Create interactive eLearning course sites using free Learning Management Solutions

Create Interactive eLearning Course Sites
Using Free Learning Management
Solutions
Monica D.T. Rysavy, Ed.D.
Instructional Systems Ph.D. student at
The Pennsylvania State University

Overview
Canvas Coursekit COURSEsites
Cost(s) to use Free Free Free
Number of Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited, but
Courses only 5 may be
active to
students at a
time
Number of Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Students
Who owns Instructor Instructor Instructor, but
content? copyrighted by option exists for
default, but OER publication
options exist to
license content
with CC licensing

Monica D.T. Rysavy, Ed.D. | SITE 2012

Canvas
Creating a Course, Step 1 of 3
 Select a name for your course, add a short
reference code (I.E. Course #)
 Set the License for Course Copyright
 Creative Commons License Choices:
 Private (Copyrighted) – this is the default choice
 CC Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
 CC Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
 CC Attribution No Derivatives
 CC Attribution Share Alike
 CC Attribution
 Public Domain


Canvas
 Assignments (optional at this step)
 By default, there are 4 categories of assignments
 Assignment, Discussion, Quiz, External Tool, Not Graded;
You can easily make more
 Pick a due date if required
 Assign point values (if desired)


Canvas
 Assignments continued…
 More Options:
 Change how it’s graded (Pts, %, Complete/Incomplete, Letter
Grade)
 Set as a group assignment and assign to a particular group or all
groups of students
 Option for grading students in groups individually OR as a group
 Require Peer Reviews
 Manually OR automatically assign Peer Reviews to students
 Auto Review lets you pick how many per user to assign
 Submission types include None, Online, or Paper
 Online Options include:
o Allow File Uploads
o Allow Text Entry
o Allow Website URL
Monica D.T. Rysavy, Ed.D. | SITE Recordings
o Allow Media 2012

Canvas
 Adding Students
 Add one by one OR as a whole list
 Add just email addresses or names with addresses


Canvas
Importing other LMS Content
 Import a zip folder of files from any LMS
 Import Quizzes in the IMS QTI format
 Most systems allow you to export your Quizzes in
this format
 Import content from another Canvas course
 Import content from a content package
 Such as content provided by publishers for use in a
LMS


Canvas
Communication Options
 Set preferences for how you would like Canvas to
communicate with you based on activities within
the course such as student submissions, posts,
or activity
 Decide if you’d like to be notified
 Right Away
 Daily
 Weekly
 Never


Canvas
Communication Options continued…
 Send announcements and/or messages to
students via
 Email
 Text
 Facebook
 Twitter


Canvas
Collaboration Features
 Chat
 Create a chat room that runs within the course
 Add users by sharing a URL or invite through
people you have as Friends on Facebook or Twitter
followers
 Can be text only
 Audio and text
 Audio, Video, and text


Canvas
Collaboration Features continued…
 Web Conferences
 Let you communicate remotely with class members
 Can present lectures using webcam & microphone
 Also can be used for Remote Office Hours


Canvas
Collaboration Features continued…
 Can use Google Docs or Ether Pad from within
the Canvas Course to work collaboratively tasks
like group papers or note-taking
 Students do not have to swap emails to access
 When students click the Collaboration link they
are automatically taken to the group Google Doc
or Ether Pad document


Canvas
Other Features
 Syllabus page
 Comments/notes about course structure, grading,
and other policies, along with links to each
assignment.
 Ability to have multiple sections of one course
within the course
 Can add a TA and authorize them to grade one
more sections of students


Canvas
Other Features continued…
 ePortfolios
 Tied to user Profiles, not course specific
 Users can build an unlimited number of ePortfolios
 They can share and document:
 Educational projects
 Submissions
 Experiences
 Work Products
 Students can download their ePortfolios in a Zip File
 Can be set as Public or Private


Canvas
 Services
 The instructor and all users can link the following
accounts to their profile and choose whether or not
to let others see their activity within these accounts
 Delicious
 Diigo
 Facebook
 Google Docs
 Twitter
 Skype
 LinkedIn


Canvas
Grading
 Can calculate weighted grades
 Assignments can be organized into groups for
weighting
 Grades can be percentage, complete/incomplete,
letter grade, or points
 Elect to be notified when assignments are
submitted
 Notify students who haven’t submitted yet or
scored more than X or less than Y on an
assignment
 Leave private grading comments for students in a
Monica D.T. Rysavy, Ed.D. | SITE 2012 video
text form, audio, or

Canvas
Grading continued…
 Outcomes is a tool that enables instructors to
track students’ progress as measured by
pedagogical goals or desired outcomes
 Student assessments showing their knowledge or
demonstrating a specific skill resulting from a
learning activity can be aligned to learning
outcomes using rubrics (which can be used for
grading simultaneously)
 Assessing or grading student work automatically
collects and compiles data on student progress


