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| Product Name | Bazaar 7 |
|---|---|
| Developer Name | University of Athabasca |
| URL | Bazaar 7 |
| Review Date | January 01, 1900 |
| Forums | Bazaar 7 Discussions |
| Reviewer | Email Review Staff |
| Communication Tools | |
| Discussion Forums |
Discussions can be viewed by date, by thread, by title, by author, by groups, and by topics defined by the instructor. Instructors can associate a discussion with any course content. Instructors may create separate discussion environments for small groups. Groups can be open to all or only a select set of students. Instructors can determine the level of involvement (read, write, or post anonymously) for students. Instructors can limit discussions to specific time posts. Only the instructor may delete posts. Posts can include attachments, an image or URL. Posts can be either plain text, formatted text or HTML. Discussion threads are expandable and collapsible to view an entire conversation on one screen. The entire discussion can be saved or printed for off-line reading. Instructors can set up discussion forums so new posts are sent to the email of each student. Students can enable or disable posts to be sent to their email. Discuss |
| File Exchange |
Students and instructors can edit their text files in their folder using a browser. Students can upload files to a shared course or group folder. Students can download all the contents of a folder at one time. Students can share the contents of their personal folders with other students and with their instructors. Students can share files using the internet message tool. Students can submit assignments using drop boxes. Instructors can upload files to the personal folder of a student. Discuss |
| Internal Email |
Students can spell check outgoing messages. Students can not delete messages. Students can use the Internal email feature to email individuals and groups. Students can attach files. Students must have an external Internet email address. Students use a searchable address book to email individuals and groups. Students can compile multiple messages into a file to be saved or printed. Discuss |
| Online Journal/Notes |
Students can make private or personal notes about each of their courses. Students can make notes in a personal journal and may share them with their instructor. Students can make notes in their personal or private work areas. Students can share their notes with other students. Students can make notes in a personal journal or work area in preformatted text or HTML-style with tags. Students can make private notes for all their courses in one private journal. Discuss |
| Real-time Chat |
There is a basic chat tool. Discuss |
| Video Services | |
| Whiteboard | |
| Productivity Tools | |
| Bookmarks |
Students can create, share, categorize, and annotate bookmarks in a private folder. Discuss |
| Orientation/Help |
The system includes an online student guide that also covers how to access the system help. The system includes an FAQ page that provides a product overview and guidance on account creation, password recovery, and system navigation. Discuss |
| Searching Within Course |
Students can search all bookmarks, course notes, discussion threads, documents, email subject lines, images, keywords, messages, page content, session recordings, subtitles by author name, message contents, or message topics. Students can use keywords to search their course. The search engine, included with the system, provides information on how to use advanced search techniques. Discuss |
| Calendar/Progress Review |
Students can add items to and edit a ToDo list. Instructors and students can post events and announcements in the online course calendar. Students can keep track of all their assignments, deadlines, and due dates. Students can view their grades. Discuss |
| Work Offline/Synchronize | |
| Student Involvement Tools | |
| Groupwork |
The software supports assigning students into groups by the instructor. Each group can have its own shared group presentation folder, private group discussion forum, synchronous tools, group notice board, chat room, group email list, polls, individual group assignments, activities, journal areas, group homepages, and group reviewing and editing of a document. Discuss |
| Self-assessment |
Instructors can create anonymous or non-anonymous self-assessments that students can take multiple times. Discuss |
| Student Community Building | |
| Student Portfolios |
Students can create a personal home page. Personal home pages may include personal information. Discuss |
| Administration Tools | |
| Authentication |
Instructors and administrators can set courses to be publicly accessible or can protect access to individual courses with a username and password. The system has a password reminder option. Passwords stored in the system database are encrypted. Access can be restricted based on number of login attempts. Discuss |
| Course Authorization |
The system supports restricting access based on pre-defined roles. Administrators can assign different levels of access to the system and courses based on pre-defined roles. Instructors can assign different levels of access to their course based on pre-defined roles. Administrators can create an unlimited number of custom organizational units and roles with specific access privileges to course content and tools. Instructors can customize existing roles and create new custom roles within the context of their course. Instructors can customize specific access permissions for each student. Administrators can distribute the roles across multiple institutions to facilitate school board-wide or consortia-style approaches. Instructors or students may be assigned different roles in different courses (contexts). Discuss |
