Campus-to-Campus Collaboration (CTCC)
Syllabus

A. Why are we using two virtual environments for this E-Learning portal?
Blackboard.com's web course tools (Bb) will be used in module 1 for its evaluation functions and as an introduction into the virutal environment to be used in module 2. This Bb server does not provide WebDAV (DAV) services. Before asking the tourist to commit to the planned second module of this learning portal in Bb, we will give the user an opportunity to..

  1. review a map of this program to determine if they can effectively utilize these techniques and resourses,
  2. review their collaboration/learning style evaluation to determine their strengths and weaknesses for online collaborations, and
  3. learn to use elements of the DAV protocol for joint authoring and versioning. If the learner decides to continue it will be necessary to join the CTCC Bb site. The CTCC Bb site will provide instructions and examples on how to transform an online course site, such as the one they would be in, into a web-based environment focused on collaborations not necessarily related to learning. The CTCC site will also extend the directions for using additional functions of the DAV protocol.

Even though most of the material provided will be directed toward collaboration functions directly, a limited amount of technical information will be provided so that DAV might be implemented in other campus servers. All of the web-based information will be provided by two Apache web servers: one for Bb services and the other for DAV services and extra-Bb web pages.

B. Purpose and Organization

The purpose of this proposed CTCC module(s) will be to instruct faculty and administrative staff interested and willing to invest a small amount of time about how to best use our various Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) resources and web course tools, i.e., DAV and Bb for the purpose of campus-to-campus collaborations for administration and grant proposal prepartation.

Module 1 of this e-learning portal will deal with shared document management and creation using DAV. Often, an important objective of collaboration is the joint authoring of documents, and along with this task is the complication of maintaining a current version of the document being developed by a number of individuals.

  • DAV Server Environment...
    This is where document collaboration will reside. This server is driven by a Macintosh G4 with MacOSX Server software (UNIX) using Apache DAV modules. Each program participant will be provided with DAV server space to practice establishing their own document server environment for collaboration. Another learning portal will be provided in the future for those wo would like to learn how to configure an Apache web server to run the webDAV module.
  • Module 2 - Campus-to-Campus Collaboration via Bb server.. To use this site you will be issued a login name and password once you have submitted your technical/learning/collaboration style survey and your ID verified relative to your assocation with a UT system campus. Note: The email address that you provide must be one of our UT campus addresses, i.e., @utmem.edu, @utk.edu, etc. Please do not use an off-campus address such as @yahoo.com, @aol.com, etc. This link will lead the tourist into the virtual site of module 2 for this e-learning portal (under construction) , and also provides the venue for module 1 evaluations.

C. Learning Objectives

  1. Participants will be acquainted with their own learning style perferences, and they will understand how knowing their learning styles can be important to the success of an online collaboration experience. A learning style/online collaboration quotient will be determined.
  2. Participants will become acquainted with their own computer/network abilities and derive a technical online collaboration quotient from this information.
  3. Participants will be acquainted with the history of online collaboration and Document Authoring and Versioning (DAV).
  4. Participatants will learn to use the essential elements of a DAV server and client to share in the process of document creation and management.
  5. Participants will explore future directions of Internet collaboration by examining the essential elements of middleware related to online collaborations and the evolution of the X Internet (executable Internet).
  6. Participants will learn to use elements a web course tools (Blackboard.com) to facilitate online collaborations. Module 2.

This learning portal will be begin with DAV, and then lead into the CourseInfo site for collaborative tools management.

D. Topics

  • Knowing your learning styles.
  • What learning styles facilitate online collaborations?
  • Understanding your ability to effectively utilize CMC tools.
  • Creating an online community.
  • Community building for collaboration.
  • What personal, social, and environmental attributes create an optimal collaborative environment?
  • Collaboration as a business style.
  • Online tools for collaboration.
  • The difference between DAV and CVS.
  • Configuring a DAV server (for administrators)
  • Configuring DAV clients.
  • Using the CTCC DAV server.
  • Requesting your own DAV site.
  • Learning to use Blackboard.com's web course tools for collaboration.

E. Required Hardware and Software

Well... almost any computer platform and browser relative to the pages that you are viewing now. However, once you have entered the CourseInfo environment, it will be neccessary to follow the specified hardware and software criteria established by Blackboard.com. Also, make sure that you have all of the suggested software (below) installed before proceeding.

