Studywiz - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Studywiz Learning Environment also known simply as Studywiz is an Virtual Learning Environment

Virtual learning environment

Defined largely by usage, the term virtual learning environment has most, if not all, of the following salient properties:* It is Web-based* It uses Web 2.0 tools for rich 2-way interaction* It includes a content management system...

and shares many characteristics with Learning Management Systems.

Studywiz provides a platform for teachers to create, mark and share content such as tests, assignments, file resources as well as embedded video and audio resources with students.

It is continually developed and supported by Australian based company Studywiz.

Features

Studywiz features all the core facilities of a Virtual Learning Environment as well as other notable features such as:

ePortfolio - online portolio of academic and extracurricular achievement.
Mobile interface for handheld devices
iPod interoperability
eLocker – online storage system
Resource Gallery
Compatibility with SCORM compliant content
ClickView digital video
Activity search
Individual student blog system
Discussion Boards
Monitored chat rooms
Messaging system
Markbook – student assessment marking system
Attendance – student attendance
Parent login

Activities

Studywiz defines many of its resources creatable by teachers for students as Activities. These activities include:

Assignment allows teachers to upload worksheets and tasks, for students to view online/download and complete. The teacher can set the due date along with the assessment criteria and outcomes and the student can submit the completed assignment through Studywiz. This can then be published to custom groups, classes and students and marks can be made available to parents.

Calendar is as the name suggests, a calendar that can be set up for individual students and teachers, groups, classes and for the whole school. Users can chose which calendars are included into their personal calendar. The personal calendar then shows all events from these calendars including Activity start and finish times.

Chat Room provides a virtual location that allows Students, Teachers and Parents to have live real-time conversations through the Studywiz interface. Teachers can set a start time and end time for the Chat and the entire chat is logged. Class teachers can view the chat logs at any time potentially for assessment purposes

Discussion allows teachers to post questions or topics for Studywiz users to discuss in a manner similar to an internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

. Students can then respond to individual responses or threads and a teacher can moderate the Discussion.

eBulletin allows users to post news, messages or announcements for other Studywiz users, or to a specified individual or Group. eBulletins can be made visible to all Studywiz users or to a specified Class, Student or Group. They can contain formatted text and images and cannot have attachments.

Gallery is a Teacher-controlled collaborative space. It allows any user to submit any type of file (most often image and sound files) and make them available to other users. Students and Teachers can discuss each Gallery item in its own online forum. Gallery files can be copied and downloaded by any user with access to the Gallery. Teachers can remove any unwanted material. Gallery items can be tagged and rated by users.

Game allows students to test themselves using media-rich game show-style quiz games. Teachers can create a game, setting questions and time limits. They can then check students’ game results and use it as a formative testing device.

Group Writing is a text-based Activity, which allows Teachers to set a topic for Students to respond to in writing. Students work within the Studywiz interface and Teachers publish contributions. The Activity is Teacher-moderated so that Students can’t see Group Writing contributions from other Students until the teacher has approved them. Students can see previously published responses, which appear as separate entries in alphabetical order by author name.

Multi-Media allows a teacher to set a task for students and provide files and links for them to work with.

QT Assessment is a tool to import and export test material, set up comprehensive testing regimes and collate results. Studywiz implements the IMS QTI test interoperability specification in a question, test and assessment module that conforms to the IMS QTI Global standard for Question and Test Interfaces. QTAssessment is an optional extension to Studywiz.

Repository Reference allows a teacher to publish repository content for students to access. Using the inbuilt rich text editor repository it can upload a new item or add a ClickView item, an eLocker item, a Web Course or a SCORM Course.

Resource is a simple file upload system for uploading files to a Student, a Class or a Group. Other users can then download the file or copy it to their eLocker.

RSS Feed Reader enables Studywiz to be linked directly to an RSS feed so that users can be kept up to date on topics selected by Teachers. It takes a news feed from a news service and displays it within Studywiz itself.

Shared eLocker allows shared storage locations for users to upload and download files and Studywiz activities. Users can then share items between other Studywiz users.

Survey allows the construction of complex surveys and compilation of results. Surveyor is an optional extension to Studywiz.

Test allow teachers to set up tests for students. Tests have many configurable options, and produce comprehensive reports on students’ results.

Vote allows for single question with a number of teacher-set answers. It is used to question students, teachers or groups on their opinions.

Studywiz Mobile

Studywiz Mobile is the interface for Studywiz designed for portable hand-held devices. It was well received by schools and won the 2009 CODiE Award for Best Mobile Software Solution.

ePortfolio

ePortfolio is an online portfolio system built into later versions of Studywiz. It is designed to allow Students to generate, store and publish school and extracurricular achievements. From here users can update and maintain their content and export it.

Within ePortfolio there are Action Plans, with which students work with their teachers to set out a course of action for learning about the topics that interest them. Students then create Records to store information about their achievements, add Evidence (files or links to web sites) and Reflections (thoughts and feedback about their achievements). A set of Record templates is created that guide students in storing and presenting their achievements.

Once students have some Records to work with, they create Collections and add appropriate Records to their Collections for any purpose, whether it's school results, sporting achievements or community work.

Records and Collections are then reviewed and verified by teachers. Once verified, Collections can be published inside Studywiz ePortfolio, published externally (with or without password protection), and exported as a set of HTML pages, PDF, or IMS package.

Other Modules

Studywiz also includes a number of other modular components and modular extensions including:

Mobile QT - Allowing QTI Assessments to be taken on mobile devices.
ClickView - Enables integration with ClickView.
eLocker Mapping - links the Studywiz eLocker with a school network.
Gmail - integrates the Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...

email system with Studywiz.
Widgit - Allows Widgit symbol system for text within Studywiz.
Mobile eLocker - Allows access to Studywiz eLocker on mobile devices in and away from school.
SMS - Sends SMS text messages
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...

through Studywiz.

Studywiz in the media

External links

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