Learning
Technology

Issues to consider

Difficulty *

Security

UNLV Support

Features

Cost *

Commercial learning management systems such as Blackboard or Desire2Learn

Requires extensive technical and pedagogical training for faculty. Can be learned incrementally.

Course materials and interactions are typically password protected. Faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

WebCT/WebCampus supported through the OIT Helpdesk (Presidium) and the TLC. Other learning management systems are not suppored.

Faculty are able to develop educational content for the Web quickly without prior knowledge of HTML or Web design. Standard online tools include discussion forums, online grading and chat.

May be extremely expensive to the University (often costing thousands of dollars) and requires signed, annual contracts. No direct cost to faculty or students.

Open source learning management systems such as Moodle or Sakai

Requires extensive technical and pedagogical training for faculty. Can be learned incrementally.

Course materials and interactions are typically password protected. Faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

Faculty are able to develop educational content for the Web quickly without prior knowledge of HTML or Web design. Standard online tools include discussion forums, online grading and chat.

Often free or very low cost

Virtual reality simulations such as Second Life, Croquet, AlphaWorld, and Openlife

Although relatively easy to explore, educational use may require extensive technical and pedagogical training for both faculty and students.

Presentations and materials are typically available to anyone.

No UNLV support available.

Possible to simulate a physical environment online. Avatars (three dimensional representations of each user) interact with each other in a virtual environment.

Often free or very low cost

Web development software such as Dreamweaver, Expression Web or NVu.

Requires extensive technical and pedagogical training for faculty. Can be learned incrementally.

Although materials can be password protected, the process is relatively difficult for casual developers. Faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

Limited technical support from OIT. Workshops and consultation for Dreamweaver provided by the TLC. **

Faculty generate Web pages using a "word processor-style" interface rather than programming HTML code. While this method allows greater design freedom, it is more difficult to include such common LMS tools as discussion forums, online grading and chat.

While some low-end applications are free, most are relatively low-cost to faculty via educational discount (~$100).

Voice Communication Tools such as Wimba Elluminate, DimDim or Skype

Requires some technical and pedagogical training, but with practice, faculty can use these products effectively.

Although conversations are generally secure, faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

These tools allow faculty to perform such online activities as conducting two-way group conversations, embedding audio clips in online courses, and capturing student language pronunciation.

Some systems are free but most have a fairly high cost to the University.

Video Sharing web sites such as YouTube and TeacherTube

Requires some technical and pedagogical training, but with practice, faculty can use these sites effectively.

Although videos can be set to private, once posted publicly, videos are accessible to the world. Faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

Faculty can upload short video clips and embed them easily into online curriculum without prior knowledge of media players or compression methods.

Often free or very low cost

Online publisher materials such as ePacks or test banks

Relatively easy to implement from within a learning management system.

Some of these materials may require the involvement of outside publishers and may be considered insecure. Faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

Supported through the OIT Helpdesk (Presidium) and the TLC.

Convenient online educational content that often comes bundled with textbooks. Such content may not be developed by qualified educators, however, and should be used with caution.

Generally free for faculty with the adoption of a textbook. Students often required to pay small fee for an access code.

Lesson building and learning activities software such as StudyMate or Respondus

May require technical and pedagogical training for faculty, but generally has a lower learning curve in comparison to a dedicated development environment (such as Flash).

Activities produced by many of these products are self-contained and do not transmit actual scores to an online grading system, and so are relatively secure. Access to these activities is dependent upon where they are placed.

Supported through the OIT Helpdesk (Presidium) and the TLC.

This software enables faculty to create online interactives such as pop-up text annotations, self-check quizzes and other Flash-based activities. While useful for student self-assessment, most activities do not mesh well with LMS grading systems.

Respondus and StudyMate are available for free to UNLV faculty. An annual license fee may be required for the University, however.

Social networking Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook

Relatively easy to develop, but may require technical and pedagogical support in order to use for educational purposes.

Discussions or students interactions are usually open to the general public and insecure. Faculty should be very concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

Popular with many students, such sites allow photo and video sharing, blogging, chat, messaging and more. More geared toward student personal interaction than education, however.

Often free or low cost.

Graphic editing software such as Photoshop, Fireworks, or Gimp

Fairly steep learning curve due to complex user interface.

Caution should be exercised with copyrighted material or with posting student work or images publicly.

Installation supported on-campus through OIT. Limited training available through the TLC.**

Faculty may produce visual educational content to accompany online text. Photos taken with a digital camera my be cropped, resized and converted for use on the Web.

Although some products are free or low-cost, Photoshop is relatively expensive.

Personal hand-held devices such as an iPod or Smartphone

Usually requires faculty training to learn to design for small display screens.

Although relatively secure, faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

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OIT provides technical support for UNLV Blackberries only. Pedagogical support unavailable.

"Mobile-learning" (or "mlearning") allows faculty to deliver educational content directly to student cell phones or other wireless devices. GPS technology enables content relevant to physical locations (such as in various areas of a museum).

Hand-held devices (such as cell phones) may be expensive and require additional fees for Internet access.

Personal response systems ("clickers") such as InterWrite, TurningPoint, eInstruction and iClicker

Requires some technical and pedagogical training for faculty. Relatively easy for students.

Although relatively secure, faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No standard has been adopted yet (though recommendations have been made); currently clickers are not fully supported by OIT until the university standard has been adopted.

Enables an instructor to gather immediate feedback from students. Instructors may need encouragement to avoid slipping into usage of simplistic questions.

Under the current university model, faculty may receive free or low-cost instructor software and hardware upon adoption of certain textbooks. Students purchase "clickers" with textbooks for an additional fee (~$30).

Blogging/Journaling software such as LiveJournal, WordPress, or Blogger

Requires some technical and pedagogical training for faculty. Relatively easy learning curve for students.

Content may be restricted to specific viewers. Although relatively secure, faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

Faculty are able to post educational content (text, images, links) to the Web quickly without prior knowledge of HTML or Web design. Students may post responses to journal entries directly.

Often free or low cost.

Wikis such as Wikipedia or MediaWiki

Unless using a shared, public wiki, most faculty will require pedagogical and technical training in order to install and develop for education.

Although access to content may be password protected, faculty should be concerned about protecting student information, grades and responses.

No UNLV support available.

Wikis enable faculty (and students) to rapidly and collaboratively develop informational Web pages.

Often free or low cost.