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BlackBoard
5.5
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ETUDES
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Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
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Learner Tools
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> Communication Tools
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Discussion forums can be viewed by date
and by thread. Posts can be either plain
text, smart text or html. Instructors can
enable or disable anonymous postings, file
attachments, and creation of new threads
by students.
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Students can view discussions by date
and by thread. Posts can be either plain
text, or html. Instructors may create
separate discussion environments for small
groups of students.
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Discussion forums can be viewed by date
and by thread. Instructors can enable
anonymous posting and file
attachments.
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Discussion forums can be viewed by
topic, by date, and by thread. Instructors
can enable or disable anonymous posting
and file attachments. Posts can contain a
URL. Instructors may create separate
discussion environments for small groups
of students and teaching assistants.
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Students can submit assignments using
drop boxes.
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Students can submit assignments using
drop boxes.
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Students can submit assignments using
drop boxes.
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Students can submit assignments using
drop boxes. Students can upload files to a
shared group folder.
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Students must have an Internet email
address. When students use the internal
email tool they can send messages to
individuals or groups.
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Students and others with internal email
accounts can use the internal email tool
to contact each other.
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Students can email individual students,
instructors or groups. The Internal email
tool supports attachments and archiving
but students can not delete messages.
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Students can email individual students,
instructors or groups. The internal email
system supports searching and attachments.
Students can elect to forward their mail
to an external address.
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Students can attach notes to any page.
Students can combine their notes with the
course content to create a printable study
guide.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
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Learner Tools
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> Productivity Tools
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Students can create bookmarks in a
private folder.
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The system includes an online student
guide.
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The system includes an online student
guide.
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Upon re-entering a course, the student
has the option to resume at the last page
viewed.
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Students can search all course notes,
discussion threads, and email subject
lines in their course.
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Instructors can post course-related
events and announcements in the course
calendar. The instructor can assign tasks
by using the calendar and the instructor
can enable an option so that the student
can check their status at any point in a
course.
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After the instructor grades an
assignment, the student can see the
grade.
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The system includes tools which allow
students to view their progression through
course readings and activities and current
grade information. Instructors, students,
and teaching assistants can post
course-related events and announcements in
the course calendar.
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Students can collect and download the
entire course content for offline
study.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
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Learner Tools
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> Real-time Tools
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Students can use the presentation tool
to share files and co-edit them in order
to publish group projects.
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The whiteboard feature of the software
supports group browsing of web pages as
whiteboard slides.
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The chat tool includes: private rooms,
and the instructor chat tool supports
responding to structured questions
submitted by students.
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The chat tool includes: private
messages and private rooms.
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The JAVA chat tool includes: one campus
wide room and 4 private rooms. The chat
displays a list of students in the chat
and provides a text box displaying the
conversation as it progresses. Students
who join late cannot view the prior
conversation. The chat is archived and
Instructors can view chat logs for student
assessment.
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Streaming media can be embedded in
content without knowledge of HTML, but the
software does not include a streaming
server.
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The software supports a whiteboard with
access controlled by the instructor that
can also do slide shows for real-time
presentations and group web browsing.
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The software supports a whiteboard that
can upload and write on standard image
formats.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Learner Tools
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> Student Involvement Tools
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The software supports assigning
students into groups by the instructor.
Each group can have its own shared group
folder, private group discussion forum,
synchronous tools, and group email
list.
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The software supports assigning
students into groups by the
instructor.
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The software supports assigning
students into groups by the instructor.
Each group can have its own private group
discussion forum. The discussion forum can
be one from which the instructor is
excluded or one which the instructor can
oversee.
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The software supports assigning
students into groups by the instructor or
by random. Each group can have its own
shared group presentation folder and
private group discussion forum.
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The software can create practice tests
that use the following types of questions:
True/False, Fill in the Blank, Matching,
Multiple Choice, Multiple Select,
Ordering, and Short Answer/Essay.
Questions can be imported from existing
test banks or can be both built with the
tool. The software can provide feedback;
reveal detailed results and correct
responses on a per question basis.
Instructors can also create
self-assessments that allow multiple
submissions.
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The software supports several forms of
practice tests: Multiple Choice,
True/False, and short answers, that can be
automatically marked by the software.
Instructors can create anonymous
assessments so that students can take
practice tests without having the results
count.
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The software supports several forms of
practice tests: Multiple Choice,
Fill-in-the-Blank, Short Answer,
Crossword, or Jumbled-Sentence that
authored in the third party application,
Hot Potato. No record is kept of the
results of practice tests.
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Students can take practice tests and
anonymous surveys integrated with course
content and can get instant feedback that
does not count toward a grade. Students
can use the Mathematics Markup Language
equation editor to enter and edit
mathematical notations.
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The system also supports a system-wide
chat room where students from different
courses can interact. The system supports
a student lounge for each course where
students can interact freely.
