Educational Software Tools (Part 1)

Discover some of the best educational tools that make the process of teaching and learning easy and interactive. The DVD has some useful software for businesses too.

NASA World Wind

World Wind is an Open Source virtual globe developed by NASA and the Open Source community for use on personal computers. It comes in two versions - .NET and Java.

World Wind Java is a software development kit that is aimed at de­velopers and is not a standalone vir­tual globe app in the style of Google Earth. It includes a suite of basic demo apps. The program overlays NASA and USGS satellite imagery, aerial photography, topographic maps, Keyhole Markup Language (KML) and Collada files.

The software comes with an ex­tensive suite of plugins. Apart from the Earth, there are several worlds in World Wind, including Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter (with the four Galilean moons of Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto) and SDSS (im­agery of stars and Galactics). Users can interact with the selected planet by rotating it, tilting the view, and zooming in and out. Names of five million places, political boundaries, latitude/longitude lines and other data can be displayed.

World Wind.NET provides the ability to browse maps and geospatial data on the Internet using OGC's WMS servers (version 1.4 also uses WFS for downloading place names), and import ESRI shape files and kml/kmz files.

Discover some of the best educational tools

Other features of World Wind. NET include support for DirectX 3D polygon mesh models and advanced visual effects such as atmospheric scattering or sun shading. World Wind uses digital elevation model data collected by NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, National Elevation Dataset, and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflec­tion Radiometer. This means one can view topographic features such as the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest in three dimensions. In addition, World Wind has bathymetry data, which al­lows users to see ocean features, such as trenches and ridges, in 3D.

Many people using the applica­tions are adding their own data and making them available through various sources such as World Wind Central. All the images and movies created with World Wind using Blue Marble, Landsat or USGS-public domain data can be freely modified, redistributed and used on websites, even for commercial purposes.

NASA World Wind

ATutor

ATutor is an Open Source Web-based learning management system used to develop and deliver online courses. Administrators can install or update ATutor in minutes, develop custom themes to give ATutor a new look, and easily extend its functionality with feature modules. Educators can quickly assemble, package and re­distribute Web-based instructional content, easily import prepackaged content, and conduct their courses online. Students learn in an acces­sible, adaptive, social learning envi­ronment.

ATutor includes a variety of features to ensure that the content is accessible to all the potential users, including those with slow Internet connections and older Web browsers, and people with disabilities using as­sistive technologies to access the Web. Some of these features include bypass links, access keys, accessibility veri­fier, alternative text, alternative navi­gation, resume, menu hiding, search/ sort and form labels.

ATutor

Chamilo

Chamilo is an Open Source (under GNU/GPL license) e-learning and content management system, aimed at improving access to education and knowledge globally. It is backed by the Chamilo Association, which has goals including promotion of the software, maintenance of a clear com­munication channel, and building of a network of services providers and software contributors.

The Chamilo project aims at en­suring the availability and quality of education at a reduced cost, through the distribution of its software free of charge. Chamilo is implemented in a way that allows teachers to choose between a series of pedagogical meth­odologies, one of which is social con­structivism.

Chamilo has good documentation resources available on content aggrega­tion websites.

Chamilo

eFront

eFront is an Open Source e-Learning platform, also known as a course management system or learning management system. It is designed to assist in creation of online learning communities while offering various opportunities for collaboration and interaction through an icon-based user interface.

The platform offers tools for content creation, test building, as­signments management, reporting, internal messaging, forum, chat, surveys, calendar, etc. Useful features include user management, lessons, courses, curriculum and categories management, file management, exam builders, assignments builders, com­munication tools, progress tracking, authentication methods, enrollment methods, certifications and report generators. Users can add extra functionality by using the modules. Additional features include payment integration and social networking tools.

eFront

eFront runs without modification on GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows, and any other operating system that supports PHP 5.1+ and MySQL 5+. The platform is built using the object-oriented programming paradigm. Its architecture is based on the 3-tier design approach separating the sys­tem's presentation from its logic and data. The platform is maintained through a community-driven pro­cess. This leads to small development cycles that produce incremental im­provements to the system, followed by bigger development cycles that integrate features requiring architectural changes.