O'Quinn Law Library Online Instructional Tools

Online instructional tools may be used to increase class participation, extend class discussions beyond the classroom, or to supplement your classroom lectures. They perform these functions by allowing professors and students to exchange files, information, and comments through an online interface. Although there are many different packages available commercially, this handout is designed to highlight four programs that are available to full-time University of Houston law faculty. Any of the classes you create using these tools either can be restricted to use by a small group of people (e.g. your students) or can be made available to the public.

A. Lexis/Blackboard

1. First-time users should fill out the three part form at http://web.lexis.com/lawschoolreg/faculty/default.asp Once the form has been completed, you may access your web courses using the same Lexis ID that you use for research.

2. Once your account has been created, just visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/faculty/webcourses/ . Click on the "Course Creation and Update Form" to create a course. Follow the instructions to format your new electronic classroom!

3. At any point after the creation of the course, you can edit the course by proceeding to http://webcourses.lexisnexis.com/ and logging in. Use the "Control Panel" link in the left frame to modify the appearance of your page, or to add data.

B. Westlaw/TWEN

1. First time users should visit http://lawschool.westlaw.com/twen/ to register their Westlaw research ID for use with TWEN. Returning users can use the same page to access their existing pages.

2. When you first login to TWEN, you may see a selected list of TWEN courses created by your UH colleagues. To create a course yourself, click on the "Create a New Course" button. Creation of a course is particularly easy on TWEN, as this button will lead you to a course wizard that prompts you for your preferences. Advanced users may skip the wizard by entering a course name and then clicking on the "Finish" button on the Wizard's first page.

3. TWEN also provides easy access to any CALI lessons (see D. below) that you may want to incorporate into your lesson plans.

C. WebCT

WebCT is the university supported course development tool. As such, regular training classes are provided by the University, and faculty can access the current schedule by visiting

http://www.uh.edu/uhdistance/eto/Titles.html

Like the other tools listed above, WebCT can be used to host discussion lists, post and grade quizzes, maintain calendars, and post handouts or presentations.

1. Instructions on how to set up a course can be found at http://www.uh.edu/uhdistance/eto/ETO_create.htm

2. Users who have an existing account can go directly to : http://www.uh.edu/webct/faculty/

D. CALI - The Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (http://www.cali.org/)

CALI is a slightly different animal than the other services listed above. It is not intended to be a complete class tool, but rather a lesson oriented service. Faculty have the option of using classes created by faculty across the nation (http://lessons.cali.org/catalog.html Use the password "learnthelaw"), or they can create quizzes and lessons themselves using CALI Author (http://lessons.cali.org/caliauthor/)

CALI Author allows users to create quizzes tailored to their classes' specialized needs. The formats that can be used for the quizzes are numerous, including multiple choice (regular or interactive), mix-and-match questions, pop-up suggestions, etc.

If you have any questions about these services or would like to hear about tips and tricks (e.g. linking directly to Lexis/Westlaw documents), please contact your librarian liaison.