Though the majority of professors using course Web sites create their pages with myCourses, some opt to design their own sites or take advantage of other programs.
Patricia Zudeck, senior instructional technologist for Computing and Information Services, estimated that the number of professors using outside Web sites is about one-tenth the number of professors using myCourses.
"There are some course sites on the (Web Publishing) server or department servers created using FrontPage or Dreamweaver and there are some instructors using blogs or wikis for course sites," Zudeck wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Still other professors opt for more specialized programs that cater to the needs of their given discipline.
For the first time, students enrolled in EC 11: "Principles of Economics" this semester make use of a Web site called Aplia, which was founded by economist Paul Romer and was designed with economics and finance courses in mind.
The site provides weekly homework assignments along with an online version of the class textbook.
Senior Lecturer in Economics Rachel Friedberg, who is teaching EC 11 this semester, said several features of Aplia led her to consider using it for the course.
"I decided to try Aplia this year because I thought it would help students to have a way of getting immediate feedback on the problems they are working on," Friedberg wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "The software is also superior to a textbook in that students can actually watch curves shift in a model. I think it will enhance their grasp of the analytics of the material, especially students who are less intuitive mathematically."
The site features the same material found in the course's textbook, thereby reinforcing concepts for students, according to Andre Switala GS, who serves as course organizer for EC 11.
The site "allows students to practice homework questions with immediate feedback and to go back and look at their homework results at any time during the semester," Switala wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "This makes preparation for an exam a lot easier."
Though some students might find the work tedious, at least one said he has been able to make use of the additional material available on the site.
"I think Aplia is very resourceful because it has practice tests before the graded assignments and they are very similar," said Juri Minxha '10. "Also ... full explanations are given for each incorrect answer."
Such specialized sites might not be a good fit for "the non-tech savvy user," according to Zudeck, who wrote that many professors choose to remain with myCourses because of its convenience and user-friendly features.
The program, which is an upgraded version of WebCT, "has many built in tools to help make course management easier," Zudeck wrote. "These include a calendar tool, a tool for posting announcements, a discussion board, group sign-up sheets, online assignments and assessments, a gradebook and the ability to link to library e-reserves and multimedia files."
