THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

What is alternate access and how do I use it?

How can I get case studies for my class?

Using electronic case studies.

Is it Ok to meet with the students?

I have never taught an online course before, where do I begin?
The first thing is to ask our in-house IT eCollege manager to assign you a username and password (Professor Matthew London: 215-951-2559; LondonM@PhilaU.edu).

There are a few other items which are highly recommended.

On campus computers have all been configured to work with the e-College software. If you plan on working with the course from a computer off-campus, the first step is to check that you have the software and hardware needed to take advantage of all the function options available. To perform a system and software check, visit the "Technical Requirements" page.

There are a number of options available to you if you want to learn about the software that runs the virtual classrooms:

1. Read the eCollege eTeaching Solutions Handbook or the Users Guide.  The School of Business Administration at Philadelphia University maintains two print copies of these that you may borrow for one week.  They are located in Gibbs Hall and the Tuttleman Center.  The manual is long, but if you wish to obtain a personal copy, we could provide you with a copy on disk, or send you a copy as an attachment to an e-mail.
   

2. Use the tutorial: When working within a particular course, a tutorial is available for a quick overview of the course creation process -- located as the last or second-to-last button in the left-hand frame under the Student and Author tabs.
   You may also want to review the material in the eTeaching Solutions for 4.0. This is a tutorial available for all faculty on their home page (the first page that opens after you have entered your username and password). Here you will find information and advice on building an online course.
   The student tutorial, Student Orientation, also available on your eCollege home page is designed to illustrate key features of the e-College course functions as well as general aspects of online learning. Although it is geared towards new students, you would also find the material helpful in developing your first course.
   

3. Help and design tips are also available on every page (as buttons in the upper right hand corner). These tend to be context-sensitive, or topic-specific. You can also call up an index of help topics by selecting the help function located on the left side of the page. Furthermore, you can also print out the entire set of help pages by selecting “?Help”, then "More Help" from the left hand frame of the ‘pop-up’ box, and then "Download Help." It is a large document – more than 75 pages. A copy is available for you to borrow in the SBA Office.
   

4. The first page you see when entering Philadelphia University Online web site includes a welcome statement below which you will see a number of maroon tabs, starting with “Enrolled Classes” (which is the default, opening page which shows the course(s) that you may access). The last tab on the first row is “Faculty Conference Center”. Select that and browse the contents which include links to articles and advice, as well as a chat room and discussion threads about online teaching and learning.
   

5. Professor Matt London is perhaps our most valuable resource -- call on him when you are having a technical problem that you cannot resolve yourself. (215-951-2559; LondonM@PhilaU.edu).
   

6. Technical difficulties with the server of functions within the program, especially those 'glitches' that can be attributed to software; or when error messages persist, feel free to send a help request to the e-College/Philadelphia University Help Desk: ProfHelp@PhilaU.org (or call 303-873-0005).

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Can I use document sharing instead of e-mail for assignments?
Yes. This can be an effective way of reducing the amount of time spent responding to multiple e-mail correspondence from students and a good way of organizing work by student. By asking students to use the journal for their personal reflections on the course material (requiring that entries be made at least once per week), the tendency is to include thoughts in the journal, rather than writing two, three or more e-mail notes. For this to be effective, the instructor must check the entries regularly and respond to students comments promptly (shortly after due dates).

You can also use journals as a convenient collection point for short assignments, but the downside is that you must search and review each student's journal for responses to each assignment.

If you use this technique, be sure to warn students of 'time out' problems (see FAQ, 'Time Out').

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Why do I get a 'time out' or 'timed out' message?
At one time or another, most of us have seen the dreaded "Timed out. Connection terminated." message when browsing on the Internet. This occurs because nearly all Internet browsers require some activity (upload or download) to maintain the connection between computers. The reason for this is that by establishing a link between computers, users are reserving connection points or ports, and as long as these remain open, they cannot be used by others. While there may be many, the number of ports are not unlimited. If someone has established a link between computers but is not using it, it can be compared to parking a car in a travel lane on the highway -- others must find a way around the parked vehicle. If enough people park on the highway, it becomes unusable as a link between two points. Rather than ‘wasting’ this connection, Internet browser software is designed to ‘time out’ and ‘bump the user off’ – break the connection. Sometimes there is an error in the software and this occurs even if there has been some activity.

