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During the 07-08 transition year, the project needs a brochure to provide a first point of contact for instructors who are new to SmartSite.

Audience

Instructors who are not familiar with SmartSiteAll potential faculty and staff users.

Goal

Increase the number of course sites throughout 2007-08

Distribution Points

  • New Faculty Orientation
  • Mediaworks
  • TRC
  • Training Sessions
  • Departmental Presentations
  • Faculty Mentoring Faculty Meetings
  • More Thoughtful Teaching Events
  • ET Partners
  • IT Express

Copy

Cover

Is your course in a class of its own?

Simplify your workload.

Create a SmartSite to meet your unique teaching, research and collaboration needs.

SmartSite can help:

  • Reduce paper work
  • Share class materials
  • Collect and grade assignments
  • Communicate with students
  • Organize lectures
  • And more!

smartsite.ucdavis.edu

Pages 2&3

What is SmartSite?

SmartSite is a sophisticated set of web-tools designed for higher education. It is also UC Davis' new course management and collaboration system powered by Sakai, a software development effort that brings together one hundred plus educational institutions.

Like Mozilla's Firefox web browser, SmartSite is part of an open-source community dedicated to the success of a particular piece of software. This sense of community and collaboration allows UC Davis to participate in the development of useful tools that will help meet the rapidly changing technological needs of academic institutions worldwide.

How are other instructors using SmartSite?

Faculty Profiles (Photo and Quotes on INE Pubs):
Roger MacDonald
Kristina de Korsak
Susan Keen
Milmon Harrison (Need to get Photo/Quote; use place holder if needed)

Pages 4-7

Why should I use SmartSite?

SmartSite can help simplify your workload by providing useful web-tools for your unique teaching, research and collaboration needs.

And for MyUCDavis users (UC Davis' legacy course management system), another, more practical reason to begin using SmartSite is that the campus retire MyUCDavis' course tools in 2008-09. But don't worry! Only MyUCDavis' course tools will be retired, not the portal itself. Also, your legacy content will be accessible past the shutdown date, but the ability to use the tools will not. We encourage all instructors to export it their content from MyUCDavis and import it into SmartSite using a few easy, well-documented steps. Please email smartsite-help@ucdavis.edu for more information.

Which tools are right for me?

One of the strengths of SmartSite is the variety of tools available to instructors. But, this can also be a bit overwhelming when first getting started.

The tools you use will depend on tangibles such as class size, format and course subject as well as intangibles like your teaching style and comfort with technology.

Sites are scalable; so establishing how sophisticated or simple your site will be is a matter of assessing your particular needs. Picking one or two reasons for using a site and then finding a set of tools to match is highly recommended.

Some general reasons for using SmartSite include:

  • Communicating with students, TAs and colleagues
    • Use Chat during your office hours to answer students' questions online or to stay in contact with your TAs when they are grading papers
    • Use the Mail Tool to send notes to groups of students or members of your research group.
  • Encouraging collaboration and communication among students
    • Create a wiki with your courses' key terms and concepts and have students collectively create a detailed definition
  • Promoting independent and self-paced learning
  • Assessment, evaluation and feedback
  • Collecting, grading and returning assignments
  • Sharing resources with students, TAs and colleagues
  • Automating processes and reducing paperwork
  • Sharing and organizing classroom presentations

For instance, if you'd like to distribute your course materials electronically and improve communication with students, try using the Resource tool to store and share your materials and the Chat tool to talk with students during your office hours.

Resources
Assignments
Mail Tool
Chat
Site Info

How do I create a SmartSite?

Please visit smartsite.ucdavis.edu to learn how to create your sites.

Where do I get help?

Is there training available?

What about one-on-one or drop-in support?

What about my class material on MyUCDavis?

...

Group/Location

Total

Notes

IT Times

13,000

From I&E

ATS

1,000

Per Liz

Ladder-Rank Faculty

1,500

Estimate, # from Linda tomorrow

Other Teaching Faculty

1,000

Estimate, # from Linda tomorrow

Researchers

1,600

Estimate, # from Linda tomorrow

Student Assistants

1,200

Estimate, # from Linda tomorrow

SmartSite Training Sessions

400

CO Estimate

IT Express

500

CO Estimate

TRC

250

CO Estimate

NEO

200

CO Estimate

Senior Advisors, Vice-Chancellors

125

Bb Estimate

IETLC

100

Bb Estimate; 10 per member

MU Info Booth

100

CO Estimate

TIF

50

-

ADMAN

75

-

CODVC

50

-

CCFIT

50

-

Total

22000

-

Copy

Panel 1(Cover)

Connect
how you teach
how you learn
how you work
Online

Discover
smartsite.ucdavis.edu

The Web tools that grow with you

Panel 2-3 (Overview and Intro)

SmartSite connects you. SmartSite grows with you. SmartSite is our evolving online collaboration and course management system.

Since the pilot began on campus in 2006, instructors in the <<English Department>> have discovered SmartSite tools that let them connect their students with class materials. Instructors in the <<Geology Department>> have discovered SmartSite tools that let them manage and distribute grades. And instructors across campus have discovered SmartSite common spaces that connect students with ideas and with each other.

