Instructional Tools

The University of Michigan fields several instructional tools that instructors can use in their classrooms for teaching purposes.

CTools

CTools is a secure, authenticated web-based course management and collaboration system (CMS). It provides a set of tools designed to help instructors, researchers and students create course and project websites and to define workflows to be used throughout the semester.

Course Management:
CTools provides standard CMS services including:

  • secure authenticated sessions,
  • course reading, assignment, and exam distribution with submission deadline support,
  • supplemental resource downloads,
  • course email groups, and
  • course grade support.

Teaching and Learning:
To supplement and enhance teaching and learning, CTools also features:

  • integrated class schedules,
  • private student assignment drop-boxes,
  • real-time chat for students and instructors,
  • course wikis, and
  • real-time email notifications.

CTools is U-M’s implementation of the Sakai CLE (Collaboration and Learning Environment). Sakai is an open-source project, developed by the members of the Sakai Foundation. For more information about Sakai, visit sakaiproject.org.

Lecture Tools

Lecture Tools is a lecture presentation and student feedback system leveraging standard Web browsers on student laptops. It is currently used by about 4,000 students at U-M.

Instructors import existing lecture materials such as PowerPoint presentations into the supported lecture environment and begin lecturing immediately. Students use the Lecture Tools environment on their laptops to view the presentation at any time, annotate the materials, ask questions anonymously, and participate in an integrated student response system.

UM.SiteMaker

UM.SiteMaker is used by faculty, staff, and students to create websites quickly without having to know a lot of technical details. SiteMaker templates allow the user to create page structure automatically and fill in the content. No knowledge of HTML is necessary for basic sites; more advanced sites may use CSS to provide uniform appearance of more complex pages.

SiteMaker supports Data Tables, an abstraction that provides spreadsheet and database data organizations that can be referenced by other parts of the site. Access control restricts parts of a site from access or modification except by members of defined groups.

More Information:

Lecture Capture

U-M relies on a variety of services and systems for recording classes and events, such as these fee-based systems which are available campus-wide:

Campus Automated Rich Media Archiving (CARMA)
CARMA is a digital, lecture archiving service at the University of Michigan. CARMA integrates video, audio, presentation slides, and whiteboard or blackboard notes into one high-resolution video file in addition to compressed web versions (RealPlayer, QuickTime, and Flash). The service enables the recording and posting of events on the web, including presentations, workshops, seminars, or classes. For more information, visit carma.umich.edu.

Michigan Productions
Michigan Productions has experience in educational, documentary, and motivational program production and offers a full range of professional video production services to the University community. Services include single- or multi-camera set-ups for any live event in any location (on or off-campus). Michigan Productions staff can assemble and process the recording into a finished program and deliver video or audio in any format you need. For more information visit michiganproductions.umich.edu.

Instructors in distance learning scenarios are encouraged to use services with a high level of production support, such as Michigan Productions.

Systems Specific to Individual Schools and Colleges
Some U-M schools and colleges have installed automated capture systems in selected classrooms or can provide mobile devices to faculty who teach in locations without automated recording systems. Visit crlt.umich.edu/inst/lecturecapture.php for more details and contact info.

Lecture capture technology is available in these schools and colleges:

  • Business
  • Dentistry
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Literature, Science, and the Arts
  • Medicine
  • Music, Theatre & Dance
  • Natural Resources & Environment
  • Pharmacy
  • Public Health