Final Project Summary

Fall 1999

Amy Fahey

Visit my final project at http://www.als.uiuc.edu/ci335project/!

My final project was done as a team effort with Linda Burke of Xavier University, John Owrey of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Olga Shinkareva of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The purpose of the website we created was to serve as a prototype website for giving faculty more resources for instructional technology. The website has opportunities for self-paced learning and has a feedback form for faculty and others to respond back to the team members with. Feel free to use the feedback form, if you like.

We had a variety of sections in the final project including getting started with HTML, how to have your own webserver, how to use PDF and web conferencing, and teleconferencing. The sections I worked on are related to assisting faculty with creating a course on the web; everything from the decision making process of what course management package to use-- to how to add content to the course once it's up and running. The section, "Decision Factors in Creating an Online Course", helps with the initial decision making process. The section entitled "Comparing Courseware Software Packages", helps faculty make comparisons on features of some of the most popular courseware packages and an HTML editor. "Uploading Office 97 Formats to CourseInfo", is a tutorial for the faculty member who has Office 97 presentations or documents that need to be uploaded to their course in Blackboard's CourseInfo software.

Overall I think the project went well and we felt it produced something valuable, mostly because we had four people who were very committed to the idea that resources for faculty and the support of faculty in educational technologies is an important objective and one that should be developed further.

We had some technical difficulties along the way, some of a serious nature including a web server crash and various other minor problems with the conferencing software we tried to use to stay in touch. We "met" fairly often (on the phone, occasionally in person, or on webboard), which really helped us communicate where we were going with the project and to get help when we needed it. We tried some different things, some which did work, some didn't, but I think we learned a lot and created something that we all can use and which can be expanded on in the future. It was truly a collaborative and worthwhile effort.

Amy Fahey
Director, Office of Information Technology and Systems
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign