TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0
TOPIC OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................ 1
2.0
WEB BROWSERS.......................................................................................................................... 1
2.1.
The Browser’s Main Functionality .......................................................................................... 1
2.2.
Basic Browser features? .......................................................................................................... 3
2.3.
Which Web Browser should I use? ......................................................................................... 4
2.4.
An Overview of the Top Web Browsers .................................................................................. 4
3.0
MOODLE ...................................................................................................................................... 5
3.1.
Who uses Moodle? ................................................................................................................. 5
3.2.
How will I be using Moodle for this Course? .......................................................................... 5
4.0
MAHARA...................................................................................................................................... 6
4.1
The Main Menu ....................................................................................................................... 5
4.2
ePortfolio ................................................................................................................................ 6
5.0
TURNITIN ..................................................................................................................................... 7
5.1
Moodle and TurnItIn integration ............................................................................................ 7
5.2
TurnItIn Similarity Check ......................................................................................................... 8
5.3
TurnItIn Similarity Index .......................................................................................................... 8
5.4
TurnItIn Similarity Report........................................................................................................ 9
6.0
GOOGLE APPS .......................................................................................................................... 10
6.1
New Email and Collaboration Tools ...................................................................................... 10
6.2
Google Calendar .................................................................................................................... 10
6.3
Google Documents................................................................................................................ 10
7.0
8.
STUDENT HOMEPAGE ............................................................................................................... 11
7.1
SOLS (Student Online Services) ............................................................................................. 11
7.2
StudeNet ............................................................................................................................... 12
7.3
Student Webmail .................................................................................................................. 12
LEARNER SUPPORT TOOLS ............................................................................................................ 13
8.1.
YourTutor ............................................................................................................................. 13
8.2.
UU100 Web Conference ...................................................................................................... 13
8.3.
F2F Mentoring/Help Sessions ............................................................................................... 13
8.4.
Student Learning Services .................................................................................................... 13
Theoretical Notes
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
9.
mLEARNING................................................................................................................................... 14
9.1.
SMS Notification Service ....................................................................................................... 14
9.2.
SMS Exam Timetable Service ................................................................................................ 14
9.3.
SMS Quiz Service ................................................................................................................... 14
9.4.
SMS Marksheet Service......................................................................................................... 14
9.5.
Edutainment ......................................................................................................................... 14
9.6.
Course Finder ........................................................................................................................ 14
Theoretical Notes
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
1.0 TOPIC OVERVIEW
Your academic learning journey at USP requires you to have a basic understanding of
available Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and how to make effective
use of them to deliver quality academic works. The theoretical information presented in this
documentation will form the basis of knowledge needed to recognize the purpose of each
tool and its potential applications. The four prominent tools that you will be frequently
using throughout your learning journey at USP are shown in the illustration below:
Web
Browsers
enables
access
TurnItIn
Moodle
Mahara
2.0 WEB BROWSERS
The various ICT tools that you will be using throughout the duration of this
course are primarily web based requiring the need for access to the World
Wide Web which traditionally is gained through the use of web browsers.
2.1. The Browser’s Main Functionality
The purpose of a web browser is to allow its users to locate and
access information resources on the World Wide Web. The main
function of a browser is to present the web resource you choose, by requesting it
from the web server and displaying it in the browser window. The information
resource is usually an HTML document (web page), but may also be in different
formats: PDF, image, video or some other type of content.
The predominant alternative is to use web search engines like Google’s Basic Search;
to locate the needed information resource. Although browsers are primarily
intended to use the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information
provided by servers in private networks or directories in file systems.
Browser user interfaces have a lot in common with each other. Among the common
user interface elements are:



Address bar for inserting a URI
Back and forward buttons
Bookmarking options
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP


2.2
Home button that takes you to your home page
Refresh and stop buttons for refreshing or stopping the loading of current
pages
Basic Browser Features
1. Navigation buttons
Refresh button is used to go back and forward while browsing. If you are in a home page of
some site, then you go to contact page - Back button would bring you back to the home
page, if then you would click forward button it would bring you again to the contact page. A
small arrow next to navigation buttons brings up a quick list of all web pages available.
2. Refresh button
Refresh buttons is used to force web browser to reload webpage. Most major web browsers
use caching mechanism (store local copies of visited pages to speed up performance) that
sometimes prevents seeing the most updated information; by clicking refresh, latest version
of the page is forcefully reloaded.
