One account for all services, one Groups application for all Devcom courses. This is what students are asking for in the CDC Groups survey. Coincidentally, this is one of the aims of the CDC Webteam -- to provide a single portal for all College-related online services.

The MIZUCHI group of CMSC 128 (Introduction to Software Engineering) students, in coordination with the CDC Webteam, integrated CDC Groups to the CDC website June this year. The team wanted to have an application exclusive for CDC students that would make file sharing, submission of assignments, and posting of announcements simple and hassle-free.

CDC Groups functions much like Yahoo or Google Groups, but with added features created to cater the needs of the College. These features include the automated subscription of students and file upload deadlines. Students need not "enroll" themselves in their subjects online. They are automatically part of the "class" once the CDC Webteam uploads the teaching schedule and enrollment records for the current term. Announcements and uploaded files are automatically sent to the students' email addresses.

The Groups has a built-in clock, which enables users to keep track of output submission deadlines. The clock accurately shows the time so that students may beat the deadlines. Once the time is up, file submission is automatically disabled. 

Ms. Ricarda "Candy" B. Villar, a DDJ instructor, finds CDC Groups useful in the submission of outputs and posting of announcements. She said that it is particularly helpful in making sure she accepts all the outputs submitted to her since some students complain that their articles get lost or stolen from her pigeon hole. With CDC Groups, students no longer have to submit their outputs via email. Ms. Villar prefers to use CDC Groups because she does not want her inbox to be filled with file submissions.

She also said that student-teacher interaction is more effective online. According to her, some students find it easier to raise concerns about instructions given in class through the CDC Groups rather than approaching the instructor personally. 

Another DDJ Instructor, Ms. Aletheia G. Canubas, finds CDC Groups efficient especially in organizing online submission of articles. She said that the built-in clock helps her monitor who submits requirements on time. The file upload deadlines also made her students become more responsible in keeping track of the deadlines.

Students also find the Groups very helpful. Out of the 103 respondents in a recent survey, 86 indicated that they either like CDC Groups or find it helpful. Gail Castillo, a BS Development Communication sophomore, said that: "The CDC Groups is very convenient to use. Through it, I can save time passing my required articles for I do not have to personally go to my instructor's office. Also, the use of the CDC Groups lessens the consumption of paper, which is very environmental-friendly."

The CDC Groups is a breakthrough for a college in UPLB. Among all colleges, only CDC has its own system of file sharing and online submission integrated to its website. However, not all students are able to use it in their classes as of last semester. This is one of the major concerns of the students who responded to the CDC Groups survey. "I like CDC Groups because it makes access to CDC news and documents hassle-free. But some academic files we need to access are not here and are uploaded somewhere else," says one respondent.

With CDC Groups, there is no need to download files "somewhere else." One Devcom account gives a user access to all College-related online services, including CDC Groups.