Coursekit
Creating a Course Step 1 of 3
 Complete the Create a Coursekit form
 Add Course Name
 Course Number
 Department/Subject and Term with Year
 School
 Themes (course tags) if desired
 Choose whether to have the Gradebook and
Submissions On or Off


Coursekit
 Choose Course Privacy Settings. Decide whether
the following will be “Public” or “
“Students Only”
 Stream (Posts by instructor and students)
 Calendar (Meeting times, exam dates,
assignments)
 Resources (Books, links, files0
 Syllabus (Course Description, General Info.)
 People (Student names and course contacts)


Coursekit
 Account Info.
 Create an Instructor User Account or Log in OR
 Sign up using Facebook
 Can choose to have course contributions appear in your
Facebook Profile


Coursekit
Importing other LMS Content
 N/A as of March 3, 2012


Coursekit
Communication Preferences
 Each course has its own email address
 Emailing that address will post to your course's
Stream, and send your students an email
notification.
 One to one messaging – i.e. instructor to student
email - is not supported at this time


Coursekit
 Students can communicate with classmates by
 Posting to the course Stream (all will see)
 Chat with individuals in the class
 Chat with the whole class
 Instructor Chat
 With one class or
 With all students


Coursekit
Other Features
 Calendar
 All assignments, exams, and class meetings are
added via the calendar
 Assignments and Exams
 Students submit work through a link on the calendar for the
course
 Auto graded assignments and exams are not available at
this time


Coursekit
 Resources
 Add ISBN of text number and the text will be linked
via Amazon so students could purchase through
course if desired
 Set files and resources as “Required” or
“Supplemental”


Coursekit
Course Features
 Syllabus
 Add text content or
 File Attachment
 Assignment Submissions
 View per student or
 Download all at one time
 Submission indicates if it was late and you can also
see if multiple versions were submitted


COURSEsites by Blackboard
Creating a Course, Step 1 of
 Create a New Instructor account
 Pick your own COURSEsites url, for example
 http://instructorname.coursesites.com


 Input General Course Info.
 Pick a Course Name and ID
 Enter a Course Description (Optional)
 Import Course Package
 Optionally import a pre-existing Blackboard or
Common Cartridge Package


 Quick Setup Guide
 Course Structure Options
 Choose whether to have your course follow a traditional
menu, or focus on a specific activity structure. Sample
Structures include:
 Activity-based
 Case Study
 Conference Session
 Constructivism
 Expedition Based


Creating a Course, Step 3 of
 Quick Setup Guide
 Course Structure Options
 Course Theme
 Help content is also available from this menu


Importing Other LMS Content
 If you didn’t import content while going through
the course builder, you can click “Packages and
Utilities” to import Course Cartridges or Packages


Communication Options
 Message students within the course using the
Messages tool
 Connect with students instantly through the
instant messaging solution designed for
education while enriching collaboration amongst
students.
 Students and Instructors have the ability to login
using Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Windows Live or
Yahoo


 Live Classroom
 Collaborate with students in a live, online classroom
featuring text chat, two-way audio, video, interactive
whiteboard, application and desktop sharing and
breakout rooms.
 Wikis
 Promote active collaboration around course content
and group projects, as well as support social learning
with course wikis.
 Groups
 Organize students into groups of any size. Students
have access to the following tools: Blogs,
Collaborations, Discussion Board, Email, File
Exchange, Journals, Tasks, Wikis

Other Features
 Open Educational Resources (OER)
 Instructors have the ability to publish and share
their courses as OER under a Creative Commons
Attribution license (CC BY).
 Mobile Learning
 Students and teachers can access their courses,
content and communities on CourseSites from a
variety of devices, including iOS™, Android™,
Palm® webOS™ and BlackBerry®.


 Instructor Homepage
 Instructors can create their own homepages with a
personalized public URL so students and guests
can access their courses, links, and blog posts
 Learning Modules
 Present content with a Table of Contents to better
guide students through a structured learning
experience.
 Interactive Rubrics
 Enables consistent grading of assignments,
discussions, blogs, and wikis


 Easily add Web 2.0 content such as:
 Images through Flickr
 Presentations with SlideShare
 Videos with YouTube
 Audio with Wimba Voice Authoring
 Instructors can add self and peer assessments


Grading
 Multiple types of tests/quizzes can be created
and automatically graded including:
 Multiple Choice
 True/False
 Fill in the Blank
 Matching
 Ability to use smart filters in the Grade Center so
instructors only view those activities that need to
be graded


LMS Links
 Canvas
 http://www.instructure.com/
 Coursekit
 http://coursekit.com/
 COURSEsites by Blackboard
 https://www.coursesites.com/


Questions? Comments?
Please feel free to contact me!
Monica D.T. Rysavy
monica.rysavy@gmail.com


Create interactive eLearning course sites using free Learning Management Solutions

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