Upgrade to CourseDen

Information

We are currently in the process of migrating courses from WebCT Vista 3 to the newer version 8. The new version will be called CourseDen and is powered by WebCT Vista/GeorgiaVIEW. Improvements include:

• faster, better performance;
• easier navigation;
• new features such as Blogs, Journals, Rosters (with student photo capabilities), and Grading-Forms (rubrics to ease grading and peer-review).
• see this link for a more complete list of improvements
• see this link for screenshots illustrating the differences between version 3 and version 8

Timeline

• Oct '08: CourseDen upgrade kick-off Oct 6 - training, migration begins - for faculty/staff workshops see training calendar.
• Dec '08: Students need to download all desired files from the WebCT Vista 3 File Manager and courses, by Dec 15th.
• Jan '09: Go-live. All Spring courses need to be migrated to CoursDen by the start of Spring term. Student orientations available.
• Feb '09: We should aim to have all other courses migrated by month's end. However, old courses will remain accessible by admin as needed.
• Aug '10: WebCT Vista 3 servers will be retired.

Migration Options

For faculty, there are several ways to migrate your files to the new Vista 8 servers. The solution that is right for you will depend on your course and its contents. The DDEC is committed to making this migration as painless as possible, assisting with weekly drop-in lab sessions across campus. Distance courses/faculty will be top priority.

• In most cases, whole Learning Modules of information and Assessments may be exported from the old system and imported into CourseDen.
• The DDEC will have weekly workshops and drop-in days where you can stop by a lab and have a staff member or student assistant help you.
• The Board of Regents will be releasing a SMART tool in late October that may allow for the export/import of entire courses.
• We advise that most multi-media be migrated to an alternate location other than the CourseDen server (more info forthcoming).
• See this Pre-Migration Checklist for more details on choosing a migration method that is best for you.

CourseDen Tutorials

CourseDen (powered by WebCT/GeorgiaVIEW) offers many new and updated features. These tutorials will help you navigate your way around the new system.

• Exploring the Interface: http://tutorials.webct.com/exploring/interface.htm

• Design Basics: http://tutorials.webct.com/exploring/design.htm

• Faculty FAQs/ Tutorials
• Student FAQs/ Tutorials