Project History
The project to investigate and choose an enterprise Learning Management
System for this campus began in March 2002. It was commissioned by the
Chief Information Officer and Provost and given a deadline of August
2004 for the new system to go into production.
The goal of the Illinois Compass project is to provide the campus with
a secure, robust online learning system that complements the student information
system, and provides easy to use and feature-rich online teaching tools.
Illinois Compass Announcement
After over a year of evaluating campus needs for an online teaching and learning
system and conducting in-depth evaluations of the major learning systems on the
market, CITES is pleased to introduce Illinois Compass, a new online learning
service powered by WebCT Vista. CITES will begin introducing Illinois Compass
in Spring 2004, with a full-scale release planned for Fall 2004 (see schedule
below).
Illinois Compass, powered by WebCT Vista, is an important addition to the current
learning support services that CITES offers. Illinois Compass is easily customizable,
secure, and rich in features that support teaching and learning goals important
to this campus. Illinois Compass is also able to support the rapidly growing number
of instructors and students using online learning environments, both on and off
campus. Illinois Compass will allow us to make use of UI-Integrate rosters when
they become available, which will enable us to update rosters within the system
more often. Illinois Compass also offers the potential to integrate with other
University computing systems in the future, such as the University Library computing
systems.
The transition to Illinois Compass, powered by WebCT Vista, will occur over the
next two years, and CITES will offer a full suite of support services to ease
the transition for those affected users. This transition schedule is designed
to give you plenty of time to prepare for the transition, receive training and
guidance for using the new system, and allow us to integrate Illinois Compass
with key University resources, such as UI-Integrate and Bluestem.
Schedule for Transition Period
Campus Gradebook Users
- Campus Gradebook will be retired at the end of the Spring 2004 semester.
- A customized "gradebook-only" Illinois Compass interface for former
gradebook users who do not wish to use other features offered by Compass will
be available to current Gradebook users for training and development purposes
midway through the Fall 2003 semester.
- Current Gradebook users will be able to use Illinois Compass for their course
electronic gradebook needs beginning in the Spring 2004 semester.
WebCT Campus Edition Users
- WebCT Campus Edition will be retired at the end of Summer Session II 2004.
- Illinois Compass will be available to current WebCT Campus Edition users for
training and development midway through the Spring 2004 semester.
- Current WebCT Campus Edition users will be able to use Illinois Compass for
their course management system needs beginning in Summer Session I 2004.
Blackboard Users
- Blackboard will be retired at the end of the Fall 2004 semester.
- Illinois Compass will be available to current Blackboard users for training
and development at the beginning of Summer session I 2004.
- Current Blackboard users will be able to use Illinois Compass for their course
management system needs beginning in the Fall 2004 semester.
Mallard and WebBoard Users
- There are no plans to retire these systems.
- Current Mallard and WebBoard users who are interested in using Illinois Compass
are strongly encouraged to wait until Summer session I 2004 to begin training
and development work.
- Current Mallard and WebBoard users who choose to begin using Illinois Compass
with their courses will be able to do so in the Fall 2004 semester.
Illinois Compass Pioneer Program
In Spring 2004 over 25 instructors used Illinois Compass in their classes as
members of the Illinois Compass Pioneer Program. These instructors greatly helped
us better understand the system and how it can be used as an innovative instructional
tool. Read about the Pioneer Program on our Pioneer
Program Plan web page.
|
