CTL1000 Foundations of Curriculum
Accessing the Course Discussion Site

Web Knowledge Forum
We will be using a web site called Web Knowledge Forum (WebKF for short) and to access it, you need access to the Internet and a web browser (which should have the capability of Netscape 4.0 or higher). I recommend the latest version of Firefox or Sea Monkey is you are a Windows user and Safari if a MAC user. . Once you have logged into your ISP (Internet Service Provider), start up your web browser and you type (or copy) the following address (URL) into the browser's location box http://online.oise.utoronto.ca/webkf/ctl1000sec1_f08sk.html
or click on this link WebKF Foundations Online Course - please note that these links will not be ready for you to log in until the course starts in September 2007.

Either link will take you to the entry page.  When you arrive at the site, you will see that you need a username and a password. I will set up accounts for each of you in that site so to get in, your username is your first initial followed by your last name (for example, mine is skarsten - note - there are no spaces - though there could be an apostrophe if there is one in your name- and everything is lower case) and your password is your first name - all lower case (e.g. - selia). and this takes you into the conferencing area. I suggest that you bookmark it at this point so that you do not have to keep typing in the address every time you log on.

One of the first things you should do when you enter the site is scroll down the menu on the left side of the screen until you find the Change Password option, then PLEASE CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD. We do NOT have to all be there at the same time - this is not a chat room. If you have any trouble either finding the site or getting into it, please send me an email at skarsten@oise.utoronto.ca right away in case I spelled your name wrong or did something equally foolish. I will check it out and reply as soon as possible. When you get in to the course site, you will find views (topics or headings) already set up.

Introductions
This view is to introduce each participant. I ask that each of you post a note there telling about yourself. It is helpful to know about you, for example, if you are teaching, what subjects and what age groups (adult, secondary. elementary). What is your focus at OISE? Is this your first online course? What experience do you bring related to curriculum concepts and/or using computer technology?  This information is so that I can help you to better reach your objectives in taking this course. Remember that the information you share will be helpful in determining discussion groups. You are also asked to upload a small digital picture of yourself or at least, an image that you wish to be identified with so that we can build a feeling of an online community. You will find instructions for uploading images in the Introductions View in WebKF and in WebKF Help.

WebKF  Help - There are two additional views in  WebKF - "Getting Started" and "WebKF Help". In the Help view you may post problems encountered with WebKF and ask questions about how to make it do what we want it to. Anyone can help if you know the answers or have suggestions since the experience with WebKF among the members of the class varies from first time user to "I've been here since the earth was warm". This view remains throughout the course to be used as necessary. More advanced users are asked to please act as mentors to those new to online learning.

Other Views:
Most of the Views listed can be easily anticipated by the titles given. I have set up a view for each discussion topic where you will be posting messages related to that topic depending on the group you have been assigned to - these assignments change over the length of the course. There may be additional Views as needed throughout the course.  It is important to keep up on a regular basis as the volume of postings can be quite overwhelming if you are not vigilant. Use the feature that puts "new" beside Views where you have unread messages. As you read messages, mark them as read. Note the posting number, name of author and subject line for postings you plan to respond to later.

Using email
When you register for a course at OISE you can get an OISE email account. While you may prefer another email account that you have, it is helpful to have an OISE account to be able to use the chat (instant messenger) function and to access OISE conferences in First Class. All of the information you need for getting an account and for downloading, installing and configuring the First Class program can be found here - http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ec/email_internet/index.php
416-978-1802 is the helpdesk phone number or you can write to portal@oise.utoronto.ca
It is preferable that you ask questions related to the course in WebKF rather than by email to me - this way others may benefit from the answer.

BlackBoard
Access to the BlackBoard Virtual Classroom for this course is from http://portal.utoronto.ca and a link to the class should appear when you login with your utor log in name and your password (not the same as WebKF).  If your registration has not been processed completely, you will not be able to enter but keep trying to see if the link is there. Activities there will be a bit later in the course to allow time for processing by registration.

This course will also be using the BlackBoard Learning Management system. A few of the course activities will be done with this system so that you can become familiar with the way it works.  For this, you will need to have a utor account - normally this is part of your registration process. If you have an active utor account you can easily log in to your course with your user name and password. Also it makes it easy to send email to individual class members as well as to teams.

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ec/getting_access.php to read about Getting Connected- information on OISENet, the T card and on your utor ID and Blackboard.
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ec/academic_computing/bb_get_started.php
Step-by-step instructions to create a UTORid to access Blackboard.

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