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Welcome

Congratulations on deciding to utilize a Webcourses@UCF to enhance your face-to-face class! The benefits of utilizing online discussions, quizzes, gradebook and the many other Webcourses@UCF tools can facilitate a robust and rewarding educational environment for you and your students. To ensure a successful course experience for you and your students there are a few fundamental skills you need to have. Essentials will introduce, discuss, and allow practice for these fundamental skills. Also, Essentials will provide information about online instruction that is unique to UCF.

What is Webcourses@UCF?

Webcourses@UCF is a course management tool that allows faculty to deliver online courses at UCF. Webcourses@UCF offers a variety of teaching and learning tools that are used to create, deliver and manage online courses. Webcourses@UCF is our name for the Blackboard's Learning System - Vista Enterprise product. For further information about Blackboard and their products, visit http://www.blackboard.com

What is Essentials?

Essentials is a self-paced faculty development workshop designed to ensure you possess the foundational knowledge required to develop and deliver a web-enhanced course.

"Web-enhanced" courses are those UCF courses that utilize the Internet to enhance the face-to-face class meetings. These courses do not reduce the requirement for students to attend class sessions (such as W and M courses).

Essentials has four main purposes:

Introduce UCF's online course policies and procedures.
Teach faculty the essential skills needed to set-up and deliver a"web-enhanced" course using Webcourses@UCF and features unique to UCF.
Provide a safe environment for faculty to practice these skills.
Allow faculty to demonstrate when they have mastered these skills.

Why do I need to take Essentials?

If you want to acquire a "Web-Enhanced" course (i.e. a Webcourses@UCF course section) and do not currently have an course, you must successfully pass Essentials. Faculty who complete Essentials will have an understanding of UCF's policy regarding online learning and be able to independently complete basic tasks within their Webcourses@UCF course section.

If you understand UCF policy regarding online learning and posses the Fundamental Webcourses@UCF Skills , you simply need to complete the quiz and lab at the end of this online faculty development course. Your course section will then be created.
If you do not understand UCF policy regarding online learning and possess the Fundamental Webcourses@UCF Skills , read through the modules and review the Webcourses manual located within the Essentials course prior to completing the quiz and lab. Your course section will then be created.

Who can take Essentials?

Any UCF faculty, staff, or teaching assistants (however, TA's cannot request Webcourses@UCF course section).

How do I get started?

Complete the Request a Web Enhanced Course form. You will then be given access to the Essentials training course. Once you complete this training, you will be provided your Web Enhanced course section.

If you already own a Webcourses@UCF course section and would like to have access to the Essentials professional development course, please e-mail CDWS with your name, NID and preferred password. You will be contacted via e-mail with log in instructions.

If you are a teaching assistant working with a faculty member, we need confirmation from the faculty member that you are assisting them. Have your faculty member e-mail CDWS. This e-mail should include:

Faculty name
GTA name
GTA e-mail address
GTA NID
GTA password
Webcourses@UCF course section (ABC1234 - 09Fall_0001)
A statement verifying that you are their GTA

Login and Password Information

You will access any Webcourses@UCF course section through the UCF portal (http://my.ucf.edu). Information about UCF's log-in and password conventions may be found at http://reach.ucf.edu/passwords.