Dramatic Performance Breakthrough in Newest Release WebCT’s of Campus Edition Softwar

March 6, 2002

Lynnfield, MA, March 4, 2002 – WebCT, the world’s leading provider of integrated

e-learning systems for higher education, today announced a new version of its

e-learning software, WebCT Campus Edition v 3.7. WebCT Campus Edition v. 3.7

offers higher education institutions a wider array of teaching and learning

tools, significant enhancements to overall performance and expanded support

for IMS standards. The additions create a robust new set of features and functionality

for WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition that will provide critical support to the Company’s

2,500 customers in over 80 countries worldwide as they scale their e-learning

systems to the enterprise level.

Enhanced Performance and Scalability

Another important new feature WebCT Campus Edition v. 3.7 offers is enhanced

performance and scalability, across all server platforms. It consistently out-performs

previous versions of WebCT by a significant margin. Testing in WebCT’s performance

lab has consistently shown performance gains of at least 50%. As WebCT’s customers

and the higher education community in general have greatly scaled their e-learning

systems, supporting this growth and the resulting increased system loads has

become critically important. WebCT Campus Edition v. 3.7 will help ensure institutions

are prepared to meet the increasing demand and usage of their e-learning programs.

Equation Editor

A significant new feature in WebCT Campus Edition v. 3.7 is the equation editor,

a tool for creating and editing mathematical equations in Web pages. Based on

MathML, the powerful language for Web-based math, the equation editor allows

WebCT users – faculty, course designers and students – to type, manipulate and

edit mathematical equations in their online courses. Now, teachers and students

in a broad range of disciplines, including mathematics, the sciences and social

sciences can communicate in mathematical terms in their WebCT courses. The equation

editor is an enormous time-saver for faculty and it is easy to use; both instructors

and students benefit from this powerful tool. Having the equation editor built

in will dramatically improve the quality of the interactions in math and science-based

courses. The ability to quickly and easily create equations for quizzes, content,

and in discussions allows faculty and students to express concepts and manipulate

the equations in a more dynamic way than has been possible before.

Enhanced IMS Support

As customers scale their deployments of WebCT enterprise-wide, their e-learning

systems become the central connective tissue for their campuses. So it is essential

that WebCT integrate with campus portals and student information systems, enabling

schools to easily move information and content from one place to another. For

this reason, WebCT continues its strong commitment to IMS standards for interoperability

and will continue to encourage the use of XML and the IMS Enterprise specification

for passing data between WebCT and third-party systems. With WebCT Campus Edition

v. 3.7’s extended IMS support, now institutions will also be able to manipulate

a broader set of information fields – for example, they will be able to assign

courses to a specific academic term and display that information in course listings.

"Our customers are leading the market with the breadth and depth of the

e-learning programs they are offering," said Carol A. Vallone, president

and chief executive officer of WebCT. "As a result, we have made these

enhancements to Campus Edition to meet the needs of the thousands of institutions

that are quickly scaling their offerings. WebCT Campus Edition v. 3.7 offers

an unbeatable combination of the best teaching and learning tools, enhanced

performance and scalability and extended IMS support — all critical components

of today’s enterprise-class e-learning system."

About WebCT

WebCT is the world’s leading provider of integrated e-learning systems for higher

education. Over 2,500 colleges and universities in over 80 countries worldwide

are using WebCT’s products and services to transform the educational experience

of their students. Consortia in 23 American states, four Canadian provinces,

two Australian territories, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities,

and the Consortium of Distance Education have licensed WebCT for their member

institutions, making it the de facto standard in higher education. More information

about WebCT can be found at www.webct.com.

For more information, contact:

Karen Gage

WebCT

781-309-1147

karen.gage@webct.com

Sandy Baird

Wheeler Baird Group

203-637-8614

sandy@wheelerbaird.com