EDL 585: Lesson 1 Technology Strand

Throughout most of this course, you will become familiar with the technology tools and skills you need to fully participate in the online classroom. For some of you, this information will be a review. For others, the technology will be a new and exciting way to convey your ideas to others. During most weeks, the technology portion of the lesson will be addressed last. However, since the technology is the vehicle of your participation, we will address it first.

Blackboard is the primary tool for online course delivery at UIS. It is an extremely robust system with capabilities to host discussions, post files, collaborate with peers, send emails, take quizzes, submit assignments, and a variety of other tasks. For this week, you will concentrate your efforts on learning to use one tool - the discussion forum.

Discussions

One of the primary forms of interaction in your online class will be the use of the Discussion Forum. Most students find it easy to use Blackboard's discussion tool. If you can't figure something out, you can review a Blackboard Tutorial.

Take a look at the navigation menu on the left. You will find a link that will take you directly to the course discussion board. Once you're in the discussion board tool, you will see several different areas. The discussion in each area generally focuses on a specific topic to help keep class discussions organized. Although each instructor may have different guidelines, the following protocols will generally serve you well.

• Post your contributions to the appropriate discussion area. This helps everyone stay on topic and retrieve your posting at a later date.
• When you start a new topic, please start a new thread instead of replying to another message. However, when you are replying to something someone else said, please use the Reply button. As the discussions progress, you will notice the threads nest inside of each other - sort of in an outline form - to keep the discussion organized.
• Use Subject headings to summarize or describe the main point(s) of your discussion contribution. If you are replying to someone else's message, feel free to change the Subject lines to highlight the main idea contained in your post. As the course progresses, and the number of postings increases, you will be able to use the subject lines to find specific postings.
• Remember the netiquette guidelines as you participate in your discussions. You'll read about them a bit later in this lesson.
• The goal in class discussions is to have collegial, scholarly, interaction. Please draw on your outside experiences and outside reading to raise the discussions to a level of scholarly discourse. In keeping with APA style, please be sure to give credit to others for the work they've done and how their work has contributed to your thinking. Be sure to review the rubrics in the Course Documents area for more guidelines.
• Remember to use the Preview button to proofread text you write. Keep in mind that long blocks of dense text are difficult to read on computer screen. Please separate your paragraphs by a single blank line.
• Always remember the discussion board is a public forum. Some conversations are more appropriately conducted in a more private channel such as email.

Typically, your professor will have an area to request help, another for socializing, and a number of areas to conduct class discussions. Be sure to become familiar with the purpose of each discussion area so you can find the information you need.

Adding Attachments

From time to time, you will decide to share one of your files with your classmates. The Discussion Board tool allows you to do this efficiently. When you're reading a discussion board message, you will know there is an attachment if there is a picture of a paper clip next to a posting. You can download and view the attachment by clicking on the file name in the heading section of the message. Adding an attachment to a discussion posting is similar to adding one to an e-mail message. See the Blackboard tutorial if you need help figuring out how to do this.

Antivirus Software

Online students must protect themselves against computer viruses. Contrary to what some people believe, you often do get viruses from someone you know and trust. This is not a condemnation of your friends! It's the natural consequence of the way computer viruses work.

If you don't have antivirus software installed and running on your computer, please take care of that right away. UIS Software WebStore offers free and low-cost access to a variety of software titles including antivirus software. Download and install software to protect yourself and your classmates. Be sure to schedule regular updates for your antivirus software so you can keep up with the latest viruses as they are discovered.

Optional! The How Stuff Works web site is an excellent source of easy-to-understand information on a variety of topics. Their article on computer viruses will help you understand how viruses work and why it's important to protect yourself from them.