Laura Teegarden
Daily Egyptian
Faculty at SIUC have been using the WebCT Internet teaching tool since
1998, but a task force created by Chancellor Walter Wendler calls to
expand its use.
J.P. Dunn, WebCT administrator, said about 300 faculty members use the
program, which allows information from more than 700 courses to be
available on the server this summer, and a little more than 900 in the
fall.
"I think it's a great idea to expand the use of WebCT," Dunn said. "I would like to see the usage go up."
WebCT is a program that enables professors to post lecture notes,
handouts, assignments and grades. The program also allows professors to
test students or to improve communication through the use of a
discussion section.
"It gives students access to content from anywhere there is Internet," Dunn said.
The Agility and Efficiency Task Force Report, released in June,
suggests expanded use of the WebCT program. In order to achieve this,
the report also requests additional equipment to enable departments to
use the technology and asks for training to familiarize faculty and
staff.
Training is available to faculty at the beginning of each semester,
Dunn said. He travels to departments to teach small groups, does
one-on-one training and goes to classes and speaks to students about
the program.
Deborah Bruns, assistant professor for the Educational Psychology and
Special Education Department, said Dunn was helpful when Dunn was
learning to use the program.
"J.P. was always just an e-mail or phone call away," Bruns said.
Bruns has incorporated WebCT into all of her classes since coming to
SIU two and a half years ago. She uses it to post lecture notes,
instructions for assignments and tests.
"It makes my classes more interactive," Bruns said. "They don't have to spend all their time writing down what I'm saying."
Dunn has found that once students get used to using WebCT in one class,
they tend to approach their other professors about using it in their
classes.
"With some of them, it's just being able to check their grades on-line," he said.
Using WebCT requires some extra preparation, but makes teaching the class easier, Bruns said.
She said about half the faculty in her department use WebCT.
"It might be something that people just don't know enough about and don't realize they have the support," Bruns said.
The report also includes recommended additional uses for Web CT, such
as: posting required competency exams for certain courses, posting
information regarding what courses have proficiency tests, reporting
midterm grades and improving communication between faculty and
students,
Reporter Laura Teegarden can be reached at
laura_teegarden@dailyegyptian.com
