by Chris Merlo
Open Course Software is course-management software, designed for the busy classroom instructor who doesn’t have time to learn how to use more software. OCSW keeps track of your grades, assignments, attendance, and much more automatically. The best part is that you don’t have to learn anything new. If you can use a keyboard and a mouse, you can use OCSW.
OCSW can also eliminate those piles of paper on your desk. You assign homework, programming projects, or lab assignments through your OCSW web page, students get automatically alerted that there’s a new assignment, and they submit their solutions through your web page. You read the submissions and enter the grades right on the web. No paper has to change hands, or get lost on your desk. The software automatically calculates your students’ averages, and can generate a spreadsheet file at the end of t