Blog Post #6--LMS Comparison of CollaborizeClassroom and CourseSites

Comparison of CollaborizeClassroom and CourseSites

There are countless Learning Management Systems available on the internet for educators to enhance their classes and provide an atmosphere for learning on the internet.  In order to get a better feel for the types of LMSs that exist, I compared two of them.

Collaborize Classroom

Collaborize Classroom is a free LMS that allows educators to create a user profile, setup different course pages and establish an interactive learning space for their students.  At Collaborize Classroom, teachers can upload assignments, open discussion boards, embed Microsoft Office documents, videos, pictures, and PDFs.  Users can determine how many classes to setup and how many discussions (or, I would imagine, topics in the class) they would like to host.  Other possible functions are mass mailings, video tutorials, posing debates or questions for a class vote, and widget adding. 

I really like the vote option on Collaborize Classroom.  I can think of many times when this could be useful in gathering opinions or even starting debates among students.  Overall, this site is easy to use and intuitive.  I don’t think that it is set up as convenient as a site like UB’s Blackboard, nor does it have as many functions, but, certainly, this site would work well for a middle school or high school classroom.  One thing that was definitely lacking in this LMS was a digital dropbox or file transfer area.  There is no place for students to be able to turn in work, no assignment upload section, and no grading function.  This is one of the most convenient features of many LMSs and the fact that this aspect is missing from Collaborize Classroom would definitely keep me from using it in a real life classroom.

 (Image from: CollaborizeClassroom)

CourseSites

CourseSites is another free LMS that makes use of the Blackboard interface to provide educators with a free and fully functioning classroom management system.  I was able to set up a customized profile and site that had just about all of the features of UB’s Blackboard system.  I am teaching an Introduction to Education course this fall at UB and so I used CourseSites to design my own template for the course that included a grade center, discussion boards, course tools, and even a place to upload my syllabus.  Being very familiar with Blackboard, using CourseSites was like second nature to me.  It appears just as Blackboard, with the “My Announcements” and “To Do” on the homepage.  I was able to easily update the course objectives, course description, instructor information, and textbook requirements section with very little effort.  After these basic informational areas were filled in, I moved on to setting up the course discussions.  I easily created an introduction forum and posted a sample of what I expected the students to post.  I explained how to make a post and what to write.  All of this was very easy and familiar to me.

Especially interesting to me at CourseSites was the “Live Classroom” tab on the left navigation.  When I clicked it, I was led to a page explaining that I could use the interface to create a live, real-time classroom through CourseSites in which I could chat, provide Voice over IP, application share, and open a whiteboard between myself and the students.  Using Java, CourseSites allows instructors to collaborate in real-time with up to 50 students in a live session.  Being that I am teaching a course of mostly freshmen and sophomores this fall, I thought that this tool could prove to be invaluable.  How convenient it will be to be able to offer out-of-class, live help for students who need it!  Beyond the Live Classroom, CourseSites provides many helpful and enhancing features, such as links to class blogs, a course calendar, an area to IM with students, a podcating area, and access to online journals for private communication with students.  With so many options, I felt a bit overwhelmed and very motivated to start building my online course presence. 

I am definitely interested in making use of CourseSites, and possibly even for use in this fall class.  I hope to explore CourseSites a bit more and, once I am given my instructor access to UB’s Blackboard, make comparisons between the two interfaces from the instructor’s perspective.

 

(Image from: CourseSites)