Abstract
Oncourse is an online course management application developed at Indiana University that permits faculty and students to create, integrate, use, and maintain Web-based teaching and learning resources. For students, Oncourse offers content and learning tools through a single, consistent Web interface. For faculty, Oncourse provides a framework for building teaching materials without requiring knowledge of programming or HTML. A unique feature is that course and individual user Web sites are automatically generated as information is updated in university databases. The system was developed, prototyped, and beta-tested at IU in the WebLab, a component of the Advanced Information Technology Laboratory (AITL), and offered by University Information Technology Services (UITS) as a full-production service in July of 1999. This article describes several critical decisions and milestones in the Oncourse experience and summarizes what was learned.