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- What is ALEX and what is it used for?
- Is the ALEX pilot still available?
- Why is NYU piloting ALEX?
- What is a pilot?
- What's in it for me?
- What should expect from the pilot?
- What happens if something goes wrong which requires immediate attention? What about the students? Is there help for them?
- How do I join the pilot?
- Who should participate in the pilot?
- Where can I go with more questions?
What is ALEX and what is it used for?
ALEX stands for Advanced Learning Exchange. It is a learning management system (LMS) that supports teaching and learning and collaboration through a series of tools that are integrated into online course sites. ALEX provides similar functionality to our current LMS, Blackboard, (such as distributing content and enhancing faculty/student communication) but is instead developed by an open source community mostly comprised of developers from higher educational institutions. The ALEX tool set includes a blog, wiki, rss feeds, discussion board, and several other tools.
NYU's College of Dentristry and the Liberal Studies program are participating in ITS's pilot. In addition, the Medical School runs its own instance of ALEX.
For more information on Sakai, which powers ALEX, see www.sakaiproject.org/
Is the ALEX pilot still available?
For faculty who wish to use ALEX, the system is available, though with minimal support and resources. To request an ALEX site, complete the contact form and select “ALEX” from the “Technology” drop-down menu. (see How do I join the pilot below).
Why is NYU piloting ALEX?
We are interested in evaluating ALEX's potential as a viable alternative to the University's learning management, and project team collaboration. We are investigating the possibility that as the learning management demands become more intense and diverse across the university, a model built on an open source system such as ALEX will offer an alternative that is able to responsd to some of the community's diverse needs.
What is a pilot?
In information technology, a pilot is a smaller scale roll-out of a particular technology, usually for a limited time, that is used to evaluate the stability and usefulness of the technology before considering larger scale use. Technologies that are in pilot, sometimes called "beta," can exhibit more performance, reliability, and "bugginess" problems than do scaled, full-time services, especially as the development team are troubleshooting any issues that may arise.
As part of an effort to stay current with innovations in instructional technology, ITS is often engaged in evaluating and testing new tools. As part of this pilot process, we welcome faculty volunteers who are interested in exploring new technologies. The goal is to allow instructors a chance to experiment and become familiar with new tools, while providing ITS with valuable feedback.
The goal of the pilot is to gather faculty and student feedback regarding the usefulness and reliability of the ALEX system used in a live, course setting, in order to evaluate it's ability to meet the long-term needs of the University.
What's in it for me?
The main incentives for participating in a pilot are:
- A chance to provide direct feedback to the development team with the likelihood that such feedback will influence decisions around a longer-term ALEX plan.
- To experiment with cutting-edge technologies.
- A head start on learning the new tool if the pilot technology eventually makes it to large-scale roll-out.
What should expect from the pilot?
Unlike the fully supported services provided by ITS, tools made available as part of a pilot may be in various stages of development or readiness and therefore should be used for exploration and testing purposes only. Due to the more variable nature and lower level of support for pilot software, faculty should use caution when considering the use of pilot technology for actual course or project situations where greater levels of systems performance and client support are often required. ITS does not guarantee a long-term commitment to the availability and support of tools in a pilot.
Faculty who wish to use ALEX for exploration and testing purposes despite the minimal support level can complete the contact form and select “ALEX” from the “Technology” drop-down menu. (see "How do I join the pilot" below).
What happens if something goes wrong which requires immediate attention? What about the students? Is there help for them?
ITS can not make guarantees regarding system performance, up time, end-user support, the availability of specific tools or functionality, or the long-term integrity of content in ALEX at this time. ALEX should be used for tool exploration and testing purposes only and generally not relied upon as a solution for actual course or project situations where high levels of system performance and client support are expected. Though we will make efforts to communicate planned disruptions or changes, ALEX users should be advised that unexpected downtimes, service disruptions, and functionality changes are possible at any time without warning.
When trouble does arise, faculty who have requested an ALEX site may send email to the ALEX Support Team by using the ALEX Contact Form located at http://www.nyu.edu/alex/help/.
How do I join the pilot?
Go to www.nyu.edu/its/faculty/pilot/ and fill in the sign-up form. Be sure to specify which technology you are interested in piloting as this is a generic sign-up form for all ITS run technology pilots.
Who should participate in the pilot?
Faculty with all levels of technical ability are welcome to participate. The only pre-requisites are an interest in using technology for teaching and learning purposes and the flexibility to use a tool that is still in it's "beta" or test mode.
It is important to remember that because of the more variable nature and lower level of support for pilot software, tools that are in pilot should be used for exploration and testing purposes only. Pilot software is most likely not appropriate as a solution for actual course or project situations where high levels of systems performance and client support are expected.
Since our goal is to gather feedback on the technology from a cross-section of our campus community, the more varied our participants, the better the representation of that community and the more reliable our results. In line with our goal of gathering feedback, pilot participants can expect to complete a brief survey on the effectiveness of the technology at the end of the pilot period and to conduct a similar survey with their students.
Where can I go with more questions?
You can submit your questions or comments via the ALEX Contact Form.
Page last reviewed: April 2, 2009