2. • Looks and behaves a lot like Facebook
• Teachers create classes and then give an access code to
students to join the course, with an option for Teacher
approval
• Can post and grade assignments, as well as give online
quizzes/tests
• Teachers can see site activity to see hit count as well as
who has been logging on
• Attendance can be taken right on the site
• And much more!
3. • Allows for the teacher to message the entire class, or for members
of the class to message each other (similar to Facebook’s system.
• Teachers can post assignments, files, online
quizzes/tests, photos, and other resources for the whole class to use.
• There is a discussion board where the teacher can assign a topic
and due date for students to collaborate.
• A calendar is featured, where the teacher can post events, and due
dates will show up on it as well.
• The Teacher can create different pages within the course home
page to feature different kinds of information.
4. • A “Notifications” icon will appear for both teacher and students
when a message has been sent, someone joins the course, grades have
been recorded, etc. (again, a lot like Facebook)
• Teachers have the ability to comment on not only assignments, but
also on the attendance page and gradebook, allowing for feedback on
more than just work turned in. Comments can also be hidden from
the student if the teacher needs it to be.
• Has the ability to sync up with GoogleDocs for a complete online
collaboration (don’t have to upload anything that way).
5. • The similarity to Facebook assures that most students (old or
young) will quickly adapt to the interface, allowing for less wasted
time in the beginning.
• Allows the teacher to create individual discussion pages with due
dates to promote student communication.
• Allows every student (as well as the teacher) to fill out an “Info”
page that can be viewed by anyone in the course, so “getting to know
you” activities can be kick-started.
• Both Teachers and Students can post messages (a la Facebook) that
everyone can read and respond to, allowing for instant
communication and feedback.
6. • Once again, the similarity to Facebook is, in most cases, a positive.
• Posting assignments, documents, messages, etc. is as easy as
clicking the appropriate choice and typing a message or uploading a
file.
• Attendance is taken with just a click of the mouse.
• When an assignment is created, an entry in the Gradebook is
created at the same time. When grades are entered, it is immediately
viewable to by the student.
•
7.
8. • Very clean interface; simple and uncluttered
• Course pages are organized in a logical fashion.
• Broken Record Time – it’s like Facebook, only better – NO ADS!
Everything your interested in is a click away, and it has a very social-
networking feel to it.
9. • On the bottom of your page (at all times) is a quick link to “Support”
– clicking it brings up the option of viewing some user manuals, or
posting the issue to a public forum where system admins or other
users can answer your question. You can also post ideas for
improvements to the site.
• There is a “Help” link that brings up different support guides for
students, teachers, administrators, and parents.
• There is no way t0 directly contact the company for support via
phone – the only number given is for sales. Therefore, all support
must be done via the forum or help guides.
10. • Wait, you may have heard this before: the similarity to Facebook is a
positive, allowing students and teachers to quickly adapt to the interface. Also, it
seems students might be more apt to begin and continue using something that is
so much like their favorite social networking site.
• Pretty standard features as far as assignment posting, grading, and discussion
activities. Attendance is a nice feature, and the “Analytics” reports are great for the
teacher.
• The “instant” features, like grades, messages, and notifications are a nice touch.
• The lack of person-to-person tech support may be a turn off for some schools or
school administrators, but the online support forum seems adequate.
• Overall seems like a solid LMS, with most of the free features being
enough for individual teachers. A district as a whole would most likely
want to pay for the extra features, like Privacy control, language
control, report card generation, etc.
