First Page and Logging In
| Video Tour - Front Page | Video Tour - Login |
|---|---|
| Click the play button to view | Click the play button to view |
The Web address (URL)
It is not necessary to go to Blackboard for my course offerings. I merely put a link on Blackboard to the following URL, so, you can just go directly to http://www.artfuldancer.com/lessons and login
Logging in gets you credit for quizzes which are tallied by computer. The course material is always there regardless. You can get to the course material by clicking the course-number button in the course list table.
Your login here is:
username: your username at UMKC (which I get from the registrar)
password: just the word "password" for starters (you can change it anytime you are logged in)
Your password here is not the same as at UMKC because we do not share secure information. That also means that when you change your password at UMKC it does not change here. Your username is derived from the text just left of the commercial-at sign in your UMKC email address. For example if your UMKC email address is xyz@mail.umkc.edu then your username would be xyz.
If you are not able to login still there may be a couple of reasons.
1 - In a few cases the UMKC email address provided by the registrar does not match the username you are logging in with at UMKC.
2 - In most cases it just means I haven't gotten your information yet from the registrar, probably because you just signed up.
In either case, send me an email to inform me at strongm@umkc.edu.
To log in you will need two items:
- Username: enter your current UMKC username
- Password: enter the word "password" (the default, starting password)
Once you've logged in you are allowed to change your password to anything else.
Course List Table
Before logging in you should see a table with a gray background and a list of course names. Once logged in, the opening yellow page will show the course list table showing those classes you are signed up for with a white background while the other classes show up with a grey background.
In each table row (each class listing) has a button which when clicked takes you to the course material. If this is not accurate, tell me. Drop me an email.
Any other courses offered at this site will show in table rows with a light grey background. You are welcome to view these other courses at any time as a guest.
For 421P, 422P, 423P and 424P a web page is required as a single project for the course. This is an actual page which is shown on the web using the web space at UMKC. Every student has such a space reserved on the web server at UMKC.
For 400D (database) the course is a single extended project which you put together as you go. Treat this course as you would treat a workbook. The exercises are designed to build a project one exercise at a time. It accumulates, so follow the directions exactly.
Lesson Buttons and Example Pages
In each row of the white-background table - titled "Course(s) You Are Enrolled in" you will see several items.
The left-most column has a link for your grade sheet. Here you can check your current grades.
The second column has buttons with the course numbers listed on them. Click these buttons to bring up the materials for that course.
The third column is the course title.
The last column will have a link to an example page for those courses in which your assignments are posted on and as web pages.
The Example page is important because it shows you what I am expecting for your page on the web.
More about web pages later, but for now this note. You should have as a pre-requisite one of the web-design courses. You really need to know two things:
1 - how to make web pages
2 - how to get your pages onto the web - this last is very important.
For those doing the database course there is no web page. You will be sending me your assignment as an attachment on your email.
Lesson Links for Reading and Quizzes
Reading link
Clicking on any of the white-link groups in the left-hand panel brings up a reading (lesson/lecture) page on the right side of the page.
The readings here are applied to the quiz in the yellow link just below.
Single or Multiple Section Quizzes
Quizzes are really lessons in a complete-the-statement drill format. It has two modes:
1) Learner Mode (drill)
2) Test Mode (for the score)
First, you need to be logged in to be able to take quizzes.
Quizzes are a major source of your grade.
Generally they are a good thing to get done first.
All questions are presented in random order.
All questions start in the top row and are completed in one of the four following
rows.
The quizzes are designed to go over material presented in the readings
The questions are from the reading or exercises in the section just above
the yellow quiz link.
All questions are generated in random order each time.
The schema is:
1) Read the top (yellow) row and either answer the query or complete the statement
from the four options below
2) Click in one of the four lower frames (dark-grey background). You will
be told immediately whether it is right or wrong.
To take a quiz
1 - Click on the link for a quiz
2 - Quiz frame comes up on the right side of the page
3 - This starts in Exercise Mode
4 - The question or statement to complete is listed in the yellow box at the top
5 - Click on one of the four lower boxes with the statement which best answers or completes the statement in the yellow box
Learner Mode
On startup up the quiz (by default) starts in learner (drill) mode. This mode does not get recorded. It repeats questions which are missed, until you get them right. If all questions are run through the test automatically switches to Test Mode. You can also get to Test Mode at any time by clicking on the "Click for Test Mode" button.
When you click a wrong frame you get a "No" displayed briefly before the next question is posted to the page.
When you click a correct frame you get a "Yes" displayed briefly before the next question is posted to the page.
If you have answered all the drill questions correctly in the "Learner" mode, or, if you click the "Test Mode" button you are given the questions in "Test Mode" for automatic scoring. Here they are presented one time for each question. When done, they are submitted automatically for the grade.
Test Mode
In this mode you are presented with each question once. When the entire random sequence of questions is done the test is scored automatically and you are sent a confirmation email to your UMKC email address. (I get one too.)
If you mess up, you may re-take it. The idea is (1) that this is a teaching device rather than an elimination device and (2) that repetition helps you remember.
In-Page Review Quizzes
These are basically recent-reading reminders. They are not scored but may be used later in regualr scored quizzes. You can note from the example above that more than one question in any one of these review quizzes may use the same answer. That is on purpose.
You will find these on various pages in various locations with a variety of types of questions from fill-in-the blank to checkbox multiple choice to radio button single choice or true false questions. These are evaluated on the client (your browser) and the result shown immediately. You can take these as many times as you want. At this time only a couple of them are collected from one or more pages and used as graded and recorded quizzes. In the future more of these will be used in the text and then collected for graded and recorded quizzes.
Clicking the "Submit" button at the botton left gives you this score card. The answered questions are listed with a score for each in points and the answer you gave.
Click the "OK" button to exit. Go over as many times as you wish.
Course Grade And Quizzes
There is no standard number of points for a course. Just do the quizzes and the points will add up. They will be rated on the number of points finished compared to the maximum number of points for that course to produce a percentage.