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Product Name	Scholar360
Developer Name	Scholar360
URL	www.scholar360.com
Review Date	May 05, 2010
Forums	Scholar360 Discussions
Reviewer	Email Review Staff
Communication Tools
Discussion Forum	Students can receive posts by email as daily digests of subject lines or whole posts. A spell-checker is available for student and instructor responses. Reviewer Comments Discussions are threaded and able to be searched by keyword, tag, category or poster. Commenting and posting display word and character counts while typing. Commenting is able to be done inline in the current thread. Post and comment grading can be done inline on the page without leaving / reloading the page. Discussion grades are auto stored and averaged in the gradebook for the instructor. Discuss
Discussion Forum	Students can receive posts by email as daily digests of subject lines or whole posts. A spell-checker is available for student and instructor responses. Reviewer Comments Discussions are threaded and able to be searched by keyword, tag, category or poster. Commenting and posting display word and character counts while typing. Commenting is able to be done inline in the current thread. Post and comment grading can be done inline on the page without leaving / reloading the page. Discussion grades are auto stored and averaged in the gradebook for the instructor. Discuss
Discussion Management	Instructors can allow students to create discussion groups. Instructors can set up moderated discussions where all posts are screened. Posts may be peer reviewed by other students. Instructors can view statistical summaries of discussions displaying participation which can be used to generate grades. Discussions can be shared across courses, departments, or any institutional unit. Discuss
File Exchange	Students can submit assignments using drop boxes. Students can share the contents of their personal folders with other students. Reviewer Comments Instructors can make multiple dropboxes per course for individual assignments. Dropboxes can be associated with a gradebook item. Instructors can grade assignments from within the dropbox inline without leaving/reloading the page. Instructors may specify a specific prefix to be added to files submitted to the dropbox for easily keeping all files together when downloading. All files may be downloaded at once from the dropbox. Students are able to see each of their submissions to the dropbox to avoid duplication. Instructors are alerted to new dropbox items as they are submitted. Discuss
Internal Email	Students can use the built-in email functionality to email individuals or groups. Students can use a searchable address book. Instructors can email the entire class at once at a single address or alias. Students can elect to forward their mail to an external address. Reviewer Comments Messages are automatically forwarded to the user's external email address. Messages may contain multiple attachments. Mailbox displays stats for each message on delivery time, whether the recipient has read the item and whether the recipient has deleted the item and the date/time of reading and deletion. Users may elect to email groups, individuals, members of communities and members of classes. Administrators have the additional options of emailing all faculty, all students and all users. Users can create their own signature to be used on messages/emails. Users can create re-usable email lists. Discuss
Online Journal/Notes	Students can attach notes to any page. Students can combine their notes with the course content to create a printable study guide. Reviewer Comments Each student, staff, and faculty person has their own site on the platform. Users are provided with an online journal/blog where they may post public or private entries. Public entries allow for user discussion via comments. Users may tag their content with keywords for easy indexing and searching. Additionally, a Notepad tool can be utilized in any course or community to enable users to make notes, store notes, and export notes. Discuss
Real-time Chat	The chat tool supports unlimited simultaneous group discussions Students can create new rooms. The chat tool supports a structured way for students to ask questions and instructors to provide answers. The system creates archive logs for all chat rooms. Discuss
Whiteboard	Reviewer Comments Integrates with third-party vendors such as GoToMeeting, WebEx, Elluminate, etc. Discuss
Productivity Tools
Bookmarks	Discuss
Calendar/Progress Review	Instructors and students can post events in the online course calendar. Instructors can post announcements to a course announcement page. Students have a personal home page that lists all courses in which the student is enrolled, new email and all course and system-wide events from their personal calendar. Students can view their grades on completed assignments, total points possible, course grade, and compare their grades against the class performance. Reviewer Comments Scholar360 allows for lesson creation and sequencing, similar to SCORM objects. Students view their course progress mapped on a graph on the lesson home page. For the instructor, an overview snapshot (bar graph) is provided on the lesson home page that shows the overall progress of each student in the course. When instructors create Dropboxes with deadlines, the deadlines automatically show on Course Calendars. Instuctors and administrators can create events on Course Calendars and Community Calendars that request/track RSVP, track/manage attendance, and automatically add to the users ePortfolios if desired. Discuss
Searching Within Course	Students can search all discussion threads. Students can search chat or virtual classroom session recordings. Reviewer Comments Students can search discussion posts by keyword, tag, category or post author. Chat logs may be searched by date range. Discuss
