T-Square pilot launches as WebCT successor

There is a new T-Square on campus, and no, it is nothing like the drafting instrument for drawing horizontal lines. It is a far more sophisticated tool that can be used by all students, not just those in the College of Architecture.

The successor to WebCT, T-Square is a virtual collaboration and learning environment powered by Sakai, an open source software application. It launched earlier this May in pilot form and is being rolled out for summer semester.

"This pilot is really a full rollout in that anyone at Tech who wants to use it may, and it will be fully supported...it is already fully operational," said Donna Llewellyn, director of the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL).

During the pilot stage, administrators hope to fine tune the system and fix any bugs t may have before T-Square completely replaces WebCT at the end of the fall semester.

"[T-Square] is a platform for ongoing development...it is continuing to be fleshed out. Not all of the classes taught at Tech will be well served by T-Square right now, for example, and so there are feature gaps with some of the expectations people are bringing from WebCT, and we're expecting to have those closed in the next few months," said Clay Fenlason, director of Educational Technologies.

This capacity for ongoing development is mainly due to the fact that T-Square is based on the open source Sakai code, which runs along the veins of Firefox and Wikipedia in that it allows users to modify the system themselves.

"This means that we can work within the Sakai community to improve [T-Square], enhance it and shape it to fit our needs. The advantage this gives us is that in reality [T-Square] is never at a final state-we will be...growing it and making it better all the time," Llewellyn said.

This flexibility gives T-Square a natural advantage over WebCT, which is based on proprietary code that is licensed by the Blackboard company and leaves its users dependent on the vendor for changes or enhancements.

T-Square also boasts more collaborative abilities than WebCT while maintaining the same strong course management and delivery tools-assignments, gradebooks, online tests, learning module construction, etc.-as its predecessor.

What is new, however, are innovations like blogs, wikis (websites that allow visitors to add, remove and edit content), polling tools, file managers and tools that allow the more programming-inclined to integrate with other simple web applications.

"Faculty and students can use [T-Square] for a multitude of purposes-class work, design projects, research teams [and] committees. You can create your own project sites and include a wiki, a discussion forum, an email list [and] places to share resources," Llewellyn said.

Almost everyone can benefit from T-Square's collaborative platform.

"Anyone (student, faculty member or staff) can simply create a new site on the fly and add anyone they choose as members. This, in conjunction with the ability to sponsor guest accounts for T-Square, opens the door for collaborations with people beyond Tech boundaries," Fenlason said.

Administrators are optimistic about T-Square, but its success ultimately depends on its reception by the people who use it, and if they think it is a true improvement over WebCT.

"It looks the same as WebCT, but it seems to be faster, and I like the different tabs they have for your classes. It's pretty cool that you get your own wiki and can make your own webpage. Everything's also pretty self-explanatory and easy to navigate," said Matthew Morton, a second-year Biomedical Engineering major.

"I didn't see a need for another system. Unless a case can be made that [T-Square] brings added benefits to the class, or that it makes maintenance much easier, I'll probably stick to my current system. But I am interested in learning more about its capabilities," said Matt Kohlmyer, a Physics professor.

Students and staff can give feedback about T-Square through OIT's helpdesk system (www.oit.gatech.edu/help) or attending one of CETL's "Feed and Feedback" sessions.

"Since T-Square is based on an open source application, there's yet another great way to give feedback. If you have the skill, go out and do it better, and then show it to us," Fenlason said.

At present, the future of T-Square seems bright and limitless with its flexible, open source platform that allows for constant tweaking and improvement.

"We're...serious about the idea of this system being a development platform and not just a static, finished product. There is a wealth of innovation and know-how at Tech, and we look forward to supporting ways for students and faculty to add their own functionality to it. I hope and expect that at the end of the day we'll have something that's really relevant: a meaningful support to the teaching, learning and research missions of Tech," Fenlason said.