July 2006 Issue EdTech Web
Writing Better Multiple Choice Quiz Questions, Part 2
Click here for the full article.
Last month we began looking at how to write better multiple choice questions so that we can most effectively use WebCT’s labor-saving quiz tool in both online and traditional classrooms. Besides the usual one-correct-answer question, instructors can also use the following question types:

  • A series of true/false statements
  • Omission
  • Scenario-based

Read the full article.
Read Part 1 if you missed the first issue.

Students with Learning Disabilities
Click here for the full article.
Learning disabled students are in college, but they are much more likely to drop out than non-disabled students. The high school drop-out rate for these students tends to be double that of students without learning disabilities, so those who do make it to college are clearly at risk in college also.

As technology becomes increasingly integrated into our teaching, we must accommodate the 5 to 6% of students officially diagnosed with a learning disorder. In a class of 22, this means there is, on average, one such student. But if the class is larger there could be two or three learning disabled students enrolled. If an instructor is teaching only five small classes, perhaps only five learning-disabled students could be impacted if the instructor is unaware of compensatory measures. But if that instructor teaches six or seven large classes, 15 students every semester could be negatively impacted.

Read the full article.

The New EdTech Website
Click here to take a sneek peek. (You must be on the OWC network to view.)
The Educational Technology and Distance Learning Department has been working hard to reorganize all of the resources we offer on our current website. The result is a revamped version that will "go live" at the end of the summer term.

Although it is still undergoing a few changes, readers of our newsletter are welcome to take a sneek peek at the new site, and offer any suggestions they may have. The new site is only accessible through the network at this time, so you'll have to be on the OWC network to view it.

Availability of Faculty Tech Support and Training at Other OWC Centers
Most faculty members located on the Niceville campus know that they can request tech support and training for software applications offered by the EdTech Department by filling out a Faculty Tech Support Request Form. But what many people don't know is that the department can also arrange for members of our support team to visit faculty members who are located at the Fort Walton Beach and Crestview Centers, and support may be available in other OWC centers as well. If you need tech support or training, simply fill out a request form and we'll contact you to make arrangements.


Quick Tech Tip: Increase Font Size

Having trouble reading the tiny print on a website? If you have a wheel on your mouse, and if the website in question hasn't locked its font settings, you should be able to easily increase the font size. Simply hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while scrolling the wheel down, and the font size will increase incrementally.

As mentioned, this trick won't always work, especially in Internet Explorer. The Firefox browser is almost always more accommodating, so if you want to give it a try, download it at Mozilla.Com.

UPDATE: Internet Explorer 7 was released a few months after this article was originally published. The scroll trick does work in IE 7, but you scroll the wheel up rather than down. Or better yet, you should see a magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner of the browser. Click the triangle (downward pointing arrow) to get a menu of size options to try out.



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