WebCT Tools

What is WebCT?

WebCT is a collection of Internet based course tools which facilitates teaching and learning. The program is widely adopted by educational and training institutions in many countries around the world.

WebCT is a password protected program which enables teaching staff to:

• present lecture notes and topic content online
• communicate with students enrolled in the subject by email, discussions, chat sessions
• design online quizzes and self-assessment activities
• provide students with embedded links to online material outside of WebCT
• compile glossaries
• support online presentation and submission of assignments individually or in groups
• schedule deadlines and events using the calendar tool
• record and manage student grades
• track student progress

WebCT tools for collaborative learning

Email

The Email tool allows teachers and students to send a private messages to one or more topic participants. Email is an asynchonous form of communication -- sending and receiving a message can occur at different times. Attachments can be sent with an email message. You may choose to direct your WebCT mail out to another email address. Email is a useful tool for sending quick informative messages to group members.

Discussion Forum

The Discussion Forum is a shared space for the posting of messages. Messages posted in this space are accessible by a group of people who have been granted access. Again it is an asynchonous means of communication -- participants have the flexibility of checking messages at a time convenient to them. This communication tool is the best way of facilitating discussion within small groups.

Chat

The Chat tool allows you and your students to communicate in text only form in real time ie. participants need to be online at the same time. There are a number of 'chat rooms' for different conversations and a list of users who are in a chat room is provided. It is possible to talk privately to a user in a chat room. The tool is useful for small spontaneous group discussion when the group can all be online at the same time.

Student Presentations

The Presentation tool allows you to create groups of students within a class who can build a web site within the WebCT environment. The groups create their presentation as a set of related web pages and are able to design, create and upload the necessary documents themselves. You, and other students in the course can view the completed web site or presentation. This is a suitable tool for group work requiring web based presentation of the end result.

Student Homepages

The Student Homepage is a tool that allows students to build a single web page with text, graphics and external URLs. It is a restricted page -- student can only work with the components that WebCT provides but the advantage of this is that it requires very little IT skill to create such a page. The homepage is available for everyone with access to the topic to view. It is a great way to allow students to introduce themselves to their peers.

Whiteboard

The Whiteboard is a drawing tool that teachers and students may use during an online discussion. This tool allows users to type text, draw objects, insert graphics and make modifications -- especially useful for drawing and viewing diagrams in real-time. A useful tool for group discussions that are best achieved diagrammatically.