Fall Migration From ACES WebCT Server to Illinois Compass
Background
For the past number of years the College of ACES has been running and supporting its own WebCT server for the benefit of the students and instructors in the College, but licensing issues and company changes have made this an unviable solution. On the positive, our ACES WebCT system uses software very similar to that used for Illinois Compass, and a number of your ACES colleagues have successfully used Illinois Compass for years.
Transitioning to the New System
We will not be hosting course sites on our ACES WebCT server this Fall, and can help instructors who wish to teach with Illinois Compass this Fall. The primary consideration is whether to request a new course site in Illinois Compass, or to copy over and migrate older course sites. CITES EdTech staff recommend starting fresh with new, blank course sites for most instructors. A brief consultation in your own office with an EdTech staff member can save time and help you come up with the best (technical and pedagogical) methods for using the new Illinois Compass system
Our Illinois Compass Process and Your Options
All Illinois Compass course sites must be requested via the online course request form:
http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/edtech/teaching_software/compass/siterequest.html
This is significantly different from the ACES model, where course sites were built automatically for faculty. Since Illinois Compass serves the entire campus, course sites are built by faculty request.
- To begin exploring Illinois Compass on your own, use the online Illinois Compass request form today to request your fall course site in order to avoid the start-of-semester rush.
- To copy over course sites from the ACES WebCT server to Illinois Compass, email Clark Roberts (acewebct@uiuc.edu) and also use the Illinois Compass request form (use the "additional comments" box to let EdTech staff know which ACES course you would like copied: Course Rubric; Title; year; semester).
- For a quick consult on the best strategies for moving into the new Illinois Compass, please email: edtech@uiuc.edu
Much of the campus has already moved over and begun working with the new Illinois Compass system, so we believe this transition will be transparent to the students, easy on you, and help reduce confusion regarding multiple WebCT systems on campus.
In addition to consulting help, CITES EdTech offers formal training, which you can find listed on their training calendar. EdTech staff highly recommend that instructors using Illinois Compass either consult with an EdTech staff member or sign up for their "Illinois Compass Essentials" 2 hour workshop: http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/edtech/training/compass/index.html
For questions or help, contact Clark Roberts (acewebct@uiuc.edu) or CITES EdTech (edtech@uiuc.edu)
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