Textbook Revolution: eCourses Online Engineering Course Management System

eCourses Online Engineering Course Management System

Dr. Kurt Gramoll, Univ. of Oklahoma

Filed under: [ engineering, free culture, tech ]

http://www.ecourses.ou.edu/

I’m agog at this site, which is like Blackboard, only easier to use and much free-er, plus it includes the books. Read below for details. Highly Recommended!

From the site:

The eCourses.ou.edu web portal was designed to assist both students in learning and instructors in teaching basic engineering courses. The portal is similar to other course management systems, such as Blackboard and WebCT, but eCourses has all the content needed to learn the topic. Some of the features Included are

* Thousands of problems with solutions * Automatic grading * Full electronic textbooks (eBook) * Digitized Flash video lectures (eLectures) * Discussion web board with drawing tool * Syllabus manager * Real time collaboration drawing board * Full class management tools * Security passwords for login and tests * Uploading of instructor created problems * Online lecture creation tool

Who can use eCourses?
Anyone can use eCourses. Whether you are a student or instructor, you can access the electronic material at eCourses. The eBook and eLectures are available to all visitors without being in a class or even logging on. However, to get the most out of eCourses, the instructor should set up a class and then add their students. Any instructor can set up a class by simply requesting a “Key Number” from Dr. Kurt Gramoll, The key number is used to insure that only instructors set up class and not students. Setting up a class is easy to do and is done completely through the web. There is nothing to download or install on your local computer.

What is the Cost? None!
There is no cost to use eCourses
One of the most common questions is “How much?” or “What strings are attached?” The answer to both is none for both students and instructors. Once electronic material is developed, there is practically no cost to deliver it over the Internet. As of now, there is no need to charge fees for the content or service. We hope to continue this for a long time. The benefit to me is that I do not have to ask permission to a publisher to add or change content. The flexibility to develop what is important to current users is well worth not teaming up with a publisher. Besides, publishers have a very poor track record on delivering quality electronic media. With the Internet, publishers role is greatly reduced so why pay them a service fee in terms of expensive books?

Link to website

Available for purchase? no