What constitutes activity? Software detects activity as something (data or a command) being sent between the connected computers. If someone is typing, that activity is taking place on one computer, and that is why typing is not interpreted as activity between or among computers. If the user moves from one page to another on the Internet, they are requesting information to be transferred from some other computer to their computer (text and graphics). If the user saves something while working on a shared document on the Philadelphia University site, for example, they are sending information from their computer to the Philadelphia University computer. Both of these activities constitute a ‘live’ or active connection. Inactivity at the Philadelphia University site is limited to 45 minutes. If nothing is sent from or received by the PhilaU site, the connection will be terminated.

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How long do classes last?
Online courses are designed to run on an “on demand” basis. That is, students should be able to take the class whenever they wish and be able to complete them at their own pace (with some maximum time limit, of course). For the time being, Philadelphia University is offering the online MBA foundation classes to run concurrently and under the same calendar restrictions as the traditional classes. This may change in the future, or may be different for particular programs, but the faculty and the students will be informed prior to the class start date if this is not the case. Textile Apparel Marketing courses are available ONLY to those registered in the TAM Program. For tentative online course schedules in PDF format, select one of the following: Foundation courses; TAM courses.
Please note that access to class material is possible for approximately two weeks beyond the date that grades are due in the Registrar's office.

How do I 'get into' Philadelphia University Online?
You have access to some of the pages within the Philadelphia University Online like the site that describes the necessary hardware and software, the Frequently Asked Pages site (the one you are viewing right now) and a few others. If you want access to a course, you are required to have online instructor status, which entitles you to a username and password. The username and password will be assigned by our technology expert, Professor Matthew London (215-951-2559; LondonM@PhilaU.edu).

Is one Internet browser better than another?
The online course software works best when you use Microsoft software, primarily because Microsoft is the software of choice for most firms. (The choices among software and hardware combinations are many. The reason for choosing PCs, rather than Macintosh products and Microsoft software products is because these are industry standards -- the most common and therefore the most likely to work with the largest number of students and faculty software and hardware.) If you have a choice, it is best if you use the latest version on Internet Explorer, rather than Netscape or other browsers.  eCollege maintains support on the two most recent versions of the most common browsers.

How can I edit content items once they are included in the course?
The easiest method is to use the Visual Editor, but that option may not be available if you are using something other than a PC and Internet Explorer. If you do not have access to the this tool, you may have to use the standard text box which nay require some familiarity with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). If you have access to an HTML editor such as FrontPage or Netscape Composer, you can 'cut' and 'paste' the HTML code directly into the standard text box.

Can I assign a grade of "I" (incomplete) if a student needs extra time?
Access to class material is possible for approximately two weeks beyond the date that grades are due in the Registrar's office. In the event faculty believe a grade of "I" is warranted, please discuss this with the Associate Dean (Lloyd Russow: 215-951-2819; RussowL@PhilaU.edu) at the earliest possible time.

What textbooks should I use?
The majority of the online courses that are offered at Philadelphia University are either foundation courses or core business courses. The texts in these classes were carefully selected because of the content, and the assumption that the students will have covered the same material, regardless of who teaches the class. This is important since all the core and the foundation courses are prerequisites for other courses. For this reason, unless otherwise noted, the latest edition of the same textbooks used in the previous semester should be used. If there are compelling reasons to use a different text, the associate dean will call a meeting of the faculty who teach the course regularly and other interested parties to discuss changing the required text. You may assign a reasonable number of additional required and recommended readings. (The accessibility and the cost of required materials, as well as the length of the course which acts as a time constraint, should be considered in determining what is 'reasonable'.)  For publisher web sites, click <here>.

What happened to the content item I just added? It does not show up in the Navigation tree (the menu on the frame on the left side of the web site).
If you see a blank page after ‘clicking’ on the “Add to Unit” or “Add to Home” button, it’s very likely that the content item was added successfully. To check, you can refresh the page by pressing F5 (which will put you back on the course entry page); or go back to any Unit/Week/Session home page and press the “Add Content Item” button again. Go to the bottom of this page and look under the section entitled “Edit/Delete Existing Content Item(s)”. Look for the content item in the list that appears in the boxes on the left side of your monitor screen and the corresponding “Used In:” column. If you were successful in adding the content item, it should be listed in the “used In:” column for that unit.

How do I change my password?
Once you have a username and a password, you should 'sign on' to Philadelphia University Online. The first page you will see when you have entered the web site, there will be a series of tabs near the top of the page. Select the second tab, "User Profile". You will be transferred to another page where you can enter a new password (and a short biography).

What if I forgot my password?
If you forgot your password, call or send an e-mail note to the Philadelphia University IT specialist, Professor Matt London (LondonM@PhilaU.edu; 215-951-2559).

