RealSoft

RealShow 1.0

2010-12-14T09:29:00.001+04:00

RealShow:A Dual-Channel Tool for Improving the Quality of Human Interaction in Blended Learning Environments

RealShow 1.0

View more presentations from Alaa Sadik.

Enhance your social presence and record presentations with video narrati...

2010-12-14T09:21:00.000+04:00

This video was produced using RealShow 1.0

RealShow 1.0

2010-12-14T08:17:00.003+04:00

MS PowerPoint^® is the leading presentation software used in business and education for more than twenty years. It has become the dominant presentation tool in our professional and educational world, usually with the intention of creating audio-visual presentations. The ease of use of PowerPoint^® can save time and encourage presenters who otherwise would have used other types of whiteboards or overhead projections, resulting in billions of PowerPoint^® files made each year. However, although billions of PowerPoint documents are available and can support learning effectively, they are no substitute for the in-depth information and guidance a presenter should deliver. If audience members are not seeing or listening to the presenter, then reading the slides in isolation will be less valuable. However, it may not be possible for an instructor, student, conference participant, social worker, statistician, surveyor, financial analyst, manager or sales man to be there live or physically present at an event.

So the next best option is to use RealShow to coordinate webcam video of the presenter with the PowerPoint presentation and save the record as a single and compressed video file in WMV, AVI, FLV, or SWF format. You can easily make presentation available via the Internet or even upload video to YouTube and blogs. RealShow was designed to help educators and business presenters apply principles for the design of multimedia materials and human cognitive processing in delivering their PowerPoint slides. RealShow takes advantage of the dual-channel structure of the human information processing system by means of text, pictures and audio. It can promote active cognitive processing by allowing the presenter to guide the processes of selecting, organizing, and integrating information. RealShow gives visual aids and fosters human contact between the presenter and the audience. The presenter can clearly identify the main points and communicate in a way that will have the desired impact on the audience through texts, illustrations, slides, and visual presence of the presenter.

Inflation not the issue; focus on grades' purpose

2009-04-16T01:42:00.003+04:00

Read this very interesting comment about grade inflation written by a professor

Click to enlarge the image

Grade Inflation

2009-04-12T11:30:00.004+04:00

Grade inflation describes a phenomenon occurring in many university settings that shows a continued rise in the number of higher grades assigned to students. Grade inflation has led to higher grade point averages, and tends to most often occur in humanities courses. Science and math classes show less incidence of grade inflation, but there are small increases or surveys of courses that have watered down material in order for more students to achieve a higher grade.

Some universities have demonstrated great concern about what they perceive as grade inflation and have instituted policies in order to try to stem rising grades. Policies like allowing no more than 25% of the class to receive As, or reintroducing grading on a curve have reduced grade inflation in some instances. However, many universities still show rising grades, and these are most frequently private universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth.

Some attempts have been made to show that grade inflation is the natural result of superior students. It is true that universities overall have become increasingly more competitive. Some of the private universities listed above are unlikely to accept students with less than a 4.0 average. Since competition for Ivy League schools is so high, such schools get to pick the “best of the bunch,” and may have a higher number of high-performing students.

Yet grade inflation has affected numerous universities, some with less rigorous standards for accepting students. There is little evidence to demonstrate that students today are better educated than they were ten years ago. In fact, some evidence points to the contrary. Thus better quality students cannot conclusively account for a steady rise in GPA.

Some schools have shown little evidence of grade inflation, which represents part of the problem. Uniform grade inflation at all colleges would mean all students would essentially remain competitive with each other for getting into top schools or gaining employment. Certain schools, however, have a history of little change in grading standards. Such schools include Iowa Statue, Purdue University, University of California-Irvine, and Washington State.

Many attribute the trouble with consistent grading standards to the highly subjective nature of grades, particularly in humanities coursework. Even with standards in place, individual teachers are likely to grade work like essays in completely different manners. To this end some universities have had a non-grading policy in the past. Until recently, students at University of California-Santa Cruz were not graded but only received credit or no credit for their classwork.

This system, however, was abolished a few years ago, since so many scholarships are dependent upon a verifiable grade point average. While universities attempt to address grade inflation, students are left to either benefit or suffer from the results of these attempts. Their grades may reflect grading practices that are either too harsh or too soft.

Written by: Tricia Ellis-Christensen, Source: WiseGEEK

RealGrade 5.0

2009-03-31T09:06:00.008+04:00

Last update: January 21, 2009
File size: 6.5 MB
Version: 5.1.4
Developer: Dr Alaa Sadik
Operating System: All Windows Platforms
License: Freeware for individuals only.
Institutional license is available for purchase
based on the number of instructors and students.
Limitations: Little information banner at the bottom
Language: English
Support: realgrade@gmail.com

Download:
RealGrade 5.0 (Zip)
Instructor's Guide (PDF)
About (Doc)

RealGrade 5.0 is a full-featured grading application designed to help University instructors score, grade and report students´ academic activates and exams quickly and efficiently based on the University grading scale. RealGrade 5.0 automates the tasks involved in documenting, managing, calculating and reporting grades, and provides a number of functions to produce attendance reports and course statistics useful in evaluating student performance and communicating results to students and administrators more effectively.

As universities are moving toward the electronic and digital era with success, RealGrade 5.0 gives instructors the ability to spend more time planning instruction and less time having to do the time-consuming and traditional accounting work required when figuring scores and grades. Moreover, RealGrade 5.0 has the ability to produce standard and professional-looking print-outs with ease for the whole class or individuals. With proper training for instructors and full-utilization of RealGrade 5.0, all tracking and grading tasks can be accomplished by bushing a few buttons.

New Features in Version 5.0

- Attach students' documents/artifacts (PPT, DOC, XLS...) to their scores.
- Integrate standards to provide rich information about student learning and course assessment.
- Attach rubrics and level of quality to students' scores and assignments.
- Import Moodle, as a course management system, gradebook results.
- Merge files/gradebooks (add students/add activities).

Other Features
- Simplified class setup process.
- Import students' list directly from XLS or SIS (Student Information System).
- Grade students using normal letter grading scales (A-F) or special letter scale.
- Define and save course-related information and activities.
- Class sizes of up to 500 students.
- Add comments to students' scores and activities.
- Tracks up to 4 main categories and 36 assignments per class.
- Protect grade books with password.
- Track student attendance with absence warning indicators.
- Copy, paste, clear and find editing functions.
- Sort, add and remove students from the grade book.
- Keep records for students' contact information.
- Support different grading scales (under graduate, post graduate and custom).
- Total point and percent weight of categories and assignments.
- Built in e-mail functions.
- Generate course statistics.
- Generate individual student report (grade card).
- Send students grades by e-mail.
- Generate high-quality and good-looking print-outs.
- Submit grades directly to SIS.
- Export all outputs to either XLS or HTML formats.