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February 15, 2002
Online Course Building Tools
By Michelle Thatcher
Take your classroom to the Web with these e-learning platforms.
For many schools, online courses offer an effective way to reach a broad range of students, from home-schooled learners logging on for AP courses to seasoned educators signing up for professional development seminars. Along with meeting the demands of these diverse student populations, online courses also serve a practical purpose: helping schools ease the burden of teacher shortages and overcrowded facilities by moving multiple classes into the virtual realm.
What to Look For in an Online Course Building Tool
Accessibility. Ask how a vendor's online service accommodates users without high-speed Internet connections.
Local or Remote Hosting. Find out where course content will be stored. Hosting on the provider's server requires no maintenance by your staff but makes you dependent on the company to fix problems.
System Integration. Avoid data management headaches by choosing a product that can integrate into your district's student information system.
Technical Support. Investigate potential user scenarios and how a vendor's support services would remedy technical glitches in the anytime, anywhere classroom. |
Fortunately, e-learning providers make the transition easier by offering the tools to craft online courses using content from your own curriculum. All make customization a key selling point for a wide range of features that can be purchased incrementally or as a complete package. Each of the products below includes in its basic version real-time chat, bulletin boards, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) functions, and assessment tools. More robust offerings from companies like WebCT, Trivantis, and Blackboard provide a range of enhanced Web-based options, including automated lesson plans to meet individual students' learning needs or, for districts that already have a student information system in place, full integration with an existing program.
Pricing for these offerings varies based on the individual plan your school negotiates with a vendor. Most companies use student enrollments and enhancement options, such as multimedia and complex assessment tools, as factors when pricing a proposal.
While Blackboard still allows free access to an early version of its online courseware, which features options to post lessons and assignments to the Web, host chats, and distribute quizzes and tests, the newer fee-based Blackboard Learning System 5.5 Basic includes a more user-friendly course management system, open architecture to help integrate other applications, and online assessment. Enterprise-level Blackboard Learning System 5.5 expands the Basic version by allowing schools and districts to integrate online courses and grades with existing information management systems. The Blackboard Community System, available separately, gives schools the option of creating their own e-learning portals.
Blackboard, Washington, DC; (800) 424-9299, ext. 4
eCourse from eClassroom lets teachers post syllabi, grades, lecture notes, and presentations online. Teachers can also administer tests and interact with students through e-mail, chat, and threaded discussions. With eClassroom's Gateway Campus, schools and districts can create a customized portal through which students access online courses, bookstores, and technical help. Scaled-down versions of the program are available for teachers who want to post only selected areas of their courses online.
EClassroom, Denver, CO; (888) 884-7325, ext. 5193
The remotely hosted Jones Knowledge e-education solution is tailored to individual district needs and offers 24/7 live technical support. Available features include document sharing, video and audio streaming, calendar, and grade book. Customized student tracking, record and report warehousing, and team teaching resources contribute to the service's robust management tools.
Jones Knowledge, Englewood, CO; (800) 453-5663
Educators can publish interactive documents, graphics, multimedia, and tests to the Internet, CD-ROM, or DVD with Lectora. They can also customize the look and feel of a course with a choice of fonts, buttons, and background colors. A Variable Manager allows instructors to set individual learning paths for students based on their answers to questions. Testing options include automated grading, timed testing, or randomized test questions generated from your own master question lists. Lectora is also available for Palm OS and Pocket PC.
Trivantis Corporation, Cincinnati, OH; (877) 929-0188
With ReadyGo Web Course Builder 2.0, teachers create online courses complete with graphics, links, tests and quizzes, and interactive exercises. Courses can stand alone or be integrated into most popular portals and learning management systems. A trial version of the program can be downloaded from the site.
ReadyGo, Mountain View, CA; (650) 968-9382
Tegrity WebLearner Studio is a hardware-software solution that includes a Windows PC, LCD projector, three cameras, and a wireless microphone on a portable cart. With the hardware and Tegrity's WebLearner software, educators can capture and edit in-class lessons-including whiteboard notes, Internet content, and software demonstrations-and upload them to a streaming server or distribute via download or CD-ROM. Additional features include screen recording for software tutorials and closed captioning.
Tegrity, San Jose, CA; (800) 411-0579
WebCT provides internal course e-mail and a variety of formats for assessment, including self-tests, quizzes, and surveys. Instructors can manage courses, assignments, and grades through a central Web interface. The expanded Campus Edition allows institutions to integrate WebCT into the existing campus infrastructure, student information system, or portal. Standard Edition: $5,000 per server. Campus Edition: Pricing based on student enrollment.
WebCT, Lynnfield, MA; (877) 932-2863
Professional Development E-Learning Platforms
Java-based eSchool Online from ACTV integrates video playback, automatic delivery of Web material, and collaboration and assessment tools. The program also helps state departments of education, distance learning networks, and large school districts customize instructional and staff development content that corresponds with the appropriate statewide and national frameworks.
ACTV, Inc., New York, NY; (212) 497-7000
The LessonLab platform mixes streaming video, discussion boards, expert commentary, and personal learning tools for a full-featured professional development experience. The platform consists of two components: Viewer, which allows trainees to view videos of classroom teachers, search lesson transcripts, participate in forum discussions, and more; and Builder, which allows course creators to videotape classes, create forums and tasks, and summarize student responses.
LessonLab, Santa Monica, CA; (310) 581-2300
Michelle Thatcher is managing editor of T&L.
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