Technology in the College of Education

Learning Management System

The College of Education uses Blackboard Learning Management System to host course materials, interactive discussions, and assessments online. When students log in to Blackboard, they see a link for each course they are enrolled in. Faculty members design their Blackboard shells to include valuable course materials that students can access 24 hours a day. Many instructors utilize collaborative tools such as blogs, wikis, and discussion boards to encourage students to interact with one another outside of class meetings. Students generally submit their work electronically by uploading files to Blackboard, where faculty can grade and give feedback online.

• Find your username for Blackboard
• Log in to UAA Blackboard
• Learn to use Blackboard
  

Online Meetings

The College of Education uses a variety of technology tools to hold online class meetings in real time. Online courses most often meet using Elluminate Live! (eLive) or Video Teleconferencing (VTC).  
Elluminate Live is a web conferencing program that includes voice over IP audio (that is, talking through a computer over the internet), text chat, interactive whiteboard tools, application sharing, breakout rooms for group work, and more. Students get into eLive from within their Blackboard course or using a link provided by the instructor. Class sessions can be recorded for students to watch later.

How to use eLive

Video Teleconferencing utilizes the internet to transmit live audio and video. Students attend specially designated classrooms at their local campus and the instructor initiates the class session.  A variety of multimedia devices, including laptops, can be used to transmit presentations and other materials during a VTC.

Electronic Portfolios

Most College of Education programs require students to create an electronic portfolio. TaskStream is a comprehensive web-based resource and storage system for students to collect, store, and post work that will form the basis for their electronic portfolio.  Instructors in each program will let students know when they need to purchase a subscription to TaskStream.   When “key” student assignments are given, students upload files to TaskStream and submit them to their instructor for evaluation.

To log into TaskStream

Smart Classrooms

College of Education classrooms are equipped with high-end multimedia digital technology including interactive whiteboards (Promethean and Smart Technologies), document cameras, clickers, video conferencing equipment, and more.

Web Tools

Faculty, staff, and students in the College of Education utilize a variety of web-based technology tools including social networking (Facebook and Edmodo), communication (Skype, Google), collaboration (Google Docs), productivity (Evernote, Dropbox), video (YouTube), presentation (Glogster, Prezi), organizational (MindMeister, TimeToast), and more. College of Education students are encouraged to incorporate technology tools when giving presentations and designing lesson plans.