OpenClass added a social component today called, OpenClass Social.  These new components act as a Social Media platform aimed at increasing social and academic engagement.  Below is a statement released by Pearson outlining the changes:

 

  • This product is in BETA status. This means that certain issues may arise with respect to performance, intermittent system stability, feature defects and so forth. As always, the full spectrum of support for OpenClass Design Partners is provided during normal business hours. That stated, the OpenClass team takes great pride in ensuring that your Design Partner experience exceeds your expectations and we are committed to working with you as a partner in resolving issues as they arise.
  • When this product is enabled, the activity feed is replaced with the stream. The new social tool will no longer have access to remarks or the data that was associated to them. (For example, grades will not be published in the stream).
  • When this product is enabled, the people tab is replaced with the network. There isn’t a network shown on course home.
  • Share data created in OpenClass prior to migration may not be available once migrated.
  • Share data will not be available within the iPad experience.
  • The Faculty Tool, Import Content, is not available at this time.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the landing page that you see when you login to OpenClass. The new Dashboard contains the following features:

· Share & Stream: Share posts can be made directly on the dashboard and are viewable in the stream. The stream contains your share posts, posts from people you are following and classmates. Additionally the dashboard stream contains threaded discussion responses created by you and your classmates.

  • Only top level threaded discussion responses are populated in the stream. These are direct responses to the discussion topic created by the instructor, as opposed to responses to discussion posts made by classmates.
  • The stream can be filtered to display only posts from people you are following with those that you’ve shared to your followers, or only posts for an individual course at a time.
  • The audience of a share post changes depending on the filter applied to the stream. If you are sharing a post from ‘All Activity’ or ‘Following’, share posts will be defaulted to followers. If you are filtered to a specific course, share posts will be defaulted to the course. You can override the default.
  • Streams link to profiles & courses. Simply click on an avatar or name to access the profile of the person that created the share post. Also, click on the course title to launch the course that the post was shared with.
  • The stream is sorted by date/time, with your most recent items displayed at the top.

· Your Network: Your Network consists of people you are following, people that are following you and your classmates. You can easily view a list of your classmates in order to follow any that you wish to be connected to outside of the context of the course relationship. ‘Following’ allows you to create a personal network of peers.

  • Your Network will update based on the filter that is applied on the dashboard.

· Additionally, the below existing OpenClass features are still supported in Dashboard:

  • Faculty tools (ex. roster management & course creation)
  • View & launch enrolled courses
  • Access to your profile, admin pages, help & community forums
  • View ‘who’s online’ & chat
  • Access to your gmail, google docs & google calendar

Course Home

Course Home is the landing page that you see when you launch a course. Course Home contains the following features:

· Share & Stream: Posts can be made directly on Course Home and are viewable in the stream. The stream contains posts & threaded discussions created by you and your classmates.

  • Only top level threaded discussion responses are populated in the stream. These are direct responses to the discussion topic created by the instructor, as opposed to responses to discussion posts made by classmates.
  • Posts made from the stream default to share with the course. This can be overridden.
  • The stream links to profiles. Simply click on an avatar or name to access the profile of the person that created the share post.
  • The stream is sorted by date/time.

· Additionally, the following existing OpenClass features are still supported in Course Home:

  • Announcements
  • Course Introduction
  • For Review
  • Upcoming
  • Articles

Share

Share posts can be made directly on the dashboard & course home and are viewable by you and your followers or your classmates. Share posts made to followers are also viewable on the profile. You can edit & delete your own share posts. Additionally, any viewable share post can be commented on, and a comment can be deleted by the person that posted it. The following share posts are supported:

• Text

• Inline links

• Links to photos

• Links to YouTube or Vimeo videos

Profile

The profile is the destination for viewing a summary of information about a person. This information can be used to determine if you want to follow the individual. The information can also be used to see what is new with someone you are already following, as well as providing methods to contact him/her. The following features are part of the profile:

• Person’s Stream: All share posts the person has made to his/her followers will appear in the user’s stream.

• Follow: You can follow a person from their profile.

• Profile Information: View the person’s avatar, basic information, contact information, as well as education and employment information. Additionally, you can initiate a Skype session if the person is using a Skype account.

• Person’s Network: View the person’s network which consists of who he/she is following as well as who is following him/her. This can help you expand your network manually.

Edit Profile:

• Enhance Avatar Upload: Avatars of up to 3 MB are permitted.

Additionally, avatars are centered and cropped.

• Profile Information : Profile information has been trimmed down to support the data we anticipate people being willing to fill out such

as contact information, education and employment information.

• Privacy Settings: People can hide their profile or online status. Even if the individual is being followed, the profile and/or online status will be unavailable if the user selects these options.

  • Share posts will be visible regardless of the privacy setting. If the profile is set to ‘private’ the user’s avatar & name will not appear in the stream.

Notifications

• Notifications are available in the toolbar when you are logged into OpenClass. You will be notified of the following activities:

  • Someone is following you.
  • Someone commented on a post that you are participating in.
  • Someone responded to a threaded discussion that you are participating in.
  • Students will receive a notification when an instructor returns a submission.

• Notifications link you to the appropriate location. For example, if you receive a notification that someone responded to a threaded discussion that you are participating in, clicking on that notification will take you to the threaded discussion.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call Mindi Thompson (x3706), David Christianson (x2456) or Scott Hamm (x4944).