The Future of Course Management Systems
Dr. Deborah Everhart, everhart@georgetown.edu
Sr. Architect, Blackboard Inc.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
At Blackboard, Dr. Everhart provides leadership in product strategy and development.
Her responsibilities include researching, analyzing, and designing features and
functionality for new products, including the next generation of Blackboard and
WebCT integrations.
She teaches in Georgetown University's Medieval Studies program. She received her
Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Everhart has been using
computers in the classroom since 1985. The Labyrinth, the medieval studies
Website that she co-directs with Martin Irvine, was the first Web project at
Georgetown University.
She served for six years as the Sr. Internet Development Coordinator in University
Information Services at Georgetown University, where she acted as Internet2
Applications Representative, coordinated the University's Web development and
policies, and implemented and supported Blackboard.
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Yesterday—Inefficiencies and Lost Productivity
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No such thing as online
Manual processes
Walking to offices to fill out forms
Waiting in line for course registration
Ordering textbooks on hardcopy forms
Typing the syllabus and other handouts
Photocopying
Yesterday—Limited Access to Content
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Only hardcopy
Students lost the syllabus
Difficulty adjusting the syllabus
Out of date textbooks
No good way to make “links” between the materials
Books checked out of the library
Interlibrary loan
Yesterday—Few Communication Methods
 Classroom
 After class
 Office hours
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Yesterday—Knowledge Sharing and Creation
 Faculty to student knowledge sharing outside the
classroom—office hours, mentoring
 Student to student knowledge sharing—study groups
 Student knowledge creation—solitary, often
unverified
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Today—Efficiencies and Improved Productivity
 Materials can be always available online, anytime,
anywhere
 Processes and services can be delivered online
 Syllabus and assignments are online
 Auto-grading of quizzes and tests
 Online Gradebook
 Performance Dashboard to monitor student progress
and participation
 Online calendar, tasks, contacts
 Full environment of supporting services to enable
success
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Today—Access to Content
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Always available online
Links to library materials
Online journals (and entire books)
Online course reserve readings
Rapid updates in textbooks
Online connections to supplementary textbook
materials and tools
 RSS subscriptions for personalized delivery of
updated information
 Real time news connections
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Today—Communication Methods
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Discussion boards
Email
Chat
IM
Who’s Online
Online presentation tools
Conference calls
Virtual Classroom
Today—Knowledge Sharing and Creation
 Faculty/Student knowledge sharing via collaboration
online without physical barriers
 Feedback instantaneous
 Online testing
 Self-testing
 Student to student knowledge sharing organized
both by faculty and by the students
 Student group work in online private spaces
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Near Term—Efficiencies and Improved Productivity
 Web 2.0—inline editing, personalization, memory of
recent actions and preferences
 Early notifications of student progress
 Efficiencies of online evaluation and continuous
improvement processes
 Online tools for institutional surveys, course
evaluations, and other feedback mechanisms
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Near Term—Access to Content
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Learning Object repositories
Unbundling content
Static content => Collaborative content development
Wikis
Blogs
Podcasts
Online => untethered
Near Term—Communication Methods
 Increasingly portable
 IM and email on cell phones
 Forwarding services
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Near Term—Knowledge Sharing and Creation
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Course-centric => learner centric
Faculty-centric => Empowering students
ePortfolios
Solitary learning => Social learning and peer review
Notes to oneself => social tagging
Future Think— Efficiencies and Improved Productivity
 Proximity alerts
 Ubiquitous wireless
 Access to the Web of global information from any
device
 Search agents
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Future Think—Access to Content
 Augmented reality
 Global online libraries with full content digitized and
highly hyperlinked
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Future Think—Communication Methods
 Ubiquitous real-time communication and
collaboration
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Future Think—Knowledge Sharing and Creation
 Vast networks of socially constructed knowledge
 Bookmarks and tagging/commentary of peers-folksonomies
 Subscriptions to follow the paths of others
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