[seul-edu] another ISO project: Edventure CMS

["Douglas S. Blank" <dblank@brynmawr.edu>]

Edventure Course Management System hit version 1.0 this week. This is an
update of an announcement I've made here before, but it is much closer to a
complete system now. You can decide if it would be appropriate for addition on
the ISO project.

Edventure is a system similar to Blackboard or WebCT in that it allows
teachers to manage course materials. It is web-based, running on a server (PHP
with MySQL or Postgresql database backend). It is designed to be a light
weight, easy to change, open system with a focus on the student's learning. It
is hoped that teachers with particular pedagogical ideas will help make it a
useful tool either by assisting in development or suggesting changes. 

It sports:

 * built-in email composer with special support for teams of students, and
group mailings to entire classes
 * password protected logins for each student, with auto-mailer for those that
forget their password
 * document area for e-reserve materials (PDFs, Files, Images, etc)
 * Assignment manager for managing posting of "student reactions" to readings,
complete with ability for classmates to post responses (somewhat like a
discussion board, but tailored to engender class discussions)
 * built-in quiz/exam/survey system with question version control, and
auto-grading (matching, short answer, multiple choice, etc)
 * on-line gradebook, final grade estimation for students
 * students have "classmates" view and student profiles to encourage interaction
 * some internationalization support (gettext, for those who know what that means)
 * instant messaging through an integrated Java applet (with white board)
 * analysis of exams (see what questions students tend to get wrong)
 * question sharing ability between instructors, and between institutions
 * hooks for connect to dataware house to assist in automatically importing
student rosters
 * assignments that are posted to the website can be formatted in wiki-style
structured text (students don't have to know html, just follow some simple
formatting rules)
 * gradebook allows numberic or letter grades
 * crossword puzzle add-on (more fun than fill-in-the-blank)
 * GNU GPL, free and open source license
 * it has been accepted as an official GNU project (if I can make it work
under PHP3)

A number of schools are using Edventure, mostly colleges and universities, but
it should be useful for K-12, too. This project has been going on (in one form
or another) since 1997 (then in Perl, now PHP) and is expected to continue.
Many people on these lists have contributed ideas, debugging, and suggestions
(especially George Holmes and Dennis Daniels). 

You can find it at:

http://dangermouse.brynmawr.edu/edventure/docs/

and I hope that you will find it useful,

-Doug

-- 
Douglas S. Blank,       Assistant Professor         
dblank@brynmawr.edu,          (610)526-6501
Bryn Mawr College,  Computer Science Program
101 North Merion Ave,  Park Science Building
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 dangermouse.brynmawr.edu