Harmonize and FeedbackFruits both focus on increasing collaboration and interactions online.
But what makes Harmonize a better solution?
Harmonize’s full suite of online discussion & collaboration tools provides students and instructors with everything they need to have vibrant course discussions, including: image, video & PDF annotation, chat, polls, and Q&A. Content is structured naturally and can be segmented by weeks, which makes it easier to come in with a singular focus. We layer tools such as multiple due dates, tagging, and engagement monitoring to ensure that students are participating and interacting with their classmates regularly.
FeedbackFruits does not have a similar feature. The closest appears to be their Discussion Assignment. FeedbackFruits does not have open polling, only instructor-created polling, and it does not have built-in chat, or Q&A forums.
When turning in work, FeedbackFruits allows you to add in LMS recordings as submissions, as well as work created outside of the LMS and then uploaded into the LMS. Harmonize allows both uploading of external documents as well as authoring text and recording audio/video within the LMS.
FeedbackFruits allows instructors to scaffold the assignments, with multiple steps which can be configured to have different deadlines. An instructor picks a type of assignment either for Peer Review or for Instructor feedback and those can be based either on work handed in or on an observation that happens outside the LMS with no artifact to turn in (like a presentation). The instructor can then structure the type of feedback and mechanism they are expecting from their students for turning in work.
Harmonize takes a less structured approach to assignment submission. We give instructors a comprehensive set of tools to write/record what they want students to do, and provide the option to layer in multiple due dates/milestones for that work to happen. We don’t force the student to follow the exact steps on how they go about finishing the assignment.
Harmonize keeps grading simple by providing two methods: plagiarism detection and qualitative grading. Harmonize integrates with plagiarism detection software to check for student authenticity and can enable auto-grading for participation. Qualitative grading is supported by rolling up all of the student work into an easily consumable Dashboard with metrics, letting the instructor assign a point total and comment/feedback for submission to the gradebook.
FeedbackFruits allows the instructor to build in rubrics and categories for providing a qualitative grade. Both platforms allow annotation or marking up videos and images in similar fashions both by instructors and peers.
When it comes to feedback FeedbackFruits lets you include text and multimedia files, such as external videos, audio, or recordings made in the LMS recordings.
Harmonize takes a different approach and blends the communication and assignment critique into a single collaborative area that is focused more on the richness of the communication. Students and instructors can collaborate with text, in-browser audio/video, images, embedded web pages, polling, and more. The ability to communicate effectively is of primary importance during this process vs. the document uploaded by the student taking center of attention.
If you’re someone who likes to dig a little deeper, explore our breakdown of key differences. Our goal is to be as accurate as possible, so if you feel there is something we should add, remove, or change, please contact us here.
Rich multimedia
Help students express themselves by posting images, video, audio, or text
Milestones
Help students see what’s expected of them, and when, so they make substantive, on-time contributions
Streamlined grading
Save time for instructors with LMS gradebook integration and autograding
Student facilitation
Give students control of discussions with tools that encourage them to contribute.
Reactions & tagging
Improve participation with tools that bring everybody into the conversation
Image, Video & PDF Annotations
Provide interactive feedback and help students engage more deeply with content
Plagiarism detection
Integrate Harmonize with your plagiarism software to auto-detect unoriginal content
Chat
Enable students and instructors to communicate privately or in groups
Polls
Assess comprehension and knowledge with polls that engage the whole class
Q&A boards
Let students answer each others’ questions with public boards
Use Harmonize with any major LMS. Harmonize feels so familiar to instructors and students that there’s virtually no learning curve.
It’s simple to get started — Harmonize plugs right in!
To ensure academic integrity, Harmonize then integrates with the major plagiarism detection services, like Turnitin or Unicheck, to ensure that the students’ work is authentic.
Learn how our online discussion and collaboration tools can elevate the learning experience at your institution.
Institutions of all sizes use Harmonize to improve student engagement, collaboration, and inclusivity in their online courses — all while saving instructors time. Harmonize seamlessly integrates with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle and D2L Brightspace to enrich discussions within already existing platforms. See it for yourself in a personalized demo!
In our 30-minute call, you will:
Learn how Harmonize creates a more engaging and inclusive experience for students (and instructors!)
Share your goals, and we’ll discuss how Harmonize can help you reach them
See Harmonize’s suite of modern discussion and collaboration tools in action
Fill out the form on this page to book a call with a member of our team and see Harmonize in action!
