Learn How to Blend - Blended Course Samples

Tool Showcase

Learn How

to Blend

What is it?

The goal of the Tool Showcase is to provide faculty with detailed information about emerging technology tools and their use in academic settings. We have focused on free or low-cost technologies available from the Web. Please note that online technology is in a constant state of flux so some of these tools may become obsolete or unavailable in the future. While we can’t guarantee their longevity, we can certainly provide you with enough information to help you decide if the tool would be appropriate for your current instructional needs. Each of the tools in this showcase contains the following information:

An overview,
A rationale for using it in your class including a detailed use scenario,
Best practice tips (both instructional and technical),
A quick start guide, and
A glossary of terms.

If you have an idea or something you would like to have showcased here, please contact us at blendedlearning@simmons.edu

Note: Case studies will open in a new window.

Voicethread

A Voicethread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in five different ways- using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio files, or video (via webcam)- and share them with anyone they wish.

Vyew

Vyew is a free live classroom conference and collaboration tool. Meeting hosts/collaborators create a Vyew book, a collection of documents, presentation slides, audio and video files, and special plug-in tools like calendars and equation editors that can be assembled well before the presentation and be viewed by attendees after the presentation has ended.

Jing

Jing is a project that is currently available from the company TechSmith makers of Snagit and Camtasia Studio. Jing is free piece of software about capturing content and sharing it. It can be installed on either a PC or Mac and is used to quickly record video, with audio if a microphone is available, or take screenshots. The interface is fairly intuitive and has much more precision than using the print screen function.