Software for use with myCourses
Several add-ons and utilities are recommended for use by instructors and students to help them get the most out of myCourses. This article focuses on tools that are available through McGill or externally for minimal or no cost. You can find additional tools that are integrated with myCourses on the Teaching and Learning website at: Technologies to support teaching and learning
Document viewers
Adobe Reader to view and print PDF formatted documents (.pdf).
Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus apps to open, view and print Microsoft Word (.doc) documents and Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) documents.
Media players
VLC Media Player - Media player (Mac and Windows)
Windows Media Player - Media player (Windows)
Flip4Mac - Media player (Mac)
QuickTime - Streaming media player (Mac and Windows)
RealPlayer - Streaming media player (Mac and Windows)
WinAmp - MP3 player (Windows)
Audio and screen recording
Zoom is a web-conferencing platform for remote teaching and learning. Zoom recordings are integrated with the Lecture Recordings in myCourses.
Camtasia is an application that allows you to record your screen activity and audio. For example, instructors teaching in rooms that are not equipped for can use Camtasia to record lectures and post them on myCourses for students to view.
For Camtasia, see also step-by-step video tutorials available from Techsmith's website.
Snagit (free for faculty and staff on McGill Software Licensing site)
Snagit is an application that allows you to capture screenshots. You can also use Snagit to edit and annotate these screenshots and other images for presentations or online quizzes.
Quiz and survey authoring
Respondus allows instructors to create and manage quizzes and surveys. You can print the assessments to paper or publish them directly to your course in myCourses. Respondus is currently only available for Windows.
Download Respondus for free at Software available at McGill.
Polling @ McGill with myCourses
Polling @ McGill (formerly Student Response System or clickers) is a service that supports dynamic and interactive questioning of students to assess their learning and encourage active classroom participation. At McGill, we use a web-based student response system called Slido.
Students can participate in class by going to www.mcgill.ca/polling.
Learn how to get access to Polling @ McGill and how to use the system. Submit a request for a one-on-one consultation.
Have a question that was not answered in this article? Visit our FAQs.
While this resource is accessible worldwide, McGill University is on land which has served and continues to serve as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. Teaching and Learning Services acknowledges and thanks the diverse Indigenous peoples whose footsteps mark this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. This land acknowledgment is shared as a starting point to provide context for further learning and action.
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