UGA’s Center for Teaching and Learning and Enterprise Information Technology Services are offering a series of workshops to help with the university’s ongoing migration from WebCT to eLearning Commons.
In January, WebCT will no longer be an option, and eLC will become the learning management system for campus.
The workshops are designed to help faculty and staff make a smooth transition between the two systems. More information about the workshops is available online. Visit www.elc.uga.edu and click the “Workshops for Course Designers/Instructors” link.
While this is the last semester UGA will offer WebCT, both WebCT and eLC are currently available for faculty to use. Students can begin to familiarize themselves with the new system by going to the eLC home page and clicking on the “Student Help” link.
For faculty and staff, a “Faculty Help” link is located on the eLC homepage along with the link that will take them to the workshop registration page. Interested individuals can sign up for the available workshops. The workshops include the prerequisite “Designer Quickstart,” Sept. 29; “Gradebook Management,” Sept. 17; “Quiz Management” Oct. 1; and “Learning Module.” Additional workshops will be scheduled for October and November.
The complete list of courses and course descriptions are available by following the “Workshops for Course Designers/Instructors” link.
Groundwork was laid for the transition to eLC three years ago. After learning that support for WebCT 4.1 would be ending, the Learning Management System Executive Committee was formed. Barbara A. White, chief information officer and associate provost, charged the committee with evaluating possible learning management system solutions for UGA.
The committee researched available proprietary and open-source programs. In fall 2007, the committee and members of the UGA community conducted a parallel installation pilot of Blackboard Vista, the software behind eLC, and the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment.
The committee then sent a report to members of the Committee for Academic and Instructional Technologies in early 2008 and began work to implement and promote Blackboard Vista as the new university-wide system.
Sherry Clouser, an academic professional with the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the members of the LMS executive committee started planning for the new system as soon as the product was selected in early 2008. “Faculty members are encouraged to look at the transition as an opportunity to re-design courses to take full advantage of the new features in Vista 8,” Clouser said.
