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The best thing about teaching is time spent working directly with students. In order to make that time be as productive as possible, I try to make certain students have the information they need to be prepared and successful in my communications and management courses.

When I first began teaching, I developed a website for students (WITwork.com) where I could post assignments, presentations, additional reading materials and resource links. This afforded a way to provide all the course materials in one place. Then Wentworth introduced a course management system (CMS) that allows me to do all these things and more.

Why use a CMS?

• The CMS provides a way for students to interact with each other, to share information, and to collaborate online. You can monitor, direct and support this collaboration.
  
• Assignments can all be posted so students know precisely what their deliverables are. If you accept assignments via email, think about the simplicity of having students leave their submission in a digital drop box, attached to the specific assignment. You can review their work and enter a grade all at the same website.
  
• You can provide course materials, hand-outs, presentations, or additional resources to all the students at any time, from anywhere, without a trip to the copy machine.
  
• Tests and quizzes can be given online. While this isn’t appropriate in all situations, the benefits are that students can get immediate feedback on their performance and the grades can be automatically entered into the grade book.
  
• Students can be given the ability to see their grades so they can track their own progress.
  
• Once you build a course in a CMS, you can reuse all or part of it in future semesters. You can even share a course with other instructors.
  

How are we using the CMS this semester? My Advanced Technical Writing students are using WebCT to work on a service learning project for Madison Park Development Corporation. They use the message boards to share research and maintain the project schedule. My Labor Relations class uses WebCT to check on assignments, see their grades, access the class presentations, and take practice exams.

The most important question – does it enhance the learning experience? I believe it does. It allows me to provide more materials than I would be able print and distribute. It encourages a connection to the course and with each other for students outside the classroom. It helps students keep current on assignments.

What do students think of the CMS? For the past year, I’ve polled my students on this question. Students overwhelmingly like having 24/7 access to their assignments. Most students like having the core and supplemental materials available online as well. And everyone appreciates being able to see their progress through the grade book.

Does a CMS force you to teach a different way? No, but it does enable you to teach in new ways if you so choose. It also allows you to spend more time teaching and less time gathering and distributing information. You can select to use only the features you like. It takes a bit of time to learn how to use all the features, but you can tailor the tool to meet your needs and the investment is well worth it.