Professor Bryan Sanctuary of McGill To Talk At LearnTec About Use Of WebCT And Multimedia For Teaching Science

MONTREAL, CANADA — Bryan C. Sanctuary, a professor of chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has been invited to talk at LearnTec 2001 about the use of WebCT and “proactive multimedia” for teaching science.

LearnTec 2001, the 9th European Conference and Trade Fair for Educational and Information Technology, opens today, and runs through February 2, 2001, in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Prof. Sanctuary, who has a long interest in multimedia teaching and distance education, was invited to address the conference at the suggestion of Canada Trade and Commerce. In 1995, he created a company, MCH Multimedia Inc. (http://mchmultimedia.com), dedicated to creating high quality software for Internet delivery.

“I am using WebCT for 750 students and using a lot of multimedia inside WebCT. We are just upgrading to version 3.0. I will be talking about – and proposing – the use of WebCT,” he says.

Prof. Sanctuary, who will speak on January 30, will discuss the two main aspects to the development of educational material: the academic content and the means of delivery. The effective use of academic content requires the inclusion of “proactive interactivity” as well as stringent quality controls. The means of delivery includes a course model or “Course Shell” that is applicable to any discipline.

Prof. Sanctuary uses the term, “proactive interactivity,” to distinguish it from the hackneyed use of the word, “interactive,” which at its lowest level means, “click”. He says, “Proactive interactivity means that the student is challenged and the computer responds to the student input. This can be done by questions with feedback, or by the use of digital movies that the student responds to. The way the material is delivered is important and is quite different than that of a regular textbook.”

About WebCT

WebCT is the world’s leading provider of integrated e-learning systems. Over 148,000 faculty members at 1,578 colleges and universities are using WebCT’s products and services to transform the educational experience for more than 5.8 million students. The company’s mission is to be the preferred partner of institutions that are creating total e-learning solutions, from getting started to scaling campus-wide. WebCT is available in 10 major world languages and aquarter of the company’s installed base is located in more than 60 countries outside of North America.

Initially developed by computer science faculty under grant from The University of British Columbia in Canada, WebCT’s academic heritage and philosophy continue to be reflected in new versions. Both the Standard and Campus Editions give faculty members the pedagogical flexibility to teach their own way, and offer them the broadest selection of quality course content from all of the major college textbook publishers. The Campus Edition of WebCT also gives institutions enhanced features for scaling and integration with campus portals and student information systems.

WebCT.com, the e-learning hub, offers centrally hosted services that can be customized to meet the needs of individual institutions or academically oriented communities. WebCT.com supports excellence in online teaching and learning with mentoring programs, resources, and access to experts and colleagues in many fields. The company also offers a wide range of services, including implementation and technology planning, software training, faculty and course development, integration and technical consulting, premium support, which can also be customized.

WebCT has formed powerful partnerships with a variety of organizations, including: SCT, Campus Pipeline, Eduprise, over 20 different content providers, and 40 Institutes. WebCT’s investors include: Thomson Learning, a division of The Thomson Corporation (TSE: TOC); CMGI @Ventures; Chase Capital Partners; Fleet Ventures; and Kestrel Venture Management. WebCT has offices in Lynnfield, MA, and Swarthmore, PA, in the U.S., as well as Vancouver, BC, in Canada. More information about the company can be found at www.webct.com/company.

Contact Information:

Prof. Bryan Sanctuary

MCH Multimedia Inc
.

514-939-7418

bsanctuary@mchmultimedia.com

Greg Jarboe

WebCT

781-309-1163

greg.jarboe@webct.com

bryans@chemistry.mcgill.ca