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Investigate Educational Technologies
University of Minnesota instructors are having students use directly many supported and emerging technologies to enhance their learning. These technologies enable instructors and learners to interact with each other and course content in a variety of ways, such as share presentations, conduct meetings, create or access course content, and engage in discussions. Some are used live, or synchronously, while others are asynchronous but updated frequently. Many are fully supported on campus. A number of others are being actively explored and evaluated by Office of Information Technology staff members working with the Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) and faculty, staff, and student representatives. Select the name of a technology below to learn more it and how to get help using it for teaching and learning.
UMConnect Meeting is a presentation and collaboration environment that enables participants to share presentations, files, and applications synchronously and
asynchronously.
UMConnect Presenter is a presentation tool that enables users to asynchronously publish Microsoft PowerPoint presentations as Macromedia Flash player-compatible files and to add and edit audio narration, quizzes, and surveys.
Croquet is a three-dimensional software environment that enables users to move through, create, and collaborate in virtual worlds synchronously and asynchronously.
Moodle is open-source course management software that enables instructors to create and manage, and students to access and participate in, Web-based learning materials and activities using built-in forum, chat, assignment, quiz, and other tools synchronously and asynchronously.
The myU Portal is a tool that enables participants to get personalized information, interact with friends and colleagues, and create and distribute dynamic Web content asynchronously.
Podcasting is a method of publishing audio and video files (usually MP3s and MP4s) to the Web, which are then made available through subscription and automatically downloaded to a personal computer or portable player.
Portfolio is a secure Web site that enables users to enter, save, organize, view, and selectively share personal educational records asynchronously.
Student response systems (SRSs)—also known as personal response systems (PRSs) or clickers—are wireless devices used for interactive polling in face-to-face classes, particularly in large lecture courses.
Turnitin is a Web-based plagiarism detection service. Instructors can have their students submit written work to this service so it can be checked against Turnitin's databases.
UMChat is an instant messaging (IM) service that enables users to exchange messages on the Internet synchronously.
UMWiki is a wiki tool that enables participants to collaboratively create, edit, and delete Web pages asynchronously.
UThink is a Web-based tool that enables users to create and view blogs asynchronously.
WebVista is course management software that enables instructors to create and manage, and students to access and participate in, Web-based learning materials and activities using built-in sychronous and asychronous learning module, discussion, chat, whiteboard, assessment, grade book, collaboration, and other tools
Wimba Voice Tools are voice recording software accessible via WebVista that enables instructors and students to post and access customized audio clips and engage in live and threaded audio discussions synchronously and asynchronously.
