Blackboard Course Management System
Blackboard enables instructors to place their course material online without having to know any web programming languages. Students in turn have easy access to course material. They can print out class notes and take it with them to class. Therefore, they can spend more time listening and understanding the instructor’s lecture. Some of the other tools present in Blackboard are: discussion boards, assignment tools, e-mail distribution lists and virtual classrooms.
Blackboard is also integrated with Banner (Student Information System). As a result all course and course enrollment information is uploaded into Blackboard from Banner. Faculty do not have to be concerned about enrolling students into their Blackboard courses. The current semesters’ course registration information is always present in Blackboard. This streamlines communication between faculty members and students as student e-mail information is also uploaded into Blackboard from Banner.
Benefits of Use:
- Online Discussion Boards for outside class participation
- Online Assignment submission which links to the online grade book and enforces deadlines. Students get instant feedback and faculty can grade assignments anywhere they have access to the internet at anytime.
- Convenient access for students to uploaded course material.
- Automatically generated Class E-mail Distribution lists.
Respondus
"Respondus 3.5 is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard, WebCT, eCollege, ANGEL and other eLearning systems." http://www.respondus.com
Benefit of Use:
- Converts pre-existing Microsoft Word exams into an online format with minimal work.
Respondus LockDown Browser
"Respondus LockDown Browser is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within WebCT or Blackboard. Students are locked into the assessment and are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications." http://www.respondus.com
Benefit of Use:
- Secures online exams by preventing students from accessing any applications on their computers, printing and copying the test. All the students can see on their computer screens is the online exam.
StudyMate
"StudyMate 1.5 is an authoring tool that lets you create 10 Flash-based activities and games using three simple templates. The Flash activities are usable with any web server or can be published directly to Blackboard..." http://www.respondus.com
Benefit of Use:
- Flash based games can be created to assist students self-study course material. Instructors can create crossword puzzles, matching games and Jeopardy like games etc.
Wimba Live Classroom
“Teach and meet live online. Our fully featured live virtual classrooms support audio, video, application sharing, and content display, enabling instructors to add vitally important elements of interaction that simply cannot be provided in a text-based course. Personalize your online courses by holding live, online classes, office hours, guest lectures, webcasts, and meetings.
Instructors consider personal interaction to be the most valuable element of the teaching and learning process. Wimba Classroom allows faculty and students to build relationships by combining state-of-the-art interactive technologies such as voice, video, application sharing, polling, and whiteboarding, with traditional best practices of instruction. Now, enjoy the best elements of face-to-face and online instruction as faculty and students can talk to each other, express emotion, and feel as if they're part of a single community.” http://www.wimba.com/products/wimbaclassroom/
- Instructors can hold interactive classes online. Instructors can poll the student participants, ask questions and use the whiteboard. They can also share applications on their desktops and display PowerPoint presentations.
Camtasia Studio
Camtasia Studio is a powerful screen recording software that is very user-friendly.
Imagine being able to show exactly what's on your screen to anyone, anywhere. Imagine that it's easy. Now you've imagined Camtasia Studio. With the smartest screen recording tools on the planet, Camtasia Studio makes everything from training videos to PowerPoint presentations to lectures look better, reach more people, and pack more punch. Which makes you look even smarter, too. http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
Benefits of Use:
- Instructors can create tutorials and modules with great ease. If students are having problems utilizing a software package or solve a problem using Excel, the instructor can easily demonstrate it on their system and all activity on the screen is captured by the software. Once the recording is uploaded to Blackboard students can view it at their leisure and play it back until the material is understood.
SnagIt
“SnagIt is a screen capture and Image editing software package. SnagIt screen capture lets you capture, edit, and share exactly what you see on your screen – fast. Capture anything on your screen - from an area to a scrolling web page. Edit your screen capture using the built-in image editor. Share, save, and print your screen capture in the format of your choice.” http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
Benefits of Use:
- Instructors can take snapshots of their screen and edit the image to demonstrate a software package interface or explain a spreadsheet for instance.
Class Climate
“Class Climate enables automated, high-volume evaluations of courses, study programs and departments without the time and money of laborious data collection and reporting. Universities, corporate training departments and other educational institutions will gain measurable feedback regarding attendee interest levels and instructor performance.
In addition to fast and accurate processing of paper questionnaires, Class Climate automates the processing of online surveys. Functions include reports on study courses, departments, training seminars and programs to fit your organization. Raw data is just a few clicks away for a more detailed analysis.” http://www.scantron.com/classclimate/
- Online course evaluations and survey
- Instant feedback
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