Software, Tools and Web Resources Reviews
The Distributed Learning Group in alt^I evaluates
new software, tools and web resources for online instructors. Although we research many tools
as they are introduced to the online community, only selected tools are displayed on this page
as a recommendation to use to further enhance your online course.
Breeze elevates online training, marketing, sales and web conferencing to a whole new level, delivering high-impact communications everyone can access instantly.
Breeze is a rich web communication system that lets you reach your audience anytime with engaging multimedia content. And, because Breeze is deployed using Adobe Flash Player, already installed on more than 98% of browsers worldwide, your audience can join your Breeze online meetings, training courses and on-demand presentations instantly. More Info >>
Adobe Captivate (formerly RoboDemo) automatically records all onscreen actions and instantly creates an interactive Flash simulation. Point and click to add text captions, narration, and e-learning interactions without any programming knowledge.
ASU Blogs
* Cost: No cost to ASU Students and Faculty
The term “blog” is short for “weblog”. As blogger.com has so eloquently put, “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes.”
ASU Wikis
* Cost: No cost to ASU Students and Faculty
From
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, a wiki (wee-kee or wick-ey) is a type of website that allow users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing. The name is based on the Hawaiian term wiki, meaning "quick", "fast", or "to hasten".
"Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems."
CourseCompassTM is a dynamic, interactive online learning environment powered by Blackboard®. Flexible, easy-to-use course management tools allow you to combine Pearson Higher Education content with your own. Putting your online resources in one place has never been easier.
A Web-based testing application that provides a variety of interactive assessment options.
Hot Potatoes™ is free provided the assessment is used for an educational site that is
available on the WWW.
Arizona State University and Apple have teamed up to create ASU on iTunes U, an innovative approach to sharing ASU's vast array of resources with students and the community here, at home, and around the world.
ASU on iTunes U offers a range of podcast programming, fom public events and special productions to online course materials and research publications, and more...
"The Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) is a community of individuals and organizations collaborating on the development of the leading non-proprietary, open source electronic portfolio software available.
OSP is a part of the Sakai project. Over the past few months, we have been consolidating some of our online resources to be more efficient and seamless to work between Sakai and OSP. Please be patient while we revise this website to link to the new resources. In the interim, look here for up-to-date information."
Respondus
* Cost: ASU Site Licensed
Available at IT Help Desk (CPCOM 202).
Access can also be obtained by sending an email to myasu-q@asu.edu
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard, eCollege, WebCT and other eLearning systems. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment, or moved from one eLearning system to another. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus will save you hours on each project.
Xanedu
* Cost: Varied, based on packet materials.
XanEdu has everything you need—an exhaustive, ever-growing collection of digitized content, online CoursePack editing tools, research applications and assistance, copyright clearance services, a myriad of print productions options, and expert CoursePack development support. Create your own, or let us do it!
* Cost - Pricing current as of November 6, 2006.
