WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly?
In 2004, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia will cease using The Forum, an in-house developed online education delivery system, and will shift to the popular corporate American online courseware package, or Managed Learning Environment, WebCT (...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Open Humanities Press
2003-01-01
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| Series: | Fibreculture Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://two.fibreculturejournal.org/webct-will-the-future-of-online-education-be-user-friendly/ |
| _version_ | 1811298894909276160 |
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| author | Tama Leaver |
| author_facet | Tama Leaver |
| author_sort | Tama Leaver |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In 2004, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia will cease using The Forum, an in-house developed online education delivery system, and will shift to the popular corporate American online courseware package, or Managed Learning Environment, WebCT (Web Course Tools). The process of migrating to a new online education environment is an ideal moment to ask some important questions about WebCT and the implications this delivery platform holds for online education in a more general sense. I stress that this paper is not intended as an exhaustive critique or how-to guide for WebCT course creation. Rather, this paper narrates the two levels of engagement I have experienced thus far with WebCT. Firstly, I describe my initial reactions to the WebCT suite itself as it is set up at the University of Western Australia. This engagement includes concerns about both the structure of the program, and the underlying architecture of student and teacher interaction. Secondly, I analyse WebCT as a corporate entity and discuss issues raised from a close reading of elements of the WebCT homepage, the marketing strategy, and the directions WebCT as courseware package is heading according to their "white paper" on future developments. In the course of this analysis, I offer a framework to consider whether WebCT is an ideal technological partner in the teaching process, or whether it unavoidably closes avenues of learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:27:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18bc48be69d645c88460d9cfd888cb80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1449-1443 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:27:04Z |
| publishDate | 2003-01-01 |
| publisher | Open Humanities Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fibreculture Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-18bc48be69d645c88460d9cfd888cb802022-12-22T02:58:21ZengOpen Humanities PressFibreculture Journal1449-14432003-01-012WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly?Tama LeaverIn 2004, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia will cease using The Forum, an in-house developed online education delivery system, and will shift to the popular corporate American online courseware package, or Managed Learning Environment, WebCT (Web Course Tools). The process of migrating to a new online education environment is an ideal moment to ask some important questions about WebCT and the implications this delivery platform holds for online education in a more general sense. I stress that this paper is not intended as an exhaustive critique or how-to guide for WebCT course creation. Rather, this paper narrates the two levels of engagement I have experienced thus far with WebCT. Firstly, I describe my initial reactions to the WebCT suite itself as it is set up at the University of Western Australia. This engagement includes concerns about both the structure of the program, and the underlying architecture of student and teacher interaction. Secondly, I analyse WebCT as a corporate entity and discuss issues raised from a close reading of elements of the WebCT homepage, the marketing strategy, and the directions WebCT as courseware package is heading according to their "white paper" on future developments. In the course of this analysis, I offer a framework to consider whether WebCT is an ideal technological partner in the teaching process, or whether it unavoidably closes avenues of learning.http://two.fibreculturejournal.org/webct-will-the-future-of-online-education-be-user-friendly/online learning |
| spellingShingle | Tama Leaver WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? Fibreculture Journal online learning |
| title | WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? |
| title_full | WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? |
| title_fullStr | WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? |
| title_full_unstemmed | WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? |
| title_short | WebCT: Will the Future of Online Education be User-friendly? |
| title_sort | webct will the future of online education be user friendly |
| topic | online learning |
| url | http://two.fibreculturejournal.org/webct-will-the-future-of-online-education-be-user-friendly/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tamaleaver webctwillthefutureofonlineeducationbeuserfriendly |