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The system also supports a system-wide
chat room where students from different
courses can interact. Instructors can
create a student lounge within a course
shell. The optional Campus Pipeline campus
portal product also provides an online
community center and allows students to
create online clubs and study groups.
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Students have access to a student
manual and to the product knowledge base
and the product reference center.
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Students have access to a manual as
well as an introductory orientation
course.
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Students have access to online help for
the discussion forum and for the internal
e-mail as well as small helpful
descriptions for the other tools.
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Students can create a personal homepage
in which they can upload their picture add
bookmarks and other personal
information.
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Students can create a personal homepage
with a software tool that does not require
them to know html.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
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Support Tools
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> Administration
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The Building Blocks initiative is an
attempt to create a community of
developers who can provide
API-integrateable applications to enhance
the functionality of the system. Current
applications include WYSIWYG web page
editors, DAV file transfer mechanisms and
a toolkit for science courses (e.g. MathML
editor).
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The software is available in German,
Spanish, Finnish.
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WebCT Campus Edition is licensed in two
variants: Focus License and Institution
License. The Focus License allows a subset
of the functionality included in the
Institution License, and restricts the
number of student seats, and eliminates
access to APIs that allow integration with
campus systems such as student information
systems, portals, and authentication
systems. The company offers consulting
services for implementation planning and
advanced technical services including an
initial technical assessment and
evaluation of issues such as
authentication, load balancing, and
migration and upgrade planning. Premium
support services are available for quicker
response time, direct access, and 24/7
support. The company also offers
customized training.
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Students can self-register as an
option. The instructor can add students to
the course and use batch import from a
text file.
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The instructor can add students to the
course. The system supports dynamic
enrolment by integrating with the Student
Registration system. (FHDA SIS)
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The instructor can add students to the
course.
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The administrator can add students to
the system. Once students have been added
to the system then instructors can add
them to the various courses or allow
students to self-register as an option.
The software includes optional
out-of-the-box integration with SCT Banner
and Campus Pipeline or customized
integration with other SIS or portal
systems.
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The system provides support for Secure
Socket Layer transactions to pass user
logon information, user password changes
and hint, and administrative interface
access.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Support Tools
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> Curriculum
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The software provides a way to
categorize and file course content as one
of the following system supported types:
Course Documents, Student Resources, Field
Trips, Instructor Resources, Chapters,
Units, Teacher Tips, Resources, Lecture
Materials, Supplemental Materials
Handouts, Lecture Supplements, Lecture
Notes, Course Packet, Modules,
Presentations, Animation Library, Image
Library, Practice Tests, Exercises,
Additional Materials.
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The software provides online forms for
creating and editing the course: syllabus,
lesson content, links, and the personal
information about the instructor.
The lesson content form helps
instructors structure and build navigation
and content, including content pages,
quizzes, surveys, and discussion
forums.
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The software provides support for
template-based content creation that walks
instructors through a step-by-step process
to set up the essential features of a
course.
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The software provides an advanced quiz
editor that instructors can be use to
enable conditional release of material
based on prior performance and other
factors.
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The system provides a dynamic
architectural component which enables
seamless integration of tools, content,
and commercially licensed or homegrown
applications. The system supports digital
course cartridges that are available from
many publishing companies.
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The system supports using alternate
image libraries to enable branding and
customizing the look and feel at both the
site level and the course level.
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The software provides learning unit
structures that enable instructors to
create sequential learning paths.
Instructors can create annotated and
categorized bookmarks for their courses.
They can also specify if a bookmark link
should open in an external window.
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The software provides an editor that
enables editing of web pages by
non-technical instructors.
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Instructors can create annotated
bookmarks for specific courses.
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The software includes templates for the
construction of various kinds of standard
pages including course outlines,
assignments and recommended reading lists.
Instructors can upload documents to the
server using drag and drop through WebDAV.
Instructors can create bookmarks for
specific courses.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Support Tools
|
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> Instructor
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The testing tool can create assessments
that use the following types of questions:
True/False, Fill in the Blank, Matching,
Multiple Choice, Multiple Select,
Ordering, and Short Answer/Essay.
Questions can be imported from existing
test banks or can be both built with the
tool.
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The testing tool can create assessments
that use the following types of questions:
True/False,
Multiple Choice, and Short
Answer/Essay.
Questions can be built with the tool
using images imported from external
graphic files.
The automated scoring can score
multiple choice and multiple answer type
questions with optional immediate
feedback.
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The testing tool can create assessments
that use the following types of questions:
Multiple Choice, Calculated Answer,
Matching, and Short Answer/Essay.
