Five years ago, after two years of using a commercial course management system, Bridgewater College moved to stand-alone modules that were already in place. These included the BC-MOO for synchronous chats, the BC-BBS for asynchronous threaded discussions, and the web server itself with allocated folders for faculty to construct web pages for courses and including a way to limit off-campus access to web pages if desired. The only missing item was a quiz-generating and grading module. By January 2003, version 1 of JS Quiz Maker was in stable form and in use by several professors. In this workshop participants will explore firsthand how to implement and employ all of these components to web-enhance courses. Particular emphasis will be on using JS Quiz Maker* to make online quizzes for courses in the sciences and the humanities and on accessing the BC-MOO** as an example of tailored spaces for synchronous communication in a variety of courses. A discussion and demonstration of an open-source BBS implementation using PHP and MySQL will also be included.
*
http://www.bridgewater.edu/~rbowman/JSQuizMaker/
** http://www.bridgewater.edu:7000/
Citation: Richard L. Bowman, "Web Enhancing Courses with Freeware Components: a Flexible, Efficient, and Low-cost Alternative," MERLOT Seventh International Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA, 7-10 August 2007.