3. Stop button
Cancels web browser's communication with a server and stops page loading. Very useful to
stop malicious sites from loading if accidentally entered.
4. Home button
Loads predefined home page. You can select any page as browser's home by clicking on tools
menu and selecting options.
5. Web browser's address bar
Address bar is used to enter website and page names. Address bar works as a dropdown
menu showing all previously visited sites. At the end of address bar you will find go button,
that is not very useful as by simply clicking enter you will be directed to the site.
6. Integrated search
Integrated search engine tool is relatively new feature in web browsers. It allows selecting
your favorite search engine and doing a quick search by typing in a search term.
7. Tabbed browsing
Browser tabs allow opening many websites on a single web browser's window - very helpful
when reading several websites at the same time. I.e. if you want to open several links from a
website without losing it, you can right click on each link you want to see, and select open in
a new tab option.
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
8. Bookmark buttons
Custom user defined buttons that redirect to chosen websites - Very useful to configure
web mail and other often visited sites. Check Mozilla Firefox browser for live bookmarking.
2.3
Which Web Browser should I use?
Intense web users need a browser that is both fast and secure, and though all
browsers allow World Wide Web access, not all are created equal. Different
browsers can render webpages differently, and there can be a large
disparity in performance between the top competitors. The three main
things to consider when choosing an internet browser are simplicity, speed
and security. Excelling in each of these areas; Google Chrome, Mozilla
Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE) are among the current best web browsers.
According to StatCounter statistics (as of June 2015) Chrome, IE and Firefox
make up around 83% of global desktop browser usage. Safari which is a
popular web browser for the Macintosh operating environment recorded an
9.57% usage share. On mobile devices, Android Browser, iPhone and Opera
constitute around 6.5% of usage. [2]
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2.4
An Overview of the Top Web Browsers
Mozilla Firefox
•
Released in 2002, Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser
developed for Windows, OS X, and Linux operating environments.
•
Most of it being released under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). [3] This
license permits anyone to view, modify, and/or redistribute its source code.
•
It is a simple, user-friendly browser, with numerous add-ons for advanced
users looking for a fully customized browsing experience as well as a basic,
hassle-free interface for more casual browsers.
Google Chrome
•
Released in 2008, Google Chrome is a freeware and majority of Chrome's
source code is released under an open source project called Chromium.[4]
Notable components that are not open source are the built in PDF viewer
and the built in Flash player.
•
Developed for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS operating
environments
•
The browser’s speed and simplicity is what gained its initial popularity
besides the fact that Google was the developer.
Internet Explorer
•
Microsoft’s own web browser released in 1995 was actually a reworked
version of the Mosaic web browser. Internet Explorer (IE) gained popularity
because of a smart marketing move by bundling the browser with its
Windows operating systems.
•
Developed for Windows, OS X, and UNIX operating environments. Internet
Explorer is one of the most widely used web browsers, attaining a peak of
about 95% usage share during 2002 and 2003.[5]
•
IE 9 and later intertwines with your operating system. You have the ability to
pin a website to your taskbar. Instead of using Favorites or Bookmarks, you
can pin web sites to the taskbar for easy access. This feature is exclusive to
IE.
Safari
•
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac
OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7,
2003.
•
Safari version 6 and later are not available for Windows operating systems.
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3.0
MOODLE
Moodle was originally developed by Martin Dougiamas with the
intent to help educators create online courses and allow them to
connect remotely with their students in a collaborative and
supportive workspace. The first version of Moodle was released on
20th August, 2002.
Moodle (acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning
Environment) is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as
a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning
Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use
to create effective online learning sites. Moodle has truly
revolutionized the eLearning pedagogy by not only serving educators with instrumental
tools to design and deliver courses but also enabling students to access an entire course and
its learning materials anytime and anywhere.
