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Overview

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 SmartSite.

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? or How will you use 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 because MyUCDavis' course tools will be retired in 2008-09. But don't worry, your content will be archived and accessible past the shutdown date, but the ability to use the tools will not. We encourage all instructors to export 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, course format and 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; have students collectively create a detailed definitions like Wikipedia
    • Use an online message board to continue a discussion after your class is over
  • Promoting independent and self-paced learning
    • Set-up quizzes for students to brush up on prerequisites
    • Create a learning sequences that students can complete at their own pace
  • Assessment, evaluation and feedback
    • Give pop quizzes with the Test and Quizzes tool
    • Have students complete a mid-quarter teaching evaluations through the TRC's mid-quarter teaching evaluation SmartSite
  • Collecting, grading and returning assignments
    • View drafts of term papers with the Assignments Tool
    • Create simple, daily assignments to increase and assess student participation
  • Sharing resources with students, TAs and colleagues
    • Post your reader online with the Resources tool
    • Import and host your previously created web pages
  • Automating processes and reducing paperwork
    • Limit your use of ScanTrons and give an online test with Test & Quizzes
    • Keep students informed of their current grade with Gradebook
  • 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?

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