catalyst.uw.eduRetirement of Catalyst WebQ and GradeBook – IT Connect

Enter search text IT Connect All the UW Get Help Menu Tools, Services & Support Academic Planning Access & Authentication Administrative Systems Data & Reporting Email, Calendars, & Events IT Systems Infrastructure Networks & Connectivity Software & Computers Storage & Hosting Teaching & Learning Voice & Video Guides by Topic Accessibility & Usability Computers & Printing Email & Calendaring Emergency Preparedness Identity, Diversity & Inclusion IT Sourcing & Standards Online Storage & Publishing Research Security & Authentication Technology Facilities Working Remotely Getting Started Students Faculty / Instructors Staff Researchers IT / Technical Staff Retirees Visitors IT at the UW About UW-IT IT across the UW I&T Governance & Policies News & Announcements Services, Fees & Rates Get Help Get Help Tools, Services & Support Academic Planning Access & Authentication Administrative Systems Data & Reporting Email, Calendars, & Events IT Systems Infrastructure Networks & Connectivity Software & Computers Storage & Hosting Teaching & Learning Voice & Video Guides by Topic Accessibility & Usability Computers & Printing Email & Calendaring Emergency Preparedness Identity, Diversity & Inclusion IT Sourcing & Standards Online Storage & Publishing Research Security & Authentication Technology Facilities Working Remotely Getting Started Students Faculty / Instructors Staff Researchers IT / Technical Staff Retirees Visitors IT at the UW About UW-IT IT across the UW I&T Governance & Policies News & Announcements Services, Fees & Rates Get Help IT Connect Tools, Services & Support Software & Computers Catalyst Web Tools Retirement of Catalyst WebQ and GradeBook Search IT Connect for: Catalyst Web Tools Catalyst Archive Retirement of Catalyst WebQ and GradeBook Help for survey participants GradeBook Retirement FAQ WebQ Survey Retirement FAQ Use Google Forms to create and send a survey Use Microsoft Forms to create and send a survey GradeBook WebQ Survey Managed Workstation Service My Workstation Adding a Shared Mailbox in Outlook COVID-19: Off-Campus Computer Setup Group Policy Update on Windows 10 Requesting help Using Your Computer Using Outlook Online File Storage File Service Comparison MWS File Services MWS File Service Migration Mapping Drives Recovering Files Software Software Updates Removing Project and Visio Printing Connecting remotely Managed Workstation VPN Service Connecting to the VPN prior to login Security Malware Infections LastPass Password Manager Adding Administrators to Your Managed Workstation ManagingGmail Clients Google Groups Google Jamboard Google Marketplace Apps Google Meet Google Play Store Google Photos Zoom Add-in YouTube Brand Accounts UW Office 365 UW Office 365 Account & Data Deletion Microsoft Teams Chat Message Retention Project Collaboration Services Exchange Online Add mailbox permissions Add-ins FindTime Add-in Outlook Report Message Add-in Zoom for Outlook Add-in Email Protection Enhancements Exchange-Enabled UW Groups Focused Inbox Organization Exchange Support Groups Outlook on the web (aka OWA) Supported Exchange Online Clients Microsoft 365 Groups Microsoft Copilot Microsoft Forms Microsoft Teams Help & How-To Known Issues Policies Minecraft Office 365 ProPlus Error: Your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac / Activate Microsoft 365 to Create and Edit Office Clients Office Store OneDrive for Business File Ownership and Preserving Data Planner Power BI Power Platform Dynamics 365 Power Apps Power Automate Project Online SharePoint Online External Sharing Visio Viva Engage Migrate UW Google or UW Microsoft Content Migrate UW Google Content Migrate UW Microsoft Content Exporting Data from Google to Microsoft using ShareGate Exporting Data from Google to Microsoft using Mover.io Migrate from UW Google to UW Office 365 Migrate from UW Google to Personal, Non-Google Account Migrate from UW Google to Personal Google Migrate from UW Office 365 to UW Google Migrate from UW Office 365 to Personal Account Export OneNote Notebooks Provision Access to UW-IT Services Productivity Platforms Stats Access PPlat Stats Productivity Platforms Recharge Services Productivity Platforms Service Design & Guidance Deprecated Services Email Modernization Program Google Hangouts & Google Chat Disabled Microsoft Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint) Migration Project SharePoint 2010 Retirement Project Skype for Business Retirement Yammer (aka Viva Engage) Reboot Project Sitemap Retirement of Catalyst WebQ and GradeBook Last updated: July 5, 2023 Service notice: Catalyst WebQ Survey and GradeBook have been retired effective June 16, 2022 . You can download survey content and responses, and gradebook files, from the Catalyst Archive . Learn more about the Catalyst Archive . Aging technology Availability of comparable or better survey tools Decreasing usage trends and changing use cases Why the tools must be retired Support from UW-IT for the transition from Catalyst GradeBook and WebQ What can I use instead? What if I need access to past survey content or gradebooks? Retirement milestones What happened to the other Catalyst tools? The time has finally come to retire the last two remaining Catalyst web tools: WebQ Survey and GradeBook. As popular as these tools have been, they have aged beyond their useful life. The decision to retire Catalyst GradeBook and WebQ rests on the following realities. Aging technology Catalyst GradeBook and WebQ are built on an obsolete application framework, server environment, and front-end javascripts frameworks that are no longer supported and will not remain stable and secure. Over the past ten years, UW-IT has been unable to enhance GradeBook or WebQ, and, in fact, has had the capacity to address only the most severe defects. While the level of investment required to maintain these tools in their current state may seem low, the risks associated with continuing to operate the application are high: The operating system for the application servers supporting GradeBook and WebQ reached its end of life in 2020, and is no longer receiving security patches or updates. Underlying software libraries that support GradeBook and WebQ software can no longer be updated. Unsupported javascript libraries will increasingly be prone to breakage as browsers adopt the next generations of HTML, CSS and JS. Continuing to provide GradeBook and WebQ is not tenable given the risk, availability of comparable tools, and declining usage. Availability of comparable or better survey tools When first released in 1998, WebQ was an innovative tool that provided considerable benefit to the university community by supporting teaching, learning, and research. Now, both Google and Microsoft offer comparable tools to build forms and surveys. In addition, many vendors provide full-featured research tools, and non-profit consortiums offer data collection systems, the features of which far surpass WebQ’s offerings. WebQ’s functionality is now redundant, superceded by better, modern Software-as-a-Service tools that meet researchers’ requirements. GradeBook, first released in 2008, is entirely redundant to the gradebook in the Canvas LMS, which offers the additional benefit of integration with other Canvas features. Increasingly, the UW and our peers—not to mention the private sector—have embraced SaaS to provide higher-quality teaching, learning, research, and collaboration tools rather than devote resources to build these tools in-house. Most homegrown tools simply cannot keep up with the innovation, functionality, capability, security, and usability offered by SaaS. Moreover, these tools are in almost all cases much cheaper than homegrown solutions. Using these tools frees UW-IT staff to add value in other areas, rather than replicate tools from the marketplace. Finally, these are the tools that many students will use when they enter the workforce. UW-IT’s governance boards have asked that services with decreasing usage and excellent enterprise...