Work Offline/Synchronize	Students can compile and download the content for an entire course into a format that can be printed or stored locally. Students can download course content and discussion group content with a PDA. Reviewer Comments Students can download course content and view discussion group content with a PDA. Discuss
Orientation/Help	Students can access context sensitive help for any tool. The system includes online tutorials for students that help students learn how to use the system. Reviewer Comments The system has Flash-based 'video' tutorials for each feature. The tutorials have audio and visual components. Discuss
Student Involvement Tools
Groupwork	Instructors can assign students to groups. Students can self-select groups. Each group can have its own discussion forum. Each group can have its own chat or whiteboard. Each group can be given group-specific assignments or activities. Groups may be private or instructors can monitor groups. Reviewer Comments In courses, instructors may assign groups, each having their own discussion area, file storage and chat. If allowed in administration settings, students may create their own communities and groups within communities for unlimited group sharing and projects. Discuss
Community Networking	Students can create online clubs, interest, and study groups at the system level. Students from different courses can interact in system-wide chat rooms or discussion forums. Reviewer Comments Nursing and Allied Health institutions also use collaborative communities for clinicals. Discuss
Student Portfolios	Students can use their personal home page to selectively display their course work. Students can export their personal home page. Reviewer Comments Students can use their personal ePortolfio page to selectively display their course work. Faculty and students can also publish their personal ePortfolio page outside of the LMS. They control it inside the LMS, but have option to display it outside of the LMS on a custom Web URL. The ePortfolio includes a profile picture, skill assessment area, resume/CV builder, and work display. You can seen an example here: http://scholar360.com/eportfolio/demo/megan/ Faculty can also link items in the course calendar that can be exported to the student's eportfolio. Discuss
Administration Tools
Authentication	Administrators can allow guest access to all courses. The system can authenticate against an external LDAP server. The system supports the Central Authentication Service (CAS). Reviewer Comments Scholar360 also supports single sign-on with Tegrity. Discuss
Course Authorization	The system supports restricting access based on roles and roles can also be customizedby the service provider. Administrators can distribute the permissions and roles across multiple institutions or departments hosted in the server environment. Instructors or students may be assigned different roles in different courses. Reviewer Comments Scholar360 employs multiple roles each with their own permissions. Instructors author all content and students are allowed only read and use access to course content. Any user may be made a teaching assistant of any course, which gives them authoring, editing and grading permissions in the course. Discuss
Registration Integration	Instructors can add students to their courses manually or allow students to self-register. Administrators can batch add students to the system using a delimited text file. Administrators can transfer student information bidirectionally between the system and an SIS using delimited text files. The software supports integration with SCT Banner, SCT Luminis, Datatel, PeopleSoft 8 or customized integration with other SIS or portal systems. Reviewer Comments Scholar360 supports customized integration with SIS or portal systems. It currently has established relationships with several SIS vendors. Discuss
Hosted Services	The product provider offers a hosted solution. Discuss
Course Delivery Tools
Test Types	Multiple choice Multiple answer Matching Ordering Calculated Fill-in the blank Short answer Survey questions Essay Questions can contain other media elements (images, videos, audio) Custom question types can be defined. Discuss
Automated Testing Management	The system can randomize the questions and answers. Instructors can create self-assessments. Instructors can set a time limit on a test. The students are allowed to review past attempts of a quiz. The system supports a MathML editor for the inclusion of mathematical formulas in both questions and answers. Instructors can specify whether correct results are shown as feedback Reviewer Comments Mathematical symbols can be used in creation of questions and responses, as well as embedded images, graphs/charts, symbols, audio or video files, file attachments. A text editor is used within quizzes. Instructors can create feedback messages, import questions from existing test banks and control when students can access quizzes. Time limits for quizzes may be specified, at which point the LMS launches a floating timer with a countdown. When time runs out, the quiz is automatically submitted. Instructors may give specific students additional time for those requiring accommodations. Integrates with Tegrity Lock-Down Browser, which prevents certain mouse actions on text or keyboard commands. Number of attempts and how long the quiz is available can be limited. Quizzes can also be password protected so only those with permission can access it. Tests can also be set to random block, which allows a subset of questions to be randomly selected per student. Additionally, instructors can specify "required" questions so users will see those questions on their test, even if all other questions were selected randomly. Scholar360 supports Respondus. Test time limits can be set, passwords set, and tests reset for retakes. Tests can be set to enable students to retake the tests until a certain number of tries has been reached or a grade received. Discuss
