Technology comes with its own blessings and curses. It can be a time-saver and a way of making work easier. However, it can sometimes incite people to want to punch holes in walls. WebCT GOLD, also called Blackboard Vista, seems to fit both of these categories at times.

WebCT GOLD just underwent a major overhaul, said Randal Dalhoff, assistant director of academic technologies for Information Technology Services.

“It fixed 1,700 errors and made it a lot more stable,” Dalhoff said of the recent updates.

The IT department is banking on this update to make the 2007-08 school year run more smoothly than last year, Dalhoff said.

WebCT has a bad rap from last year, but that may not be entirely its fault.

Dalhoff said the problem may be the users’ computers, rather than WebCT. If the user isn’t running the updated version of the Java application or doesn’t have the right Internet browser, WebCT won’t work correctly.

Even though WebCT may not be to blame for people’s computer troubles, it often gets the blame, Dalhoff said.

“It’s unfortunate,” Dalhoff said.

Dalhoff and IT aren’t trying to say there aren’t still bugs, but now, hopefully, they will be less of a factor.

With the update, Windows Vista is now compatible with WebCT, but Office 2007 still is not supported.

Many universities across the nation are also using Blackboard Vista, but have most of the same problems Iowa State is experiencing.

“Every university is going through this,” said Allan Schmidt, program manager for the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.

What the CELT and IT are trying to do is take care of students’ problems, as well as take them further up the line with Blackboard.

“We really push the company,” Schmidt said.

Iowa State is on par with larger institutions as far as finding problems, Dalhoff said.

Finding and fixing bugs is a slow process, because Blackboard Vista is a commercial product and the problems can’t be fixed locally, Schmidt said.

WebCT was originally intended to give students convenience in getting course materials and checking grades, but now it has gone beyond that. Instructors can tailor WebCT for their own uses in the classroom.

Schmidt and Dalhoff have heard complaints about instructors’ WebCT pages not being very interactive. This was also partially to blame for some of WebCT’s bad reputation.

“WebCT is just a tool,” Schmidt said. “But if instructors don’t use it well, it doesn’t work well.”

The CELT hosts WebCT classes to help instructors use WebCT to its fullest potential.

“We’re working for you,” Dalhoff said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Schmidt’s hope is that WebCT will go beyond convenience to improve the classroom experience.

“Our whole society is going online, and this is just a reflection of that,” Schmidt said.

WebCT by the numbers

1,101: Individual course section registered to use WebCT for fall 2007. This number will grow as more faculty add WebCT sections to their courses over the coming weeks.

3,863: Total course sections or accounts registered to use WebCT. The large number reflects courses not being taught this semester, courses under development and noncredit WebCT uses such as student clubs, the residence and greek systems, the ISU Extension Service, etc.

2,966: Individual ISU instructors, staff and students logged into the WebCT server just after 4 p.m. Tuesday.

2,152: ISU faculty, lecturers, graduate assistants and staff signed up as WebCT designers/instructors to create, teach and manage WebCT-enhanced courses or activities.

26,887: Current and unique student IDs that have accessed the WebCT system since January 2007. This includes on-campus and distance education students as well as Extension clients and students who graduated this summer but are still in the ID system.

Below is a breakdown of how much WebCT has grown in the previous year-and-a-half.

January 2006 – 22.1 GB

March 2006 – 8 GB

May 2006 – 20 GB

June 2006 – 28 GB

July 2006 – 17.625 GB

August 2006 – 44 GB

September 2006 – 32 GB

October 2006 – 40 GB

November 2006 – 40 GB

December 2006 – 44 GB

January 2007 – 64 GB

February 2007 – 20 GB

March 2007 – 28 GB

April 2007 – 44 GB

May 2007 – 58 GB

June 2007 – 44 GB

July 2007 – 96 GB

August 2007 – 89.75 GB