Origins of the Project

At the request of the Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) and with the support of the Provost, Catalyst is developing baseline courseware functionality for UW faculty and students. This effort is a response to UW community needs identified in several sources: the 2006 Report to the ATAC on the Educational Technology Needs of UW Faculty, the 2005 UW Educational Technology Survey, and input to the ATAC from the UW computing directors.

A subcommittee of the Catalyst Working Group representing Educational Outreach, the UW Libraries, and several colleges (Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Engineering, Law, and the iSchool) helped the Catalyst team prioritize these needs. With the ATAC's agreement, Catalyst began working in December 2006 to address the highest priorities. For more information on the project priorities and timeline, read our Catalyst Courseware Development Plan (PDF).

Project Scope

To better understand courseware needs, the Catalyst team conducted focus groups and individual interviews with students from UW-Seattle and faculty from all three UW campuses. This courseware research (PDF) indicated five areas of work to address immediate courseware needs:

• An improved "course portal" in MyUW
• A cohesive course workspace
• An online grade book
• Simplified course-related accounts
• Complete, accurate, and timely class lists within Catalyst Web Tools

The Catalyst team is currently working on all five areas in partnership with several groups in UW Technology, the Office of Information Management (OIM), the Office of the Registrar, the UW Libraries, and the Department of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE).