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If you are using technology to teach your classes, or perhaps you are just thinking about it, this page will summarize the various tools and products that are available to you. Maybe you have heard of some of these, or maybe it is all new to you. Whatever the case may be for you, you can start using these today. If you see something that you like, contact us and find out how we can help you.
Blackboard Course Management System |
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Blackboard is a web-based service that we use at UT Martin to provide course content and course documents to students. Because it is web-based, it is available 24 hrs a day and can be accessed over the internet from anywhere you can get on the internet. It is password-protected by a username and password, which are provided to all UT Martin faculty and students.
Blackboard can be used to: |
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provide course documents, like a syllabus or PowerPoint slides. |
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give quizzes and exams. |
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accept homework files from students. |
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post course announcements. |
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assign students to groups so they can collaborate on projects. |
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provide threaded asynchronous discussions. |
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check student-submitted papers for plagiarism. |
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Safe Assignment – checks student papers against a database of internet sites and other student papers. |
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add participant voices to course content. |
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Wimba Voice Tools – using Wimba, participants can use voice-based discussion boards, as well as send each other voice-emails. |
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provide multimedia content, such as pictures, audio files, and videos. |
| "How to Teach Online" |
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The ITC provides a free online course called “How To Teach Online” that is available to UTM faculty who need to learn what it really takes to teach online. It is open to both new online faculty and existing online faculty who need a fresh perspective or new ideas. The course is offered several times throughout the year, and it takes anywhere from 4-6 weeks to complete the course.
For more information, click here. |
| Adobe Acrobat Connect |
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Adobe Acrobat Connect is a LIVE synchronous software that allows teacher and student to meet together on the internet at the same in a LIVE environment. They can share documents, view presentations, collaborate on a whiteboard, text chat with each other, and much more. Participants can also use webcams and microphones to see and hear each other real-time. |
| Adobe Presenter |
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Adobe Presenter is a PowerPoint plugin that allows teachers to add their voice comments to PowerPoint slides, and then upload the presentation to the internet. Their students can then download and watch the PowerPoint presentation using just their internet browser and listen to their teacher narrate the Presentation. This is a great way to provide course content to online classes, or perhaps even to face-to-face classes as outside supplementary material. |
| iTunesU |
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iTunesU can be used to provide audio and/or video course content to students. iTunesU utilizes the popular free iTunes software from Apple Computers. By providing audio and/or video content using iTunesU, students can then download the content and load it onto their iPod players and take the content with them wherever they may go. |
| Apreso Classrooms |
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There are several classrooms on campus that we call the Apreso classrooms. These classrooms are specially equipped with recording equipment that allows teachers to have their lecture recorded with a video camera and microphone. Everything that is done in front of the camera, said into the microphone, and performed on the classroom computer is captured. Immediately after the class is over the entire recording is automatically uploaded to the internet so that it can be viewed about 10 min. after the class is over. The teacher doesn’t have to do anything except walk into the classroom and teach like they normally do. The entire system is automated. |
| Respondus Lock-Down Browser |
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When teachers require students to take quizzes or exams over the internet using Blackboard, there are academic integrity issues that invariably come up. How do you know that students aren’t looking up answers on the internet while taking your assessments? How do you know that they aren’t copying and pasting from applications into your assessment? To help this situation, we offer a product called “Respondus Lock-Down Browser”, which basically locks-down the entire computer when the student begins the Blackboard assessment. They can’t print, they can’t use the internet, they can’t open applications, they can’t copy, they can’t paste. They can’t do anything except take the assessment. There isn’t a 100% full-proof method to eliminate cheating altogether in the online environment. But Lock-Down Browser can help. |
| Creating audio and/or video |
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If you want to create audio or video content for your classes, the ITC provides several video workstations in the ITC computer lab that have the latest in audio and video creation software. We also have the equipment that allows you to import audio and video into the computer from VCR tapes, camcorders, and so forth. Once the content is created, we can show you how to distribute the content using the various ways that we have already mentioned on this page. We also provide a streaming media server to teachers who want to provide audio and/or video content that is either very large or that needs to be protected from copying and distribution. |
Training & Education events and resources |
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The ITC provides numerous opportunities throughout the year to get training or education. |
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We have regular monthly training sessions on the various products that we have mentioned on this page, as well as other various topics such as SPSS, Microsoft Office, etc. These sessions vary from month to month, and we provide training based on what is requested of us and what is demanded. |
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Day-long Blackboard training days. We call these days our “Blackboard Blitz” and usually schedule these training days just prior to the start of fall and spring semesters. |
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Faculty Development Summer Workshop. Every year after the spring semester, the ITC hosts a summer workshop that is provided to UTM faculty who present proposals for technology projects that they want to complete. It is a week-long event where the participants work on their projects in the ITC computer lab and get assistance from ITC personnel. |
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West Tennessee Technology Symposium – every year in the fall, the ITC and Computer Store co-host the Technology Symposium where faculty are invited to present sessions on various technology topics. Participation in this event comes from all over the region and provides a forum for UTM faculty to engage in scholarly work. |
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Online Tutor – if you want to learn some things at your own pace from your computer, then the Online Tutor page (www.utm.edu/otutor.php) provides short video tutorials on various subjects. |
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