• Grade assignments right in the Dropbox: No reason to hop back and forth between assignments in the dropbox and assignments in the gradebook. Now teachers can enter grades (and comments & notes) directly in the dropbox, and Haiku LMS records the data in their gradebook. Watch the video tutorial >>
• Forward Haiku messages to your email address: Get an email every time you get a new message in your Haiku LMS inbox. You no longer have to log in to Haiku to check messages! Watch the video tutorial >>

Let us know what you think, and keep the ideas coming!

The University of Indianapolis recently evaluated Sakai, Blackboard 9, Haiku LMS, and Moodle and shared their findings in a Point/Counterpoint panel discussion that’s available online.

We’ll tell you right now that we’re pleased with the evaluation — particularly a comment made by an audience member who stressed how easy it is to use Haiku LMS. Fred May, Associate Professor at the university’s School of Nursing, reviewed Haiku LMS. The top benefits he named?

• Simple and compatible with Web 2.0
• Notification and clear display of what’s new in a class
• A gradebook that enables the instructor to write notes-to-student and notes-to-self
• Adding assignments ties directly into the calendar and the gradebook

The panelists touched on the barriers too, and we’ve taken notes on where we can improve Haiku LMS.

See for yourself: Part 1 of 4

Shadowing: Grant view-only access to class information so that tutors, coaches, administrators, and other interested parties can see what’s happening. Three levels of access give you control of what they see. Learn more >>

There are two new tutorials ready, too: How to use Shadowing. and, for Haiku LMS administrators, How to Enable Shadowing. If you follow us on Twitter, you’ll know every time we post a new video tutorial.

The people who manage ePortfolio templates create pages and organize them as they’d like. When students work with their ePortfolio they use the template so that they know exactly what’s expected and have a guide to follow.

You really have to see this!

Take a look at the video tutorials we’ve posted to see how Haiku LMS administrators give teachers or other users the ability to manage the template and to see how managers can create and organize pages and content blocks.

Haiku LMS users know that there’s a supportive Haiku community that provides tips and advice for setting up an online course, sharing resources, and engaging students. And when the Haiku team finds helpful information we like to pass it along, too.

A recent article in eLearn Magazine gives educators ten tips on how to manage an online discussion. Although the article’s context is higher education, many of the conventions apply or adapt to the K12 realm as well. If you get a chance, see for yourself.