Faculty like IITS Site Generator program as a teaching tool
Course content at Concordia University has never been so accessible and interactive. The number of sites created and maintained by the university’s own Web-site-building software, Site Generator (SG), has increased to almost 1,000 since its inception two years ago. The number of sites is expected to grow to about 2,000 over the next one or two years.
SG, which receives over .5 million hits every day, allows faculty to organize course and academic material online from anywhere in the world — all without downloading software and with no HTML experience.
The program was introduced to the Faculty of Arts and Science in the winter of 2000, while other faculties were using a system called WebCT (World Wide Web Based Course Tools). With increasing licensing fees on the horizon and a limited and more complex program, SG replaced WebCT last fall as the program of choice for all Faculties.
Developed in-house by Guillaume Carrier, Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS), SG supplies a permanent home for academic material, as well as a platform for downloadable handouts, files, and links to reference material.
Carrier said, “The whole idea of SG is to make possible teaching the creation of a Web site without any technical knowledge and without having to install any software. The system is like a word processor, with cut-&-paste and other Word functions.”
Carrier noted that because the program is controlled in-house, modifications and improvements based on user feedback are constantly taking place.
Associate Professor Jack Ornstein (Philosophy) uses SG to build websites for all four of his courses. He likes the fact that he no longer has to repeat his lecture material to students who have missed a class. “I simply post my notes after each lecture. My students love the program,” he said.
He uses his sites to post A+ papers from former students, as well as advice on how to write essays. “It’s made a world of difference,” he said. Ornstein also uses the program to post links – anywhere from 10 to 30 – so that his students can easily access supplemental information.
A three-hour training course where faculty complete the initial phase of building their website is given by the IITS Training & Development Group.
Keith McKenna, Web Programmer, IITS, said, “Professors learn how to do basic editing, hosting of lecture material and posting of downloadable files.”
McKenna, who teaches an SG training course each semester, noted that the course is designed to give teachers the tools they need to create Web sites.
“The whole idea is to give them the ability to work autonomously, relying on us [IITS support staff] for support and development.” McKenna also created a SG Help and Tutorials CD, which he distributes to students upon completion of the course.
Although she had no Web design or HTML experience, Hanna Zowall, part-time Health Economics instructor, easily created a website for her course after attending a training session conducted by Maggie Lattuca, lab administrator and project coordinator, IITS.
Zowall, who previously used WebCT but found it complicated and longer to use, likes the fact that students can access course material in PDF format, as opposed to photocopying material for all 40 of her students.
“All that photocopying was a lot of work. It’s easier for them [students] to access the material online and it’s fast for me to put up.”
SG can also be used for a multitude of other tasks, including online quizzes, discussion boards, managing assignments, as well as a chat system where professors select from a public or private real-time discussion forum.
McKenna said, “This creates a dynamic atmosphere where professors can log-in at a specific time and date to answer students’ questions.”
Zowall plans on using more of these innovative new features in future courses. “SG is a terrific tool. It’s transparent and very intuitive.” She feels the system is perfect for those with all levels of technical experience. “SG is a time-saving device, it’s so simple!”
SG is available via Mac and PC-based machines. Faculty interested in setting up their own SG site and/or attending a training session can send an e-mail to sitegen@alcor.concordia.ca. For more information please visit iits.concordia.ca and select “Faculty Services.”
Front page and table of contents
Next story: 