Questions can be imported from existing
test banks or can be both built with the
tool. The Mathematics Markup Language
equation editor can enable students to
enter and edit mathematical notations. The
testing tool can support timed test
submission and completion, with a range of
delivery options, including support for
proctored exams. The automated scoring can
score multiple choice, matching,
calculated and short answers type
questions with optional immediate
feedback.
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Instructors can selectively release
materials based on specific start and end
dates.
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Instructors can selectively release
materials based on specific start and end
dates.
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Instructors can personalize access to
specific course materials based on group
membership, previous course activity, or
student performance. The system can
synchronize with course dates defined by
the institutional calendar.
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Instructors are supported by the system
through online instructor communities.
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The system provides access to an
e-learning hub where instructors may share
information in a number of
discipline-specific or general interest
forums.
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Instructors can access the instructor
manual, the product knowledge base, and
the reference center. Instructors can
contact the technical support if they have
been issued an institutional account to do
so.
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Instructors can access the instructor
manual as well as a mailing list.
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Instructors can access the full online
context-sensitive help which is also
available as a separate manual.
Instructors can access the online tutorial
to help first-timers and an instructor
mailing list.
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Instructors can use the gradebook to
view the grades by item, by user, by full
spreadsheet view, and also to export a
comma-delimited text file for import into
an external spreadsheet program.
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Instructors can view submitted
assignments, attach grades and return them
to students. Instructors can download the
class list for use as an offline gradebook
in an external spreadsheet and they can
import completed gradebooks as uploaded
CSV files.
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Instructors and teaching assistants can
mark paragraph questions, and mark
assignments turned in through the
assignment dropbox online. Instructors can
use the gradebook for basic statistical
analysis and final grade calculation. The
grade book supports the creation of custom
columns.
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Instructors can set up tracking on
individual items as well as access the
overall summary of course usage report,
aggregate usage reports for the main
content areas, communication areas, group
areas and student areas. Instructors can
view both individual and aggregate student
usage for each report type.
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Instructors can use the activity log
for an overview of the accessing of course
resources by students.
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Instructors can track which students
use each bookmark that the instructor
included in the course.
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Instructors can view both
student-centric information (first access
date, most recent access date, histogram
showing detailed access ratios to all
parts of course for this student,
conferencing tool readings and
contributions) and content-centric
information (number of accesses to each
page of content, and average time spent on
each page of content). Instructors can
release this information to students.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Technical Specifications
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> Hardware/Software
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For a small (less than 3000
simultaneous student accesses)
installation, the recommendation is either
a 2 CPU Ultrasparc II 450 MHz or 2 CPU
Pentium III 800 MHz, with 2 GB RAM, and
either the Apache or IIS web server.
Hardware specifications for larger
installations are available on the product
website.
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The suggested minimum processor
hardware requirements are:(Intel) Single 1
GHz Pentium III processor or (SPARC) 2 x
750 MHz Ultra Sparc III processors. The
suggested minimum processor hardware
requirements are: 2GB of RAM, 72GB of disk
space in a hardware RAID-1 or RAID-5
configuration.
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Both Solaris 2.8 and Red Hat Linux 6.2
versions are available.
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Red Hat Linux for Intel libc6 6.2,7.1,
7.2 and 7.3, and Sun Sparc Solaris 7 and
8
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The software can run on Windows NT 4.0,
Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server
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Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2 or
Windows 2000 Advanced Server. (Note:
Because WebCT 3.8 uses a newer version of
Perl - v. 5.6.1.- the software cannot be
installed alongside versions earlier than
3.7 on the same Windows server.)
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Technical Specifications
|
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> Pricing/Licensing
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Founded in 1997, Blackboard is
privately-held by a number of venture
investors, media and technology companies.
Over the years it has acquired CourseInfo,
Web-Course-in-a-Box, and Prometheus course
management systems.
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The software was originally developed
In February 1997 at Western New England
College by Steven Narmontas, who at the
time served as the Instructional
Technology Coordinator for the
College.
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WebCT began as a project by a
University of British Columbia professor
Murray Goldberg to provide an online
learning tool for his students. It was
then shared widely across the internet as
a freely available product. In 1999 WebCT
was acquired by Universal Learning
Technology (ULT) and the software was
released as a commercial package. WebCT is
a privately held company backed by a group
of investors, which include CMGI@Ventures,
JPMorgan Partners, SCT, and Thomson
Corporation.
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The software is available for free and
distributed under the GNU General Public
License.
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The Campus Edition Institution License
is based on number of full-time equivalent
(FTE) students for the institution. The
Campus Edition Focus License is based on a
limited number of student seats (normally
3000).
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The software is available under the GNU
General Public License.
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The software is version 5.5
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The software is version 0.93.3.
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The software is version 3.8.
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The software is available for free.
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The software is priced based on the
number of students.
