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Why use a courseware tool?

Courseware tools are specialized software programs set up to work with Web servers to enable faculty or assistants to create an educationally oriented Web site without prior knowledge of HTML or how to prepare and organize files and put them on a server. The programs have been customized to anticipate faculty and student needs, and have various interactive features built in to allow collaboration. They also include testing features, and course management components like class lists and gradebooks.

Some individual colleges at UT provide services for other courseware tools suited to their needs, but the Blackboard courseware tool is available to all faculty, campus-wide. UT Austin offers free Web-based services, server space, training programs and consulting support for Blackboard.

Blackboard at UT
Blackboard directly integrates with UT Direct, and provides built-in chat and online discussion capabilities for every course offered at the University. If faculty members want to take advantage of Blackboard services, using it is easy. Newcomers to Web publishing should be able to put up a syllabus and resource materials after the first training session. Additional components and class management features are also available, including a digital dropbox for students to submit assignments. Course sites are password-protected, using UT's EID, and available only to registered students.

Blackboard features:

• A simple, fixed interface well-suited to the needs of a novice user
• Easy to post a syllabus and course handouts
• Automatic uploading of student information to your class roster
• Access to the course is based on a participants UT EID
• Can publish materials in Microsoft Word instead of HTML
• Shared whiteboard, chat functionality and the capability for group Web navigation
• Control over chat rooms archives
• Archives components for courses
• An e-mail system that uses a separate e-mail account