DRAFT
Project:
Campus Course Management System
A recent article on Course Management Systems by the UC Teaching, Learning and Technology Center begins by stating: "A web site is now considered as routine a university course component as, say, a syllabus or an exam." 1 Web-based support for instruction in some form is nearly ubiquitous in higher education at this point; many leading institutions are currently involved in their second or third iteration of campus-wide course web systems. These systems often serve familiar roles, providing easy student access to course syllabi and reading lists, as well as providing access to materials that otherwise would require visits to the Library reserve desk. Richard Katz of Educause states that "Course Management Systems automate and standardize those elements of the higher education mission that have been the subject of refinement and protection for nearly a millennium." 2 Beyond the automation of many common course information components, course web tools are also being used to explore a range of pedagogical alternatives, including collaborative learning and communities of practice, use of rich media and interactive tools, and various active learning and learner-centered practices. 3
At UCSB, we have a variety of distributed systems that address some of these issues. For a faculty member who is actively interested in exploring these tools, and who is willing to invest their own effort into learning the component technologies and managing web development projects, we do an adequate job of providing the resources and support. We have several exemplary course web sites, and a group of faculty enthusiasts who have successfully explored the application of these tools towards their pedagogical goals.
However, there are two major gaps that are impeding further adoption of these technologies beyond the current faculty enthusiasts. For faculty who are interested in the pedagogical impacts of web-based course tools but who are not interested in mastering the technologies necessary to implement these tools, there is no available set of common tools that can be easily incorporated into a course web page. This is especially frustrating for faculty coming here from institutions with Course Management Systems in place. Unlike institutions where creating a web page with a course syllabus, reading list, assignment schedule, and online discussion forum can be accomplished by selecting these options from a menu and pasting the content into forms, at UCSB faculty who are not willing to develop web pages themselves must hire someone to do this for them, using Instructional Improvement Grants or departmental funds.
The second gap is the absence of an infrastructure to support the development of specific web-based tools. For example, if a faculty member receives funding to create a simulation, the development effort also needs to account for non-discipline-specific management issues such as authentication and access control. This greatly increases the complexity of such development projects, and the cost of the replicated infrastructure reduces our ability to fund more discipline-specific development efforts.
1 When It Comes to Course Management Systems, One Size Does Not Fit All
2 Balancing Technology and Tradition: The example of Course Management Systems (pdf)
3 NLII Key Themes
Campus Course Management System
