2008 Woodie Awards
ANGEL to replace Blackboard as online learning system
Doug Graham
Issue date: 7/26/07 Section: Campus Life
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A new online learning system called ANGEL will soon provide a more stable, flexible and easy-to-use replacement for Blackboard, school officials say.
Brenda Frieden, associate professor in special services and leadership, says ANGEL (A New Global Environment for Learning) will be much easier for students to use than its predecessor.
"(Students) really just have to go to two main areas - the course home page and the lessons tab - and that gets them everywhere they need to go," Frieden said.
Another ANGEL improvement is the ability to view all course materials, including assignments, reading materials and more, in one dedicated folder. Students will also be able to view their grades more easily.
Students enrolled in ANGEL-enabled classes (as determined by their teacher) will receive an e-mail with login information before the class starts.
Frieden, who served on a committee to choose a replacement for Blackboard, taught classes using ANGEL this summer. She says she has no complaints so far about the system.
"I've taught with Blackboard for a lot of semesters, and then this summer for June and July I moved to ANGEL, and I found it very easy to use, very intuitive," Frieden said.
ANGEL will permanently replace Blackboard starting this fall.
Peggy Snyder, dean of graduate and continuing studies, was another member of the group that chose ANGEL. She says it was time to either upgrade Blackboard or pick something else.
"There would've been a learning curve no matter which decision we made," Snyder said. "We took quite a bit of time and looked at several types of programs. We had faculty input that ANGEL would best fit our growing demand."
Snyder says the version of Blackboard that PSU had in place was outdated and "constantly" shutting down under the burden of serving too many students at once. ANGEL, Snyder says, will shift the network burden to ANGEL's own servers, allowing for more content than PSU's servers could handle.
"These programs allow people to do a lot of things online and not have an online course," Snyder said. "Students will be able to post their assignments, the grades will be posted; the information you can put out there is almost endless."
Snyder says the cost of ANGEL was less than buying a new version of Blackboard. In addition, PSU will be able to download updates for ANGEL for free.
Barbara Herbert, assistant director of information systems, says ANGEL is a good value for our needs.
"We will get more of what we wanted for less," Herbert said.
Herbert says her department is offering faculty training on the system. Interested instructors need to apply in the OIS office.
In addition, Herbert says her office will help any student who needs it.
For more information, or for help with the ANGEL system, visit the OIS office at 109 Whitesitt Hall.
Brenda Frieden, associate professor in special services and leadership, says ANGEL (A New Global Environment for Learning) will be much easier for students to use than its predecessor.
"(Students) really just have to go to two main areas - the course home page and the lessons tab - and that gets them everywhere they need to go," Frieden said.
Another ANGEL improvement is the ability to view all course materials, including assignments, reading materials and more, in one dedicated folder. Students will also be able to view their grades more easily.
Students enrolled in ANGEL-enabled classes (as determined by their teacher) will receive an e-mail with login information before the class starts.
Frieden, who served on a committee to choose a replacement for Blackboard, taught classes using ANGEL this summer. She says she has no complaints so far about the system.
"I've taught with Blackboard for a lot of semesters, and then this summer for June and July I moved to ANGEL, and I found it very easy to use, very intuitive," Frieden said.
ANGEL will permanently replace Blackboard starting this fall.
Peggy Snyder, dean of graduate and continuing studies, was another member of the group that chose ANGEL. She says it was time to either upgrade Blackboard or pick something else.
"There would've been a learning curve no matter which decision we made," Snyder said. "We took quite a bit of time and looked at several types of programs. We had faculty input that ANGEL would best fit our growing demand."
Snyder says the version of Blackboard that PSU had in place was outdated and "constantly" shutting down under the burden of serving too many students at once. ANGEL, Snyder says, will shift the network burden to ANGEL's own servers, allowing for more content than PSU's servers could handle.
"These programs allow people to do a lot of things online and not have an online course," Snyder said. "Students will be able to post their assignments, the grades will be posted; the information you can put out there is almost endless."
Snyder says the cost of ANGEL was less than buying a new version of Blackboard. In addition, PSU will be able to download updates for ANGEL for free.
Barbara Herbert, assistant director of information systems, says ANGEL is a good value for our needs.
"We will get more of what we wanted for less," Herbert said.
Herbert says her department is offering faculty training on the system. Interested instructors need to apply in the OIS office.
In addition, Herbert says her office will help any student who needs it.
For more information, or for help with the ANGEL system, visit the OIS office at 109 Whitesitt Hall.
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