The Learning Web is an open-source instructional website using the Plone content management system, enabling faculty and staff to share content and engage in online instruction across five Houston Community College colleges. It emphasizes ease of use, community participation, and the use of open standards while offering various web tools like blogs and wikis. Ongoing support and training are provided to enhance the user experience and foster collaboration among faculty and students.

1. The Learning Web Swiss Army Knife for Online Instruction Jordan Carswell & Ruben Duran Houston Community College “ ”

2. The Design of the Learning Web Jordan Carswell, Web Designer, Northwest College The Learning Web in Practice Ruben Duran, Web Designer, Central College What We Will Cover

3. What is the Learning Web? The Learning Web is an instructional web site built using an open source content management system, Plone. It includes many popular web tools that allow both faculty and staff to produce content that can be shared with others.

4. Turning Points MIT announces its OpenCourseWare initiative in 2001 WebCT debuts Vista at its 2002 Users Conference in Boston, MA

5. Learning Web Timeline Begun at Northwest College in 2003 Adopted by all five HCC colleges in 2004 Currently used by over 1,000 faculty members among the colleges

6. Design Guidelines Several recurrent themes emerged during the development of the Learning Web: Open Standards User Ownership Community Public Access 4

7. Built Using Open Standards The Learning Web uses Plone, an award-winning open source content management system. GNU GPL Section 508 W3C WAI-AA XHTML/CSS WebDAV i18n

8. Plone & Open Source We chose Plone as much as we chose open source. Plone exemplifies the best of such projects: Mature, competitive product Easy to develop, administrate and use Active and diverse user community Many additional plugins available

9. Scaling for the Enterprise When we hit critical mass, we realized we had outgrown our humble beginnings and needed professional help. Security Scalability IT Limitations

10. Faculty & Staff Ownership The Learning Web is designed to be easy to use yet still offer a rich set of web-based tools. Common Structure Multiple Content Types Training & Support

11. The Learning Web Structure Every Learning Web Account has an easy to follow structure to help get users started quickly.

12. Through the Web Editing

13. Familiar File & Folder Organization

14. Point & Click Publishing

15. Initial Account Setup & Training Administrator Creates ID before new users come to training Photo taken or user submits photo Setup photo session Home page created based on template In-person training sessions: individual or group Users leave training session with home page and course materials online

16. Ongoing Support Short how-tos are available to walk users through common tasks like adding content and creating links Central College has created tutorials for more complex activities like creating a blog. Individual and department support is available through our Curriculum Innovation Centers.

17. Blogs Photo Albums Wikis Bookmarks RSS Advanced Content Creation Tools In addition to the basic publishing tools, the Learning Web provides its own versions of popular web products.

18. Uses of the Learning Web Today Basic (Contact Info, Syllabus, Course Materials) Intermediate (Video, Photo Albums, Bookmarks) Advanced (Blogs, Wikis, RSS)

19. Community Participation The entire learning community is represented on the Learning Web –not only faculty, but technologists, librarians, administrators and secretaries. Connect the entire learning enterprise Build an institutional knowledge base Instruction Technology Research Communication Information

23. Access to Expertise & Knowledge When anyone in the organization can publish, tacit knowledge can find expression and an audience.

24. Open to the Public Models of Excellence Cumulative Effects Create Communities of Practice As each professor adds to their own Learning Web the overall effect is wider access to a greater body of knowledge.

25. Benefits of Openness Innovative members serve as models for the best uses of technology. More good materials become available to all students for each course as more faculty contribute to a common body of knowledge. Communities of practice emerge from as faculty and students publicly engage in the learning process.

26. Flexible Licensing Options Creative Commons licensing is now built-in to the Learning Web so members can choose how they share their work with others.

27. Control Over the Publishing Process Plone’s advanced workflow engine allows authors to only release content when they’re ready.

28. Are We There Yet? We are here ;-) Sort of…we’re somewhere between the ivory tower and suburbia.

29. In the Works Upgrade to Plone 2.1 Update member template Better tagging of content, thus better sharing Easier syndication of content both ways

30. Further Information http://learning.nwc.hccs.edu/members/jordan.carswell/cit2006 Additional materials from the presentation can be found on the Northwest College Learning Web: