WebCT User Base Nearly Doubles In Size During Past Year Fueled By Introduction of Integrated E-Learning Environment

Colleges And Universities Select WebCT Because It Is User-Friendly, Enhances Interaction Between Students and Faculty, And Offers Quality Course Material 

Nashville, TN, EDUCAUSE 2000, October 11, 2000 — WebCT today announced that its user base in higher education has nearly doubled in size during the past year. Between last years and this years annual EDUCAUSE conferences, WebCTs user base increased from 806 to 1,528 colleges and universities.

This dramatic growth rate has been fueled by WebCTs integrated e-Learning environment consisting of a new, more user-friendly version of the popular course management system and a greatly expanded e-Learning Hub at www.webct.com, providing academic communities and resources that can be directly linked to online courses, as well as a tremendous amount of quality WebCT-ready course material from the top publishers in the industry, said Carol Vallone, President and CEO of WebCT. Links from WebCT to WebCT.com, the e-Learning Hub, have enhanced interaction between students, faculty, and the larger learning community making it one of the most meaningful characteristics of an integrated e-learning environment.

The number of faculty who teach WebCT courses and the average number of WebCT courses each instructor teaches has also grown dramatically in the past year. So have the number of students who take WebCT courses, and the average number of WebCT courses each student takes. 

A year ago, more than 24,000 instructors taught over 90,000 WebCT courses at 806 colleges and universities in 45 countries. Close to 2.2 million students had seats in an average of 1.7 WebCT courses a year, for a total of more than 3.6 million student accounts during the 1999-2000 academic year.

Today, more than 70,000 instructors teach over 174,000 WebCT courses at 1,528 colleges and universities in 57 countries today. Close to 4.3 million students have seats in an average of 1.9 WebCT courses a year, for a total of almost 8.3 million student accounts during the 2000-2001 academic year.

Among the factors that helped fuel WebCTs growth during the past year was the launch of more user-friendly versions this summer. The company launched WebCT 3.0 in July and shipped WebCT 3.1 at the end of August. Both new versions include a more consistent user interface; new, more apparent forms of navigation; and several tools to help new users get started.

Now setting up your online course is so easy, you can do it in 15 minutes, said Murray Goldberg, a member of the computer science faculty at The University of British Columbia, founder of WebCT, and President of WebCT-Canada. Thats the beauty of WebCT.

Another key factor fueling WebCTs growth is the interaction between students and faculty that has been enhanced by links from WebCT, the course management platform, to WebCT.com, the e-Learning Hub. Beginning with versions 3.0 and 3.1, the company expanded the number of links between WebCT and WebCT.com, advancing the vision of a truly integrated e-Learning Environment that helps address the new set of challenges inherent in making education relevant to a student pursuing lifelong learning.

Also helping to fuel the adoption of WebCTs integrated e-learning environment was the availability of quality course material from the companys broad spectrum of content partners. A year ago, 18 leading college imprints provided content for more than 150 WebCT courses. Today, over 20 different content providers offer more than 500 e-Learning Resource Packs that can help faculty jumpstart teaching WebCT courses with robust online course materials.

About WebCT

COURSES — WebCT is the most popular course management system in the higher education marketplace. WebCTs leadership position has been confirmed by three recent studies conducted independently by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Q2 Brand Intelligence, and McGraw-Hill Ryerson. 

CAMPUS — WebCT is also a key part of the first unified system for the campus environment. Thanks to WebCT’s recent alliance with SCT and Campus Pipeline, more than 2,500 institutions can now offer students, faculty, and staff a single, streamlined system with one-stop, secure access to all of their online services.

COMMUNITY — WebCT is also the platform for an integrated e-learning environment that includes WebCT.com, the e-Learning Hub. WebCT.com enables faculty and students to share materials, experiences, content reviews, and ideas with the global academic community. The e-Learning Hub is rapidly becoming the home of many innovative and collaborative projects such as problem databanks, webcasts, computer simulations, online mentoring, and the integration of current events and new research.

COMPANY — WebCT has offices in Lynnfield, MA, and Swarthmore, PA, in the U.S., as well as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. More information about the company and its integrated e-learning environment can be found at www.webct.com/change.

Contacts

Brenda Wheeler 

Wheeler Baird Group 

973-762-8683

 

Greg Jarboe

WebCT

978-538-0036