WOUs Websiteand BasicSearch

verview Welcome to Unit 1 of WUC 131 WOUs WOU s Website and Basic earch. When you needed additional information or eference material during your schooldays, the place to o was either i h your school h l library lib or the h public bli library. lib

Here at WOU,you y can still continue doing g that. But we lso have an additional place for you to go to now he WOU website.

his is a resource centre that is open 24 hours a day, 7 ays a week and it never closes. This unit will introduce ou to t the th WOU website b it and d show h you new ways of f earching for resources here.

jectives theendofUnit1,youshouldbeableto: AccessandusetheWOUswebsite. Describethemainfeaturesofthewebsiteandlistthe ourcesavailable available. DescribetheconceptsandfunctionsoftheWOU arningManagement tem(LMS). Recognisetheconceptofdigitallibrariesandelaborate theiradvantages. DescribetheWOUdigitallibraryandthestrategiesfor ngthe th library. lib Definewhatasearchstrategyisandapplythethree insearchstrategies.

ntroduction

Youwillrealiseasyoujourneyalongwithusthatyouwill havetomakechangestocertainaspectsofyourlife.You maynoticechangesinyourroutineorschedule,your mindset,yourattitudesandmoreimportantly,yourwayof earning.

nthisunitwewouldliketointroduceyoutothevariousin houselearningresourcesthatcanhelpyouhandlesomeof hesechangesandmakebetterprogressinyourlearning. learning WearegoingtobeginwiththeWOUwebsite asitethat willprovideyouaccesstovariousresourcesthatyoucanuse ohelpyoubecomeamorecompetentand capablelearner.

.1 1 T he WOUs Website

bjectives y the end of this section, you hould be able to: . Describe how to access the WOU website. website

. Locate the main features vailable on the WOU website.

u can access the WOU website through the Internet. The ernet is a network of networks, linking computers to mputers. The Internet is, in other words,the transport vehicle the information stored in files or documents on another mputer. Among the services used by the computers on the ernet is the WorldWide Web (WWW) or Web for short.

troduction

e Web was created in 1989 by the European Particle Physics boratory based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is basically i f information ti delivery d li system. t O One can use th the W Web bt to seek k ny different kinds of information as well as access many ferent types of services posted in the web.

access a website, you need to use a client program, which is o known as a Browser. Some of the commonly used browsers e Mozilla, Internet Explorer and Netscape, among others. The in purpose of the Web is to organise and make available dely scattered resources within easy reach of the computer er.

formation on the Web is organised into web pages. Web ages may contain different kinds of information. Some the web pages may contain only text (characters), hile others may contain graphics (text and pictures or ustrations).

he more sophisticated h hi ti t d web b pages may b be multimedia lti di ased and have animation, sounds and video images. The ebsite, on the other hand, is a collection of related web ages just like a book that has many pages ages, pages. Many ganisations and individuals have their own websites.

r example, the Wawasan Open University has its own ebsite as do all the universities in Malaysia. The rious government ministries and departments so have their own websites.

emostoutstandingelementoftheWebisthattheyhavelinkstoother ources.Whenyouaccessthepagesofawebsiteyoumayfindlinksto herwebsitesandtheselinksarecalledhyperlinks.Thesehyperlinksare ually yhighlighted g g ormarkeddifferently yinadocument.

uswhenareaderofawebpageclicksahyperlinkedwordorphrase,the owserwillalmostinstantaneouslyjumpfromonewebpagetoanother bpageordocumentinacompletelydifferentwebsite.Inshort,youcan nkoftheWebasalibraryandthemillionsofwebsitesarelikethebooks alibrary.

metimes,asitemaycontainonlyapagewhileothersmayhavehundreds pages,andtheymaybelinkedtootherwebsites.However,youcanonly itonewebsiteatatime. time

day,websitesdisseminateinformationonjustaboutanythingdepending nthepurposeoftheircreation.Theyareusedforvariousdifferent urposesandhaveineffectstartedarevolutioninmakinginformation eelyavailabletoanyoneandeveryone.Theycancontaininformationon ucation,art,music,historyorculture.

rexample,agovernmentalwebsitemaycontaininformationonpolicies, ws,etc.whileawebsiteonapopularsingeroractormaygiveyou formationonhisbackground, backgro nd hissongsormovies, mo ies etc. etc Believe Belie eitornot, not ereareevenwebsiteslikewww.danggoodjokes.comor ww.ahajokes.comthattelljokesjusttogiveyousomethingtolaugh bout. bout

short,awebsiteisanythingitsdesignersandwriterswantittobe.Now aty youknowmoreabouttheInternetandWeb, ,letstakealookatthe OUwebsite.