3.1. Who uses Moodle?
Moodle is used by a variety of institutions and individuals, including: [7]






Universities
High schools
Primary schools
Government departments
Healthcare organizations
Military organizations





Airlines
Oil companies
Homeschoolers
Special educators
Independent
educators
3.2. How will I be using Moodle for this Course?
Your UU100 learning journey will require you to interact online with Moodle in
several ways:
Lessons
eBooks
Video
Tutorials
ePortfolios
Software
Simulations
Glossaries
Quizzes
Learning Materials
Assessments
MOODLE
Mahara
Collaboration
Forums
Reflections
Theoretical Notes
Assignment
Dropboxes
TurnItIn
Moodle Mail
Chat Room
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
4.0
MAHARA
Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system with a flexible
display framework. Mahara, meaning 'think' or 'thought' in Te
Reo Māori, is user centered environment with a permissions
framework that enables different views of an e-portfolio to be
easily managed. (eCDF, 2006)
4.1
The Main Menu
The main menu is the most important feature for navigating around your
Mahara, (Derrin Michael Kent, 2010). This is because it appears on almost
every page that you visit and contains options for linking to all the important
sections of your ePortfolio. You can see it at the top of your Mahara page and
it will look like this:
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
4.2
ePortfolio
What is an ePortfolio? An ePortfolio refers “to an electronically stored collection (or
archive) of a student’s experiences, achievements and artifacts, together with their
reflections on learning.” (Australian Learning & Teaching Council, 2009).
Source:
Australian Learning & Teaching Council. (2009). AeP.2. Retrieved January 2011,from
Australian ePortfolio Project :http://www.eportfoliopractice.qut.edu.au/
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5.0
TURNITIN
TurnItIn is the plagiarism detection service used by USP. This service is integrated with
Moodle and users only need to access Moodle to use this service. There is no separate
access to TurnItIn in our setup. Everything is facilitated via Moodle.
TurnItIn is used to detect similarities in submitted work on Moodle.
It does not judge whether a student submission has been plagiarised!
The TurnItIn Similarity Report does not differentiate between correctly
cited references and unacknowledged or intentional copying. It only
reports text matches, and provides a ranking of submissions, according to
the level of text matching with other sources in its database. A Lecturer or
student then analyses the matches and determines whether the level is
acceptable. Using this information a Lecturer/student can determine if
there is a case of potential plagiarism.
TurnItIn can be used to teach proper citation method. Teachers can check
the originality and citations in student work. If made available to students,
students can check their own assignments before their final submission. This can help
prevent or reduce students submitting plagiarised work.
The TurnItIn service compares all submitted work against a vast digital collection of
submitted student work, Internet pages, books, journals, and periodicals.
The TurnItIn service only works on the following file types: MS Word (.doc, .docx),
WordPerfect (.wpd), PostScript (.eps), Portable Document Format (.pdf), HTML (.htm), Rich
Text (.rtf) and Plain Text (.txt).
Excel (.xls, .xlsx), Powerpoint (.ppt, .pptx) or Zipped (.zip, .rar) files will not work. If there
are scanned images in your documents, the service will again fail.
5.1
Moodle and TurnItIn integration
USP's Learning Systems platform has the TurnItIn service integrated with Moodle. Currently
the TurnItIn service works with the Assignment module. This means that if TurnItIn is
enabled in an assignment dropbox, all submissions in the dropbox will be get checked for
possible similarities in students' work using the TurnItIn service.
When students are required to submit their assignment for TurnItIn checks, they need to
upload their work in the respective assignment dropbox. Students do not have to access
TurnItIn directly. All they need to do is to upload their assignments on Moodle and Moodle
will communicate with the TurnItIn service. The results from TurnItIn will be the Similarity
Report and students will again access this from within Moodle.
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
TurnItIn is a third-party service that USP is subscribed to. USP's Moodle platform is set up to
connect to the TurnItIn service. However, no part of the TurnItIn service is controlled by
USP's Learning Systems Team.
The TurnItIn Similarity Check service is managed by the TurnItIn team in the USA and any
changes/updates in the TurnItIn service are automatically applied for all TurnItIn users.
5.2
TurnItIn Similarity Check
The Similarity Report and the Similarity Index (SI) value may change during the submission
period of an assignment. This is because the Similarity Reports are re-generated every time a
submission is made to the assignment dropbox, and TurnItIn also re-generates all Similarity
Reports at the close of the assignment dropbox.
5.3
TurnItIn Similarity Index
The Similarity Index (SI) is the percentage of text matches that the TurnItIn Similarity Check
picked up.
From March 2016, TurnItIn has changed how the Similarity Check calculates the SI values.
This affects assignment dropboxes that have the Exclude bibliography option enabled in the
TurnItIn settings.
