WebCT Announces License Agreement with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities; Consortium of 35 Schools Taps WebCT for Network-Wide E-learning Option.

Business & Education Editors

LYNNFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

WebCT announced today that Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) has selected WebCT to support the development of on-line and web-enhanced courses.

The fifth-largest higher education system in the country, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities comprises a network of 35 two- year and four-year state colleges and universities, serving about 153,000 students each semester.

WebCT will serve as one of the course management systems that will be available for adoption by any MnSCU institution for course development. MnSCU campuses offer a wide range of online and technology-enhanced courses, and MnSCU anticipates broad expansion of offerings as faculty have easy access to course management tools.

WebCT will provide a course management system that is easy for faculty members to use and that provides students with online courses that easily integrate content and resources and expanded opportunities for asynchronous interactions with faculty members. The WebCT course management system is one part of the WebCT e-learning environment that also includes additional resources found at the e-Learning hub at www.webct.com. Educators will be able to bring material easily from the academic communities on the e-Learning Hub into their classes, offering their students a rich library of resources. Rich administration features include student tracking and grade-keeping.

In addition, WebCT will also connect to the system's customized centralized database, Integrated Student Records System.

MnSCU joins the 1,528 universities and colleges that are using the WebCT integrated e-learning environment in 57 countries. More than 70,000 faculty are using WebCT to teach more than 174,000 courses with more than 8 million student accounts. This doesn't include more than 800 K-12 schools and almost 100 corporate customers who are also using WebCT, or about 7,000 others who are currently conducting free trials.

"WebCT has grown rapidly because we have remained true to our education and technology roots, and developed an integrated e-learning environment that reflects our focus on teaching and learning," said Carol Vallone, president and CEO of WebCT. " We've also spent a great deal of time and attention ensuring that our technology was the very best and that it meets the demands of a wide-range of institutions, such as those that are a part of MnSCU. We are affirmed by their decision to select WebCT and look forward to working with the many schools in the network."

About WebCT

COURSES -- WebCT is the most popular course management system in the higher education marketplace. More than 70,000 instructors teach over 174,000 WebCT courses at 1,528 colleges and universities in 57 countries. Close to 4.3 million students have seats in an average of 1.9 WebCT courses a year, for a total of almost 8.3 million student accounts - a key metric for the industry, indicating the product's widespread deployment at higher education institutions.

CAMPUS -- WebCT is also a key part of the first unified system for the campus environment. Thanks to WebCT's recent alliance with SCT and Campus Pipeline, more than 2,500 institutions can now offer students, faculty, and staff a single, streamlined system with one-stop, secure access to all of their online services.

COMMUNITY -- WebCT is also the platform for an integrated e-learning environment that includes WebCT.com, the e-Learning Hub. WebCT.com enables faculty and students to share materials, experiences, content reviews, and ideas with the global academic community. The e-Learning Hub is rapidly becoming the home of many innovative and collaborative projects such as problem databanks, webcasts, computer simulations, online mentoring, and the integration of current events and new research.

COMPANY -- WebCT has offices in Lynnfield, MA, and Swarthmore, PA, in the U.S., as well as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. More information about the company and its integrated e-learning environment can be found at www.webct.com/change.