HowtoaccesstheWOUwebsite y howy youcanaccess Therearetwoways theWOUwebsite. Thefirstisthrough MozillaFirefox.LookfortheMozilla Firefoxicononyourcomputerandclick onit.Thisiconislocatedonthedesktop orthetaskbarofyourcomputer.

tthere,clickonthestarticon.

ThenlocatetheAllPrograms.Searchforthe Mozilla ill Firefox i f icon. i Click li konthe h icon.Awebpagewillappearliketheone shownbelow.Ontheaddressbar,type http://www.wou.edu.my. p // y Thiswilltakey youto theWOUWebPortal.

AnotherwaytoaccesstheWOUWebPortalisby usingtheInternetExplorericoninyour computer.Thisiconisalsolocatedonthedesktop orthetaskbarofyourcomputer. computer Ifitisnotthere, there clickonthestarticon.ThenlocatetheAll Programs. SearchfortheInternetExplorericon.Clickonthe icon.Thiswilltakeyoutothe Yahoowebpage.Inthewebpageaddressbar, typehttp://www.wou.edu.my.

MainfeaturesofWOUswebsite L kat Look tthe th main i pageof fthe th WOUs WOU website b it (shownbelow).Thisisthepageyou willseeeverytimeyouloginto http://www.wou.edu.my.Lookatalltheicons, linksandthetextsdisplayedhere.Ifyouhave activatedyourstudentonlineaccountwith aselfdefinedpassword,youarereadytoaccess thePortal. ClickontheMyWOU PortalAccountandPasswordAdministration(see bottomrightofthewebpage). ThisistheWOUStudentPortalwhichwascreated foryou theWOUlearner.

atisaportal?TheLongmanDictionaryofContemporary l h3rd lish dEdition d ( (2001) ) nesaportalasatallandimpressivegateorentrancetoa ding. g

portalismorethanjustanordinaryentrance.Itopensthe rtoawebsitethatwillprovideyouwithavarietyofservices heformofanonlinelibrary,websearchfacilities, il,chatrooms,newsupdates,andlinkstootherwebsites.Itis ally ll the h d doortoanewworld ldof flifelong lif l learning. l i

vity1.1 themiddleoftheWOUwebsite,youseeanopenbook. atdoyouthinkitsignifies?

ntheright,thereisashortdescriptionofWOU.Whatcan gatherabouttheroleofWOUfromthisdescription?

WhichofthefeaturesintheWOUwebsitetellsyouabout: thebenefitsofbeinganopendistancelearner:

hegradingsystemusedbyWOUforyourtestsand minations:

mesterstructureusedbyWOU:

hattheWOUlogomeans:

Activity1.1 .InthemiddleoftheWOU website,youseethepicture fanopenbook. b k What Wh tdo d you hinkitsignifies? heopenentrysystem that nyoneandeveryonecan tudy. y

2. On the right, there is a short description of WOU WOU. What can you gather about the role of WOU from this description? It says that WOU offers working people a chance to study y further. WOU is not a profit making organisation. It emphasises quality education and is also actively involved in open distance education at t th the i international t ti ll level. l

3. Which of the features in the WOU website tells you about: a. the benefits of being an open distance learning: ODL - Whats That?

b.thegradingsystem b usedbyWOUforyour testsandexaminations: FAQ Examination

c.semesterStructureused b WOU: by WOU StudyWithUs Allyouneed toknow

. what the WOU logo means:

ews Room - Logo ationale

e.accreditationoftheWOU e courses: FAQ Degreeprogrammes

ummary nthissection,youlearnthowtoaccesstheWOU website Websitesprovideaccesstovariousservices website. ndresourcesandtheyareavailableroundtheclock.

imilarly,theWOUwebsite,asdescribedinthis ection,isequippedwithvariousresourcesand ervicestoenableyoutobecomeamoreefficientand uccessfullearner.

ebReference readmoreaboutthetopic,goto: ww.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guid lib b k l d /T hi Lib/G id /Internet/WhatIs.html

