WebCT

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

1 Background
2 Textbooks and publishing
3 Criticisms
4 References
5 External links

[edit] 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.^[1] 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.^[1] Goldberg grew the company until 1999, at which point the company served approximately 2 - 3 million students in 30 countries. In mid 1999, WebCT was acquired by ULT (Universal Learning Technology),^[1]^[2] a Boston-based company headed by Carol Vallone. Ms. Vallone continued to grow the company to the point where it was used by over 10 million students in 80 countries.^[1] Goldberg left as Canadian president of WebCT in 2002. In February 2006, WebCT was acquired by rival Blackboard Inc.^[3] 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 or five years of operation it claimed to be the de-facto standard ^[4] in that it served a far larger population than any of its competitors. Prior to WebCT's merger with , its largest competitor, based on ease of use, was CourseInfo LLC.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 ^[5], usage of too many browser framesets^{[citation needed]}, 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: