Distance Course on Electronic Democracy and Identity Theft

WebCt will disappear as soon as someone designs the firewalled management system we REALLY want.
No one likes WebCT. No one really likes Windows.

Oh sure, we use them. We also go to the dentist and have regular blood tests. But we don’t like it.
Just log in to WebCt for a minute.

Look at this harsh and authoritarian interface. Examine the bulleted lists. The text-based assumptions. Check out the lack of aesthetics.

“Whoa, Schmidt you talkin’ bout Ae WHAT!? Aesthetics!? Whaddaya think this is? An Art class!”

Ahhhh. That’s just the problem. We in academia for the most part think that something inviting, interesting, graphically exciting, maybe even infused with motion, video, Flash, and sound is a SELL OUT.

So, we feel “academic” and “serious” if our material is text-based, word-o-centric as I call it. Black and white would be even better!

You can’t imagine what happened when I signed a contract in 1984 with West Publishing and we came out with the first four color, graphically rich, well designed American Government textbook!
• “Trivializes education.”
• “Sells out to student’s lower instincts.”
• “Do we really want comic book textbooks?”

Well, by 2004 our book had become the best selling American government textbook in the world. It is now out in Chinese too (no color and pretty basic). So, students love the book. Professors find it a compelling way to reach a generation of Americans that is totally visual.

Now back to WebCT.

It needs a complete makeover or it needs to move over
.
I will blog again on how I (and my students) visualize a WebCt “for the rest of us.”

For now ask yourself, ‘Does WebCT look like ANY of your favorite web sites?”

Go look at http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/, - what’s the difference in the look and feel between these and WebCt?

Are you paying attention?!