WebCT

WebCT (Course Tools), now owned by Blackboard, is an online proprietary virtual learning environment system that is sold to colleges and other institutions and used in many campuses for e-learning. To their WebCT courses, instructors can add such tools as discussion boards, mail systems and live chat, along with content including documents and web pages.

Background

WebCT was originally developed at the University of British Columbia by a faculty member in computer science, Murray W. Goldberg. In 1995 Goldberg began looking at the application of web-based systems to education. [http://www.e-strategy.ubc.ca/news/update0409/040929-goldberg.html UBC Computer Scientist Wins $100,000 Award for Popular Course Software, University of British Columbia News & Events, September 29, 2004] ] His research showed that student satisfaction and academic performance could be improved through the use of a web-based educational resource, or web-based course tools (from which the name WebCT is derived). In order to continue his research he decided to build a system to ease the creation of web-based learning environments. This led to the first version of WebCT in early 1996, first presented at the 5th international World Wide Web conference in Paris during the spring of 1996. In 1997 Goldberg created a company, WebCT Educational Technologies Corporation, a spinoff company of UBC. Goldberg grew the company until 1999, at which point it served approximately 2-3 million students in 30 countries. In mid-1999, WebCT was acquired by ULT (Universal Learning Technology), [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_May_17/ai_54643876 Universal Learning Technology Acquires WebCT, Business Wire, May 17, 1999] ] a Boston-based company headed by Carol Vallone. Ms. Vallone continued to grow the company to the point where its product was used by over 10 million students in 80 countries. Goldberg resigned from his position of Canadian president of WebCT in 2002. In February 2006, WebCT was acquired by rival Blackboard Inc. [ [http://investor.blackboard.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=177018&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=767025 Blackboard and WebCT Announce Agreement to Merge, Blackboard website, October 12, 2005] ] As part of the merger terms with Blackboard, the WebCT name will be phased out in favor of the Blackboard brand.

WebCT is notable for being the first commercially successful virtual learning environment. During its first four to five years of operation it claimed to be the de-facto standard [ [http://www.bctechnology.com/statics/webct.html About WebCT, T-Net, British Columbia] ] in that it served a far larger population than any of its competitors. Prior to WebCT's merger with Blackboard, its most significant competitor, based on ease of use, was CourseInfo LLC.Fact|date=March 2008.

Textbooks and publishing

The software was used in electronic publishing. In order to use a textbook or other learning tool published in the WebCT format, some publishers require the student to purchase a password at the bookstore or to obtain it online. The software permitted integration of material prepared locally with material purchased from publishers.

Criticisms

WebCT had long been criticized for being the most difficult of the course management systems to use. This criticism partly reflected the flexibility and power of the system - where other systems present a single way of organizing or adding course material, WebCT offered several options with more of the structure left to the individual instructor. The "Vista" version of the product represented an attempt to derive a more even balance between flexibility and ease of use, and while it has been successful in some ways, it still suffers from being more flexible but less easy to use than some of its competitors.

Some WebCT criticisms which were apparent include problems using it in multiple tabs or browser windows, heavy reliance on Java for its user experience [ [http://clt.lse.ac.uk/help/VLE-pilot/WebCT-6-Java-Install.php WebCT Java Problems, Centre for Learning Technology, London School of Economics and Science 2008] ] , usage of too many browser framesetsFact|date=March 2008, and problems using standard browser navigation tools (i.e. the Back and Forward commands).

WebCT, like most of its competitors, had a long history of failing to meet guidelines for accessibility; these include, but are not limited to, the following studies:
* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/2002/WebCT3_6.html "Conformance of WebCT v3.6 to W3C's Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0(2001)"]
* [http://booboo.webct.com/2001/papers/Gergely.pdf "Bringing Your WebCT Course into ADA Compliance: A Nuts and Bolts Approach (2001)"]
* [http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw02/papers/refereed/alexander/paper.html "An Accessibility Audit of WebCT (2002)"]
* [http://www.utas.edu.au/accessibility/webct/is_webct_accessible.html "Is WebCT Vista Accessible? (2006)"]

References

External links

* Historical video - Murray Goldberg introducing WebCT in 1998 - 1:30 min ( [http://innova.cicei.com/vdo/murray.wmv Windows Media] ) ( [http://innova.cicei.com/vdo/murray.rm Real Media] )
* [http://www.webct.com/content/viewpage?name=company_content_partners Content providers]
* [http://www.webct.com/products/viewpage?name=products_demo_webinars Demonstrations and examples of courses developed using the software (Campus edition)]
* [http://kumu.brocku.ca/webct/ WebCT Wiki] Support and Documentation for Blackboard CE users, by Brock University, Ontario, Canada
* [http://www.moodle.org/ Moodle home page]
* [http://www.blackboard.com/ Blackboard home page]
* [http://www.joomlalms.com/ JoomlaLMS home page]
* [http://www.sharepointlms.com/ SharePointLMS home page]
* [http://www.elearningforce.co.uk/ ElearningForce UK home page]