Available Tools and Resources Introduction to Learning Management Systems  - NJIT has a number of tools available to help faculty offer a robust online course.  These tools are fairly easy to learn and assistance is available from ITMS (instruction@njit.edu).  One of the most popular types of tools to offer distance learning courses is known as a learning management system (LMS).  The LMS will become your virtual classroom, offering multiple tools that can help facilitate class communication and simulate the types of activities that take place in a traditional course.  The following are some of the functionality offered by a typical LMS: Secure Login – Students login using their NJIT University Computing ID (UCID) and access is restricted  based on registration data. Discussion Board – An area where students/instructors can communicate and ask questions. File Hosting – It is possible to host files that are only available to your students. Assignment Submission – Students can upload electronic submissions that you can download and grade. Automatically Graded Quizzes – Quizzes or self-tests can be made available to students.  These can be automatically graded – allowing for immediate feedback. Gradebook – An online gradebook can keep students informed of their class progress. Calendar – Important dates can be made public for the students. Private Communication – There are tools to communicate privately with individual students. NJIT currently offers Moodle as your LMS option: Moodle – http://moodle.njit.edu Moodle is an open source LMS that NJIT has been using since the fall 2006 semester.  It has a very rich feature set.  If you would like to start using Moodle please contact moodle.admin@njit.edu.  If you need help with Moodle please contact instruction@njit.edu.  Additional Tools - In addition to an LMS, there are other tools that can enhance your course: NJIT on iTunes U – http://itunes.njit.edu First a disclaimer, you do not need a Mac or iPod to take advantage of iTunes U.  NJIT has its own iTunes U site where we host a variety of multimedia files.  Courses can either be open to the public or restricted to your students.  This is a great way to easily distribute digital lectures to your students. WIMBA - http://www.wimba.com/products/wimbaclassroom/  WIMBA is a web conferencing tool that is available to NJIT faculty as part of our NJEDGE membership. It is considered a synchronous tool because it allows people to use their computers to talk to people in real-time.  In addition to voice, it can allow for application sharing as well as whiteboard & document sharing. No specialized software is required, just a web browser & DSL or better internet connection (headset and microphone are also necessary for voice communications).  If at any time you have any questions about using any of these tools please contact ITMS itms@njit.edu.  ITMS has people on staff that specialize in using these tools and they would be more than willing to help you get started. Next Step: Action Mapping