brahm neufeld

Static Page Monitoring

Problem: Many departments at the U of S still use static HTML pages for course annoucements, posting assignments, and communicating with students. While students always receive instructions to monitor these pages, it's a passive form of communicating and not very engaging (it's also very easy to forget about).

Real Solution: In a perfect world, professors and instructors will adopt a consistent way of communicating course information, announcements, and deadlines to students. Preferably, this will be email: it is recognized by the University as an "official" form of communication, whereas course webpages and PAWS announcements are not.

Quick Fix: Monitor static HTML pages with a free email notification service like WatchThatPage, that will email you whenever a webpage changes.

1. Create a User Account on WatchThatPage.com

Create a user account on this page You will need to provide an email address and some basic information about yourself and your time zone.

2. Find Pages to Monitor

At the College of Engineering at the U of S, every course has its own webpage, and most of the templates are about a decade old. It's not easy to get automatic updates since most pages are buried in frames. To make sure that you are monitoring the right page:

• Check and see if the page you want to monitor is in a frame.
  
  
  
• If it is in a frame, click "open frame in new tab" to get its true URL:
  
  
  

3. Log into WatchThatPage and Add Pages

4. Profit!

You will now receive a daily digest email ONLY if changes have been made to any of the pages you're monitoring.

5. Ideas For Other Pages to Monitor

• Course Webpages (assignments, announcements, etc)
• Job Postings (for companies who have static pages [example])
• Any websites that lack an RSS feed - like mine!
• Your favourite band's tour or live shows page

Last Modified Sept 27, 2009