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The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides a variety of educational technologies that enable instructors to deliver their classes to students at a distance. These options range from simple to complex and each have different capabilities and limitations. We are not recommending any specific tool, as that decision should be made by the instructor based on his or her needs, skills, and comfort with digital teaching technologies, and urgency. Also keep in mind that not all class types are suited for digital delivery.
OIT offers various levels of technical support and training for the educational technologies listed below. Many of the educational technologies have online training available for instructors and students who need a quick orientation on using the tool. A complete list of training classes can be found on the UTTC Web site.
Along with training and technical support, OIT’s Digital Media Center (DMC) also offers faculty consultations. DMC consultants provide instructors with a range of support around educational technology, pedagogy, and instructional design. For more information, please visit Faculty Development Programs and Consultation Services.
Below is a quick overview of the educational technologies OIT has to offer. For more information, follow the links provided for each tool.
Instructors can easily set up listservs for their classes and use it to communicate, share documents, and provide links to lecture podcasts. Read more about e-mail.
UMChat is an instant messaging (IM) service that enables instructors and students to exchange messages on the Internet in real time. Although UMChat does not allow document sharing, it does enable instructors to have discussions with their students and for students to collaborate with each other. Read more about UMChat.
The NetFiles service is a secure online file storage and collaboration solution available to all faculty and students at the University that is accessible using a Web browser. NetFiles allows instructors to share course materials with their students and allows students to work collaboratively on documents from a distance and get them back to the instructor. Read more about NetFiles.
iTunes U enables instructors to share podcasts with students through Apple iTunes. It does not allow for discussions, documents, sharing, or managing class lists, but combined with other tools it is a simple way for instructors to share class lectures, podcasts, and vodcasts. Read more about iTunes U.
UMWiki enables users to directly and collaboratively create and edit content quickly and easily using a Web browser. UMWiki enables instructors and students to create Web pages, embed images, documents, and Web links. Built-in revision tracking shows when changes were made, and by whom. Read more about UMWiki.
Moodle is course management software designed to support social constructionist pedagogical practices. Instructors can create course Web sites that include text, multimedia learning resources, and activities. A rich set of tools and features are included to enable collaboration and group participation. Nine percent of academic courses at the University are already using Moodle. Read more about Moodle.
WebVista is course management software that enables instructors to create and manage, and enables students to access and participate in, Web-based learning materials and activities using built-in synchronous and asynchronous learning modules, discussion, chat, whiteboard, assessment, grade book, collaboration, and other tools. Thirty-one percent of academic courses at the University are already using WebVista. Read more about WebVista.
UMConnect enables University faculty and eligible graduate students to create on-demand Web presentations and to communicate and collaborate through Web conferences and webcasts. Students can use UMConnect to view content and participate in Web conferences and webcasts. Read more about UMConnect.
Camtasia Relay is a software-based class capture solution. Camtasia Relay can be used for Class Capture anytime/anywhere without any special hardware other than a computer and a microphone. It enables instructors to record their voice and capture anything that is on their computer screen. Read more about Camtasia Relay.
When Google launches later this fall, instructors and students will be able to share documents with Google Docs, hold discussions with Google Talk, and communicate with Gmail. Read more about Google Apps.
UThink is a Web-based tool maintained by the University Libraries that enables students, instructors, and staff members at the University of Minnesota to asynchronously create and view blogs. Blogs (short for "Weblogs") are Web sites organized in reverse chronological order, with the newest entries on top. They can be set up quickly and updated regularly by people with little or no Web programming experience. Blogs can be used for a variety of course-related activities, such as to keep reflective journals on class topics, create annotated bibliographies and/or "webographies," post drafts of papers and solicited peer feedback, brainstorm about class reports or projects, and maintain a list of news articles relevant to a particular topic. Read more about UThink.
