In fall 1997, Academic Affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville formed a Web Task Force to address teaching and learning online. The Task Force comprised faculty members, administrators, and support staff from across campus. Its mission was to identify issues concerning online delivery of courses and discuss solutions regarding policy, implementation, cost, and support solutions. The Innovative Technologies Collaborative (ITC) was charged with reviewing popular course management systems (CMS) and selecting one for the University. The goal was to choose a package that did not require users to learn HTML and offered features and options to accommodate the needs of faculty just beginning to publish materials on the Web as well as experienced Web publishers and end users.

During phase one, Web Instructional Technologists Gina P. Roberts and Rhonda J. Spearman looked at several CMS packages including WebCT, TopClass, and Lotus Learning Space. The process included loading demo software onto a server and creating mock courses to test the tools and features. The evaluation centered on course design, administration, testing, student use, communication tools, interface design, customer support, hardware and software requirements, cost and general usability of the packages.

The second phase involved forming a faculty focus group comprising faculty members from across the University with skill levels from beginner to "bleeding edge" expert to review the two CMS packages selected by the ITC. For two four-hour days, faculty evaluated WebCT and Blackboard's CourseInfo by building courses using files and materials provided by the ITC. These materials consisted of URLs, word processing documents, spreadsheets, animations, movies, audio files, PDF documents, HTML files, and print-based tests to transfer into the test generators. At the end of the evaluation process the faculty members chose Blackboard's CourseInfo unanimously.

Twenty-five faculty members were chosen to pilot the use of CourseInfo to deliver course curriculum online. They received little instruction after initializing their course accounts but were provided with phone, email, and one-on-one support upon request. The ITC also developed a Web site with support materials and information.

Faculty and students have been very pleased with CourseInfo and the powerful features it provides. As with any pilot, the test group has suggested improvements, and Blackboard has responded enthusiastically to suggestions. Most troubleshooting centers on typical user issues such as forgotten passwords and user error. The most interesting discovery of the pilot run has been the number of students unaccustomed to browsing the Web or working in a multiple window environment, whether Mac or WinTel, Netscape or Internet Explorer. The most popular features of CourseInfo are the built-in online gradebook, digital dropbox, and chat facilities with virtual field trip capabilities. In four courses students have never met face-to-face with the instructor and other class members. The groups communicate through email, their discussion board, and chat. Collaborative group projects in these courses have also been successful.

Courses at UTK using CourseInfo include journalism, education, engineering, agricultural sciences, information sciences, and business administration. If you wish to visit UTK's CourseInfo courses as a guest, please send email to online@utk.edu to request the information.