Iowa State is currently one of seven universities nationwide to test a new software program aimed at helping faculty and students communicate better with each other.

Infopier, introduced by Izio, a company based in San Jose, Calif., arrived at the ISU campus just a couple of weeks ago from student Wendy McDermott.

“Infopier is a Web-based program to help professors or administrators communicate with students,” said McDermott, junior in liberal studies.

McDermott said Infopier was created to provide a convenient way for professors to manage a course.

It allows professors to establish a Web site to organize everything from a class syllabus and grade book to posting online quizzes, allowing each student enrolled in a class access to information.

“In huge lectures, TAs write grades into grade books,” McDermott said. “Errors can happen, and with [Infopier] grades can be checked by students and fixed immediately.”

Although it is relatively new to the ISU campus, McDermott has shown the program to a variety of professors and encourages more to get involved.

“I have looked at it,” said Warren Dolphin, university professor of zoology and genetics.

Dolphin said he needs to look into similar programs such as ISU-developed ClassNet or WebCT, but there is no question Infopier would provide the ability to manage large classes.

“I would like to compare all three and make use of one next fall,” he said.

Heimir Geirsson, assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies, said the program provides possibilities for automation such as automatically adding students to classes.

“Compared with ClassNet, this new program is much better,” said Geirsson. “It provides the flexibility that ClassNet doesn’t provide.”

Although it is too late in the semester to begin the new program, he said he “will definitely use it in the fall.”

McDermott said other schools testing Infopier include Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Kansas State University and the University of Michigan.