The first day of classes in the term marks the time when students gain access to UW-ACE courses of the new term and lose access to UW-ACE courses of the previous term.
Course editors can turn access on and off by using the "Roster Status Settings" in the "UW Section Instructor Tools" box under the Manage tab. And course editors can make items in the Lesson tab available to public (unregistered or not-yet-registered student) view.
UW-ACE url: uwace.uwaterloo.ca.
Login identification is the same as a UWDir(see note 2) login and password.
Browser information: see note 1, UW-ACE docs or the next section.
Overall, UW-ACE is a good, workable set of tools that is easy to use and offers a nice selection of features that can be adapted to a wide-ranging array of class requirements, from simple document management to highly interactive online courses.
It may not (yet) have a favorite feature or setting from the newest or most popular programs, but it works, is useful and is continually improving.
Please send comments, suggestions and complaints about UW-ACE to pkates@uwaterloo.ca (Paul Kates). I'll do my best to address your concerns.
Contact Paul Kates (Mathematics Faculty CTE liaison, pkates@uwaterloo.ca) for
If a student is in the UW-ACE course classlist, then they have access to the course. For a student to be placed in the course classlist they officially register for the course. The classlist for every UW-ACE course is updated once a day.
To avoid having students ask for access because they have not yet registered (or because registration has not yet completed) some instructors are temporarily changing the default course settings (which restrict course access to course members), to allow guest access i.e. access to anyone. Then, a week or two after the start of class, when the classlist is stable, course access can again be restricted to members. Email Paul Kates (pkates@uwaterloo.ca) for access setting instructions.
Upon entering UW-ACE, you see your UW-ACE home page, which shows the courses you have access to and a selection of commands and status messages. The "Edit Page" link allows you to customize the commands and messages shown on the home page. A search page is provided to locate other UW-ACE courses - see the item "Other courses in UW-ACE" below. To return to your home page, click the Home page icon (the house icon on the left of the page).
To add tutors or teaching assistants to your UW-ACE course, please send me their names and UW email addresses.
Set your email forwarding option: select the Preferences icon (wrench on left of page), System Settings, then set the forwarding email address and forwarding mode, if desired. Note: students can set the forwarding mode, but their forwarding email address is fixed to their UW email address. Students can use UWDir to forward UW email to other locations.
Click the Resources tab, and the Syllabus "edit" link. Then upload a syllabus or use the syllabus form. Typical content includes course staff names and contact information, course objectives, required books, and marking scheme.
Click the Course tab and the "Edit Page" link. Select "Syllabus" in the Available Components list and click Add Component. This will place a link to the syllabus in the Course tab. There is a single course syllabus which can be edited from either the Course or Resources tab.
It is recommended that the syllabus be made available in the Resources tab because that tab has public access by default. It is also recommended that the syllabus be made available in the Course tab because that tab is the default starting tab for course members.
Click on the Calendar tab. Delete old entries, create new ones. Entries can be private (only your login sees the entry) or public (the class sees the entry). Public entries are added to course member students' calendars automatically. A student's calendar is thus populated with dates from every UW-ACE course they belong to.
In the Add page, a private calendar entry is created by selecting your name in the User setting. When another individual is selected then only you and that individual can see the calendar entry. This is useful for private appointments. A User setting of Everyone means everyone in the class.
Hide any Lessons files and folders that are unfinished or are to be presented later in the course. See "Hiding a lesson"(note 3) below. By default, newly created Lesson items (file, folder, quiz, etc) are *not hidden* which means they are accessible to students. To tell at a glance, look at the icon - if bright then it's accessible, if dull/faded then it is hidden to students.
You can preview your course with student access rights to test accessibility and behaviour of course items by clicking the user preview icon (the Eyeglasses icon) in the top, right corner of the page. Click the icon again to end the preview.
Click the Teams link in the Course Management box in the Manage tab to build more teams of students for your course. Access to much of the content in UW-ACE (pages, quizzes, discussion boards,...) can be restricted to one or more teams, if desired. By default, a team is created for each lecture section of a course. Teams can be given file space in UW-ACE for their project documents.
