Comments on: The damnation of too many course materials websites http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/10/16/the-damnation-of-too-many-course-materials-websites/ Why have 10 blogs on specific topics when you can have just 1 with all kinds of random topics? Thu, 17 May 2012 13:47:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Dylan Salisbury http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/10/16/the-damnation-of-too-many-course-materials-websites/comment-page-1/#comment-125 Dylan Salisbury Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:11:45 +0000 http://kaiyen.com/blog/?p=143#comment-125 OK, I'll work on my arguments. As a preview... one of the most important features to me as a student is to be notified via e-mail when new content is added to the site. I know how to do that as a user of ERES... it's somewhat straightfoward. I've been told that Angel has this feature if the instructor knows how to enable it. I've never seen it in action. This is one reason that I think ERES works better than Angel in practice. I suspect that some lower tech solutions could be even better. OK, I’ll work on my arguments. As a preview… one of the most important features to me as a student is to be notified via e-mail when new content is added to the site.

I know how to do that as a user of ERES… it’s somewhat straightfoward.

I’ve been told that Angel has this feature if the instructor knows how to enable it. I’ve never seen it in action.

This is one reason that I think ERES works better than Angel in practice. I suspect that some lower tech solutions could be even better.

]]> By: kaiyen http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/10/16/the-damnation-of-too-many-course-materials-websites/comment-page-1/#comment-117 kaiyen Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:50:59 +0000 http://kaiyen.com/blog/?p=143#comment-117 On a more serious note - asking other students doesn't work since most other students don't know unless someone tells them. So it's key to be the student that tells others. The ridiculousness is circular, but it is nonetheless true for the most part. And if the course hasn't started yet then I can't ask the instructor (well I could, but many instructors do not reply). There are also instructors that warn you of reading materials just a week before the class. In this case, apparently I wasn't notified of the reading materials so much as warned I was late on handing them in. When in fact I didn't even know they were there to be handed in. If I were an instructor, I would use Angel, no question. I would take out all of the needless crap that it put in there - the login stats, stuff like that - and simplify the interface. I would have my course materials sorted by date with all kinds of stuff in there. Links, drop-boxes for assignments, folders for media vs folders for reading materials and links to my powerpoint or other presentation materials. I have used Sakai (and its predecessor), I have used WebCT, Blackboard, and even played around in a Drupal environment. I think Angel is pretty impressive. On a more serious note – asking other students doesn’t work since most other students don’t know unless someone tells them. So it’s key to be the student that tells others. The ridiculousness is circular, but it is nonetheless true for the most part. And if the course hasn’t started yet then I can’t ask the instructor (well I could, but many instructors do not reply). There are also instructors that warn you of reading materials just a week before the class. In this case, apparently I wasn’t notified of the reading materials so much as warned I was late on handing them in. When in fact I didn’t even know they were there to be handed in.

If I were an instructor, I would use Angel, no question. I would take out all of the needless crap that it put in there – the login stats, stuff like that – and simplify the interface. I would have my course materials sorted by date with all kinds of stuff in there. Links, drop-boxes for assignments, folders for media vs folders for reading materials and links to my powerpoint or other presentation materials.

I have used Sakai (and its predecessor), I have used WebCT, Blackboard, and even played around in a Drupal environment. I think Angel is pretty impressive.

]]> By: kaiyen http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/10/16/the-damnation-of-too-many-course-materials-websites/comment-page-1/#comment-116 kaiyen Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:43:17 +0000 http://kaiyen.com/blog/?p=143#comment-116 Dylan. If you can convince me that eres is better than hanging a flash drive on a wall under a course name printed on paper taped to that same wall and having students just copy the contents of that flash drive each week....then I will applaud you :-). I think eres is a joke of a system for any kind of academic purpose. Dylan. If you can convince me that eres is better than hanging a flash drive on a wall under a course name printed on paper taped to that same wall and having students just copy the contents of that flash drive each week….then I will applaud you :-) . I think eres is a joke of a system for any kind of academic purpose.

]]> By: Dylan Salisbury http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/10/16/the-damnation-of-too-many-course-materials-websites/comment-page-1/#comment-115 Dylan Salisbury Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:25:03 +0000 http://kaiyen.com/blog/?p=143#comment-115 How would you manage the process if you were an instructor (and which site would you use, Angel or eres?) You hinted here at what best practices for a student might be (pathologically checking both websites... you could also aski the instructor and other students repeatedly while trying not to be much of a nuisance...) (Warning, this is just fodder for an upcoming post of mine trying to explain why ERES is better than Angel for real life SCU courses!) How would you manage the process if you were an instructor (and which site would you use, Angel or eres?)

You hinted here at what best practices for a student might be (pathologically checking both websites… you could also aski the instructor and other students repeatedly while trying not to be much of a nuisance…)

(Warning, this is just fodder for an upcoming post of mine trying to explain why ERES is better than Angel for real life SCU courses!)

]]>