Transcript iWeb Presentation 27 September 2000: WebCT and Blackboard at UW

LT3 Open House on WCMS:
WebCT and Blackboard at UW
13 December 2000
Andrea Chappell (LT3/IST)
Zal Petrowich (LT3)
Vivian Rossner-Merrill (LT3)
John Thompson (LT3)
Web Course Management Systems
• WebCT & Blackboard two of many
• Basic feature set:
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Course note structuring
Online discussion forums
Chat
Whiteboard
Quizzes
Online marks (and management)
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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The big “non-feature”
• Not course content creators
• Create outside WCMS, in HTML editor
or other document tool
• Facilitate building of some basic pages
(syllabus, contacts, etc.)
• Generally, upload or point to content
• Advantage in organization and
navigation of content
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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Today’s Situation
• Course sites everywhere
• A different look and feel to each
• Maintenance hassles for both
instructors and computing support
• Patchwork of tools for the popular
features
• Username/password chaos for students!
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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Objective in Choosing a WCMS
• Provide one common, supported, Web
course environment for campus use
• “Umbrella” solution for the popular
Web course tools
– one username/password for online discussion,
content access, marks access, etc.
– not necessarily best of each feature, but good solid
instances of the features
• Ease maintenance of course sites
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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Why WebCT and Blackboard?
• WebCT: popular choice and currently
has cheap 17-Ontario-institution price
• Blackboard: good reports and DE has
experience with it
• Others:
– WBT Systems TopClass: Of interest, but didn’t
make the cut to two
– IBM/Lotus Learning Space: Of interest, but a lot
of additional Lotus overhead, unsupported at UW
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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Expected Differentiates
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Robustness
Support from vendor
Ease of Use
Fit to campus (PeopleSoft student
information system, capacity, etc.)
• Directions (IMS, authentication, student
info systems)
• Cost
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Evaluation/Implementation Plan
• Prototypes in F2000:
– Accountancy, HIST108, GER101, GER305
– Whiteboard, chat, discussion, content, quizzes
• Now pilot to campus W2001
– instructors try out systems
– LT3 receives feedback from instructors,
students, computing staff
• Initial support by LT3/IST, then to
Faculty areas in Faculties interested
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LT3 Open House on WCMS
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