Web Help for Faculty
Clas Computing
This article was originally printed in the October 1999 issue of CLASnotes.
It's time to welcome two more folks to the CLAS technology fold.
As you know, we are continually encouraged to upgrade the level of technology that we use in our teaching and service activities. For example, all faculty now have a Gatorlink account, which will soon be the only possible method for submitting grades. Please note that your Gatorlink e-mail address, which you automatically get with your account, is the only address usually listed in the UF directory, so it's important, if you don't use your Gatorlink mail, to have it auto-forwarded to one of your active accounts. This is very easy to do quickly online at <www.gatorlink.ufl.edu>.
Another aspect of our increasing integration of technology into our jobs is the use of Web based resources in classes and the proliferation of educational Web pages. We UF professors are now expected to have a Web page for each course, containing the syllabus at a minimum. Soon these pages will be connected to the UF catalogue by hot links, so prospective students or those registering online can access course content in real time. Examples of the beginnings of these pages can be found at <www.reg.ufl.edu/99-20catalog/coll-liberal-arts.html>. In addition we are encouraged to use the Web and e-mail to interact with our students.
Many faculty and graduate students also have professional personal Web pages, normally accessible from their departmental home pages, which offer contact information and details about their professional lives, publications, etc. Examples can be found at <www.clas.ufl.edu/users-dept.html>.
Preparation of a personal or class Web page is not, in principle, difficult, as there is a plethora of editors available that help in writing the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). In addition, OIR provides courses each semester in Web page preparation at the Faculty Support Center. We highly recommend that, if you are an HTML novice, you attend an OIR training session and become familiar with the basics of Web page preparation. The problem here is that, after you learn how to prepare a Web page at the Center, you may have a different machine in your office running different software than that used in the training session. To help you over that barrier, we have hired two undergraduate Web experts, who will come to your office and help you adapt the information you learned at the OIR course to your office system. These students will work out of UCET and be supervised by Dr. Connie Shehan. They will each be available several hours a week starting immediately. You may make an appointment to have one of them visit you by calling 846-1574. Let me introduce them to you:
Amano Kazumi
"In my new position, I look forward to helping CLAS faculty create and maintain effective Web pages."
Amano Kazumi (Joseph Douze) is a fifth year senior from West Palm Beach majoring in East Asian languages and literatures, with a Japanese concentration. In addition to making personal Web pages as a hobby, Kazumi worked at CIRCA for four years and has been a Webmaster at the college of business for three years.
Meghan Gill
"I am really excited to get the chance to work with the faculty as well as improve my computer skills."
Meghan Gill is a junior from Boca Raton majoring in decision information systems (computer programming and business) and international economics. Her experience includes Cobal and Programming in C, and she does database management for the Alzheimer's Association.
Credits
Writer
Jack Sabin, CLAS Director of Information Technology
