A BRIEF GUIDE TO NICE NET'S INTERACT CLASSROOM ASSISTANT

A BRIEF GUIDE TO NICENET'S INTERNET CLASSROOM ASSISTANT

Nicenet's Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is a simple course management tool that allows you to add basic Web-based components to your class. It has a simple interface, low graphics (to increase connection speeds), and you can create a class site with just a few minutes of your time. Nicenet is designed for post-secondary classrooms and offers Web-basedconferencing, personal messaging, document sharing, scheduling and link / resource sharing. Designed by Internet professionals who have donated their time, it is provided free of charge and without advertising. Server space for the Internet Classroom Assistant is donated by Northwestern University.

Nice net provides you with a new way to communicate with your students and for your students to communicate and share their work and ideas with each other. All students will have access to Nice net as long as they have access to a computer with an Internet connection and a Web browser. When you create a course, you will have to choose a user name and a password. You will also get a  "Class Key" which is the code you will give your students so they can join the online component of your course. Keep in mind that the simplicity of Nice net comes at a price -- it will not have the Web-based features that a more powerful course management system such as Blackboard.

Nicenet provides the following features:

Conferencing A threaded discussion feature like a newsgroup or message board for students to post and respond to discussion topics in the course.  The conferences in Nicenet are asynchronous -- that is, they are not in real time like a chat forum.  Either the instructor or students can create topics for discussion.Students can respond to each other's comments and the entire class sees all the messages.  You can create a discussion topic and ask students to respond to it, or to also respond to other students' comments on the topic.  In addition, a student can also reply to a fellow student's message individually so only that student receives the response. Conferencing also enables group discussion and collaboration where a small number of students can work together in a separate conference.   This is especially useful when students are working together on small group projects.  Link Sharing Post Internet resources for your students.  To do so, you must type in the url or -- the easiest and most accurate way -- copy and paste the url directly from the location bar in your browser. To do the latter, go to the link sharing section, and click on add link.  Now, open another window in your Web browser and go to the Web site that you want to add.  Right click (use the right button on your mouse) on the url in the location bar, and copy the url.  Now, minimize this browser window and in the first window where Nicenet is open, paste the url directly into it.  Note that you can also add a description of the Web site.  Document sharing Post documents for your students.  If you check the box on the bottom of this screen, you will automatically create a discussion topic associated with this document in the Conferencing section. Class Schedule Post new assignments or class events here. Class Members A list of all class members and their email addresses registered in the class. Personal Messages:      View  |  Send Similar to traditional email, but it is integrated with document sharing and conferencing.  Users can send personal messages to other members of the class.