What is FRED?

FirstClass is a collaborative messaging and content management system featuring full web-integration. At Mohawk we call our FirstClass system "FRED", and we use it to manage and deliver on-line courses, in true distance and blended/hybrid formats.

Specifically, FRED is used for electronic mail, collaborative on-line discussions, real-time chat, remote communication and information sharing, web page publishing, event scheduling, file transfer and management; whatever features are required in a particular course.

Students and faculty can access the system in a number of ways; by using the special Client software, a web browser, with your P.D.A., or a Telnet session, which means that you're never out-of-touch.

FirstClass systems are used extensively throughout the world in educational environments. An appreciated quality of the system is its stability, speed, and ease of use, but it's real strength is its ability to enabler and maintain on-line "connections" between individuals and groups. Being a user on FRED means that you're part of a large, virtual, sharing, collaborative community.


How is FRED Used at Mohawk?

Many courses at Mohawk use FRED for its easy conferencing capabilities (sharing class information, for instance), allowing easy "outside-of-class" communication between teachers and students, submission of assignments, personal and group calendaring, easy access to web resources, and on-line quizzing.

FRED is a completely open system, available to any faculty who wish to use it to supplement or enhance their teaching, and there is no cost to most student users. Mohawk is currently using FRED to support many programs and over 300 courses in both the Distance Education and Full-Time Post-Secondary faculties, including

  • Language Studies- inc. Active Citizenship, Literature, French in a Canadian Context, Researching & Reporting, Communications, Writing Content for the Web
  • Nursing- inc. Human Biochemistry, Practical Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Nursing Theory, Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology
  • Media Studies- inc. Radio Newswriting, Beat Reporting, Reporting Beats, Intro. to B.J., Television Broadcasting
  • Business- inc. Office Skills, Condominium Management, Continuous Improvement, Business Fundamentals, Marketing Management, Enterprise Business Management, International Business, etc.
  • Social Sciences- inc. Philosophy of Art, Intro. to Psychology
  • CSAIT- inc. Strategic Information Systems, Software Engineering,
  • Human Services- over 25 courses in the Child & Youth Worker, Early Childhood Education, Social Service Worker, and Recreation and Leisure Services program areas
  • General Arts and Sciences
  • Applied Arts inc. Native Community Care, Packaging, etc.


FRED History:

Mohawk College purchased FirstClass in the spring of 1997, and worked toward the delivery of selected Distance Education courses for the upcoming semester. During that summer, the first server was brought on-line, the FirstClass software loaded and tested, and the system was customized to our specific needs.

"FRED", as our system was called (for FirstClass Remote Education Delivery), was then available to support the content delivery and communication needs of three courses involving 150 students. FRED has grown considerably since its humble beginnings, with more courses and students being added each semester.

 

Some Interesting FRED Facts:

Since we brought the system on-line in September 1997, we've had over 35,000 students use FRED in several different course offerings, resulting in:

  • Over 6.5 million separate user logins (the number of times our users connect to FRED)
  • 50,000,000 minutes of user connect time (accumulated time on the system by all users


We currently have over 9500 active users.