Background
The Hostclass Technologies has a collected set of instructional technology resources that are available to lecturers of courses in Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Departments. This page is a short overview of some of those.
The resources include Instructional Resources, that are specifically aimed at providing assistance with teaching or assessment, and Logistical Resources, which serve to facilitate the administration of the (really big) program run by big universities. Examples of the Instructional Resources include the Intro Program lecturer’s site, Problem Bank, and Web assignments, E-Testing, lecture videos and Exams. Examples of the latter include the Student Data Sheet and Gradebook System.
Note that if you are teaching in the Introductory Program (first and second year courses) you will find that we have a more comprehensive set of these resources than if you’re teaching in the higher level courses in Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Departments.
Resources
1. The Lecturers’ Site for First and Second Year Courses is (not publicized, but is at…)
<https://login.myhostclass.com>
The lecturers’ Site includes information for lecturers of first- and second-year Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Engineering courses. This includes detailed day-by-day lesson plans, in some cases sample quizzes, useful forms, etc. If you have questions about the content of the lecturers’ Site for your course, you should check with your course coordinator or email [email protected] or Whatsapp +12487633830.
2. The Hostclass’ Instructional Technology Site, <http://myhostclass.com/>, includes links to almost all of the resources available to students and lecturers.
3. There is a Problem Bank of sample quiz and assignment problems for first and second year, math, stat, science and engineering courses. Lecturers can search or browse the problem bank by topics.
A good way to use the problem bank is to first search for problems that sound like they’d be what you want. If you find that you’re not getting the hits you need, and know what section of your course you’re looking for problems for, try browsing the archive instead. If you have problems that would add to the problem bank that you’d like to contribute, contact Banan, <banan(at)hostclass.net>.
4. myhostclass is the Hostclass’ Course and Project Site Management System. You can log on and create course (or project) sites at < https://myhostclass.com>. Hostclasst also has some template courses that should facilitate your use of myhostclass.
The myhostclass Templates are “preconfigured” samples that you can copy and make into your own course sites. The tutorial tells how to do this step by step. They may also contain other useful information about the course, including sample lecturer handouts, syllabi, etc.—these will be in the Lecturer resources folder that you can import, as described in the tutorial.
5. Sample Lecturer Handouts may also be available on-line. Check with your course coordinator for more information about this possibility.
There is a special myhostclass template for each of the first and second year courses; template files may be located in the resources folder you import for those courses. Your coordinator may make files available elsewhere as well.
6. There is a Hostclass Course Repository, organized by course, term and lecturer. documentation is available, and the repository is available to all lecturers.
If you’re teaching a higher level Course, we’ll be asking to add your course materials to the repository! The repository includes most courses that are taught in your department.
7. The Student Data Sheet is used at the beginning of each semester. The lecturers’ form will allow you to see the responses of students in your course.
Students will submit data by going to the link on the front instructional technology page. If you are teaching one of the coordinated first- and second-year courses in your department, there will (or may) be a link on the front page of that course’s home page as well. If you want to put a link on your own course page, the URL is https://myhostclass.com/studata3/stuform.py
8. On-line assignment and Mastery Testing are used by the first- and second-year courses. Mastery tests are used in all courses.
It’s worth noting that you can see the online assignments and masteries by logging on to your course without going through the “lecturers’ links” given above. If you click the assignment link for your students, you can log on and look at the assignments or masteries for your course. Also note that by default you’re assigned all of the assignments or masteries that your students are assigned, so that you can see what they’re working on.
9. Other Stuff: (but wait, there’s more!) There are a number of other instructional technology applications that aren’t discussed here. These include a Hostclass survey generator, the exam gradebook system, a precalculus review module, and tutorial systems that work as a back-end to the masteries tests. For more information about any of these, contact Banan <banan(at)hostclass(dot)net>.