New learning technologies at UBC undergo a rigorous process of evaluation and preparation before rolling out to the wider community as an officially supported technology. These are a few of the innovative projects that have been or are currently being assessed. You can also read more about how pedagogical pilots work.
Jump to: Status of New Technology
Status of New Technology
New learning technologies are evaluated by technology experts and, whenever feasible, faculty, staff, and students in live courses as well, to assess their potential pedagogical value. The LT Hub Leadership considers the outcomes of these evaluations in addition to technical, financial, security, and privacy issues to reach a final decision on the support offered to each technology at an institutional level. Below are the statuses of recently considered learning technology.
Pedagogical Pilots
Pedagogical pilot status may be: Planned (evaluation anticipated within the next year), an Active Pilot (evaluation currently underway), a Decision Pending (evaluation complete but awaiting institutional decision on support), or Decision Reached (institutional decision on support made/underway).
| Tool | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Ally | Decision Pending (requested budget for central funding) | Ally, a tool for increasing the accessibility of digital content, has completed its pedagogical pilot phase and a decision from UBC leadership about future central support is expected shortly. |
| Badgr | Decision Reached Central Support & Funding | Canvas made Badgr, a tool for recognizing and tracking course achievements, available for free within the Learning Management System, so the University has adopted Badgr for badging within the LMS by default. |
| CATME | Decision Pending (waiting on a review of all centrally-supported peer assessment tools) | CATME, a tool for asking students to review the contributions of their peers in group work, has completed its pedagogical pilot phase and a decision from UBC leadership about future central support is expected shortly. |
| Course Spaces | Decision Pending (evaluation report being finalized) | Course Spaces, a WordPress-based platform for sharing course content, has completed its pedagogical pilot phase and a decision from UBC leadership about future central support is expected shortly. |
| Crowdmark | Decision Reached (contract negotiations underway) | The University has decided to adopt Crowdmark as an online platform for easier distributed exam grading. Support for the service will be provided through the LT Hub and relevant instructional support units. However, details on funding for the service are still being determined. |
| edX Edge | Decision Reached Central Support & Funding | The University has officially adopted edX Edge for campus-based course delivery. Support for the service is provided through the LT Hub and relevant instructional support units. |
| Gradescope | Decision Reached (contract negotiations underway) | The University has decided to adopt Gradescope as an online platform for easier distributed exam grading. Support for the service will be provided through the LT Hub and relevant instructional support units. However, details on funding for the service are still being determined. |
| Mattermost | Decision Reached Central Support, Decentralized Funding | The University has now adopted Mattermost as a team chat tool to facilitate communication and collaboration in courses and cohorts. Support for the service is provided through the LT Hub and relevant instructional support units. However, funding for the tool is provided on a per Faculty basis. Instructors who wish to use the service should check first with their respective unit to determine how much funding is available. |
| peerScholar | Decision Reached Central Support & Funding | The University has committed to a short-term contract with peerScholar to facilitate highly customizable student peer review of peer work online. Support for the service is provided through the LT Hub and relevant instructional support units. |
| Proctorio | Decision Reached Central Support, Decentralized Funding | The University has adopted Proctorio as an option for automated remote proctoring, enabling students to more easily take exams at distance. There is a charge for the use of this proctoring service. Instructors who wish to use the service will need to check first with their respective unit to determine how much funding is available. |
Integrations
Integration status may be: Planned (investigation anticipated within the next year), an Active Investigation (investigating technical and privacy considerations), or Completed (investigation complete, with acceptance or rejection outcome).
| Canvas Integration | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborate Ultra | Completed Available in Canvas | This web conferencing tool has been integrated into Canvas. |
| Lockdown Browser | Completed Available in Canvas | This way of locking down student browser use during quizzes has been integrated into Canvas. |
| Pearson | Completed Available in Canvas | Pearson publisher content is now integrated into Canvas through Willo Labs. Willo Labs enables UBC to provide publisher content in Canvas without having to share student data back with the publisher company. |
| Roll Call Attendance | Active Investigation | Testing currently underway. This integration will let instructors record student attendance directly within Canvas. |
| Turnitin | Completed Unavailable | The integration with Canvas of this assignment submission tool is not currently compliant with BC data privacy laws. |
| Wiki Embed | Active Investigation | Testing currently underway. This integration will allow content from the UBC Wiki to be embedded into Canvas. |
| Wiley Plus | Completed Available in Canvas | Wiley Plus publisher content is now integrated into Canvas through Willo Labs. Willo Labs enables UBC to provide publisher content in Canvas without having to share student data back with the publisher company. |