WebCT Conferences

The main points I got from the conference are as follows:

WebCT Vista 4 vs WebCT CE 6

1. WebCT Vista 4 and WebCT Campus Edition 6 are really the same product. The only difference is licensing. Vista 4 is the complete package. Campus Edition 6 has been modularized into the basic system, plus four optional modules. (Learning Objects for sharing content between courses, Community Manager for having multiple administrative levels and enhancing the learning objects, Powerlinks Kit for writing our own custom integration software, Powersight Kit for detailed reporting)
2. The cost of purchasing WeBCT CE 6 plus two modules is about the same as the cost for a Vista license. So if we decide we want two optional modules we may as well go for Vista.
3. The base WebCT 6 system supports the IMS API for loading people, courses, and course enrollments. So we don't have to purchase any of the optional modules to obtain the level of integration we currently enjoy.

Integration and Plugin tools (Powerlinks):

1. The "powerlinks kit" provides APIs that allows us to more tightly integrate WebCT with external applications. This API allows external applications to do anything that can be done through the web interface, like update the WebCT gradebook. We can also create our own additional tools for the WebCT toolkit. This could be very useful for some TEL projects. For example, we could build a WebCT tool that links students to our library system, or has direct links into the Computer Science iHelp system.
2. Many companies are using the Powerlinks kit to integrate their products with WebCT. For example Horizon Wimba and Elluminate both add "audio chatroom" and other tools to WebCT which insructors can add to their courses exactly like any other WebCT tool. We do not need to purchase the powerlinks kit to use these products. We only need to purchase it if we want to do our own development.
3. An exciting feature is that WebCT demonstrated support for the IMS Tools Interoperabity (IMS-TI) framework. This is an IMS standard way to build "plug in" tools that can be loaded into any Learning Management system. Using it is simple. Install the tool (on its own server or whatever). Then, load an IMS-TI XML file into WebCT. This automatically registers the tool in WebCT, provides administrator menus for the tool, makes the tool available in the WebCT list of tools, and provides designer options for the tools if necessary. As an example, they demonstrated loading tools built for SAKAI using the IMS-TI specification into WebCT. I see this as a way to have our cake and eat it too. Stay with WebCT as the main LMS, but still take advantage of development being done for Sakai and other systems.

U of S WebCT Upgrade

1. Denise has a bunch of information about updated hardware requirements. We may need more powerful hardware than we initially thought (RAID 10 instead of RAID 5, more disk space, etc.)
   
2. They recommend having a "backup database" which mirrors the production database. All statistics, file recovery, etc. are then done against this backup database. That allows us to do adminstrative work without impacting the production database. However, this increases our cost estimate for disk space, etc.
3. All data is stored in the database. This means our existing method of virus scanning uploaded files won't work. We need to look at a virus scanning solution that will check inside Oracle databases.
4. They have provided some excellent tools for moving courses from WebCT 4.1 to WebCT 6. I found it encouraging that this is done via an IMS export and import, showing their adherance to standards.

Should we get Vista instead?

1. We need to decide how important the additional modules are to the University and are they worth the additional expense. If so, it may be better to upgrade to Vista 4 instead of WebCT CE 6.
2. The "Powerlinks Kit" is essential to develop our own plug-in tools for WebCT. TEL projects (Music, Chemistry) have developed external evaluation tools that would benefit from integrating with the WebCT gradebook. There are also opportunities to integrate other department or institutional systems into WebCT (library, iHelp, etc.) We need the powerlinks kit to do this.
3. The "Learning Objects Module" may help to address some of the issues surrounding a learning object repository for campus. It allows us to provide shared content which can be easily imported into other WebCT courses. Unfortunately, the current version does not have the full metatagging and does not support use by external applications, so it may not suit everyone's needs. Also, to really unlock its features you need to also get the "Community Manager".
4. The "Community Manager" provides a way to share adminstrative tasks with department or college staff. We can have separate college or department templates, separate configuration settings, etc. This is useful for continuing education or STU courses. We could set up the system so that most sections are managed by SiRIUS. However, Continuing Education courses could be set up to allow their program administrators to manage the class lists themselves. The same could apply to some Extension courses, Saskatoon Theological Union courses, etc. Without this extension, we are limited to everyone sharing the same global settings (like we are now).
5. Using the "Community Manager" with the "Learning Objects Module" allows us to share learning objects at different levels. We can have some objects shared only within a department, or only within a college. More importantly, we can set it up so that changes in the parent learning object automatically change the content in the individual course sections. Take TEL courses for example. We could have a learning object specifically on how students can use the services in the Extension Division (or Library, or whatever). This can be included in all Extension courses. If something changes, they change the learning object and all the courses are automatically updated. However, we only get this capability if we have both of these modules.

The Future:
WebCT listed several new features that will be coming out in future releases over the next year.

1. WebCT 6.1 CE will be released in early September. That release will address the known issues in the existing system.
2. WebCT 6.2 will be released about November or December. It will have the latest html editor tool (the one that works with Macintosh computers). It will also have support for crosslisted courses. The initial release doesn't support crosslisted courses.
3. For WebCT's release next summer they intend to greatly enhance the learning objects module, with full metatagging, better searching, etc. Combine that with the Powerkits and the IMS export features and we might be able to build something that could be accessed by systems outside of WebCT.
4. NExt summer they also intend to have an ePortfolio module. Students can pick their favorite assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc. from multiple courses and collect them together into one e-Portfolio to demonstrate their improved proficiency over time.
5. Next summer they also intend to have full support for the IMS - Tool Interoperability capability built in. They demonstrated this already, but the IMS-TI standard is not finalized yet so they didn't include it in the current release.

In Summary
I think that WebCT got a lot right with this release.

1. It has expanded its adherance international IMS standards for course content and quizzes.


2. The "powerlinks" capability makes it much easier to integrate third-party applications seamlessly into WebCT.


3. The Community Manager makes it much easier to administer the different course needs in different Colleges or departments.


4. The Learning Objects manager makes it much easier to do ongoing maintenance of courses.


5. The toolset enhancements make everything work much better

In the short term we may not have the funding to move to Vista. However, if we really want to use WebCT to its full potential on campus, we should seriously consider moving to Vista 4 in the future. Without those optional modules, we are greatly restricting many aspects of course development, tool integration, and site administration.