A link is currently being tested to connect two University of Massachusetts internet tools used widely on campus.
SPARK, the learning management system used for on-campus courses and OWL, the online homework tool used at UMass, may integrate after being tested in several courses this spring and could be available on campus by next fall, according to staff at the Office of Information Technology.
The integration will be helpful for campus not only because it will allow students to log into both tools together and not separately, but it will provide instructors with many useful upgrades.
Instructors using both SPARK and OWL will be able to “use each tool to do what it does best rather than settling for a less than ideal approach or having to build additional features into a tool that duplicates existing capabilities in the other,” according to OIT.
Specifically, instructors will be able to transfer OWL grades into the SPARK grade book, as well as transferring all grades into SPIRE by means of the current SPARK to SPIRE connection. Instructors using SPARK will also be able to add the advanced homework and questioning capabilities of OWL to the normal quizzing and surveying features found in SPARK without managing two rosters, and can rosters students into their OWL course and manage add/drops in their OWL enrollment.
The link, being tested in approximately 10 courses, will get an evaluation by both instructors and students, and OIT’s Academic Computing division and the Center for Educational Software Development will determine if the link should be available across campus in the fall.
Holly Seabury can be reached at