About+Cobra

What is "Cobra Learning"?
"Cobra Learning" is Parkland's online course delivery system which can also be accessed via my.parkland.edu. Cobra is a commercial software product published by Desire To Learn. Other similar "learning management systems" are Blackboard and Moodle. Cobra comes with advanced interactive features that allows non-programmers (i.e. teachers) to create sophisticated online tools for students to use. Primarily designed for delivery of online courses, Cobra is also very useful for traditional classroom applications.

In the graphic design program, Cobra may be used by your instructor for these and other functions:
 * **Communication:** You may use Cobra to send email from your student email (Outlook 365). But to access your Outlook inbox, you must go to Outlook. This can be easily done by using the Outlook Widget on your home page (or class home page) in Cobra. Email sent from from instructors will always go to your Outlook inbox. This means you must either check your Outlook account often or have your Outlook email forwarded to your personal email address (recommended).
 * **Discussion Forums:** You can participate in online discussions by posting and responding to other students' posts (click on CONTENT in the top banner). For discussion assignments, Cobra will track when and how often you post.
 * **Quizzes:** You can take your quizzes online in the Cobra environment. Cobra will score your quizzes and give you instant feedback (click on CONTENT in the top banner).
 * **Grading:** Cobra has an online grade book where you can check how you're progressing in your classes 24/7 (click on GRADES in the top banner).
 * **Attendance:** Cobra has an online attendance manager that can record your attendance. You can check your attendance record 24/7 (click on ATTENDANCE in the top banner).


 * Tips for using Cobra's Discussion Boards:**
 * When making web links ("URL") inside Cobra Learning, use the INSERT QUICKLINK button to force the link to open in a new window. Alternatively, you may copy and paste URLs right into your post, but please edit the link immediately using the QUICK LINK button to force it to open in a new window.
 * Images should be no wider than 1000 pixels for viewing in a browser window (re-sample the image in Photoshop or pixlr.com). Attaching images is better than inserting images because Cobra likes to crop images wider than 600 pixels.
 * When reading discussion posts, you can alter the way posts are displayed by clicking your name and choosing ACCOUNT SETTINGS in the drop down menu, then choosing the DISCUSSIONS tab. We recommend choosing "Grid Style" for the message list style and NOT choosing to "Include original message text in reply."

Students can access Cobra Learning from my.parkland.edu using your ParklandOne password.