Guide to UWO WebCT Online Student Services & Course Tools

WebCT is the proprietary virtual learning environment system that is sold to colleges and other institutions. Now Blackboard owns WebCT (also termed as Blackboard Learning System) which is used in many campuses for e-learning. The basic features like document management, contact management, web-based email, expandable intranet and extranet workspaces, forums(discussion boards), announcements as well as other special features live chat, content management (including documents, presentations and web pages) can be modified by instructors and system administrators. WebCT was the first e-learning course management system that got success world wide and at that stage it was in use by over 10 million students in 80 countries.

Screenshot of webct.uwo.ca

UWO stands for The University of Western Ontario which is one of the oldest Canadian public research universities. Undergraduate and graduate degrees are granted by the university in over 400 majors, minors and specializations. It was established in 1878 and situated at London, Ontario, and Canada.

Originally, a faculty member in computer science, Murray Goldberg developed WebCT at the University of British Columbia. Through the use of a web-based educational resource, or web-based course tools, student satisfaction and academic performance could be enhanced. In 1997, a company WebCT Educational Technologies Corporation was formed by Goldberg, a spinoff company of UBC.

In mid-1999, ULT (Universal Learning Technology) obtained WebCT. ULT (Universal Learning Technology) is a Boston-based company headed by Carol Vallone. The position of Canadian president of WebCT was resigned by Goldberg in 2002. Rival Blackboard Inc purchased WebCT in February 2006.

If you are first time login to your Fall-Winter courses in WebCT OWL, you can get several options regarding your course content.

Blank Course : For starting with a blank course, select the first option, “Set up a blank course” and click Continue. After that you will have to select the tools to add the course. Simply click the “Select All Tools” checkbox at the top of the list and then click save, if you are unsure at this point which tools you may want to use. A yellow confirmation bar will be received by you that will be given at the top of the next page which reads, “Congratulations! You are ready to build your course.”

If you want to learn more about the major areas of WebCT OWL or about the fundamentals of building a course, then click on “Exploring the Interface tutorial” or “Design Basics tutorial” respectively. Both “Exploring the Interface tutorial” and “Design Basics tutorial” are located under the heading “Tutorials”.

Copy Content from another Course : The “Copy content from another course” is the second option. To use that content in your course and you have been working in a development area in OWL, then you will have to select this option and click continue option. The courses will be seen by you on the next screen, select the course which you want to copy content.

For example: ‘Fall-Winter 2007-2008 – Course Name and Number’; or ‘New Development – Course Name and Number/Username’.
You wish to have copied, if once the content has been selected by you. For WebCT OWL, the default start screen will appear, click, “Done” to continue.

For login to UWO WebCT, you will have to open the https://owl.uwo.ca/webct/entryPage.