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ACADEMIC COMPUTING and COMMUNICATIONS CENTER | ||||||||
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FirstClass Group Conferencing | |||||||||
| Sorry, FirstClass is dead! | |||||||||
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The ACCC is no longer providing FirstClass conferencing to the campus. We suggest
that you use Blackboard CourseInfo instead.
To learn more about that program, visit our Blackboard
support pages, and/or take an intro session in the Instructional
Technology Lab.
Are you ready?You know that electronic communications can do a lot for your class. You may already have a small Web site and a Listserv list. Are you ready for the next step? SoftArc's FirstClass group conferencing and intranet server might just be it. FirstClass does email, email-style asynchronous conferencing, and also online conferencing (chat) and file transfer. Its automated World Wide Web service makes it easy for you to publish course material on the Web, and its file transfer facility makes it easy for your students to turn assignments in online. FirstClass can help get you and your class connected, collaborating, and published on the Internet.
Return to Contents Some FirstClass FeaturesFirstClass is an asynchronous conferencing system, providing the benefits of email, Listserv lists, and Netnews/Usenet newsgroups. It is tightly integrated with the Internet and the World Wide Web. Its visual interface is intuitive and simple to master. A FirstClass class conference gives you a simple system for managing group communications in your classes by yourself, without needing the Computer Center's help.FirstClass also provides a text-based chat facility for people to communicate in real time. You can hold virtual office hours by opening a chat during your office hours, and even hold additional online office hours before exams. You can keep logs of the complete text of each chat session and post them to the class conference. Within a class conference, FirstClass supports private, public, and ad hoc discussions. You can define a private subconference on the spur-of-the-moment, for example, for a small group of students who are working on a project. It's easy: first, a couple of mouse clicks to define the subconference, and then a simple drag-and-drop to tell FirstClass which students are part of the team. Support for moderated conferencing is included as well. FirstClass supports both direct file transfer and file transfer as email attachments. For example, your students can use FirstClass file transfer to submit their homework assignments electronically. Then you can download the files, view, run, and correct them, and return them to the students. FirstClass's direct file transfer works over the network, in a secure, paperless, and disketteless fashion. And FirstClass keeps the original files that the students turn in on the server, so you can modify your copy without changing or deleting the original. Like MIME email file transfer (which FirstClass supports for Internet email), "viewing" a file that's attached to a FirstClass email message takes as little effort as right-clicking on the attached file icon and selecting "Open File" to launch the appropriate software for that file. FirstClass also supports styled and colored text messaging, and offers decent search and spell check facilities. FirstClass supports WWW URLs beginning with http: and with mailto: (the former are the standard Web URLs pointing to Web documents; the latter open pre-addressed email messages), which are more than sufficient for students and instructors alike to compose documents and even online term papers. Support for embedded graphics is due to be added in the next release. FirstClass keeps detailed message history logs, allowing its users to easily find out when and by whom a message was submitted or read.
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Return to Contents How FirstClass WorksFirstClass is a client/server application. The Computer Center administers the FirstClass intranet server, and you and your students use FirstClass client software in an ADN lab or on your Windows personal computer or Mac.Security is provided by the FirstClass server itself -- you and your students will use your UIC netids with a FirstClass password to log into the FirstClass server. FirstClass includes complete email software; it delivers email addressed to other FirstClass login ids directly. FirstClass email can also be sent to Internet email addresses and vice versa. Return to Contents The FirstClass ClientThe FirstClass client is already installed on all the machines in the ADN public computer labs and in the UIC multimedia classrooms. Or you can download it from the UIC FirstClass Web page at: http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/itl/firstclass/download.htmlAnyone may install the FirstClass client on any Mac or Windows personal computer, at no charge. The FirstClass client is easy to install and it runs on very modest machines. All that you need is:
or Mac: 68030 processor (or better), System 7.1 (or later), 4 MB available RAM (6 MB for Power Macintosh), and 6 MB free disk space. FirstClass and the World Wide WebIn addition to acting as the server for FirstClass client software, the FirstClass server is also a Web server, so many of FirstClass's features and services can be accessed through the Web. You can, for example, put a particular subconference on the Web by simply dragging its alias to your class conference's "HomePage" folder. FirstClass does the rest, automatically converting all the content into HTML. A Web-hosted FirstClass conference can be made public or private (for class use only).FirstClass's integration with the Web is fairly new, however, and its Web services have some idiosyncrasies. It's best to use the FirstClass client whenever possible. Return to Contents Interested?Want to get started using FirstClass? It's easy; just email the Computer Center's FirstClass administrators at firstclass@uic.edu. We will set you up with a demo class conference and a couple of FirstClass login ids for you to experiment with, and, when you're ready, we'll enroll all your students in the conference. The Computer Center's Instructional Technology Lab (ITL) provides FirstClass training for instructors, and will also provide student training if you want. We ask for a minimum of three weeks notice to set up a complete class conference.For more information on FirstClass including instructions on its use, please visit the UIC FirstClass home page at http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/itl/firstclass/ or by email to the FirstClass administrators firstclass@uic.edu or call or visit the ITL in room 181 Benjamin Goldberg Research Center, 1940 West Taylor, (312)996-9824. Comments are welcome; please send them toReturn to Contents |
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| The ADN Connection, Oct/Nov/Dec 1997 | Previous: New and Improved ADN Seminars | Next: Delivering Audio/Video on the 'Net |
| 2002-6-11 connect@uic.edu |
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