Below you will find information and links to UA-supported on-line teaching and course management tools. To assist you in determining which might best suit your instructional needs, we have organized the tools by ease-of-use and functionality. For further assistance, please contact a member of the computing staff.

Listserv 

A listserv is an electronic mailing list which allows instructors and students to send one email message to the course list address and have it distributed to each member of the class. Listservs can work effectively for making announcements, engaging in class discussion, and sharing documents. Fill out a listserv request form here.

Blogs
Blogs (also known as Weblogs) are journals kept on the web and available to the public. Blogs do not require any knowledge of html to administer, and can be used in a classroom setting to discuss readings, share links, and post responses to course material. To set up a blog through the U of A, fill out a request form here.

Podcasting

The UA supports podcasting through its participation in Apple Inc.'s iTunes U, a resource to thousands of free educational audio and video tracks. Over 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Europe are participating. Podcasts can be audio or video recordings of classroom lectures, a series of videos on a particular topic, and presentations using Powerpoint or Keynote that are exported to Apple's podcasting format. To begin creating podcasts for your classes, please fill-out the request form located here.

D2L (Desire 2 Learn)
D2L is a dynamic and comprehensive course management system supported by the U of A. Instructors can set up a D2L site and use it to post announcements, course content (syllabi, handouts, assignment sheets, etc.), and a class schedule. Instructors can hold class discussion through the "chat" tool or through the discussion forum, where students can post responses to discussion prompts. D2L provides a "dropbox" where students can upload documents that are due and instructors can comments on them, grade them, and reutrn them to the students enirely on-line. D2L also allows instructors to create quizzes and surveys, as well as maintian an on-line gradebook. D2L also comes with a wide range of on-line tutorials for instructors to reference while learning the system. To request a D2L site, click here.

Elluminate
Elluminate is a collaborative synchronous online meeting place utilizing a rich Web communication system that lets you reach your audience anytime, anywhere with engaging multimedia content. Elluminate can be used with a combination of voice, video, text and desktop sharing which presents a robust environment for online learning, meetings, training courses and on-demand presentations. To create an online meeting place with Elluminate, please fill out the online form here.

  Second Life
The virtual UofA campus in Second Life presents a digital world which makes it possible for students taking an online course to develop a real sense of community. Users materialize in this 3-dimensional universe via an avatar which can interact with other users and the virtual environment. The island currently has several different class meeting / discussion areas, presentation / lecture areas, exhibit spaces, sandboxes, recreational areas and a holodeck. The island is equipped with sound capability which allows faculty and students to interact with each other in regular conversations. Text chat is also provided for the audio challenged or hearing impaired.