Professors and instructors will need to spend some time as students as the university makes the transition from WebCT to the new learning environment, iLearn, powered by Desire2Learn. Training workshops are now being scheduled at the Institute for Technological Scholarship for all faculty members. There are workshops for faculty who have been using WebCT and also for those who are just getting started.

WebCT will no longer be used after the summer 2007 semester. All new courses that have never been taught online before will be developed and taught in iLearn. For fall 2007, all courses using WebCT will have to be converted and taught using iLearn.

“iLearn is a great program that is more user-friendly and intuitive than WebCT,” says Lauren Neal, academic computer specialist. “We have a short timeline for transition, but we are really focusing on helping the faculty in every step of the process.”

The workshops offered by the Institute are at no cost to faculty and staff.
Several workshops are being offered throughout the month of May, including Introduction to iLearn workshops for those who are converting from WebCT and for those who are new with an online learning environment. They also have workshops in specific areas that people have requested, including content creation, using the communication tools effectively, online assignment dropbox, quizzing and Respondus.

Workshops will be added to the calendar all summer to help everyone who is interested in using iLearn provide course materials and resources to their students. Neal says the iLearn Help Lab time every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. through the month of May is a great time to come in and get some assistance as you are developing your course.

"After a couple weeks of teaching we are going to revamp what is needed and add new topic-related workshops that will run through the end of the semester and throughout the summer," says Neal. "Keep and eye on the Institute web site for more workshops to be posted."

Accounts in iLearn will not be provided for faculty until they have attended an introductory workshop. A listing of training opportunities is located on the Institute web site at http://www.tntech.edu/institute/workshops.asp.