Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune

Last Thursday, McGill’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) held an event for staff to introduce the new MyCourses software, which will replace the current system on May 1, 2012. The old software, WebCT Vista, was implemented in 2005, but its vendor will no longer be supporting the outdated program as of Jan. 2013. 

Ghiliane Roquet, McGill’s Chief Information Officer, explained that this need for new software also presented opportunities to upgrade its features. A majority of the upgrades are intended to make it easier for instructors to disseminate information, from course-related materials to announcements.  

“We want to be able to provide [staff and students] with a stable environment … with at least a parity of what you have now—and hopefully a lot more,” Roquet said.  

The software selection process included software demonstrations on campus and opportunities for staff and student feedback. Finally, Desire2Learn (D2L), a Canadian e-learning company located in Waterloo, Ontario, was signed to a 3-year renewable license to supply McGill with a new version of the MyCourses software. 

Some new features of the software include a completely new look, the introduction of widgets, and a revised discussion board that can link up to specific content on MyCourses. The discussion board is the most used feature on MyCourses by students, tallying nearly 33 million hits per semester. There is also a new option for staff and students to have a display picture that will then show up on discussion boards and class listings. 

Elan Weinstock, a U3 student in the faculty of management and part-time employee with McGill’s IT services, described the two features that he is most looking forward to using: its central calendar and the mobile platform. The mobile platform, he argued, will ensure that students will be overall better informed. 

“When an announcement comes out … it will be sent to me [in] real time to my cell phone,” Weinstock said.  

He added that students will be able to opt into that feature. 

Additionally, the software’s calendar application will now make note of students’ assignments, exams, and quizzes. Students will then be able to “subscribe” to their MyCourses calendars and import them into their personal calendar applications, such as iCal or Google Calendars.  

Staff are working hard to ensure that the software is operational on schedule. The 4,000 courses that take place during the typical school year—fall and spring semesters—are currently undergoing migration to the new interface, at an average pace of two and a half hours of labour per course. 

“There has been a lot of work involved with converting everything from the old system to the new system,” Roquet said. “All courses for the summer have already been migrated.”

The outlook for the software’s use is positive. The staff and few students who attended the event were generally very receptive of the presentation. 

“It’s a time saver,” Carolyn Samuel, a professor in the faculty of education and the McGill Writing Centre, said. 

Provost Anthony Masi, who Roquet referred to as “the sponsor of the project,” emphasized the impact that the new software could make on the McGill community. The switch, he emphasized, is first and foremost in the interest of students. 

“We want to put an effort on the ‘student-centeredness’ of this institution,” Masi said. “We produce new knowledge, and we disseminate it, and that requires that we stay at the front of technological innovation.”

“It should enhance the learning experience of students in all faculties,” he added. 

Students like Weinstock are optimistic about the software. 

“In the test environment, it worked fine,” Weinstock said. “I am expecting it to work really well.”