Wednesday, July 26, 2006

WebCT Conference

This month several CCCOnline staff members were able to attend the WebCT conference in Chicago. We spent the week going to presentations and learning about all of the exciting things we will be able to do in Vista that we can't do in Campus Edition!

We have quite a few new tools coming in application pack 1, which will be installed on our server between the fall and spring terms. These tools include an internal blog, gradeable rubrics, and an interactive goals page. For more information see the WebCT site at http://www.webct.com/software/viewpage?name=software_application_pack_1.

Faculty at the conference were excited about the use of blogs, wiki's, RSS feeds, and the use of virtual worlds in courses. Administrators were excited about the data that will be available from Vista - specific information on the use of each tool for example - and the possibility of predicting student problems early enough in the term to be able to provide some assitance.

Forecasts regarding the future of online learning leaned heavily on the idea of customized learning paths -- standard material with many possible paths through the content. Lots of great ideas -- implementation may be a little tricky. :^)

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