Re: [seul-edu] [Fwd: Alternative to Web CT?]

["Prevett, Larry" <Prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us>]

Here's two messages about this.

You can get a list of vendors of courseware from
(long link - should all be on one line.)

http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Instructional_Technology/Higher_Educatio
n/Course_Website_Software/

(Or go to http://www.dmoz.org, search for 'Blackboard', then
click on that link.)

Cochise uses 'Blackboard' for their online courses.
I think Maricopa Community College District (Phoenix) uses
IntraKal (Anlon) - not sure about that.

The only two companies I know of that run in a Linux
environment are

Prometheus http://www.prometheus.com/
and
Virtual-U http://www.vlei.com/

While these products seem to work well with many
courses, from what I have seen, none of the companies really
address the special needs of mathematics and science.
Thus, many math and science instructors are very
skeptical about the ability to adequately deliver all of
their material online, especially in the case of lab courses.
I haven't made up my mind yet about all that yet - I'm
trying to keep an open mind while still being cautious.

In any case, I think that online material should be thoroughly
tested in a 'face-to-face' environment so you can see
what is working with students and what is not. WIMS has
been very helpful with that.

If WIMS could be extended to support online courses,
especially for math and science, that would be great.

L. Prevett
Mathematics Instructor
Cochise College, Sierra Vista, AZ, US
prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us