Introduction to UC-WISE

What is UC-WISE?

UC-WISE is a web-based tool that we are using in CS 61CL. You will primarily use it in the labs, viewing and working on the online materials. The software was first developed in a research project looking at the ways that online curriculum and other tools can support and change traditional computer science courses. This research is ongoing.

There are two main areas of UC-WISE: the course portal and the curriculum view. Each time you start with UC-WISE, you will see the course portal; from here, you can view the lab materials organized on a calendar, read the latest announcements, work with your files, and so forth. The course portal is discussed further below.

When you want to work on the curricular materials, a new window will open up with the curriculum view. Here, you can step through page after page of activities, which vary from simple reading and taking quizzes through contributing to group discussions. This is discussed in more detail below.

How to get started

The UC-WISE system is available at http://www.ucwise.org. The first time you visit, you will need to set up an account and enroll in the course; on subsequent visits, you need only give your user name and password at this page, and you will be taken to the course portal.

Your instructor will help you get computer access on the first day, but we will summarize the process here. In CS 61CL, you will be given an instructional UNIX account of the form cs61cl-XX, where XX is a sequence of two letters. You will also need a separate account for UC-WISE; we recommend simplifying your life by using the same user name (i.e., cs61cl-XX) and password for both.

In any case, to create a UC-WISE account, you need to visit http://www.ucwise.org and click on the “new student account” link. You will be asked for some information, including your choice of user name and password. When logging in with your new account for the first time, you will also need to enter an enrollment code. Your instructor will provide this code.

Requirements

To use UC-WISE, you will need a recent version of the Firefox browser, which you can get at http://www.mozilla.org. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will probably not work. On Macintoshes, we also recommend that you use the latest Firefox; however, there are some reports of Safari working well enough.

The UC-WISE system is available at any time. That said, there are two reasons that you will do most of your work in lab: first, you are required to take most of the quizzes while present in the lab, and second, you will find that the instructor, lab assistants, and your fellow students can offer a great deal of support while you are physically present.

The Course Portal

The course portal window has a sidebar menu at the left; most of UC-WISE’s features are available via links off the sidebar. We have highlighted a few below, but feel free to explore.

Announcements

When the course portal first opens, the top half of the main screen will contain any announcements your instructors may have made. This list will get quite long over the semester; by clicking on the “Announcements” link in the left menu, you can see them in the entire screen and change the way announcements are read.

Calendar

When you first visit the course portal, the lower half of the main screen will contain a weekly calendar view of the online materials. Within each day, you will see the main headings and activity subheadings for the materials. To open the curriculum view starting at a particular activity, click on the link in the calendar.

Reading assignments are listed in the lower portion of the calendar.

You can move forward or back a week by clicking on the “>>” or “<<” icon at the top left of the calendar (in the blue bar). There are also links to change the view to a monthly view, or to a full semester view. Links in the sidebar, under the “Calendar” heading, give you more options.

Resources

The “Resources” heading leads you to links to CS 61C webcasts, old CS 61C exams, and other useful sources of information.

Checking your Grades

To view some of your grades, click on the “Grading” link in the main menu. The “My Assignments” link will show you your grades for anything graded in the UC-WISE system, namely quizzes and online discussions. (Homework, project, and exam grades will be accessible via the “glookup” command on your UNIX account.)

Remember to Log Out

Remember to log out when you finish your work in UC-WISE. You can do this by clicking on the “Log Out” link in the sidebar, or by simply closing all of your browser windows and logging out of your Unix account.

Lab Materials

When you click on a link inside the calendar, a new window will open containing CS 61CL’s online materials. There is a menu on the left side to allow you to quickly jump to any step in the project for that day; this menu has two levels of headings, and collapses and opens headings as you move between steps. Above the menu are a few icons to tools that are always available, including a journaling tool and a “show all work” tool; both are discussed below.

There are several types of steps in our online curriculum, and you will become familiar with all of these over time. Here is a summary of the five types of steps:


Display pages

These are pages of static text; you simply read these.

Brainstorms

This is a two-part step: first you answer a question, then you look at other student’s answers. You can’t see the other answers until you make an answer.
These are most often but not necessarily anonymous; there may be additional things to do, like rating the other students’ answers.

Discussions

These are threaded discussion activities, similar to many forums on the web. Top-level can be started, a comment can be replied to, and replies can be replied to (creating a “thread”).
Generally, you will get these types of activities as homework, and will be required to initiate a comment as well to reply to other students’ comments.

Quizzes

Quizzes are one or more pages, each with one to three questions. You type answers into a text box, and click “submit”. Once you have submitted, you can’t change your answers. (You can view your answers using the “show all work” icon, however.)

There is generally a quiz to start each lab day, covering either the reading assignment or the activities from the previous lab day. We intend that a prepared student take no more than 30 minutes to complete each quiz.

Surveys

Surveys are given a few times over the semester, and give us valuable feedback. They appear much like quizzes, but have multiple-choice answers as well as fill-in-the-blanks.

Show all work

The “show all work” icon ( show-all-work icon ) is in the upper left of the curriculum window. You can click on it to see all the answers that you have given.

Extra Brain

The “extra brain” icon ( extra brain icon ) is in the upper left of the curriculum window, and will take you to a simple journaling tool. With the tool, you can record thoughts (or anything you want), view your earlier entries, print your entries, and so forth. Many students have found this tool helpful as they work through the curriculum.