Researchers in <<the College of Engineering>> have discovered how to coordinate cross-campus projects using SmartSite. Staff members from <<the Office of Administration>> have connected to simplify and enhance collaboration. They have discovered how to share documents, post announcements, work on drafts, coordinate committee work, track progress on projects, and communicate with team members in other departments, at any time.

SmartSite brings our community a rich and evolving set of Web tools currently in use by colleagues at more than a hundred universities. We have adapted them especially for use here at UC Davis. It's a flexible framework that over time will enable us to add new tools contributed by the higher education community around the world.

We invite you to connect with SmartSite by discovering how the default tool set outlined here can improve your academic life today, and prepare your courses and projects for what's ahead.

Panel 4 (Communicate with students)

Announcements
? Announce changes in course time or location
? Send updated versions of writing assignments

Chat
? Have real-time, unstructured conversations
? Hold "Online Office Hours"
? Answer questions during discussion sections

EmailArchive
? Find course-related messages quickly
? Use the course email address for class mailings
? Send attachments without clogging email accounts

MailTool
? Contact individuals or groups without knowing their email addresses
? Send private messages to groups working on specific projects
? Save or hide messages from site participants

Panel 5 (Encourage collaboration)

Wiki
? Create and edit Web pages
? Develop a "Wikipedia" of specific course terms and topics
? Create and monitor collaborative writing assignments

Forums
? Continue class discussions online
? Build an "answerbase" for future students
? Quantify student participation by forum entries

Panel 6 (Share course materials)

Resources
? Share lecture notes, weekly readings, slides, links, audio and video in a secure environment
? Organize and release materials by topic, lecture date, or section
? Archive important documents

Schedule
? Organize material in a calendar format
? Post readings by the due date
? Set exam dates and project deadlines

Syllabus
? Create an official course outline
? Enter and edit course outlines directly into SmartSite
? Link to an online syllabus

WebContent
? List Web links in the worksite menubar.
? Provide prominent links to departmental or personal Web pages
? Create and store links to resource Web pages

Panel 7 (Manage your course)

Assignments
? Collect and grade assignments online
? Download all student submissions at once
? Release student grades with comments

Gradebook
? Calculate and store grade information online
? Export class rosters and grades to Excel
? Submit final grades to the Office of the Registrar

Section Info
? Manage sections of lectures, labs, discussions, or studio work
? Work with other tools such as Announcements and Gradebook
? Keep track of TA participation and teaching

Panel 8 (Back)

Did you know?
Clicking the "?" icon on any page takes you directly to the help page for that specific tool

How do I get technical assistance?

IT Express

The campus computing help desk can help you set up a SmartSite account and answer questions about using SmartSite tools.
Telephone: (530) 754-HELP (754-4357)
Drop In: 182 Shields Library
Email: smartsite-help@ucdavis.edu
Web: itexpress.ucdavis.edu

IET Logo
Copyright information

Panel 9

Is SmartSite training available?

Teaching Resources Center (TRC)

The primary goal of the TRC is to improve instruction at UC Davis by enhancing teaching and learning opportunities for instructors. Visit the Calendar section of their Web site for more information and to register for upcoming SmartSite training sessions. Space is limited.
Telephone: (530) 752-6050
Drop In: 17 Wellman
Email: trc@ucdavis.edu
Web: trc.ucdavis.edu

Panel 10

Can I get one-on-one SmartSite help and support?

Education Technology (ET) Partners

Student technology advisers who are specially trained in all SmartSite tools (as well as in other common teaching applications used on campus) are available for ad hoc, one-on-one consultation. Either drop in or meet them at your office.
Telephone: (530) 754-2115
Drop In: Surge II
Email: etpartners@ucdavis.edu
Web: etpartners.ucdavis.edu

Panel 11

How are other instructors using SmartSite and new educational technology?

Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program (FMFP)

This program provides faculty an opportunity to mentor and learn from other faculty interested in instructional technology and innovative teaching. Managed by Andy Jones, a longtime user of instructional technology on campus, the FMFP helps to guide faculty through the technical and pedagogical opportunities offered by the many SmartSite tools. Visit the Web site for more information, to view videos of past sessions, and to learn about upcoming presentations.
Telephone (Andy Jones): (530) 752-3408
Email: aojones@ucdavis.edu
Web: fmfp.ucdavis.edu

Panel 12

I have content in MyUCDavis. What will happen to it?

Course content and data in MyUCDavis will be accessibly after these course tools are retired in 2008-2009. The option to use the WebSite builder, Quizbuilder and Gradebook tools will be disabled; the portal itself will continue to be available.

Content from the WebSite builder and QuizBuilder tools can be imported into SmartSite using a few easy, well-documented steps. The Gradebooks in MyUCDavis cannot be imported into SmartSite; they can however be exported from MyUCDavis.

Please email smartsite-help@ucdavis.edu with any questions or concerns about importing content into SmartSite of exporting content from MyUCDavis.