Milestones allow students and staff to track student progress. A milestone can be associated with any item in the Lessons tab, a file, folder, quiz, dropbox, discussion forum etc. Milestone begin and end dates are automatically placed in students' calendars.
A milestone is shown completed when a Lessons item is used by a student. To view which milestones are over due, completed and pending (started but not yet due), students and instructors use the Report tab.
To create a milestone for a Lesson item, edit the item using the "settings" link that appears when the mouse is near the item, and choose the Assignment tab. In the Milestone Setting box, choose "Item Completion" when student access to the item means the milestone is achieved, or choose "Manually Marked" when an instructor is to say when the milestone is achieved by selecting the milestone in the Report tab.
Click the Announcements link in the Course News and Events box in the Communication tab to see the course announcements. Click the "Add Announcement" link to create an announcement. By default, announcements are viewable by everyone in the course (see the User setting when adding an announcement) and are shown for a week.
Students view announcements in the Communication tab, but you can also set up Announcements links in the Course tab and the Resources tab.
Decide to keep the default tab scheme or change the tab names, number of tabs and where tabs link to (see the Manage/Tab-Settings page in your UW-ACE course).
Consider using short concept-testing online pre-class quizzes for preparing your students with the subject matter they'll need for their next class, giving you a chance before class to see what difficulties, if any, students have with the subject material.
Consider using multiple discussion boards - one per topic or per group - to help organize and untangle typical multiple-threaded discussions. Discussion board access rights can be set up to allow moderated discussions and student blogs (one writes, and all read).
Plain text mathematical expressions like f(x)=x^2+2x and integral{0 to x} g(x) dx can be used for communicating mathematics anywhere in UW-ACE. LaTeX mathematics notation and output can also be used in html pages (quizzes, email, boards, ... ) in UW-ACE using the jsMath or LaTeXMathML javascript programs.
E.g.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.maths.nottingham.ac.uk/personal/drw/LaTeXMathML.js">
</script>
<p>
${\big Delta}, \Theta, \Lambda, \Xi, \Pi, \Sigma, \Upsilon, \Phi, \Psi, \Omega, \mathbb{Q}$
<br>
</p>
<p>
$\mathbf{X}[k+1]=A\mathbf {X}[k]+B\mathbf{u}[k]$
</p>
<p>
$ \left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n a_k b_k \right)^{\!\!2} \le $
$\left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n a_k^2 \right) \left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n b_k^2 \right)$$
</p>
shows as
${\big Delta}, \Theta, \Lambda, \Xi, \Pi, \Sigma, \Upsilon, \Phi, \Psi, \Omega, \mathbb{Q}$
$\mathbf{X}[k+1]=A\mathbf {X}[k]+B\mathbf{u}[k]$
$ \left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n a_k b_k \right)^{\!\!2} \le $ $\left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n a_k^2 \right) \left(\, \sum_{k=1}^n b_k^2 \right)$
In the gradebook, set up categories for items in the course that will use UW-ACE for grading. UW-ACE quizzes are graded automatically but they need to be given categories in the gradebook to influence the overall calculated grade. Marks for assignments, tests, etc can be entered into the gradebook by hand and uploaded by file. For simply showing students their individual grades (students see only their own grades), ignore Gradebook categories and first create a number of points-based assignments in the Gradebook and then upload a spreadsheet file (a CSV text version of the spreadsheet) of marks. The gradebook is a little complicated to set up the first time. Ask for a demonstration.
You may be interested to swap experiences with other faculty members using UW-ACE. You can find any course in the system by using the "Find a Course" link at the head of the course list on your Home page. Click the link, select a term (e.g. 1069 for the current Fall 2006 term) and a subject e.g. MATH or CS, and the search result will show links to the current MATH or CS courses. Clicking a course name will bring you to the default starting page of a course, usually the Resources tab page with a syllabus link.
By default, the Resources tab and the syllabus located within the Resources tab have public-access settings. Using the UW-ACE course search feature, students can read the syllabus of any UW-ACE course.
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. Share parts of your UW-ACE course on the Internet to help grow interest in your subject.
Paul Kates Mathematics Faculty CTE Liaison pkates@uwaterloo.ca, x37047