I signed up on Coursesites to see how it works, as I could possibly use this site in the future, if my university does not have a course management system.
I initially clicked into “Create a New Course”, and was able to input the name, code and description of the course. Once that was set up, I had a blank Homepage with certain fields: “My Announcements, My Tasks, What’s New, To Do, What’s Due”. When I tried to update those fields, nothing happened, so I decided to try it again later. I went ahead and clicked on “Customization” (from the toolbar on the left) to select who could and could not access my course. I went back to the fields on the Homepage, but was still unable to modify them.
I went back to “Customization”, clicking on the “Build Content” tab. To my delight, the site allows you to incorporate interactive tools such as YouTube videos and audio files. It is also highly customizable: when I uploaded a Word file, the site asked me to select whether it should open in a new Window, whether to add alignment to the document, who could see the document, if there were time and date restrictions for viewing of the document, if it should track the number of views, etc. I have not used NYU Classes as a teacher, but I am pretty sure it does not allow the teacher to incorporate Google docs and multimedia files with so much versatility. Furthermore, the site allows you to create assessments directly on it, create tools such as wikis and blogs directly on it, and access content from its partners (e.g. content from a McGraw Hill textbook).
I finally figured out the Homepage conundrum. After uploading a YouTube video and a Word document, they appeared under the “What’s New” field in the Homepage. So I finally understood that these fields get modified only when more content is added or deleted by clicking into one of the options on the left toolbar.
Just for fun, I also created a discussion board, which functions like the “Forums” on NYU classes. I know from experience that this is a great way to get the students talking. I sifted through all of the different options for the site and it seems to be very complete and versatile, if a little tricky to use on the first try. I would definitely use this site, but I would worry about how long it will remain available for free, and how long the students will have access to it (especially after the semester is over). However, all in all, it is a great option, especially since it is free.
I initially clicked into “Create a New Course”, and was able to input the name, code and description of the course. Once that was set up, I had a blank Homepage with certain fields: “My Announcements, My Tasks, What’s New, To Do, What’s Due”. When I tried to update those fields, nothing happened, so I decided to try it again later. I went ahead and clicked on “Customization” (from the toolbar on the left) to select who could and could not access my course. I went back to the fields on the Homepage, but was still unable to modify them.
I went back to “Customization”, clicking on the “Build Content” tab. To my delight, the site allows you to incorporate interactive tools such as YouTube videos and audio files. It is also highly customizable: when I uploaded a Word file, the site asked me to select whether it should open in a new Window, whether to add alignment to the document, who could see the document, if there were time and date restrictions for viewing of the document, if it should track the number of views, etc. I have not used NYU Classes as a teacher, but I am pretty sure it does not allow the teacher to incorporate Google docs and multimedia files with so much versatility. Furthermore, the site allows you to create assessments directly on it, create tools such as wikis and blogs directly on it, and access content from its partners (e.g. content from a McGraw Hill textbook).
I finally figured out the Homepage conundrum. After uploading a YouTube video and a Word document, they appeared under the “What’s New” field in the Homepage. So I finally understood that these fields get modified only when more content is added or deleted by clicking into one of the options on the left toolbar.
Just for fun, I also created a discussion board, which functions like the “Forums” on NYU classes. I know from experience that this is a great way to get the students talking. I sifted through all of the different options for the site and it seems to be very complete and versatile, if a little tricky to use on the first try. I would definitely use this site, but I would worry about how long it will remain available for free, and how long the students will have access to it (especially after the semester is over). However, all in all, it is a great option, especially since it is free.