Office of Educational Enhancement

Q: When will the university be changing from WebCT to this new eLearning system I keep hearing about? And how will this affect how I build and deliver my courses?

A: We are not really changing our learning management system (LMS). We are actually just changing the name we use for the LMS. A few years ago, WebCT was purchased by Blackboard, and so instead of changing the name of our trainings to “Blackboard training”, we decided to go with a more general term — eLearning.

So as far as what you see when you log into eLearning (WebCT), the user interface itself will not change. That being said, beginning in Fall ‘09, due to the switch to PeopleSoft, we will be moving to a system in which you will need to request your course be created in WebCT. (Currently, every course in SIS has a corresponding WebCT course automatically created, whether the instructor uses it or not.) We’re encouraging all faculty to attend our eLearning: Getting Started workshop to hear more about this switch.

Please email elearning@utdallas.edu if you have any questions.

We’ve just added several workshops to our events calendar for February. Visit our website for details and to sign up.

Just received the following from Information Resources:

On Sunday, January 4th, the regular WebCT maintenance window will be extended to accommodate necessary maintenance on the back-end storage systems used by WebCT. The extended maintenance window will run from 6:00 am until 2:00 pm. WebCT may be unavailable at any time during the maintenance window. As always, we appreciate your patience and understanding during these efforts.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Greetings folks! We’ve been working hard recently getting our WebCT handout up and published onto our website. You can see what we’ve published so far on the OEE site — http://www.utdallas.edu/oee/distance/resources/handouts/index.html. Check back regularly as we add new handouts daily.

UTD is upgrading WebCT support for faculty, staff, and students! The campus community can access new support resources including improved self-help resources and a Knowledge Base via the following link: http://www.utdallas.edu/elearninghelp. The link can be found on various UTD web pages including eLearning, distance educaton, library, Information Resources, and within WebCT. Improved services also include a toll free telephone number for immediate assistance (1-866-588-3192), email request service, and an online chat service. This new WebCT user support service will be open and available 24/7 for the convenience of all users.