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Description:	UmassOnline and UMass Boston collaborated to design a course template for faculty who were new to WebCT Vista. This template reduced the upfront learning curve and helped faculty develop skills to create their first WebCT Vista course. Learn how using templates can bring faculty up to speed quickly and allow them to build out their courses over time as they gain more experience with WebCT.
Presentation Format:	Poster
Topic:	Deploying enterprise e-learning: Strategies for success
Target Audience:	Course Designers, System Administrators, E-learning Managers, K-12 Educational Staff
Appropriate Audience Level:	Beginning or new users of WebCT
WebCT Version:
Abstract Text:	UMBoston had to transition to WEBCT Vista from a previous LMS in an aggressive timetable with slim staff to train faculty and no funds to compensate faculty for this training time. In addition a large number of UMB faculty adopting WEBCT Vista were computer novices. Given this situation, UmassOnline (UMOL; the UMass System's vehicle for online instruction) and UMB collaborated to design a template that provided a quick route for faculty to create a WEBCT Vista course, providing them with a simple course structure that they can build on as they gain more experience with WEBCt. This template reduced the upfront learning curve of WEBCT to 6 hours and provided faculty with the new skills they needed to create their first WEBCT Vista Course. The template contains selected tools, a forum for course communication, a sample online syllabus, and assignment template. Faculty were taught to upload their Syllabus and Course Assignment Document using WEBDAV and provided with an intro to the WEBCT Vista software. This program was tested in the Fall of 05 and piloted in the spring semester 06. In addition to providing information about the development and implementation of this strategy, this panel session will highlight 3-4 courses and show how they evolved over the course semester