| Registration Integration |
Instructors may enroll students in online courses, or the students may self-register. Discuss |
| Hosted Services | |
| Course Delivery Tools | |
| Course Management |
Instructors can selectively release materials based on previous course activity or specific start and end dates. Instructors can personalize access to specific course materials based on access rights, group membership, previous course activity, or student performance or specific start and end dates or other criteria. Instructors can set up specific course content that is released on a specific date and that students must complete before they continue with the course. Instructors can link discussions to specific dates or course events. Discuss |
| Instructor Helpdesk |
Instructors can access an online instructor training manual and form online groups to share experiences with instructors in their organization. Discuss |
| Online Grading Tools |
Instructors can import a comma-delimited version of the gradebook from an external spreadsheet program. Discuss |
| Student Tracking |
Instructors can get reports showing the time and date on which each student accessed specific course units. Discuss |
| Automated Testing and Scoring |
Instructors can create survey questions. Discuss |
| Curriculum Design | |
| Accessibility Compliance |
To enable accessibility, the software does not use frames. Discuss |
| Course Templates |
The software provides support for template-based content creation. Instructors can use templates to create announcements, course content, course units, discussion forums, instructor biography, links, multimedia content, syllabus and course descriptions, FAQs, resources. Instructors can categorize course content. Course content may be uploaded through a form, by attaching files, or chosen from a learning object repository. Instructors can clone and modify the default templates. Instructors can create new content templates. Instructors can incorporate course functions into specific course templates, after those functions have been enabled by a systems administrator. Discuss |
| Curriculum Management |
Instructors can specify multiple paths through a course for different skill levels or job functions. Instructors can map specific learning objects to individual training needs. Discuss |
| Customized Look and Feel |
The system provides default course look and feel templates. Institutions can create their own look and feel templates across the entire system. Institutions can apply their own institutional images, headers, and footers across all courses. Instructors can alter the appearance of their course. Instructors can clone and modify existing look and feel templates. Instructors can change the navigation icons and color schemes, the order and name of menu items, the location and width of the navigation menu, and the background for a course. Discuss |
| Instructional Standards Compliance |
The documentation describes self reported compliance with instructional standards for learning objects including the IMS Global Learning Consortium, the IEEE, and the CanCore Learning Resource Metadata Application Profile. Discuss |
| Instructional Design Tools |
Instructors can organize learning objects into learning sequences that are reusable. Instructors can create relationships between assignments and required resources which can then serve as templates for future lessons. Discuss |
| Content Sharing/Reuse | |
| Hardware/Software | |
| Client Browser Required |
The software requires Internet Explorer 3+, Netscape 4+. Discuss |
| Database Requirements |
The system requires MySQL 3.22 or higher. Discuss |
| Server Software |
The software requires Apache web server software, Perl 5.005, and CPAN modules, which are bundled with the system. Discuss |
| UNIX Server |
The software is available for most versions of Linux or Unix. Discuss |
| Windows Server |
The software is available for Windows NT or Windows 2000. Discuss |
| Pricing/Licensing | |
| Company Profile |
Athabasca University considers itself to be Canada's Open University and was created by the Government of Alberta in 1970. Athabasca University's programs are predominantly available through individualized study, in which all materials and a collect-call link with a tutor are included in the fees. Seminar and teleconference delivery modes are also provided, and a growing number of programs and courses are offered online or with online enhancements. The Bazaar project is located with the Distance Education Projects and Technological Help (DEPTH) department of the Athabasca University ( http://depth.athabascau.ca/) Discuss |
| Costs |
The software is free and distributed under the GNU Public License. Discuss |
| Open Source |
The software is freely distributed under the GNU Public License. The open source and available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/bazaar/ Discuss |
| Optional Extras |
Instructors can import RSS newsgroup headers into course pages, from web log sites and from commercial sites like CNN, Slashdot magazine, etc. Discuss |
| Software Version |
The current software version number is 7.04. Discuss |
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