As we head into the last weeks of summer vacation, many people are gearing up to go back to school this month, which includes both students and faculty. We want to highlight three tools that benefit both K-12 teachers and higher education professors with their online teaching efforts, all homegrown at UCF.
A brief history lesson in online/distance learning
Online learning, or distance learning, has been with us for more than 300 years, and has gone through many forms of media during that time. It began with the first correspondence course in Boston in 1728; to the first radio course offered by Penn State University in 1925, to Stanford University’s TV classes for part-time engineering students in 1968; to the establishment of CALC (Computer Assisted Learning Center), a computer-based, adult learning center in 1982; all the way to today—where 98 percent of public colleges and universities offer online programs. As computers are becoming more and more essential to our lives, both in and out of the classroom, it’s also believed that five years from now, most students will be taking at least one online course.
Current online courses use learning management systems (LMS) such as Instructure’s Canvas, which is the platform used at UCF. The following technologies were created by the Learning Systems & Technology group in UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning to work within Canvas, but can also work in other systems. Click the links below to find out more information.
Materia™—making online learning more fun
Materia™ is an open learning platform designed to make
online learning rich, diverse, and engaging through interactive games, tools, and study aids. Although developed here at UCF, Materia™ is now available for any institution to use.
Materia™ comes with a growing library of customizable widgets, such as Flash Cards, Hangman, and Word Search, already installed and integrates into existing environments such as Canvas. Materia’s dev kit also allows developers to create entirely new widgets easily. With everything automated, users can have their own Materia™ servers running in a few easy steps. Instructors can engage and inspire their students in fun and innovative ways with a variety of features such as gameplay mechanics, storytelling, competition, instant feedback, and instant reward systems—all within attractively designed interfaces that make for great learning experiences.
Students, teachers, and administrators can all access excellent statistical tools that help to deliver a rewarding educational experience. An instructor can quickly view their students’ performance by visually comparing scores and statistics in dynamically rendered charts. Students are also able see their own progress and measure how they stack up against their peers.
Obojobo™—Learning objects are the building blocks for learning
Easy and intuitive to use, Oboj
obo™ is UCF’s powerful online tool that provides a multifaceted interface capable of building, containing, and utilizing instructional components for the virtual classroom. Basic in structure and rich in media capabilities, these components include innovative help features and assistive guidelines to better support designers and authors throughout the development process.
Obojobo™ is a complete Learning Object platform with the following three components: the Repository allows users to manage and distribute objects, the Editor allows users to create them, and the Viewer, which provides the front-end interface for students to begin learning. Learning Objects are designed to represent the smallest possible learning unit, allowing instructors to re-use each Learning Object for a variety of functions within different courses.
Obojobo™ integrates with Canvas, making publishing and retrieving scores a simple process. For users who work in teams, Obojobo™ easily shares modules at all phases of development. This system’s stats and graphs help instructors understand both students and content. Whether a user needs to drill deep into individual experiences or to graph their performance across the curriculum and time, this growing analytics suite will keep users informed and help guide their next initiatives.
OneSearch Lite—academic searching with one less browser tab to open
This new tool which can be embedded in the learning management system Canvas, enables faculty to easily search for, download, and embed full-text links from selected licensed or public domain sources into course pages in three easy steps. OneSearch Lite uses the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) framework and EBSCO’s Discovery Service (EDS) application programming interface (API), and was developed through a collaboration between UCF Libraries and the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL). Students can stay within the Canvas environment in order to access certain library databases, such as EDS, enhancing on-demand learning and convenience.
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These three smart technologies are available in our Technology Locator. To download Materia™ and Obojobo™, contact John Miner in the Office of Technology Transfer. OneSearch Lite is available to download for free through our new Online Express License program. You’re just a few clicks away from engaging your students in fun, new ways and making your job as an instructor a whole lot easier.
Written by Deborah Beckwin
The post Back-to-school with three new tools: online learning additions that multiply ease and fun in the virtual classroom appeared first on Technology Transfer.