Engrade...WOW!

What a site! I have friends who teach and have created “class” websites and that’s great if you are a savvy web builder/designer. If you are not, Engrade is your new best friend. I was incredibly impressed with the site after spending only a few minutes with it. I am not currently teaching, I do substitute, so I created an imaginary class just to get started on the site so I could play around with it. The interface is smooth and slick. I didn’t have any problems getting started. I created some imaginary assignments like timelines and quizzes and such so that I could see the grading section in action. The graphing capabilities are a cool feature. The left side taskbar has some great options: attendance speaks for itself; a discussion forum is a great and potentially necessary tool. Calendar, comments, seating chart and reading list are all available in the taskbar… all ready to enhance your website beyond just classroom meetings and teachings. Lastly, the apps section is tremendous. It lets you know that you should allot at least 20 minutes to create and offers a plethora…yes, a plethora of opportunities. It can contain multiple pages including video, PowerPoint, image, quiz and more. It recommends always adding a review quiz on the last page which, in my opinion, may not necessarily always be graded but can account as CFU. To boot, your lessons will be seen around the world so be sure to have creative, descriptive and Specific titles. Engrade recommends using, for example, “Butterfly Migrations” as opposed to something specific only to your class like “Chapter 3 or Unit 4.” This site offers a wealth of opportunity and its slick, inviting interface will guarantee you will not be spending hours setting it all up. This is, without a doubt, a site I will be using when I have my own classroom.

And here is a copy of my rubric for my WoW Project (that i forgot to upload when I submitted the Engrade assignment, Sorry Dr. S.)