software

If you are going to create an online course, you should be familiar with software you can use to create a class webpage, present classroom-style presentations, and provide video and audio lectures for your students to view and hear. The class webpage will be the primary location for your students to find everything they need to successfully complete the course. There, they will find your contact information and office hours, as well as a links to all class resources. PowerPoint is your presentation tool. Everything you would normally write on the blackboard can be put on PowerPoint, including lecture notes and major points. Of course, content can also be delivered by web pages or interactive activities such as quizzes, puzzles, scavenger hunts, and discussion boards. If you choose to use Wimba, Captivate, Camtasia, or Audacity, you will be able to provide audio/video, or audio-only lectures. This option is attractive to instructors who want to retain the traditional face-to-face classroom element. As you can see, there's no "right way" to make a web course, but you do want to make sure that your course has important components like information for students on how to get started, what is expected of them, how to contact you, and how they will be graded. These components are the kinds of things listed in the Quality Matters criteria.

Below are some frequently asked questions and resources to guide you in creating your online course.

How Do I Make a Web Page?
For information regarding how to make a web page using a free html editor, click here for a printable set of linear instructions. Click here for a set of "basic overview" printable directions. A similar tutorial for people who prefer to work completely on the web is available here.
For a free trial copy of Adobe Creative Suite, go to http://www.adobe.com.

How Do I Use PowerPoint?
One of the best tutorials for using PowerPoint is available at http://www.actden.com/pp/

How Do I Use Adobe GoLive?
For the short user's guide, click here.
For the usability test sheet, click here.

How Do I Make a Banner Using Adobe Photoshop?
Click here for a short guide to using basic Adobe Photoshop functions to create a banner for your Blackboard site.

ZIP KEYS
To select an entire document, hold down the CTRL button and hit the A key. To cut a selected document (or a selected portion of one), hold down the CTRL button and hit the C key. Use CTRL X to cut. Use CTRL V to paste. This trick works univerally in email, word processing, publishing programs, html documents, and others.

Images and Copyright
Click here for information on images and copyright. While this page was mainly developed for students, it is applicable to instructors as well. A pdf version of the copyright information is available by clicking here.

Universal Access Hints

AOL and Blackboard/GeorgiaView/Vista
Students using AOL and sometimes Yahoo find that AOL and Yahoo conflict with Blackboard/GeorgiaView/Vista. If Blackboard is your school's preferred delivery platform, let students know that if they experience problems, switch to hotmail or another Internet provider. Instructors using Blackboard may find that Internet Explorer works better when loading images than Netscape does. Instructors using GeogiaView/Vista may find that in general, Mozilla is the better browser. Another interesting tidbit: .wmv files are great on Blackboard, and Flash files won't work on Blackboard. However, only .swf or mp4 or Flash files work on GeorgiaView/Vista.

PowerPoint
We've all sat through PowerPoints with type that was too small. Now imagine your student trying to read a PowerPoint with super-small print on the computer screen. To avoid such a painful experience for your student, make sure your PowerPoint body type is at least 28 pt. (Sometimes the default is 18 pt, and you certainly don't want students wrestling with that.) You may have to add more slides, but that's okay. Just don't make your body text smaller than 28 pt.

Acrobat and PowerPoint
To ensure that all students can access PowerPoint files that you provide in your electronic courses, offer them an option. That is, make the PowerPoint available in PowerPoint and also include an Adobe Acrobat (also called pdf) version. Some students' browsers will not open PowerPoint correctly (Microsoft ME and XP sometimes pull up blank slides when the instructor has created the slideshow with 2000).

Creating an Acrobat alternative or pdf solves this problem. You can try the pdf maker for free at www.adobe.com. You can also order free trial versions of many of Adobe's products. Additionally, you can use the free software at Open Office to create pdfs. Simply create your document in their text program or their impress program (a version of PowerPoint) or transfer your document from your program to theirs and choose the "print as pdf" option.

The Netscape Bug and the Mozilla Alternative
Two free software programs one can use to create web pages are Netscape and SeaMonkey . Netscape is usually installed on most computers. However, the composer function of Netscape has a bug that does not allow backgrounds to be viewed by viewers on other computers. The SeaMonkey program does not have this bug. Both programs work essentially in the same way. The new Mozilla composer program is SeaMonkey.

Digitizing
One minute of download for every minute of video. This rule is good to keep in mind. For every minute of video you create for a student to view, that student will spend one minute downloading it--with a 28K modem.

Free Hot Potatoes Interactive Games
Need something different? Maybe you want to add an interactive game to your electronic course but don't have the html skills? Try Hot Potatoes. It's free. For a sample Hot Potatoes crossword, click here. For a sample quiz, click here. To play with the drag and drop feature, click here. (Warning: All of these exercises are based on the Dune novels by Frank Herbert.) For a tutorial on how to use three basic features of Hot Potatoes to make your own puzzles and games, click here.

Free Voice Recording and Editing Capability
You can use the free voice recording and editing software available here
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
to make podcasts. All you need is a computer and a microphone. To get started with Audacity, you can view this quick tutorial here. It's a .wmv file. If you are on a slow connection, you may want to right click on the link and choose "Save File As." Then save the file to your desktop and view it.

Free Screen Recording Software
If you would like to create PowerPoints with voiceover, for example, you can use this free screen recorder available at http://camstudio.org.

Graphics
Some good backgrounds are available at these URLs.

A nice range of graphics can be found at these URLs.

Learn HTML
The best place to begin is the free tutorial at HTML Goodies. In just 8 lessons, you can begin coding your own pages with no html editor.

Blogs
A great place to start students blogging is Blogspot. For information on turning your blog into a podcast, click here.

Wikis
Wikis are a great way to get a class collaborating. To get started on a Wiki in 20 minutes or less, go to http://pbwiki.com/.

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Unless otherwised noted, all tutorials and content was created by Dr. Tamara Powell, Director of Distance Education, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.