Showing posts with label discussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discussion. Show all posts

Monday, August 31, 2015

How to Teach an Online Course using WordPress


Develop your content for the course. You can follow the instructions in my related article, How to Develop a Training Course (link in Resources below) or follow your own template for curriculum design. It is important to create the entire course in a word processing program first. The entire course will consist of reading assignments, links to Websites, discussion questions, detailed instructions for assignments and instructions for the instructor on how and when to post various components of the course.
Open a new blog on WordPress.com (link in resources below) or other free blog hosting site. Create the first page of the blog. This will be the landing page for your students so include the course description here as well as instructions about how to access the remainder of the course. The content on this page is considered to be static, it should not change after the course starts.
When you are on the editing site for this first page there are some things to remember to do:
Password protect the page. This is to make sure that no-one can access the site without your permission (and without paying tuition).
Turn off the comments part of the page. You do not want students to comment here. You want to contain the comments in specific pages set up for discussion.
Post your photo and contact information on this first page, which is usually called the Home page of the blog.
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Thursday, August 27, 2015

How to Make a Forum in Dreamweaver MX


Open the 'Start' menu, click 'All Programs,' then move to the 'Adobe' folder and click 'Dreamweaver MX.'
Click the 'Open' option in the 'File' menu, then select the website file you want to add a forum to. Click 'Open' after selecting the file.
Click the 'Tools' menu, move to the 'Wizards' option and click 'Forum Wizard.'
Click the forum option you want. The 'Single Section' option will create a one-section forum. Each section can contain more than one folder, or discussion area. The 'Multiple Sections' option allows you to create a forum with multiple sections, each with its own discussion areas. If you select 'Multiple Sections,' enter the number of sections in the 'Sections' field. Click 'Next' when you're finished.
Enter the names of the sections. If you selected a single section, enter the section name at the top. If you selected the multiple-sections option, enter the section names in the text fields provided. They will appear in the order you enter them. Click 'Next' when you're finished to enter the discussion area names.
Enter the name of at least one discussion area. Click 'Add' to add another discussion area. The discussion areas will appear in the order you enter them here. If you selected the multiple-sections option, click 'Next' to proceed to the next section. Each section will have its own screen to enter the discussion area names.
Click 'Next' after the final section configuration to see the summary screen. If the configuration is correct, click 'Publish' to export a file for use on your website, otherwise click 'Back' to change the names or order.
Click the file option you want to use. The options are: 'HTML,' 'HTML/CSS Style Sheet' and 'HTML/Java.' The first two options are compatible with all hosting providers. The 'HTML/CSS Style Sheet' will provide a nice appearance while being compatible with virtually all Web browsers.
Click 'Finish' to export the files. Upload the forum files according to your hosting provider's instructions.
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Friday, August 21, 2015

How to Design a Lunch Learn Program


Articulate why you are launching a lunch-and-learn program, clarifying who you will be addressing and what benefits you hope to impart. For example, “Teach staff how to better handle stress” or “Show architects the benefits of using our pavers.” Recruit the help of a few good people to coordinate your event’s details and share your mission with them.
Whether the program is a single event or one of a series, having someone act as MC, to briefly introduce the topic and the main speaker, helps give a sense of organization and continuity to the event. This person shouldn't be the one giving the talk or presentation itself, though. It's preferable to have a featured speaker or presenter, someone with some special credentials in the topic. This doesn't have to be a luminary in the field - a lunch-and-learn in the workplace about the advantages of learning martial arts, for example, could be presented by an employee who has been studying martial arts for a while.
Work with the presenter to narrow the topic to fit within a half-hour to 45-minute presentation and allow meaningful discussion to take place afterward; if the event is being held in a workplace, tailor timeframes to meet the firm's schedules. One good way to fine-tune a topic is to ask your intended participants what they would appreciate learning. For example, instead of broadly talking about health and wellness, focus on their widespread interest in weight management. If the interest in your subject is deep and wide, plan a series of lunch-and-learn events to cover different points of interest one at a time.
Plan the presentation that you will facilitate at your event, including any supporting audiovisuals and handouts. Create an agenda that begins with an introduction of the topic and why it’s important. Provide relevant examples ideally from your workplace or community and then lead a discussion of current versus desired scenarios. End with a wrap-up.
Establish a place and time for your event. Pick a gathering place that will accommodate your participants comfortably as they eat and interact. Whether at an office, hotel or restaurant, the room should have good acoustics and be large enough to accommodate flip charts and audiovisual equipment, if used. If your event is meant for the community at large, secure a larger venue such as a community center or similar facility.
Plan your menu. Decide whether you will have food catered to your event, or whether your participants should bring their own lunch and refreshments. Some employers have regular lunch-and-learns where participants bring their own lunches and the employer provides the refreshments. If catered, you will need to establish a way for participants to RSVP so you can get a headcount prior to ordering lunch for your event.
Promote the program. Broadcast it via traditional and electronic media to your potential participants. Include details of your event’s objectives, structure, time, place and benefits.
Secure needed supplies, such as flip charts, markers, adhesive notes, paper, pens, giveaways, registration sign-in sheets and handouts.
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Thursday, August 20, 2015

How to Build a Free Website With PayPal Integration


Obtain a domain name. This is the first step of establishing any website. This is what your site will be known as on the Internet. Your domain name can be obtained through a website building solution, such as Weebly.com, for free as long as you don’t mind having the web building solution’s name attached. For example, by choosing a free domain name from Weebly, you agree to use an open name in Weebly’s domain. Your wbsite’s name will look something like this: ABCsite.weebly.com.
Start your page design work. It is best to begin designing your site on paper. You should have a good idea of what you want to do with your page before you begin designing it electronically. You should also decide what purpose you want your site to have. Do you simply want to educate individuals when it comes to your area of expertise, or would you rather engage other experts in a discussion board-type of environment? Web building sites will allow you to design your pages however you choose and have a multitude of templates to help you accomplish your goals; the simple walk-through tutorial makes sure that you don’t miss anything critical, such as adding a site description for search engines and keywords.
Begin building your pages. After you have decided what you want your site to offer, begin building your pages online. Simply drag and drop individual templates into place and then begin editing the information contained in those templates. Your website will begin to take shape in no time. When you get to the pages that will be used in conjunction with a PayPal buy button or donation button, instead of dragging and dropping a basic template, switch to the revenue option and drag and drop a Product element into your page. You will need to connect your PayPal account to the website you are building. Simply edit your preferences in your account and add your PayPal account information. If you do not have a PayPal account, sign up for a free one at www.paypal.com.
Upload photographs of your products. Some site builders allow you to upload photographs of your products and add them to your Product elements. This is an extremely useful function since most customers like to see what they are buying. Take pictures of your products with a digital camera, transfer your pictures to your computer through its USB connection and then upload them to your website through the picture upload utility in the Product element.
Keep your content fresh. There is nothing that turns away users faster than stale content. You need to provide new and useful information and products often to keep customers coming back. You can incorporate some of your users’ questions into content if you need ideas for new articles.
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