  • Hardware -- This is not an absolute, but it is strongly suggested that you use a PC or Macintosh computer with a clock speed of no less than about 200MHz. and no less than about 64Megabytes of RAM (Rapid Access Memory). However, the faster the computer and the more RAM memory the better the operation in this environment.
  • Software -- More recent versions of browsers are better. For Internet Explorer, I would suggest nothing less than 4.5 and 5.0 would be better if your operating system software can manage it. For Netscape, I would suggest at least version 4.7, and if you can use version 6.0 it would even be better. For the Mozilla browser, I would suggest nothing less than Mozilla/5.0. If memory management is not automatic with your operating system, please allocate no less than about 16 Megabytes of RAM for your browser. However it is suggested that you use Internet Explorer since some issues have arisen when using other browsers with the Virtual Classroom.

    For Macintosh (Classic OS 9.0 and above including MacOSX), the DAV client suggested is Goliath 0.9.1 for MacOSX or 0.9.1 for the Classic MacOS. For the PC using Windows 95/98/2000/xp, I would suggest DAVExplorer version 0.81 as the client. Install your client according to the provided instructions. You may use other clients if you wish, but these are the clients that will be discussed in this presentation and if you decide to use a different client, learning to use that particular flavor of software will be the users responsibility.

F. Your Tour Guide and Contact Information

Your tour guide, Larry Tague is currently a Research Associate in the Department of Physiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He is also the Co-PI and Co-Director of the Memphis Educational Computer Connectivity Alliance (MECCA) which has received three rounds of funding from the National Science Foundation (1993 - 2001) for the purpose modeling community networking and education including senior citizens, K-12 teachers and students.

If you have questions about this learning portal and/or the information it contains, please contact..

Larry Tague
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Dept. of Physiology
894 Union Ave.
Memphis, TN 39163
Phone: 901-448-7152
FAX: 901-448-7126
Email: ltague@physio1.utmem.edu

Virtual Office Consultations: By email appointment using the chat room in our class CourseInfo site http://courses.utmem.edu/ . Please check the CourseInfo calendar to note my suggested virutal office hours. These hours may change so be sure and check this calendar before sending an email request for consultation. Always remember that your questions and problems may be common to others. Therefore, consider the possibility that your discussions with me might be of interest to others participating in this e-learning portal. If you consider your discussion with me to be of possible general interest, please send email via our listserv (collaborations@physio1.utmem.edu) so that all those currently interacting with this learning portal can participate if the appointment time permits. In your email, please provide me with topics of discussion and questions so that I can try to come to our chat room prepared. If your need for a chat is of a private nature, send your email directly to me rather than through the listserv, and I will automatically assume that you want me to erase our chat from the course record after it is complete.

G. Activities and Evaluation

  • Readings - Outside readings are only associated with the hyperlinks (primary pages) or hyperlinks (Module1) within these pages. No offline text are required.
  • Formative Evaluations - It is important that you know how you are progressing with this e-learning portal. Therefore, I will provide inteactive questions at the end of major sections for your own use.
  • Problem-based Learning - Senerios associated with online collaborations will be posed and your solutions requested.

H. Starting Your Tour

Well you might say that if you have reached this point, you have already started your tour. This is primarily a self-paced (asynchronous) tour because I know that everyone is really busy with their own thing. However, please permit me to just outline in large terms the path you will take. The first module of your tour is outside of the main collaboration site. You are in the first module now. The first module, being served by the Dept. of Physiology web server, will cover the basics of collaboration, learning styles and computer/network ability as related to online collaborations, and the use of DAV for document management and collaboration. This first module is located at http://physio1.utmem.edu/CTCC/. The second module of the tour will be on UTHSC's Blackboard.com distance education server at http://courses.utmem.edu. You will be placed on this server once your UT affilliation has been confirmed by your tour guide. I will send you your login name and password (temp.) so that you can enter this E-learning portal. The second module will contain a repeat of portions of the first module. However, the focus will be on using the elements of the Bb web course tools for online collaboration rather than teaching/learning.

I. Schedule - Since this is a self-paced program, there will be no pre-scheduled meetings. Meetings on an individual basis or with groups of participants will be coordinated online via private emial or via the listserv

Tour Guide.... Larry Tague, UTHSC