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One of the strengths of SmartSite is the variety of tools available to instructors. But, this can also be a bit overwhelming when first getting started.
The tools you use will depend on tangibles such as class size, format and course subject as well as intangibles like your teaching style and comfort with technology.
Sites are scalable; so each can have different sets of tools to meet the creator's particular needs. We recommend picking establishing how sophisticated or simple your site will be is a matter of assessing your particular needs. Picking one or two reasons for using a site and then find finding a set of tools to match is highly recommended.
Some general reasons for using SmartSite include:
- Communicating with students, TAs and colleagues
- Use Chat during your office hours to answer students' questions online or to stay in contact with your TAs when they are grading papers
- Use the Mail Tool to send notes to groups of students or members of your research group.
- Encouraging collaboration and communication among students
- Create a wiki with your courses' key terms and concepts and have students collectively create a detailed definition
- Promoting independent and self-paced learning
- Assessment, evaluation and feedback
- Collecting, grading and returning assignments
- Sharing resources with students, TAs and colleagues
- Automating processes and reducing paperwork
- Sharing and organizing classroom presentations
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