Using MyITLab
Training in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint
About Me and My Course
Worked as Lab Instructor and part-time faculty at WLU for 9 years
Began training others in software in 1994 Started using MyITLab last year Almost 500 students per term, 13 lab sections per
week, 2 Lab Instructors, 24+ Instructional assistants (2 per lab, extras to help mark assignments)
90%+ business and economics students
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
About You
How many academics in the room? How many techies? How many of you recommend instructional
technologies to instructors or professors?
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
Why use MyITLab?
Interested in using technology to teach in different ways
More students in recent years Wanted less instruction time
More “Help” time for those who needed it
Students think they know what they are doing, but they don’t
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
What is MyITLab?
Product of Pearson Education Competitor: SAM2007 – Wiley / Cengage
Web based simulator for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
Like an interactive Camtasia video’ Similar training system can be developed with
Flash (Abobe Captivate) but time consuming Why not give a demonstration? My Starting Page
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
What happened?
First year: Kept lab material the same, added MyITLab
Some frustration over problems with Windows Vista Students needed more training on using MyITLab
than I had anticipated When it didn’t work, students complained to me
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
The Second Year (ongoing!)
Year 2, Semester 1 now complete… time to start all over again
Gave less intro material, told them to jump right into Training and Assessments
Students still didn’t have a theoretical grounding, or even basic intro to the new Office 2007 interface
Learned quickly we still needed to EXPLAIN features of Word and where to find them
Some students were watching the training and memorizing what needed to be done
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
Year 2 Continued…
Problems with scheduling in the beginning, overloaded the work while trying to keep labs in line with lecture
Give more demo and explanation now before telling them to do the assessments
Meant for distance learning, should allow students to complete at home
Still need a pedagogical tool for making sure students complete skills on their own (assignments and in lab testing)
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
Lessons Learned
Probably eliminate position based questions (drag the image so its top left corner is at the -3.5 inch mark on the horizontal axis and +3 on the
vertical) Assistants need training in how the software works,
and not giving the answers or helping with it Students should get some wrong Start early by showing students how to contact
MyITLab Tech support and how to do browser check
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
Support in Vista is “iffy” – some assessments I’ve seen fail, but some students have reported no problems.
Fully supported in Windows 7 as of January 2010 with IE 7
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
New in 2010 – GRADER!
Saw it previewed at a Pearson conference in the summer
Tested in colleges in the US and Canada Helps detect academic misconduct Detects if files have been shared Can automatically mark assignments from
supported textbooks (capstone exercises)
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
RTFS
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab
WatITis | Strengthening Collaboration | December 8, 2009 | Using MyITLab