UBC Arts ISIT Blog

The timeline tool is back in action. There was a server issue in the past week. Now you can create your timeline again:
http://www.learningtools.arts.ubc.ca/timeline/

Sakai's Presentation Tool works quite similar to a photo gallery. Not only can the viewer choose to navigate the slides themselves but also choose to join the presentation and view the slides as the presenter navigates the slides. However, how useful can this feature be if voice isn't incorporated with this tool for the presenter to explain each image? There's also no place to add a description for each image and that may be a nice feature to have.

WebCT 4.1 has the Image Database. It doesn't work like Sakai's presentation tool as users are required to click on every thumbnail to view each image in a form of a pop-up window. One feature I like about it is you can add a short description with your images. There is one huge drawback using WebCT image database as you can't batch upload images. One alternative is to create a content module. You can select multiple files to add and you can click the advance button to view the next image. We run into the same problem as in Sakai using the content module. There is no place to add a short description with the image.

What tool would best suite an image slideshow? Pachyderm would be my preference. Pachyderm includes an array of easy-to-use flash templates. These templates provide easy-to-use “fill-in the fields” with options to upload images, sound, movies and multimedia, onto a highly interactive and educationally captivating presentation. The Pachyderm project was forged from the partnership between the New Media Consortium, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

RSS news feeds are popular these days. I get more requests from instructors asking if WebCT can incorporate RSS feeds. I see the importance having it available inside a course so students can easily access both news feeds and course notes in one environment.

My recommendation to instructors is to simply cut and paste Javascript into their WebCT 4.1 course. Another alternative is to have students use a web-based online RSS aggregator or download a RSS reader and install it onto their machines.

Although this may be a work-around, it would be nice to have the news feed already built-in so that it can be easily accessible. Sakai has the news feed functionality. It is so simple all you need to do is add the URL(s) and you are done!

Sakai's chat tool has some pretty neat features. In the designer view, you can delete any chat messages. This would come in handy if a participant says anything inappropriate, the instructor can simply trash the message. I like how you can sort the archive logs by date, time, and even within the past "x" number of days. I also like how the messages are preserved within the archive logs so that they are simple to read unlike WebCT 4.1's .txt file.

Sakai's chat tool lacks private rooms and private messages. With Sakai, new rooms can be created, however, the designer will have to remember to switch which room to be made available and visible to students. Only one room can be displayed at a time, not multiple. This can be a drawback as collaboration/group discussion plays a huge role with many institution/post-secondary level courses. It would certainly be an asset if Sakai supports simultaneous group discussions and private messages.

I have recently included the "engine" files (timeline flash file) as a part of the downloadable package. Here is how you use it, go to your timeline's control panel:

click on 1 first, then back button on your browser, back to this control page, then click on 2 to download YOUR timeline

Upon downloading, unzip the file, you will see there are two new files: "index.html" and "timeline_zip.swf", click on 1 (index.html) to view your timeline. Now you have your timeline playing on your own computer, no Internet needed. You may upload all the files you have unzipped to any web site or online content management system (WebCT, Sakai, Moodle etc.)