Background
In 2003, when I left the TOP-CAT project to work with Microsoft for the summer it became clear
that the TOP-CAT organization lacked the resources to employ a full-time content
creator and software developer whom they could rely on to develop interactive content
for their students. Moreover, finding and affording a full-time Instructional
Technologist,
someone who has both the technical skills and the background in education required
to develop engaging and educational content and assessments, simply was not feasible.
With this in mind, I sought to develop a solution that would allow the TOP-CAT
project to use their existing faculty to develop sophisticated assessments and
online content without having to diminish their already limited resources by paying
a developer. Additionally, I wanted this solution to be extensible so that features
could easily be added, scalable so that it could easily grow with TOP-CAT as the
organization has experienced meteoric growth in its short three years, and portable
so that other organizations could use it and share content. I am proud to say that
through a partnership with my University, UNC-CH, an Instructional
Technologist, Tara Boone, and a team of seniors in the computer science department
my dream has been realized.
Benefits
The TOP-CAT Educational Web Portal is a technology that allows educators or organizations
to create custom quizzes and tests with great ease in order to evaluate students' skills,
analyze performance, and track progress. Furthermore, advanced communication tools allow
organization's to bridge the "remoteness" of computer learning to foster a one-on-one
collaboration between learners and instructors. TOP-CAT offers an online learning experience
unmatched in sophistication, effectiveness, and the ability to generate student enthusiasm. The
TOP-CAT Portal was designed as a secure integrated web solution specifically for educational institutions,
technology community centers, or any organization seeking a means of centralizing,
simplifying, and enriching the structure of their organization. Most importantly, the
portal is incredibly simple to use.
Do you want to:
- Engage your learners and increase testing ability?
- Create electronic quizzes you can use year after year and share with others?
- Utilize a safe online environment for your learners?
- Easily Integrate technology across curriculum?
If you have answered yes to any of the above questions The TOP-CAT portal is the perfect
solution for you .
Contact TOP-CAT immediately for more information, feel free to
login as guest/guest for a (permissions limited) student perspective
demo of the portal, or simply peruse the documents below.
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