ITRC News
Howlett and Shoemaker to present at the 2004 DLA Conference
Two members of the ITRC, Bernadette Howlett and Kelly Shoemaker, have been accepted to present a paper at the Distance Learning Administration (DLA) conference to be held at Jekyll Island, Georgia on May 23-26, 2004. The DLA symposiums are specifically designed for those involved or interested in the administration, management, planning, and evaluation of distance learning programs.
Their paper is titled, "Don't Make Them Think: Exceeding Excellence in Online Course Administration." It describes the ITRC's system for creating new WebCT course sites and ensuring that courses are archived and reserved for future instruction. This system has enabled ITRC staff to effectively handle the rapidly expanding use of WebCT, which has grown from fewer than 30 course sites in 1997 to more than 1000 today.
The strategies employed in the ITRC have increased the accuracy of communications with instructor/designers and the reduced the degree to which follow-up communication is needed to perform basic tasks. The end result is that course management requires fewer resources. The ideas in this paper should be very valuable to other institutions managing online courses.