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Technical support is available via web
form, email, or telephone. Technical
support is free to two administrators per
license and available for an additional
fee to instructors or additional
administrators. Additional support
services with four-hour response time and
7x24 Support options are available at
additional cost.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Technical Specifications
|
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> Standardization
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The software implements ADA Section 508
compliance by: providing for alt tags on
all system images, a tool for instructors
to add alt tags to uploaded images.
appropriately titled framesets with
meaningful (noframes) content describing
the functionality of the frames layout,
and data tables that are optimized for use
with screen readers. Extensive
documentation on the general layout of the
software is provided in order to properly
orient students and instructors employing
assistive technologies. Many of the
features in the software have been
designed to work with the JAWS screen
reader technology.
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The software implements ADA Section 508
compliance by: providing a text equivalent
for every non-text element and meeting
other requirements. Both the chat tool and
whiteboard tool are navigable by keyboard.
The high contrast color scheme can be the
default or overridden by users. The
invisible navigation links can be used by
screen readers. The accessibility is
optimized for the following assistive
technologies: JAWS 4; Browser: Internet
Explorer 5.5 SP2; Operating System:
Windows 2000.
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The software supports IE 5.5, Netscape
4.78, and higher browser versions.
Browsers with JavaScript and Cookies
enabled are recommended but not
required.
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The software supports IE 5.0, Netscape
4.7, and higher browser versions.
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The software supports IE 5.1+, AOL 7.0,
Netscape 4.76 and 6.2.1. JavaScript must
be enabled on all versions. (Note: IE 5.5
SP1 is not supported).
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The system provides ongoing support for
open industry standards for data exchange
including IMS standards to enable
interoperability, object reusability, and
global portability of content.
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The system provides ongoing support for
open industry standards for data exchange
including IMS and SCORM standards to
enable interoperability, object
reusability, and global portability of
content.
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The software provides tools for
platform and content migration to enable
upgrades from any previous version of the
software.
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The system supports migration by
importing and exporting IMS compliant
courses.
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BlackBoard
5.5
|
ETUDES
|
Manhattan
Virtual Classroom 0.93
|
WebCT
3.8 Campus Edition
|
|
Technical Specifications
|
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> Technical Administration
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Level 1 authenticates against a
stand-alone database of users. Higher
levels provide for LDAP or Kerebos-based
authentication.
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All courses are username and password
protected. Accounts are manageable by the
instructor.
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Software supports Secure Sockets Layer
protocol (SSL) allowing requests from the
following areas to be authenticated via a
secure server: user logon, user logon
hint, user password changes, administrator
interface, and the helpdesk interface.
Added security features for online
assessment include support for IP subnet
masks, proctor passwords, and the
selective course section access to
individuals based on multiple criteria.
Administrators can set password length
restrictions and require password changes
after the initial logon and after a
specified period of time. With the
Institution License, the system supports
authentication with LDAP or Kerberos
repositories out of the box.
Administrators can also set up
fail-through authentication, so if a user
fails to authenticate against a primary
source (ex. LDAP), the system will try a
secondary source (ex. The system's own
internal user database).
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There are a number of standard access
roles (student, instructor, teaching
assistant) with associated privileges. In
addition, course sections can be made
'unavailable' during development and group
areas can restrict access to only group
participants.
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Each user is assigned a role as
student, teaching assistant,
instructor/designer, or Administrator,
with appropriate access to tools,
functions and information.
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The system software includes the
required MySQL database software.
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A hosted service is available that
provides managed software installation, 10
to 20GB storage space, 256 to 512Kbps
bandwidth usage, redundant Internet
connections, redundant and conditioned
power, 24x7 monitoring, nightly tape
backups, and a secure facility.
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There is both a standard and premium
hosting option for the system with
guaranteed system availability and
performance. The standard option provides
a standard interface to the system, while
the premium option provides a customized
interface using an institution's branding.
The premium hosting option is a co-managed
solution which includes access to select
administrative functions to make system
modifications on an as needed basis. Both
options include: basic support for two on
campus contacts, initial creation of
courses, initial loading of student
information, and system administration
services.
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The software (version 5 Level 2 and
higher) supports data interchange with
student information systems through an
event-driven API or through their tool
which is based on scheduled system
extracts.
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The software integrates with registrar
data and student information systems to
automate user enrollment.
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With the Institution License only, the
software complies with the IMS Enterprise
Specification (Student Data) API and
enables integration with IMS compliant
student information systems. The system
can accept course creation records,
student records, and student enrollment
records. The system can send mid-term and
end-of-term grade information to the
student information system. Cross listed
courses are supported.
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Most installations are performed by
local administrators. Optional, for-fee
consultation is available. The software's
administrative interface provides for
usage information such as disk usage per
course and number of student accounts per
course. The administrative interface is
all web-based. The software supports local
backup of a course to the desktop machine
for archival or crash recover purposes.
Archived courses can be restored to
overwrite another course.
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