Automated Testing Management	The system can randomize the questions and answers. Instructors can create self-assessments. Instructors can set a time limit on a test. The students are allowed to review past attempts of a quiz. The system supports a MathML editor for the inclusion of mathematical formulas in both questions and answers. Instructors can specify whether correct results are shown as feedback Reviewer Comments Mathematical symbols can be used in creation of questions and responses, as well as embedded images, graphs/charts, symbols, audio or video files, file attachments. A text editor is used within quizzes. Instructors can create feedback messages, import questions from existing test banks and control when students can access quizzes. Time limits for quizzes may be specified, at which point the LMS launches a floating timer with a countdown. When time runs out, the quiz is automatically submitted. Instructors may give specific students additional time for those requiring accommodations. Integrates with Tegrity Lock-Down Browser, which prevents certain mouse actions on text or keyboard commands. Number of attempts and how long the quiz is available can be limited. Quizzes can also be password protected so only those with permission can access it. Tests can also be set to random block, which allows a subset of questions to be randomly selected per student. Additionally, instructors can specify "required" questions so users will see those questions on their test, even if all other questions were selected randomly. Scholar360 supports Respondus. Test time limits can be set, passwords set, and tests reset for retakes. Tests can be set to enable students to retake the tests until a certain number of tries has been reached or a grade received. Discuss
Automated Testing Support	Instructors can create personal test banks. Instructors can create system wide test banks. Questions can be imported from external test banks that support QTI. The system provides test analysis data. Reviewer Comments Test questions may be imported from text files. Tests are automatically graded and entered into the gradebook Test questions my be stored in a user generated folder system per instructor and reused for any test in any course the instructor teaches Administrators may load test questions into the Global Repository, which allows any instructor to access from any test Instructors can adjust test questions even after users have begun taking tests. Instructors can grade essays found within a test for all students from one location. Questions can be designated to give partial credit for answers that are partially correct. Users can submit essays in rich-text formatting and use spell-checker. Discuss
Online Marking Tools	Instructors can choose to evaluate student responses anonymously. Instructors can enable students to rate and comment on submissions of other students. Reviewer Comments Instructors may launch unlimited surveys in each course that are non-graded and allow for evaluations of any sort anonymously. Rated questions on surveys are displayed in both text and graphical (pie chart) result form. Discuss
Online Gradebook	When an instructor adds an assignment to the course, the software automatically adds it to the gradebook. Instructors can add grades for offline assignments. Instructors can add details to the gradebook in custom columns. Instructors can export the scores in the gradebook to an external spreadsheet. Instructors can create a course grading scale that can employ either percents, letter grades, or pass/fail metrics. Reviewer Comments Instructors can grade each attempt, if users are able to retake tests multiple times. Discuss
Course Management	Instructors can selectively release assignments, assessments, and announcements based on specific start and stop dates. Instructors can set up specific course content that is released on a specific date and must be completed by students before they continue with the course. Instructors can link discussions to specific dates or course events. Instructors can personalize access to specific course materials based on group membership. Instructors can personalize access to specific course materials based on previous course activity. Instructors can personalize access to specific course materials based on student performance. Reviewer Comments The lesson editor in Scholar360 allows for sequencing and locking items until previous items in sequence have been completed. Student progress is bookmarked and each time the student returns to the course their progress is resumed. Sequencing and locking occur on a lesson and lesson-item level. Discuss
Student Tracking	Instructors can track the frequency and duration of student access to individual course components. Instructors can get reports showing the time and date and frequency students as an aggregated group accessed course content. Instructors can get reports showing the number of times, time, date, frequency and IP address of each student who accessed course content, discussion forums, course assessments, and assignments. Instructors can review the navigation record of each student. Reviewer Comments Learning Outcomes & Standards can be created, mapped to course items (such as tests), and results tracked in reports to show which student have completed Learning Outcomes and Standards by student, by course, and by campus. Discuss
Content Development Tools
Accessibility Compliance	The product provider self-reports that the software complies with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act. Discuss