Similarity Index calculation after March 2016
The SI value is calculated after excluding the bibliography section from the document.
Therefore, in this case the similarity index is calculated based on the sections highlighted in
red. Excluding 1 page of the bibliography from the document means the new document size
is 4 pages now.
SI=14=25%
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
5.4
TurnItIn Similarity Report
The TurnItIn Similarity Report becomes available about 30-45 minutes after your
submission. If the assignment submission is awaiting TurnItIn for the Similarity Report, then
a TurnItIn ID will be shown below the file uploaded. When the similarity report is generated
a similarity index percentage will be shown below the TurnItIn ID.
Click on the similarity index percentage to view the similarity report.
The similarity index will only be shown when the TurnItIn report has been generated.
Please wait about 30-45 minutes after your submission. If the assignment dropbox does not
have TurnItIn enabled, no files will be checked by TurnItIn.
Source: http://elearn.usp.ac.fj/course/view.php?id=379
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
6.0
GOOGLE APPS
Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of
several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications
with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Groups,
Google Calendar, GTalk, Docs and Sites. (Wikipedia Foundations, 2010)
6.1
New Email and Collaboration Tools
The University of the South Pacific, in collaboration with Google, has
commenced a project to implement Google Applications for students.
Like most universities, the University of the South Pacific provides
students with a free email account which is created when they enroll.
The initial service offering includes:
6.2
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is an online sharable calendar which allows users to keep
track of all events and tasks. It permits users to share events, meetings
and entire Calendar. Furthermore, users have liberty to publish their
calendars on the web such as their websites for organizational events.
6.3
Google Documents
Google Docs makes collaboration of web-based word-processing,
spreadsheet, and presentation more efficient. It permits users to store
documents online, sharing access with others to peruse and update
document simultaneously using browser. It further allows monitoring of
real time changes while the document is edited by others who have
access to the document.
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7.0
STUDENT HOMEPAGE
The important student services that could be found on the student homepage are:
7.1
SOLS (Student Online Services)
The screenshot below shows the student services avaliable in SOLS.
Student
Registration
Student
Timetable for
the semester
Student
Grades for
respective
units
Student Invoices
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7.2
StudeNet
StudeNet is an online Student Network service provided by Information
Technology Services (ITS).
Links to a number of
services are provided
7.3
Student Webmail
The screenshot below shows the insight of student webmail. Students are to use the student
webmail for any communication with their lecturers and tutors.
Click here to
compose a mail
Shows status:
green means
online
Senders
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TOPIC 1: ICT TOOLS @ USP
8. LEARNER SUPPORT TOOLS
Various learner support tools and services are accessible via the icons below.
8.1. YourTutor
YourTutor service is a FREE extra after-hours help for USP students.As soon as you
get 'stuck', during study, there is a real-life Australian expert only a click away to get
you back on track. You can also drop-off writing file anytime 24/7 and receive
feedback within 24 hours.Tutors are available 5pm - 1am, Sunday to Friday Fiji time.
8.2. UU100 Web Conference
Live Virtual Classroom Support 11am-12pm (Mon-Fri) every week by the UU100
Facilitators
8.3. F2F Mentoring/Help Sessions
Face-to-face mentoring is mandatory for students who are not computer literate;
and for at-Risk Students (ARS)
8.4. Student Learning Services
Respective Student Learning Specialists provide you with professional assistance to
help you develop as an independent active learner.
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9. mLEARNING
The mLearning services designed and implemented at the University are:
9.1. SMS Notification Service
The instructors send an SMS notification by typing out a 160 character or less SMS
on the web interface of MOODLE and send it to all or a group of students registered
in the course.
9.2. SMS Exam Timetable Service
SMS Exam timetable service was developed to enable students to check their
timetable using SMS anytime and anywhere without the need for a computer with
internet connection.
9.3. SMS Quiz Service
The SMS quiz application is a two-way communication system designed and
developed to provide quiz in a form of questions having explicit answers.
9.4. SMS Marksheet Service
The SMS Marksheet was developed to enable students to easily keep a track of their
performance in a course by using SMS. The SMS marksheet service is another unique
and exciting app developed in-house and it integrates the marksheet - an electronic
repository of marks on MOODLE based by course.
9.5. Edutainment
Game based learning an application was developed in-house developed.
9.6. Course Finder
The course finder application is created to search for information about courses
offered by the University.
THE END
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