What Is Willo Labs?
Willo Labs is a platform that connects campuses with digital learning content providers (publisher LTIs) through a single LMS integration. It offers a seamless, affordable, and secure way to access courseware for faculty, students, and bookstores.
- With just a single connection, Willo can synchronize publisher courseware in one place. Courseware and features vary from publishers to publishers.
- Faculty can manage textbook and courseware adoption by communicating directly with the university bookstore.
- Choose your course materials journey — import content from your previous courses or dive into the title catalog.
- Set up adoption reminder emails
Willo Labs markets itself as a sort of “Netflix for Apps and Integrations.” It functions as a meta-library where faculty can adopt an access a wide variety of third-party tools. (At UNF, Willo Labs is recently launched and currently works only with Pearson products).
Scope and Cost
Willo Labs is acailable to all faculty at UNF, but being new, it currently only works to provide codeless access to courseware via Access Pearson.
Using Willo Labs is free, but partner publishers (such as Pearson, MacMillian, Elsevier) may charge student fees for access to textbooks and/or course materials. If you are interested in using Willo Labs as an access point for your content, please contact cirtlab@unf.edu and make a request.
Canvas Integration
Willo Labs does have a Canvas Integration (LTI) that is installed and available to all UNF faculty; it can be activated via the settings menu in every course shell.
The integration leverages the the Canvas API to allow users the ability to write custom CSS and JavaScript into Canvas assignments and pages.
The Canvas integration allows:
- Faculty and students to connect at a single location to access third-part content providers.
- Allows faculty to adopt partner materials from the university bookstore, and students the ability to purchase courseware directly in the integration.
- Learner analytics, bursar billing, and secure store transaction data.
Note that because the integration works to aggregate a library of third-party integrations, features may vary depending on which publisher LTI faculty adopt through Willo Labs.
Requirements
Willo Labs is an in-browser tool that works best in Google Chrome. Faculty and students may need to create accounts with third-party publishers in order to access courseware.
Caveats
Willo Labs is new to UNF, and at present, faculty should only use this tool to access Pearson courseware. If you are interested in expanding Willo usage, please contact cirtlab@unf.edu.
Support Report
The implementation of a grading system for CIRT support not only facilitates efficient resource allocation but also fosters transparency in our service delivery. By self-grading our support levels as A+, B+, and C+, we provide faculty with a transparent framework that outlines the expected level of assistance they can anticipate when reaching out for help.
A support grade of “C+” suggests a baseline level of assistance, indicating that CIRT has a foundational understanding of the application or integration. While competent in addressing common issues, “C+” signifies a lower level of proficiency compared to higher grades. This grade may mean that the application is very new or that the scope is limited to a small number of users. Users of applications assigned a “C+” grade can expect a best effort toward issue resolution, however we cannot guarantee the same level of expertise and efficiency as higher support tiers. We may be dependent on the application vendor or public documentation to address issues, and there may be support delays, especially where specialized knowledge or administrative access beyond our scope is required.
External Resources
To further empower UNF instructors, we provide direct links to the vendor’s support material, ensuring you have access to official resources and expert guidance. Furthermore, we curate and share external support documentation discovered online that may offer valuable insights or alternative perspectives. Our commitment is to provide you with a holistic support experience, combining our internal expertise with external resources to empower you in navigating the intricacies of this application.
Contact CIRT
For UNF faculty seeking to deepen their understanding of this application, schedule personalized training sessions, or initiate the installation process, we encourage you to reach out to the Center for Instruction and Research Technology at cirtlab@unf.edu (904-620-3927).