What do I do if hyperlinks to articles or readings don't work?
Hyperlinks are nothing more than locations of specific files. People move them or remove them all the time, without sometimes considering that people link to the address or location. If you find a hyperlink does not work, there is a good possibility the file has been moved or deleted.

eCollege will not fix or upload any web links. The software is designed to allow faculty to enter web addresses (URLs - uniform, or universal resource locator) easily. To enter new URLs, consult the help files on the web site which are detailed, or refer to the copies of the software and user manuals available both at Gibbs Hall and the Tuttleman Center. You are welcome to borrow the manuals or make copies of the related material.

Just as you would check the material in a traditional course, you need to check the material you provide students in an online course. If a hyperlink does not work and you can not find the new location, replace the reading or other material with something else, or remove the hyperlink.

If you would like help in replacing a hyperlink that no longer works, contact the webmaster of the web site (which may be a periodical, like Newsweek), or visit the textbook publisher site for information. Very often the publisher has information about the hyperlinks in the instructor's manuals.  For publisher web sites, click <here>.

An alternative, if the reference material is an article, is to replace it with something else.  The Gutman Library maintains an extensive library of electronic resources (including ABI Inform; Dialog; Hoovers Online; Lexis-Nexis; STAT-USA; Wall Street Journal).  You can access these remotely through a Philadelphia University Account, or schedule a visit with one of the reference librarians to help you identify resources (there are so many and so many additions, it's difficult to keep up sometimes).  You can also refer to search engines on many of the periodical web sites, like the Washington Post, the Financial Times and many others.  For other ideas, try the Everything International News page.

When do classes start? When do they end? When are grades due?
The online foundation courses (MF) for the MBA are offered concurrently with traditional courses, so you can follow the traditional calendar. Three credit courses traditionally last 15 weeks during the fall and spring semesters, and they last 12 weeks during the summer.

Some online courses, like those associated with the Textile Apparel Marketing option in the MBA (TAM) follow different schedules.  Textile Apparel Marketing courses are available ONLY to those registered in the TAM Program. For tentative online course schedules in PDF format, select one of the following: Foundation courses; TAM courses.

In all cases, grades are due in the Registrar's office one week after classes are scheduled to end.

How can I get case studies for my class?
Many texts include cases, but you if you wish to use cases from other sources, you have two alternatives.

One way is to order the cases through our bookstore and require students to purchase printed or hard copies from our bookstore, or a bookstore in their area, or cases can often be purchased directly from the source, like Harvard Business Online.

A second method is to make them available online as part of the course. Sometimes you can arrange for the students to pay the source through Philadelphia University, which requires speaking with the Student Accounts Office (Mr. Kevin Glass, Controller: 215-951-2960) prior to arranging this with the vendor supplying the cases to determine if we have an account with them, or if we need to establish an account.

One source of cases is the XanEdu case library. It includes Harvard cases as well as cases from other sources. You can easily load an eCollege “Xanedu course-pack” content item (described below) in which you can list selected case studies that the students can purchase on-line. Please be aware that Philadelphia University subscribes to many of the data bases for articles and other items available to you with XanEdu. DO NOT order articles from XanEdu, or incorporate them into a coursepack UNLESS they are unavailable from the Gutman Library. Please speak to Steven Bell, Director of the library before developing a course pack (BellS@PhilaU.edu; 215-951-2847). Since students must pay XanEdu for every item (articles cost as much as $4 or more each). If you include articles or other material we make available to students as part of their tuition, they will effectively be charged twice for the same material. At this time, the Gutman Library does not include the cases available on XanEdu.

The eCollege platform supports importing these cases directly into the course. These are called 'course packs' and are a type of 'content item.' So, much as you might import a Word or Excel Document, you would need to include the course pack as a content item, then identify where in the course this would be available to students. The User Guide, "Teaching Solutions, June 2003" includes more specific information about this process (for a copy of these instructions, <click here>. You may also get online help using the help button in the "add content item" area of the eCollege course, or you may call on Matt London (LondonM@PhilaU.edu) or Lloyd Russow (RussowL@PhilaU.edu) for assistance.

Please include a statement in your syllabus, and post an electronic announcement about the cost of these materials. For example, you may want to include something like "Case studies must be purchased separately from other required materials. The estimated cost of each case is $3.50; total estimated cost for the ten assigned cases is $35.00. I make them available online as part of this course for your convenience. If you prefer, feel free to purchase them at your local bookstore or another vendor."