eCompanion is now available as an additional course technology support package for use by Rutgers faculty. eCompanion is provided through an Application Service Provider (ASP) relationship with eCollege ( http://ecollege.com ), which means that all technical support, software upgrades, security and other related issues are handled by eCollege, thereby consuming few university computing resources.

The eCompanion works through the creation of a course "shell" that is set up to accompany your face to face course. The shell is populated with information and links that you provide and makes use of other built-in tools that are available for your optional use. eCompanion complies with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (accessibility for people with disabilities) and is an easy to use, state of the art Internet-based tool designed to enhance on-campus classroom instruction. While course management systems generally provide similar functionality, faculty tends to be highly individual in how they react to a specific support program. The goal in providing an additional course management system is to provide faculty with an additional option to select from when enhancing their on-campus courses with on-line technology.

Faculty are free to choose from among the several available course management systems they believe most satisfactorily supports their on-campus instructional efforts.

The First Step in Creating a Course Shell

The first step in moving to an electronic course management system to support your instruction is to register for a training session and get your first shell. When you register for training a shell will be created for your evaluation. During your training session, you can begin to populate this evaluation shell with your course material. This shell can then be used as a template on subsequent course shells by simply requesting a copy.

To begin, login with your Rutgers NetID and password to the new and improving eCompanion request site ( http://ce1766.rutgers.edu/ecompanion/index.jsp ) . Here you can register for a training session, request a new course shell, or request an existing shell to be copied to a new semester.

eCompanion faculty training will enable you to easily supplement traditional classes with online communication tools and academically sound content. With eCompanion, you can make important student information accessible "anytime, anywhere," and significantly increase interaction and access to course materials.

Enhance Classroom-Based Instruction

Faculty training will highlight eCompanion capabilities, including:

• Providing course material online to supplement the traditional classroom.
• Adding video, audio or other dynamic material to your courses.
• Inserting text, tables, graphics and links easily, without HTML.
• Guiding students to Internet resources with the Webliography tool.
• Constructing exam pools and assessment tools.
• Posting grades, notes, presentations, articles and handouts online.
• Engaging students in threaded discussions and chat streams.
• Accessing an integrated online calendar.

Availability of Faculty Training

Faculty training is available on a regular schedule; eCompanion training will be held throughout the Summer on the New Brunswick campus. Training can be arranged for Newark and Camden campuses on a request basis.

Faculty may request an eCompanion course shell for each of your classes. These course shells can be created for each individual section that you teach or alternatively, all sections of a multi-section course can be combined into a single course shell spanning all sections. Faculty can also request that an existing course shell to be moved forward from one semester to the next. We ask faculty to request course shells at least three weeks before the start of the semester. This three week time window is necessary to insure sufficient time for all shells to be created prior to electronically merging the shells with the registrar's enrollment files. We cannot guarantee that requests for course shells received less than three weeks prior to the start of a semester will be populated with the enrollment files. So, we do ask for your assistance with this.

Please note that it takes approximately 24 hours for course shell requests to be activated. Faculty are automatically sent an e-mail once individual shells are ready.

Students are "enrolled" in the course shells during the first week of the semester when registration files are matched against all existing course shells. A final automatic enrollment update occurs immediately after the end of the drop-add period. In addition to the automatic enrollment into course shells, faculty can add or remove students as they deem necessary by sending an email to webmaster@dceo.rutgers.edu Eventually this feature will be incorporated into the request site.

Instructor Manuals/User Guides

The eCompanion User Guide enables instructors to quickly learn about managing their course shells and also provides handy reference for various administrative tasks. eCompanion user guides are available in two formats and may be found at the following URLS:

• eCompanion manual in PDF format: http://ce1766.rutgers.edu/ecompanion/ecompanion_manual.pdf

• eCompanion manual in html format:
http://ce1766.rutgers.edu/ecompanion/user guide/index.html