1.2LearningManagementSystem Objectives Bytheendofthissection,youshouldbe ableto: 1. RecognisetheroleoftheLearning ManagementSystem(LMS)inODL. 2.UsethemainfunctionsintheWOULMS.

roduction ssectionwillintroduceyoutoWOUsonlinelearning vironment.Weassume ty youownap personalcomputer p andknowthebasicsofusing git wellasthe ategiesforsurfingtheInternet.Ifyoudont,askyourfriendsto chyouor nupforacourse.Itisimportantthatyoutaketheinitiative causeasanopen tancelearner, l youneed dthe h supportof fvariousresourcesto pyouprogressin urlearning. g OnesuchresourceistheLearning gManagement g temorLMS.

distancelearningandtheLMS distancelearning(ODL)isdefinedasalearningprocess teminwhich eacherisseparatedgeographicallyorintimefromhisor udents Learning udents. ievedthroughtheimplementationofcomputerand onicstechnologyto ectteacherandlearner,asandwhenrequired,ineither synchronous)or edtime(asynchronous).ODLalsoaccommodates entand/ormultiple ngstyles. t l But B thow h canall llth theseb beaccomplished? li h d?Thi Thisi is etheLearning gementSystemorLMScomesin in.

MSisasoftwarepackagethatallowsthemanagementanddeliveryof ntandresourcestostudents.TheLMStechnologyhasnowbecomean alpartofteachingandlearninginODLbecauseitisextremelyflexibleinits misationand litytosupportmultiplelearningenvironments.MostLMSsystemsare ased nablelearnerstoaccessthelearningcontentandadministrationanytime anywhere.Theyalsoallowlearnersselfservicesuchasfacilitating ration ursesandprovidingaccesstocoursematerials.InmostLMSs,youmayeven irtualliveclassesandresourcessuchasbooksandinstructors.Thus,through MS,learnersareabletoreadcoursematerials,completeassessments, es estsfromtheconvenienceoftheirpersonalcomputers,whilecontributingto scussionforumsandchatsessions.InODL,theLMSprovidesaplace:

Forlearners learner sexpression. expression Toconnectwithotherlearners. TodialoguewiththetutorandCourse oordinator. Toseek kmentoring i and dli liveh help. l Forcontentinteractionamonglearners nd/ortutorandCourseCoordinator.

he functions of the WOU LMS WawasanLearn he LMS in WOU is known as WawasanLearn. It stores

the information concerning your course is located. It ides your learning and omplements l t your t tutorial t i l sessions i b by making ki available il bl ried and additional learning pportunities. WawasanLearn also provides you with a

ur course website where

aching (tutors and course coordinators) and learning ommunity (learners from over the country) at WOU. Shown below is the

atform to connect to the

awasanLearn main page.

uslookatthefeaturesinWawasanLearn thatwillhelpenrichandaccelerate rningexperienceatWOU.Wementionedabovethatasanopendistance youneedtoconstantlyinteractwithtutors,CourseCoordinatorsandcourse Toenable bl youtodo d this h efficiently ff l and deffectively, ff l the h WawasanLearn has h vailabletheforum.Thisisoneofthemostimportantandusefullearning ranopendistancelearner.

whereyougettomeetyourtutors,CourseCoordinatorsandyourcourse notonlyfromyourcentrebutfromothercentresaswell).Thisiswhereyou etheopportunitytodiscuss, discuss collaborateandbrainstormwithallofthem. them In n,italsoprovidesyouwithinformationandresourcestohelpyoucomplete submitassignmentsandquizzes.

belowisthewebsiteforLearningSkillsforUniversityStudies.Gothroughthe Overviewtochecktheinformationprovidedonthiscourse.Now,lookatthe eslistedontheleft.Whatassignmentsorquizzesdoyouhavetodofor

Forums Nowthatyouarefamiliarwiththecourse website,weshalllookathowtheforum canhelpyouinyourlearningprocess. B i ll there Basically, h aretwomain i typesof ff forum thatyoucanparticipateinthroughtheWOU portal:DiscussionBoardandPublic Forum.

a.Discussionboard Thediscussionboardprovidesaplatformfordiscussion, collaboration andbrainstormingoncourserelatedmatterswithfellow tutorialmates. mates Italsoprovidesanavenueforseekinganswersor clarificationtoissues, doubtsorquestionsthattutors,coursecoordinatorsor tutorialmatesmay haveraised.Lookatthesample p topic p p postedbelow.

ctivity1.2 anewlearner, l youmayhave h questions ti or oubtsthatyouwouldliketosharewithyour t i lmates. torial t W Write it d downquestions ti or oubtsontheareaswhichyouwouldlike edback db konin i the th Di Discussion i board. b d

___________________________________

____________________________________

ublicforum siswhereyouwillfindannouncementsandgeneral wsfromyourCourseCoordinatorsregardingyour rsesandtutorials.

instance,ifyourCourseCoordinatorwantsyouto tributesolutionstoaproblemorissueraisedina orialsessioninanotherRegionalOffice,thisis ereyouaremostlikelytofindit. it Thediscussionboard sotheplaceforyoutopostdiscussiontopicsrelated hecourseorcontributetothediscussionspostedby ers.Lookatthesampletopicpostedbelow.

Activity1.3 Theremaybequestionsorissuesthatyou maywanttogetmore informationonordiscusswithyourcourse mates t f fromth theother th RegionalOffice.Writedownonequestionor topicthatyouwould likefeedbackon.

ignmentsandquizzes wasanLearn L also l hosts h t the th coursewebsites. b it Thi Thisi is ereyouwillfindallthe ormationandannouncementsrelatedtothevarious rsesyoutake.Asyou uldprobablyknow,youarerequiredtocomplete eetutormarkedassignments MAs).WawasanLearnisoneavenueforyoutosubmit seassignments.You yeithercompletetheassignmentsonlineoroffline oaditwhendone) done).

enifyouarenotabletosubmityourassignmentsduringthetutorialsessions, may ydosothrough g WawasanLearn.Feedbackony yourp performance f (g (gradesor ments)maybegivenimmediatelyoratalaterdate.Ifyouhaveanyquestionsor mentsontheTMAs,youcanalwayspostthemonthediscussionboard.There aystheinevitabledatelineforsubmittingyourTMAs.Thiswillbestatedin oursewebsite. website

fromthat,youmayalsohavequizzestoanswer.Theymaybemultiplechoice, answer,fillingintheblanksortruefalsetypeofquestions.Althoughthese esdonotcontributeanymarkstowardsyourassessments,theyhavebeen dedtohelpyouassessyourownprogress,justliketheselftestsinyourcourse rials.Youcananswertheonlinequizzesdirectlyonthecoursewebsite.You ttemptthequizzeseitheronceormorethanonce. once Ifyouareallowedtotake morethanonce,thenumberofattemptswillbeshownonthetoplefthand r.Sooneofyourmainresponsibilitiesistoreadalltheinstructionscarefully eyoubeginanonlinequiz.

Resources W WawasanLearn L also l provides id yousupport tin i termsoftheresourcesyouneedtoeasily viewthecoursematerials. materials Forexample example,you mayneedAcrobatReadertoreada handoutg givenby yyour y CourseCoordinatorin PDFformat.Anotherresourcethat WawasanLearnhasmadeavailableforyou arethelinkstoexternalwebreferences.

elftest1.1 1.Inyourownwords,explainwhata earningmanagementsystem orLMSis.

2.DescribethreewaystheLMScanhelpyou sanopendistancelearner.

3.Nameonedifferencebetween 3 thediscussionboardandthe publicforum. forum

4.Youhaveadoubtconcerningone questionsin oftheSelftestq aLearningSkillsunit.Describehow youcanusetheLMSto helpyoutoclearthisdoubt?

Summary Inthissection,youlearntaboutthefunctions oftheLearning ManagementSystemorLMS.AtWOU,the LMSwhichisknown asWawasanLearn,makesavailablevarious resourcesthatallow youtofurthersupplementandimproveyour ODLexperience. i It alsohostsyourcoursewebsitesthroughwhich youcanget y grelatedtoy your informationoneverything courses.

1.3TheWOUDigitalLibrary Objectives Bythe h end dof fthis hi section, i youshould h ldbe b able bl to: 1.Discusstheimportanceofdigitallibrariesin open p distancelearning. g 2.ApplyvariousstrategiesforusingtheWOU DigitalLibrary.

Introduction Traditionallibrariescomprisebuildings constructedtohousecollectionsofbooks, j journals l and dother h printed i dresourcematerials. i l Youneedtophysicallymovefromshelf toshelfinsearchofthebooksyouneed.The picturesbelowshowwhatatraditional p librarynormallylookslikefromtheoutsideand inside. But

Butthelibrariesyouwillbespendingmostof yourtimewithinfuturecanbeaccessed f from yourcomputer.Thus, h the h ODL O learning l i approachrequiresthatyoulearnto applynewskillstosearchforresourcesyou needby yusing gnotonly ythetraditional librariesbutalsothelibrariesinthe computer.Theyarecalleddigitallibraries.

Adigitallibraryisdefinedasacollectionoftexts,images,etc. encodedtoenable ittobestored,retrievedandreadbyyouthroughyourcomputer. WithinWOUs portal,youwillgainaccesstoseveraldigitallibrariesthatareopen round dthe h clock. l k Althoughthelibrariesarenotvisible,theystockanenormous collectionofdigital reading gmaterials, ,suchasbooks, ,journals j andarticles.Oncey you learnhowtouse it,youcanaccessavarietyofinformationthatwillcomeinuseful whencompleting yourTMAsordoingrevisionforyourtestsandexaminations

eroleofdigitallibrariesinopendistancelearning tliketheLMS,digitallibrariesalsoplayanimportantroleinopendistance rning.Mostofyouareworkingpeoplewhomaynothavetimetovisittraditional aries.Butyoumayneedtousethelibrarytodoreferenceforyourassignments. siswheredigitallibrariescomein.

Youcanaccessitwhereveryouare:You need dnotgotothe h lib library physically.Youcanvisitthelibraryathome,at theRegionalOfficeorat work, ,aslong gasyou y haveanInternet connection.

Everyonehasaccesstothedigitallibraries: Thedigitalbooksareavailable toeveryone.However,mostlibrariesrequire paidsubscriptions.Butif youarearegisteredstudentinaninstitutionof higherlearning(college oruniversity), i it ) youwill illhave h automatic t ti access tothelibrariesthatthe institutionsubscribesto.

Theresourcesareavailableatalltimes:The digitalbooksarealways availableeverysingleminuteandsecondof theday.Youcanaccessthem anytime ti youwish. ih

Resourcesareavailablesynchronouslyor asynchronously:Theinformation isalwaysavailabletoyouandyourcourse matesalloverthecountry synchronouslyorasynchronously.Thismeans thatallofyoucanview thebookatthesametime,orviewitat diff different ttimes. ti So S youcanview i anddiscussaparticularchapterofadigital bookwithanothercourse mateinadifferentstate!

Itprovidesastructuredapproachtolocating information:Youcan gain i quicker i k accesstomuch hricher i h contenti ina morestructuredmanner.If youhavelocatedthebookyouwantfromthe catalogue, g ,y youcanmoveinstantly y tothebook.Fromthere,youcangostraightto thechapterorsubheading.

Itenableseasyretrievalofinformation: Whatdoyoudoifyouneed specificinformationonacertaintopicanddo notknowwhichbooksto l kf look for? ?T Typeaword, d phrase h orasentence andalistofresultsfromthe entirecollectionofthelibrarywillbedisplayed fory youtochoosefrom. Digitallibrariescanprovideveryuserfriendly interfaces,givingyou instantaccesstoitsresourcesataclickofyour mouse. mouse

Thebooksarealwayswellpreserved: Regardless dl of fhow h manytimes i you orotherusersviewthebook;theywillalways beingoodcondition nottorn, ,dirty yormissing. g Digital g bookscannot bedefacedordamaged.

Youcancreateyourownvirtualbookshelf: Youcancreateavirtual bookshelfforyourself.Thenyoucanputa bookyouwanttorefertoin futureonthebookshelf,orstackitupwith hundredsofbooks.Youcan createyourveryowndigitallibraryandyou need dnot tbuy b shelves h l orput t upwithrestrictedstoragespace.Whenyour roomorhousehasnospace youcansolveitby ydigitisation. g forextension,y

Youcannetwork.Whatdoyoudoifyou cannotfindaparticularbook fromonelibrary?Digitallibrariescanprovidea linktotheresourcesof other th digital di it llibraries lib i veryeasily. il