UMC faculty are encouraged to use the UM provided Learning Management Systems (LMS) WebVista or Moodle to support their courses. Advantages of LMS include:

• Greater student satisfaction from centralized and consistent access to course materials
• Secure, authenticated access for students enrolled in the course
  • students may log into the MyU portal and links are available for their courses
• Web based course site development
  • no special software needed
  • easy learning curve
  • easy delegation of course development to teaching assistants
• Electronic submission of assignments
  • no email attachments to sort and track, or lose
  • stringent deadline enforcement - set the absolute due date and time
• Electronic testing and grading
  • no Scantron - no paper waste
• Online gradebook
  • students can check their grades any time after they are posted
• Easy distribution and receiving of electronic files, even file types blocked by email
• Online forums encourage student participation in course discussions
• Many more advantages...

Accessing Courses on WebVista (Blackboard Learning System)

You may access WebVista courses in two ways.

• Log into the MyU Portal. Faculty will have a tab named "my courses and teaching". Courses in this tab are divided into three tabs - Active, Recent, and Upcoming.
• Log directly into WebVista A or WebVista B. Most UMC courses are on Vista A, however, a few are on Vista B. We intend to have all courses moved to the same system in the near future.

Requesting a WebVista Course

You may request a WebVista site by filling out this form or by sending an email to shannah@umn.edu.

Learning more about WebVista

To watch an overview of WebVista 4, go to https://umconnect.umn.edu/webvista4features/.

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology is always anxious to provide faculty and course designers with targeted one-on-one training, specific to your needs and at your pace. Contact Steve to schedule a training session.

Configuring your PC for using Moodle and WebVista

An updated and properly configured computer will greatly enhance your experience with Moodle and WebVista. The following self-paced tutorial will guide you through setting up your computer for an optimum experience. Log in with your UM X.500 credentials and when prompted for the enrollment key use UMCOnline (case sensitive).