Students turn to many different places to get through the
school year. Some buy their textbooks at the local (and overpriced) stores
while others wait three weeks into classes for their Amazon shipment to arrive.
Some log onto their professor’s Web site to check the homework, while
others frantically interrogate the syllabus but only seem to find the policies on
chewing gum in the classroom.
Some stay in their dorm room and blog about World
of Warcraft and others join the folk dancing club; the list goes on and on.
Regardless of a student’s personal choice, he or she faces a variety of tasks,
chores, responsibilities – or as an organized student would put it- a nicely
sized to-do list. But given the fact that the majority of students tend to lack
faultless time management and organization, solutions exist to satisfy the need
to sort things out.
That is what RCampus offers: a free one-stop-shop for
everything students need. Essentially, by offering a multitude of
school-related services, RCampus attempts to put all aspects of what students
need in order to do their work in one easy-to-use location. RCampus integrates
a range of pre-existing features essential to a student’s organization, such as
course Web sites, grade books, calendars, communication between students and
more. This concept does not aim to
reinvent the wheel. It is simply attempting to manage the store where you can
buy not just tires, but the rims, nuts, bolts, and the installment service too.
RCampus starts by offering some student essentials
conveniently available on one site. The “Class Finder” feature allows students
to find and register for classes. Additionally, it provides a multi-scenario
term planner in which students can map out their schedule according to which
classes they may or may not get into. Once a student is enrolled in a class, he
or she can use the “Course Management System” feature which links to the class
website, provides coursework and assignment management, stores documents,
includes a grade books, calendar and rubrics, and improves communication through
a message board and email notifications.
The social networking features
RCampus also integrates the success of social networking to
increase the array of its features. The painful process of buying overpriced
textbooks is made a little more comfortable through the “Book Exchange” feature
which enables student-to-student textbook exchange and purchase. This feature
lets students post wanted and for sale ads. In the spirit of social networking,
the “Campus Communities” feature gives organizations such as clubs the ability
to stay connected and informed, while the “Tutor Connection” feature lets students find and
provide tutoring services without needing to leave the RCampus site.
Additionally,
the “ePortfolios” and “Website Builder” features allow for individual students
to personalize their RCampus experience and develop a unique profile. RCampus
also provides opportunities to network for beyond-school experiences such as
jobs and internships.
What’s more is that RCampus is not only for students.
Teachers can send out assignments, post documents, set up automated email
reminders, and communicate with the students. Through cooperation of schools,
students, and teachers, RCampus has the potential to make the life of a student
a lot more manageable.
By understanding the importance of organization and
communication for students and teachers, RCampus offers a desirable service for
an unbeatable price – free!
Although the success of RCampus depends highly on
the cooperation of schools and teachers, it seems like the services could offer
a perfect solution for smaller schools that do not have their entire technical
framework already established. Perhaps through the use of RCampus, students
will need to spend less time searching for organizational solutions and get to
spend more time doing something that will teach them about themselves, whether
that is folk dancing or blogging.
