Students, if your instructors are using one, two, or all three of the SuiteC tools- the Asset Library, Engagement Index, and Whiteboard- read below for information that you may find useful for getting started on using them to collaborate and share resources in bCourses.
Overview of the tools
Asset Library: This tool consists of a thumbnail-view, infinite-scroll mediafeed where students and instructors can post and view media of most all file formats (urls, gif, jpgs, pdfs, docx). Students can like, comment, and track views on posted media, as well as use a web clipper to browse the web and curate media back into the Library while maintaining a link to the original web source.
Asset Library tutorials:
- Full Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVaDgNnA2M
- Add Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lL_33lbqZw
- Add Comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q94tIYBkjr0
Engagement Index: The Engagement Index provides a high-level view into student participation in the course. It tracks student activity on the site and displays this activity as a numerical score on a course leaderboard. Teachers can customize the point value of various site activities, such as awarding one point for ‘liking’ someone’s post and two points for having one’s worked ‘liked.’
Whiteboard: The Whiteboard tool offer an infinite canvas, where students can invite each other to a blank canvas, chat, and synchronously create multimedia content, which is then published back into the Asset Library. The editor tools include text (with colors), basic shapes, freehand drawing, layering, resizing and rotating and rearranging of object layers. Students can also directly access the Asset Library to import media, such as movies, images, pdfs, or GIFs
Whiteboard tutorials:
- Whiteboard Full Demo:https://youtu.be/Dge9_dDOjd0
- Whiteboard Shapes:https://youtu.be/EvsvLWbGY50
- Export to Library:https://youtu.be/6QRxrLWgjqA
Download the Web Clipper
If your instructor is using the Asset Library or Whiteboards, you will find the Web Clipper a handy tool for sharing media in your course as you browse the web. It's an add-on tool to your browser that you can download by selecting ‘Add Assets more Easily” (available at the top of the Asset Library main page). Students and instructors will receive step by step textual and visual instructions to add an Asset Library web clipper to your browser’s toolbar.
When surfing the web, you can select the select the Asset Library from your toolbar, and be prompted to either add the entire page to the Library, or in some cases, add select individual media content from a web page to the Library. You can then proceed to add titles, descriptions, and categories to the web page or content items, and publish directly into the Library while maintaining a direct link to the original source once the Asset is published.
Student Manual
View the SuiteC Student Manual (adapted from the Instructor Support Package) to find detailed information and FAQs on how to use each tool.
Student FAQs
Do the SuiteC tools work on mobile?
The SuiteC tools will not work when using the Canvas App on a mobile device. However, there is some, albeit limited, functionality when using the browser on your mobile device, which varies depending on the mobile platform and browser. For optimal performance of these tools, it is best to use a laptop or desktop with a stable internet connection.
Can I opt-out of the Engagement Index?
Do talk with your instructor, first, and let them know that you do not want to participate in this leaderboard-type of activity, in case they are using it as one of the ways to grade your participation in the class.