on Adobe's AuthorWare software to conduct CDTs - Computer Delivered Tutorials. Typically, students work in pairs on short problems based on the concepts and techniques discussed in class.
This quiz system is similar to the UW-ACE quiz system in question types, and doesn't incorporate a computer algebra engine like MapleTA, but unique among the three quiz systems is its flow-chart style construction method and its ability to include control logic (like a program) within a quiz. A demonstration can be arranged by calling June at x33888.
UW-ACE Updated
Starting in the fall of 2006, UW-ACE has been updated to version 7.1 of the ANGEL learning management system. Here's a list of the most obvious changes to UW-ACE brought by 7.1:
- Tab changes:
- MyPage is the Home icon
- Welcome Page replaced by the contents of the Course tab, a view of some of the course stats, calendar and message events
- Syllabus tab is gone - the syllabus is located in the Resources tab
- Class tab is gone - the class roster is in the Communicate tab and the team roster is in the Manage tab
- InTouch tab becomes the Communicate tab
- Tools tab becomes the Manage tab
- a new Report tab contains student info about milestones, student activities
- a new Automate tab is for managing triggers (agents) for student activity
- Icon changes (on the left side of the page):
- MyPage is the home icon
- Exit is the on/off icon
- Help is the ? (question mark) icon
- Learning Object Repositories is the new folder icon
- MyPage Preferences is the wrench icon
- User Preview is the eye glasses icon on the top right
- CourseMap becomes Guide (above the left-side icons)
- versions of the system's web pages supporting PDAs and the US Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508) are icons (left bottom corner)
- mini boxes are used for grouping related commands
- content items like quizzes and dropboxes are no longer added to the course Gradebook automatically
Supported browsers:
- Windows OS: Internet Explorer 6, Firefox, and Mozilla.
- Macintosh OS: Firefox and Mozilla.
UW-ACE Documentation
Documentation about the new look of UW-ACE (ala ANGEL 7.1) is available from the UW-ACE Help page:
And more UW documentation is under preparation. Several ANGEL documents about version 7.1 are also available:
- What's changed between ANGEL LMS 6.3 and 7.1? (1 page)
- ANGEL LMS 7.1 at a glance (2 pages)
- What's new in ANGEL LMS 7.1? (7 pages)
- Faculty Quickstart Guide (7.1) (50 pages)
- Student Quickstart Guide (7.1) (30 pages)
Past Events
Liaison Information
Paul Kates,
Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison,
pkates@uwaterloo.ca, x37047
This page is located at www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/LT3/events.html.
More information about the services of the Centre for Learning and Teaching through Technology - LT3 is available at lt3.uwaterloo.ca/.
More information about learning and teaching Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, plus a description of the services I provide as Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison is available here.