University of Houston Selects WebCT Vista to Accommodate Accelerating Enrollments; Academic Enterprise System Will Provide Scalability Plus Unique Online Identity for Two Institutions

Business Wire, March 8, 2004

Business Editors/Education Writers/High-Tech Writers

LYNNFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2004

The University of Houston has selected the WebCT Vista(TM) academic enterprise system to accommodate online enrollments that are predicted to double over the next two years to nearly 75,000 seats. WebCT Vista will supplement traditional classroom learning and power distance-learning courses.

Other reasons the university chose WebCT Vista over alternatives include its ability to:

-- support multiple educational entities, such as separate

campuses, in a central installation;

-- create, store, tag, reuse, import, export, manage and share

content beyond course boundaries;

-- define sophisticated role-based access to content, tools and

information; and

-- strategically leverage student learning data across the

institution.

WebCT Vista pilot courses will begin in the spring, and the system will go live in fall 2004. After that, the University of Houston will integrate the system with a new campus portal and its PeopleSoft student information system.

In addition to handling escalating numbers of students, WebCT Vista will enable the University of Houston-Victoria, a 2,100-student institution southwest of Houston, to adopt its own look, feel, identity and "brand," all powered by the same server and software supporting the University of Houston main campus.

"WebCT Vista helps us consolidate selected campus systems and content into an efficient academic enterprise," said Dr. Betty Roberts, the University of Houston's associate vice president for technology support services. "At the same time, institutions like UH-Victoria can interact autonomously with their students and manage their programs independently. This is important because it bonds students to the school they're attending, which is especially important for distance learners. Consequently, backed by faculty and instructional designers, we concluded that WebCT Vista is the best product to support the growth of our campus over the long term."

Selecting WebCT Vista extends the University of Houston's relationship with WebCT, which started four years ago when it standardized on WebCT Campus Edition(TM). This fall, online enrollments will be up to 584 courses, 38,000 seats and 24,000 unique users at the main and Victoria campuses alone.

"The University of Houston used WebCT Campus Edition to initiate and grow its e-learning program with tremendous success," said Carol Vallone, WebCT president and CEO. "As e-learning reaches an enterprise scale, the University of Houston and the University of Houston-Victoria are smoothly moving to an enterprise application that will take the universities' program to the next level and support further success for years to come."

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 34,400 students. For more information about UH, visit the university's "Newsroom" at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.

About the University of Houston-Victoria

The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region, is an upper-level institution that offers undergraduate and graduate students more than 30 degree programs and concentrations in the Schools of Arts & Sciences, Business and Education. A faculty of experts at UHV offers students individual attention to help them succeed, whether learning in a classroom or online. UHV is defined more as a delivery system than as a location, as the university extends instruction, learning support, student services and community outreach to any area. Although it serves primarily commuting students from Victoria and surrounding counties, UHV also offers degree programs in collaboration with other UH System institutions at two off-campus centers in Fort Bend County, and offers courses at a number of off-campus sites in the region. Since its founding in 1973, outreach, community partnerships and collaboration have characterized UHV's history and mission.

About WebCT

WebCT has set the standard for e-learning systems in higher education. Based in Lynnfield, Mass., WebCT provides a highly flexible e-learning environment that empowers institutions across the educational spectrum with the ability to achieve their unique objectives. Thousands of colleges and universities around the world - from community colleges to large university consortia - are using WebCT to expand the boundaries of teaching and learning. For more information, please visit www.webct.com.