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Getting started with WebTutor™ on
WebCT™ is fast and easy.
Incorporating WebTutor on WebCT into a course
is a quick and easy process turning everyone in your class into a front-row
student by providing a totally interactive educational experience.
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"There is so much built-in help and the publisher is very
supportive, offering a technology support hotline and Web site."
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Bill Rech
Buck Community College
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WebTutor on WebCT is the latest online learning
tool from South-Western/Thomson Learning designed to help students grasp
even the most complex topics in a wide variety of academic disciplines.
For instructors, WebTutor offers powerful customization, class management,
and communication tools that ensure optimal support for your teaching strategies
and students' needs.
Professor Bill Rech of Buck Community College
has successfully integrated South-Western's WebTutor on WebCT into his
course materials and is very happy with the flexibility and thoroughness
that resulted. Professor Rech teaches courses in continuing education
and business and Industry as well as certification courses required by
state and local health departments.
For Bill, it all started after he read an
article about WebCT and then met with Michele Progansky, a South-Western/Thomson
Learning sales representative. Michele was able to run a demo for Bill
from the South-Western Web site and answer questions on the spot as he
watched.
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Learn more about WebTutor
on WebCT™ or WebTutor on Blackboard™ , our platform-driven
systems for complete Web-based course management and delivery. Learn
how to easily facilitate class discussions, office hours, collaborative
work, and more, with chats, discussions, and e-mail!
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After meeting with Michele, Bill decided
that WebTutor would be an asset to his courses, and he has gradually moved
to using WebCT for all of his courses. He said getting started was easy.
Bill commented, "I read the WebTutor on WebCT Instructor's Guide that
was supplied with the WebTutor disk from the publisher. I then took a
short, two-hour class offered on campus called 'Getting Started on WebCT.'
After that, I did a lot of trial and error. For me, this is the way to
really get to know new software. In addition, there is so much built-in
help and the publisher is very supportive, offering a technology support
hotline and Web site."
Now that Bill has successfully implemented
WebTutor on WebCT into his courses, he says he really likes the ability
to test his class often on small amounts of information. "The e-mail,
chat rooms, and calendars that are part of each course allow for students
to never really miss a class. I can make sure that they get all material
and that I answer their questions, even if they must miss a scheduled
class meeting."
Bill also likes to use WebCT's e-mail feature
for course-specific questions and problems. This feature allows instructors
to keep their main e-mail account separate from class-specific e-mail,
reserving their accounts for advising and administrative e-mails.
South-Western's commitment to technology
is giving instructors more teaching options than ever before by making
it easy to incorporate the latest software applications into their courses.
Instructors can use the technology as much or as little as they like,
depending on their teaching style and subject matter.
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South-Western's technology solutions help
instructors build student confidence.
With more teaching options available, instructors
are able to custom design their courses to meet the needs of their students.
South-Western's technologically-oriented approach
to learning allows instructors to combine traditional texts with online
components to meet the changing needs of their students. Flexible and
easy to use, instructors can implement South-Western's technology solutions
at their comfort level and continue to add and change options as needed.
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"I was introduced
to WebTutor two years ago. I was intrigued by the huge opportunities
provided through WebTutor for interactivity in Economics (in my
case). Anything, that can help me to maintain the attention and
interest of my students and keep it, is awesome!" -
Fola Odebumni
Cypress College
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Professor Fola Odebumni, of Cypress College
in Cypress California has implemented WebTutor into her classes and enjoys
the variety of options she has to custom design her classes.
As a WebTutor user, Professor Odebumni likes
the fact that all of the features in South-Western's WebTutor are available
to her offline classes. This was how she was able to design her hybrid
classes. She started using WebTutor for her online classes a year ago.
The Interactive Study Center in WebTutor is a feature she really likes.
Within that center, she makes great use of the graphing tutorials, case
studies, online research, and glossary, but notes that her favorite feature
is 'interactive quizzes.' Odebumni states, "They are great because they
encourage my students to read and gives them hands-on testing of their
understanding of the course materials. They are also able to get instant
feedback on their efforts, and therefore, they have an indication on what
area of the topic/chapter they need to study more."
Giving the WebTutor quizzes after each chapter
allows her students to gain confidence in their learning strategy, and
she says she really likes that. The quizzes are available in different
formats, so regardless of their test-taking skills, her students all have
the opportunity to succeed. In addition, she creates her own quizzes for
evaluation covering five chapters at a time, using the 'World Class Testing'
software. She then uploads those quizzes, at least 4 times during the
semester on her course Web site. She says she is looking forward to the
automatic Internet posting for her self-created quizzes. She feels that
the ability to correspond online on a regular basis helps to increase
her students comfort level with the course materials. "I incorporate "Live-chats"
about six times during the semester through WebTutor, and assign electronic
bulletin board assignments every other week as well. I find that being
able to keep in close touch with my students is very helpful and WebTutor
makes it easy."
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