ISU faculty members have a classroom electronic resource in the Instructional Teaching Center.

Matt Darbyshire, manager of media equipment in the Instructional Technology Center, said one of the most popular tools provided for faculty by the center is called Web CT.

“Web CT helps instructors make their Web pages more exciting and interesting,” he said. “It allows digitized images and video images to be used on the Web.”

Darbyshire said the Web tool is especially beneficial for students taking courses over the Iowa Communications Network or the Web.

“Web CT gives each student a better chance to use things like the Parks Library and other reference resources,” he said.

Another resource offered by the Instructional Technology Center is Classnet, Darbyshire said, which is popular for several reasons.

“Class Net was actually developed here at Iowa State by a man named Peter Boysen,” he said. “So it has ties to Iowa State, and that is why we like to use it.”

Pete Boysen, SR systems analyst for Academic Information Technologies, said Class Net was developed in 1995.

“It was actually the first program of its time here at ISU,” he said. “Class Net has features that assist in faculty and students in academia. Both Web CT and Class Net are incremental pieces in the faculty to student communication structure.”

Boysen said 7,000 students use Class Net, and there are over 150 courses listed on the program. He said that without communication resources like Class Net, Web courses would be much more difficult. “Class Net has features that allow students to take tests over the Internet and to then check their scores,” he said.

He added that many faculty members use the resource for additional communication with students, class testing and evaluation and content presentation.

Boysen said seminars are available for faculty members interested in using the Web CT or Class Net resources. He said faculty attending these seminars can come back and teach their co-workers about the systems too.