IN THIS ISSUE

VIEWPOINT

• What’s In It for the Cat? CMS Policy as Coordinated Autonomy

NEWS & PRODUCT UPDATES

• California State System Expands WebCT Relationship
• Re-branding is Basis for CMS Investment at N.J. Tech
• Stanford Upgrades Open Source ‘CourseWork’ CMS
• Texas College Demos New Open Source CMS
• Syllabus Radio: Selecting a CMS

CASE STUDY

• Faculty Satisfaction and Perceived Learning via a CMS

TECH NOTES

• University Consortium Tackle MLE Standards Integration

READER RESPONSE

• Tell us what you think about the new CMS newsletter

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What’s In It for the Cat? CMS Policy as Coordinated Autonomy

Stephen R. Acker, Ohio State University

Cats are autonomous creatures of mysterious mind. Trying to ‘herd cats’ assures frustration because it opposes two forces: control and independence. ‘Enticing cats,’ aka organizing the self-interests of faculty, aligns motivation and independence, unleashing remarkable agility, grace, and concerted movement toward a goal. ‘Coordinating autonomy’ is the proper model for setting CMS policies to achieve institutional goals.

The dissertation had focused on the development of three early online courses from Ohio State’s College of the Arts. The process the candidate had presented was intriguing because each of the three course teams had elected to work in isolation, consciously choosing not to learn from each other’s successes and failures. Were these case studies unique to the Arts, bastion of self-expression and individualism; or had the Arts again laid bare the obvious so we could see the universal? We concluded it was the latter; individuals inherently resist control until persuaded social oversight is in their self-interest.

Steve Acker ([email protected]) is director of Learning Technologies Research and Innovation and associate professor of communication at the Ohio State University.

California State System Expands WebCT Relationship

Nine California State University campuses have upgraded to WebCT Campus Edition 4.0 course management system. Earlier this year CSU signed a deal to make the WebCT CMS available to all 23 campuses, their 414,000 students and 46,000 faculty and staff. Seven of the campuses are running WebCT exclusively at this point. Kathy Fernandes, director of academic technologies at California State University, Chico, said the upgrade will help its faculty “deploy new courses more quickly.” She also said faculty reported that the platform “encourages innovation.” WebCT 4.0 users in the system now include Bakersfield, Chico, Los Angeles, Northridge, Pomona, Sacramento, San
Marcos, Sonoma and San Jose.

Re-branding is Impetus for CMS Investment at N.J. Tech

The New Jersey Institute of Technology is using its CMS system to improve the brand image of the university to visitors to its Web site. CIO David Ullman said its rebranding initiative would help communicate its commitment to institutional excellence. "Our Web site had grown organically over the years," said Ullman. "There was no consistentbrand throughout the site and no consistency in navigation. It createda difficult experience for end users." The school is using the SCT Luminis Content Management Suite to convert thousands of Web pages to a collection of easier-to-use, well-branded templates.

Stanford Updates Open Source ‘CourseWork’ CMS

Stanford has updated its open source course management system, called CourseWork, which it released this summer. Changes to CourseWork include enhanced security and encryption (via migration to WebAuth 3.1), enhanced performance (via migration to Oracle 9i, Tomcat 4, and JDK 1.4). Other new features include an Event Sign-Up Tool, time-saving measures for replace, add, and save functions on the CMS, improved e-mail functionality, a bookmarkable URL for CoursWork courses, improved content re-ordering, and upgraded accessibility.

Texas College Demos New Open Source CMS

Texas’s Tarrant County College and Tap Internet, a Michigan-based Web software developer, announced a new open-source course management system. LogiCampus, which was developed with public grant money, provides a single sign-on for students, faculty, and staff. The CMS provides standard tools for faculty to create their online courses, process assignments, make tests and stay in contact with students. LogiCampus is built on top of Tap Internets open source application server called LogiCreate. A LogiCampus demo can be ran from three different standpoints; administrator, teacher and student. Each standpoint has different options and different applications available to them.

Learn more

Syllabus Radio: Selecting a CMS

Kathy Christoph explains how the University of Wisconsin selected a new course management system, through an in-depth study of campus requirements and user input, and a rigorous evaluation of potential CMS vendors.

Listen now

Faculty Satisfaction and Perceived Learning via a CMS

The University of Missouri at St. Louis adopted Blackboard as its web course management system in the fall semester of 2000, after several years using a homegrown Web course tool. The customized name for Blackboard is MyGateway, part of a blended, course delivery strategy to enhance learning and help faculty manage class communications, sharing of documents and grade reports. For the past three years, the university has conducted a survey of student or faculty satisfaction with the system, assessing its impact on both teach and learning. Among its findings: more than half of students access the CMS primarily off-campus; students in classes with high use of the CMS were statistically more likely to review lecture notes for clarification; discuss ideas with other students; and complete course assignments on time; and to complete their degree at UMSL.

University Consortium Tackle MLE Standards Integration

The Universities of Indiana, Michigan, MIT, Stanford, have set up a project to build a framework where managed learning environment (MLE) components can be plugged and played in a variety of institutional networks. The project, dubbed SAKAI, would integrate the latest batch of interoperability standards, including Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs), and the release of the new JSR 168 Portlet specification. According to an article by Wilbert Kraan, a staffer at the Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards, “the proposed solution is a combination of tight control and tight deadlines, imposed on a manageable core of institutions that between them may have enough clout to give the project enough momentum to sustain itself. That, and the commitment to build on standards.”