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Teaching with WebCT
WebCT is a powerful tool for your online classroom. It has a lot of functionalitiy and can help you with everything from quizzing students and leading discussions on a topic to tracking student progress through a gradebook. Because WebCT can do so many things, it is somewhat complicated to learn. The following information will help you learn the ins and outs of teaching with WebCT. (Please note that it is highly recommended that you have at least three full days of training before you start a WebCT course.)

Requesting a New WebCT Course
To start your WebCT course, you will need to first request space on the WVNET server for a new course. Fill out this request form.

Under "Type of Request" select the first option - "Request a new WebCT 3.6 course ID."
Fill in your name, address, etc.
If you are already using WebCT, make sure you put your current WebCT ID in the "Global ID" box.
Under Course Information, for "WebCT Version" select "3.6 Development."

Using WebCT as an Instructor
Here are a few places to get started if you need to learn more about using WebCT.

WebCT 3.6 Getting Started Tutorial is a .pdf document from the WebCT site. It is 68 pages and provides a guide to designing a course with WebCT.

These WebCT courses from the University of Massachusetts are designed specifically for faculty. They do not get into the nitty-gritty of using WebCT but rather concentrate on online teaching issues such as copyright, course planning, and interactivity. To access these courses,

Click on "See Courses"
From Course Categories, choose "AC Faculty Tutorials"
To enter as "guest" click on either of the course titles
Enter guest for user name and password

The faculty development section of the WebCT site has links to a wide selection of articles about online teaching and learning.

E-packs and Other Ready-made Content

If you haven't had a chance to do so, you may want to spend some time exploring ready-made online course content. WebCT calls these items e-packs. E-packs are usually from the textbook companies. They are WebCT courses that have been pre-made to work with a textbook. If you use them for your classes, you can add or modify the course however you like. Access codes for the students are often shrink-wrapped with the textbooks. Or your students can purchase the access codes from WebCT for a reasonable fee (about $10). Start looking with the search on the WebCT site. Hint: If you can't find the specific course title you are looking for, try more general terms. Or search for the software program (Photoshop, AutoCAD) you use in the course.

Some textbook companies have similar online content separate from the WebCT world. Pearson Distributed Learning lists supplemental content for a variety of publishers including Prentice Hall and Addison Wesley. This can range from WebCT e-packs to websites with animations. Search the Pearson website here.