WebCT Announces 2001 Product Advisory Board

May 10, 2001

Lynnfield, MA and Vancouver, BC – May 9,

2001 –– WebCT, the world’s leading provider of integrated e-learning

systems for higher education, has announced its 2001 Product Advisory Board. 

The WebCT Product Advisory Boards primary mission is to shape the continuing

evolution of the WebCTs products and services, used in 2,172 institutions

worldwide.

The WebCT Product Advisory Board

will play an ongoing, consultative role for WebCT, which began as a partnership

with customers, and continues to be strongly allied with them.   The Boards

activities complement the ongoing dialog WebCT maintains with its vast customer

base.  As the market leader in e-learning systems, WebCT partners with the

largest, most diverse group of customers in higher education, and feeds their

input into product and services development, providing the company with a

major jump on industry trends and developments.

From its earliest days WebCT

has always been responsive to the needs of its users and that has continued

with the current Product Advisory Board, noted Brian Finnegan, new Product

Advisory Board member and Associate Director for Emerging Instructional Technologies,

Georgia Board of Regents.   While the Company has very clear and exciting

plans for the future of the product, it has become obvious from our initial

meetings and interactions that the Board is not there to merely rubberstamp

decisions that have already been made, but to truly shape the product to the

needs of its users.

Way

back to Version 1, WebCT has always listened to and assisted its customers,

said Diane Oerly, Director of Information Resources at the University of Missouri

– Columbia and Product Advisory Board advisor.  Perhaps the best thing about

WebCT is the terrific community of fellow-customers worldwide who support,

encourage and inspire each other.  The University of Missouri – Columbia is

pleased to have this opportunity to continue work with WebCT so our faculty

are better supported and our students’ learning is enhanced. 

The

Company selected the 2001 WebCT Product Advisory Board Members to reflect

the diversity of WebCTs global customer base, and their varied uses of its

integrated e-learning system.   In an indication of how ubiquitous WebCT deployment

has become in higher education, the Board includes members from virtually

every kind of institution around the world, including: community college;

large, public four-year university; small, private four-year university  —

even the virtual campus.  The 2001 WebCT Product Advisory Board Members are:

INSTITUTION

ADVISOR

TITLE

Blinn College

Candace Schaefer

Dean of Distance Education, Virtual

College of Texas Curriculum Task Force Director

California Virtual Campus @ Rio Hondo

College

Andy Howard

Coordinator of the CVC Regional Center

Georgia Board of Regents

Brian Finnegan

Associate Director for Emerging Instructional

Technologies

Macquarie University, Australia

Peter Love

Director of New Learning Technologies,

Centre for Flexible Learning

Purdue University

John Campbell

Director of Multimedia Instructional

Development Center

St. Petersburg Junior College

Alan Shapiro

Instructional Technologist

University of Alberta, Canada

Susan Stein

Project Lead, Distributed Learning

and WebCT Administrator, Computing & Network Services

University of

Idaho

David Schlater

Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI)

Coordinator

University of Missouri – Columbia

Diane Oerly

Director of Information Resources

University of Turku, Finland

Ari Leino

Senior Expert

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and

State University

Mark Raby

Associate Director for Program Support

Services Institute for Distance & Distributed Learning

We are pleased

and honored that the 2001 WebCT Product Advisory Board includes such a prestigious

group of thought leaders in the field of higher education, said David Rosenbaum,

Senior Director of Product Management for WebCT.  WebCTs development program

is based on constant feedback from customers who are helping to shape the

next generation products.

WebCT

is the best-of-breed course management system that established and defines

the higher education e-learning market.  The product is supported by an industry-first

coalition of senior company management, educator employees, and the worlds

largest network of customer partners, all working together to advance the

product, company and industry.  The company has a laser-beam focus on the

core mission of higher education institutions:  education, and the related

issues of teaching and learning; enrollments; accreditation; assessment; competitive

market position; and revenue.  WebCTs sharp focus allows the company to deliver

the best combination of technology, customer service, and the strongest customer

network.  The company has enjoyed dramatic growth in the past year, fueled

by the successful recent rollout of WebCT 3.5.  The Campus Edition of WebCT

3.5 offers advanced scaling capabilities and enables seamless, real-time integration

with student information systems and campus portals.

About WebCT

WebCT has the

largest, most advanced, most diverse base of course management system users

in the world.  The company is the preferred partner of educators at 2,172

institutions in 75 countries who are transforming the educational experience

of their students.

WebCTs academic

heritage and philosophy continue to be reflected in new versions of its flagship

course management system.  Both the Standard and Campus Editions of WebCT

are user-friendly, give faculty members the pedagogical flexibility to teach

their own way, provide tools to enhance interaction between students and faculty,

and offer the broadest selection of quality course material and well-designed

content from all of the major college textbook publishers.  The Campus Edition

of WebCT also gives institutions a robust, scaleable product suitable for

large-scale implementation across multiple servers as well as features for

enhanced scaling and integration with campus portals and student information

systems.  The company also offers a wide range of related consulting services,

including implementation and technology planning, software training, faculty

and course development, integration and technical consulting, premium support,

all of which are customized to meet an institutions particular needs.  For

more information, visit the WebCT site at http://www.webct.com.