Looking in on Professor Paul DiZio's Psychology Statistics (PSYC 152) lecture, one would see few students busy with pen and paper at hand. But they aren't slackers, nor are they relying on photographic memory. What they are using is WebCT, the Course Management System (CMS) that provides access to extensive class notes for the course, as well as many other informational resources. Marketed by WebCT and Blackboard CourseInfo, CMS is a relatively recent innovation with a dynamic future. According to a recent survey conducted by Brandeis in conjunction with Williams College and Wesleyan University, DiZio is one of the 56 percent of Brandeis faculty who use CMS; another 6 percent are planning to do so in the near future. The purpose of the study was to analyze the costs and benefits of WebCT in its current form to tailor any minor changes or radical software replacements to the needs of the University. Current research is particularly pertinent because, as Perry Hanson, chief information officer and associate provost for Academic Technology, said, "we're in a turning point in the evolution of such software, with a number of options for course management systems on the horizon."

WebCT was first marketed in 1997, emerging from an experiment on the Web's potency as a teaching tool conducted by a Computer Science Professor Murray Goldberg at the University of British Columbia in 1995.

Analyzing three groups of students - one group exposed to a traditional lecture format, a second to identical content via the Web and a third to a combination of resources -Goldberg found that while the first two faired equally well, the third displayed superior performance. With the partnership of Universal Learning Technologies of Peabody, Mass., Goldberg created a system that facilitated the creation of instructional Web sites based on criteria outlined in the study. The resulting software, WebCT, is currently used by more than 50,000 teachers at 1,500 colleges and universities, including Brandeis.

Hanson considers use of the current software to be transitional. "We started using WebCT six years ago," Hanson said, "which in this business was the beginning of time."

Given the evolution and growing versatility of CMSs, as well as dramatic price increases by the two major vendors of the software, the Brandeis/ William/Wesleyan survey was meant to determine the direction of the technological transition by detailed student and faculty feedback.

The 99 faculty members and 768 students surveyed this spring were able to reflect on a significantly lengthy experience with CMS because Brandeis was an early adopter of the technology. Of note, the survey found that while 43 percent of the faculty said they felt that organizing and updating course material online saved time and improved learning, only 9 percent reflected positively on electronic assignment drop-boxes. Of the 268 students who use Web-based technology, 15 percent said it improved learning, 39 said it provided better access to class materials and only 7 said it saved time.

The WebCT feature most unanimously recognized for improving learning and saving time is access to sample exams and quizzes.

Compared to the 88 percent of students who appreciated this capability, only 19 percent said WebCT facilitated online assignment submission. When rating features as easy or difficult to use, 22 percent of students found access to audio/video materials difficult, 19 percent found retrieving graded assignments difficult and 14 percent found online discussion boards difficult to use as well. Of the 963 Brandeis students polled, general opinion of WebCT's usability was overwhelmingly positive: Over 80 percent said they figured it out by themselves in a few minutes, 16 percent needed some help and only one percent reported considerable difficulty.

Hanson said the report singled out three prime features for efficiency and pedagogy - an online syllabus, articles and a class listserv. Conversely, the report identified a course creation wizard as a weakness of the current system, which Hanson characterized as "tedious."

While the detailed feedback from the survey might help to shape a new CMS, the report raises the question of whether CMS has a place in the classroom at all: "Do we really need a course management system in a residential college with small classes?" Hanson asked. The answer is still uncertain, but guided by these results ITS will gauge the pros and cons of course management technology and will update it appropriately in the near future.