Content Sharing/Reuse	Instructors can share content with other instructors and students through a central learning objects repository. The repository can be system-wide or for individual organizational units. Reviewer Comments Files and test questions may be stored individually in each instructors repository, or they may be shared globally in a Global Repository. Folders, file and test questions may be copied from user to user, or from the Global Repository to any user, or from an bulk upload or import from any account to any user. Scholar360 integrates with Tegrity™ class capture software. Discuss
Course Templates	The software provides support for template-based course creation. The system provides course design wizards that provide step-by-step guides that take faculty and course designers through the completion of common course tasks, such as setting up the course homepage, syllabus, organizer pages, content modules, discussion. The system allows administrators to use an existing course or a pre-defined template as a basis for a new course. Reviewer Comments Scholar360 provides course cloning and course content copy features that allow the cloning of courses, settings and non student specific content to be cloned or copied to new courses or between two existing courses. Discuss
Customized Look and Feel	The system provides default course look and feel templates. Instructors can change the navigation icons and color schemes for a course. Instructors can change the order and name of menu items for a course. Institutions can create their own look and feel templates across the entire system, including their own institutional logos, headers, and footers. Reviewer Comments Administrators may also create a default template of settings that each course is set up with by default. Administrators may lock settings to prevent modification of settings, or allow instructors to customize their settings, menu items and menu order. Administrators may elect to revert all settings back to preferred settings. Discuss
Instructional Design Tools	Instructors can organize learning objects, course tools, and content into learning sequences that are reusable. Instructors can create linear learning sequences organized hierarchically by course, lesson, and topic. Instructors can reuse courses as templates for future lessons. Reviewer Comments Lesson creation and sequencing allow for topics to be created inside lessons. Lesson items may include any content in the instructors file repository, any content in the course, any content in the global repository, tests that have been created, discussions, videos, Dropboxes, surveys, and any embeddable content on the internet such as Google Maps, YouTube, TeacherTube, Flickr photostreams and other third party content. "Drag and Drop" feature makes lesson creation easy for instructors. Navigation Bar for lessons makes lessons navigation easy for users. Lessons can "locked down" to ensure users must finish tasks in each lesson in order and each lesson in order. Additionally, Scholar360 supports a number of unique video-centric instructional design tools, including: (1)Users can play Flash-based video on custom video player, which loads notes from instructors, PowerPoint presentations, etc. (2)Users can bookmark positions in the video to return to the spot later. (3) Instructors can load chapters to organize the video. Continuing Education courses can also be created and managed in Scholar360. Those who complete Continuing Education courses can print CE Certificates or Administrators can print and mail them. Discuss
Instructional Standards Compliance	AICC IMS QTI 2.0 SCORM 1.2 Reviewer Comments Additionally, Scholar360 is Common Course Cartridge compliant. Discuss
Hardware/Software
Client Browser Required	Reviewer Comments Scholar360 works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Discuss
Database Requirements	The system supports MySQL. Discuss
UNIX Server	A Unix version is available. Discuss
Windows Server	A Windows version is available. Discuss
Company Details/Licensing
Company Profile	Reviewer Comments Who We Are Scholar360 is a software company serving institutions of higher education through providing comprehensive IT services which include application, backend solutions, consulting and training. Our vision is to be a partner in meeting your institution’s needs in eLearning and student services through affordable solutions that fit your specific needs. We believe in the mission to form great minds and we want to collaborate with you to accomplish this vision. What We Believe Our mission is to partner with you to overcome your institution's e-learning challenges with easy-to-use, affordable solutions that fit your school's budget. Our commitment is to provide everything you need to make sure your residential, modular, and online courses are successful. Why Do Business With Scholar360? We believe that once you see 1) what Scholar360 can do, 2) how surprisingly affordable it is, and 3) how easy it is to use and implement, you'll want to do business with us. And we never leave you. When you choose Scholar360, we commit to supporting you each step of the way. Scholar360 About Us Discuss
Costs / Licensing	Reviewer Comments Scholar360 is very competitively priced. Normally, pricing falls between 30-50% of competitor costs. Prices include hosting, free upgrades and celebrated customer care. Pricing is based on the overall user count and is paid on an annual, subscription, basis. Discuss
Open Source	Discuss
Optional Extras	Reviewer Comments Scholar360 provides additional service and products. Scholar360 Products Discuss

Reference Citation: EduTools. (2010). CMS: Product Comparison System. Retrieved September 08, 2010 from http://www.edutools.org/compare.jsp?pj=4&i=575