Course Management Systems

A Course Management System is an integrated system that allows for  faculty to communicate with their students in a wide variety of ways: email, bulletin board, posting documents, digital drop boxes, links to other websites and images, class schedules, quizzes, and exams and more. These systems allow for interlinking amongst the various parts, pulling together discussion, lecture materials, and testing, all in one package. At Wesleyan, we have licensed two such systems:

Blackboard and WebCT

We have also developed the Faculty Class Information System, accessible through the Courses/Instructional Computing link in Electronic Portfolio, which allows faculty to see their class lists, establish class mailing lists, request the creation of a BlackBoard, and create a simple syllabus.

Links

Blackboard.com
- the Blackboard.com site has links to resources for WebCT instructors, developers and student users.

WebCT.com
- the WebCT.com site has links to resources for WebCT instructors, developers and student users.

Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann
- this article provides a good discussion of the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergradate Education" from the perspective of how newer computing technologies can be employed to improve student participation, interaction, and learning outcomes.