In fact, it might have had the opposite effect, according to UWired's leaders. Each quick guide is divided into smaller sections that explain the many skills needed to run a chat. Along the way, the guides spell out the pros and cons of each method, and offer helpful hints. One of the suggested ways to run a Web-based discussion, in fact, is with a tool created by the UWired team, called the Peer Review System. The system makes it easy for professors to add documents to a Web page in a way that allows students to post comments by filling out an on-line form.
UWired consultants refer professors to the Catalyst guides often during training sessions.
In one session on a recent Monday afternoon, Ganesh Basdeo spends an hour and a half in the UWired lab, known as the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. Mr. Basdeo, a lecturer in Spanish and Portuguese at the university, sits at a computer station listening attentively to a UWired consultant and scribbling notes in a steno pad. There are so many little things that you need to know when you're doing this. So far, the pages offer grammar reviews and links to sites about Spanish literature and culture. Before making up the pages, he says, he attended a UWired workshop.