Transcript Blackboard: Beyond the Installation

Blackboard
- Beyond the
installation
New College Durham
G.Wraith 3/12/2003
Proprietary and Confidential Information of New College Durham.
Copyright © 2003 by New College Durham
Outcomes
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•
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Straw pole?
A simple case study
Try not to make the same mistakes
Adapt appropriately to your
environment
• Feel free to ignore and do it your
way
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New
College
Durham
2
Overview
• New College Durham overview
• Blackboard overview – Integration set up
• Implications of the Integrated set up
– Academic Staff
– Support
– Student
– External users
• Uptake of Blackboard
– Staff
– Student
• Issues encountered, so far!
• Conclusion
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New
College
Durham
3
History
New
College
Durham
• New College Durham - medium sized FE College
•
Limited ICT Resources
• No. of Staff
• Levels of Expertise
•
How we got here?
• JISC Interoperability Pilots
• Evaluation Process
• Senior Management commitment to the process
• Purchase and Implementation of Blackboard
• Level 3 Integration with College Systems
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Snapshot Data Integration
New
College
Durham
NCD Systems
MIS
F/T Staff
Snapshot
Generator
P/T Staff
Snapshot
Data
Files
Blackboard
Snapshot
Tool
(Insert, Update,
Delete)
Blackboard
Database
Server
Timetable
Snapshot Controller*
* Snapshot Controller is “custom” software.
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New
College
Durham
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Implications for Academic Staff
New
College
Durham
• Integration: to be or not to be?
– Administration overheads for academic staff
– Strategic policy decision at SMG
– Aiming for an MLE
• Understanding the process!
– No original data goes into Blackboard
– The need to supply the existing systems with
accurate and up-to-date
– Timely input of new data
• Course structure
– Groups
– Changes required by academic staff
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Implications for Students
New
College
Durham
• What they need to do to get logged
into Blackboard
• A process to highlight any problems
• Removing any barriers
• A need for induction in the use of
• A clear reason to use
• Content, content, content
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Lifecycle of a VLE
New
College
Durham
• Strategic decision
• Evaluation/selection/installation
• Implementation
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–
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Using the software
Document dump
Searching for appropriate materials
Content, content, content
Exploring the full functionality
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Implications for External Users
New
College
Durham
• All Blackboard users must be enrolled
on a course within the MIS
• All Blackboard users must have a
network ID and set a password on the
network.
• Issues arising from these
requirements
– Feeder school projects
– Blackboard Licensing
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Support
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•
•
•
New
College
Durham
User Support - staff
Application support - Blackboard
System support – integration
Blackboard support - ??
– System development at what cost?
• Surmounting the problem of a lack of
support and resources
– Regular group sessions
– Cascading
– Incentives
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Uptake of Blackboard
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New
College
Durham
Courses – 10922
Users – 20873
Staff – 644
Hits per Day – 1921
Average hits per month – 70,000
Average concurrent users per day –
150/200??
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Uptake of Blackboard by Staff
New
College
Durham
• Target uptake at implementation
– Full-time staff
– Part-time staff
• Issues influencing uptake
–
–
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Pars
Existing workloads
Existing working practices
Barriers – Any excuse
• Strategy to overcome barriers
– Drivers - Inspection!!!
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Uptake of Blackboard by Students
New
College
Durham
• Accessibility
• Type of course
– Distance learning
– Part-time
– IT
• Academic Staff
– Those who embrace change
– And those who do not.
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Issues in the 1st Academic Year
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New
College
Durham
Hardware
Software
Backup/Restore
Lost documents
Staff rights to the courses
Data accuracy
Data adjustments
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Lessons Learned
New
College
Durham
• Success
– A fully integrated Learning delivery platform available
anywhere, anytime.
– Persisting with Staff Development sessions
– Not upgrading to V6 last summer
• Mistakes
– No dedicated Blackboard support in College
– Missed student induction in Year 1
– Under estimated the “mission criticalness” of the
system
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New
College
Durham
Thank You
Any Questions
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