Bringing Blackboard to Bath

Kate Boardman June 17 th & 18 th 2004 Blackboard: Getting Started Presentation

Background Institutional Implementation Decisions and Procedures Customisation

University of Durham
670 academic / 280 academic-related staff
9400 undergraduates / 2400 postgraduates
Split campus
Research led
Traditional university
Learning Technologies Team

Learning Environments
Develop your own
high risk but flexible
Nationally funded project
high risk not flexible
Commercial
low risk but less flexible
How to choose?

Evaluation Criteria (i)
Interoperability
must link with student records
Robustness
large user base from many institutions
User interface
easy to use for both students and staff
Security
only registered students should view material

Evaluation Criteria (ii)
Multimedia
support different file formats
Accessible
on & off campus. Web access? Client software?
Assessment
progress of students trackable by students and staff
Feedback
must be possible

Evaluation Criteria (iii)
Collaboration
allow groups of students within modules
Discussion/chat
must support
Help
good online help for staff and students
Paper backup
must be easily printable

Decisions at Durham
Commercial product
Blackboard v WebCT
Cost - similar price
Deciding factor = ease of use
Possibility of progression (Level 3)
(NB. 4 out of 5 NE HEIs chose Bb independently)

Blackboard
Academic staff
ease of use
flexibility
limited choices
Students
ease of use
ease of access

Support / Training
Demonstration course
A Test Centre
Voluntary training sessions x 2
(200+ staff = c. 50% total)
Instructional guides x 2
can use to self-teach
Information sheets x 7
Student demonstrations

Implementation Strategy
Pilot - choose pilot courses carefully
quality content, communication, images
commitment, risk
Departmental
create any courses requested - move to all dept/year.
University wide

The Plan . . .
3 courses, 3 departments, 200 students
Geography
year 1 IT skills module
History
year 3 special subject ‘Mau Mau’
Sport
PGCE Physical Education

The Reality . . .
383 courses, 23 departments, 6121 students
(data correct June 12th 2001)
All faculties
Cross-campus research groups

Expansion
Module Resources to Online Community
Colleges
Tutor/Tutee support
JCR / MCR / SCR
‘Livers out’
Placement students – e.g. year abroad
Alumni

Expansion (cont)
University Administration
Academic Office
Admissions
Widening Participation
Part-time students
Senior Tutors / Heads of Houses / Bursars
University Services
Careers

Uptake by course

Uptake by staff

Gift-wrapping the box
Freshers
International students
Careers advisory service
Library
Resit registration
Postgraduate training
University Office

Our model of implementation
Presentation: 15-20 mins, 3-5 people
Demonstration: 45-60 mins, 15-25 people
[ Departmental policy discussion ]
Implementation: module codes, titles, staff
Development:
training @ 1-2 weeks,
follow-up @ 4-6 weeks,
revision with dept @ 12 weeks
QAA PRIORITY

Progress with duo?
LTT looking at content/activity
Little initial change in teaching methods
Some staff aware of the potential
Beginning to move to online teaching
Any intervention encourages staff to think about their teaching

The Learning Experience
University:
a community of scholars - sharing & refining knowledge & understanding
VLE > MLE > E-moderating
provide the environment
let confidence grow
offer targeted training
regular ‘health-checks’
gradual change in techniques

Walk before you can run
What am I saying?
Add materials gradually
Do things that are NOT a leap in technology
Give students tasks involving appropriate use of Bb
Ensure sound pedagogy
Keep focus away from technology (especially where for technology’s sake)

Community of Practice
Horizontal
Vertical
Within
Without

Some ideas
Raise awareness
Identify generic projects
Work in departments
Examine training & help

VLE: Valuable Learning Experience
Promotion of learning through discussion groups
Self-test assessment with feedback
Media-rich content
Enhanced use of existing CAL applications
Development of ‘e-tivities’

Welcome!
blackboard.com / behind.blackboard.com
JISCMAIL:
[email_address]
ASU mail-list:
[email_address]
Blackboard UK Users
http://www.dur.ac.uk/ltteam/bbuk

SysAdmin?
SysAdmin panel overview
Configuration of gateway
System tools
System options
Course management
User management

Getting Started
Issues to consider when you start out:
Technical
System
Courses
Users
Support
Institutional implementation/rollout

Technical issues
Do you have enough memory?
2 quad processors, 4Gb RAM, 2x 137Mb hard disks
> load balancing
Back-up procedures?
We close our system down entirely for 30 mins every night - a full back-up only if database is stopped (Unix)
Virus protection?
Worth ensuring virus-checker added to server

System options
Think about initial options before going live
very messy to alter options after system in use
options to ‘create’ need careful monitoring
Admin roles
try to keep minimum staff with sys-admin authority
System identity
beware changing tab buttons!
identity = strong focus
edit login page

Courses
Course IDs
use identifier for year - think rollover
use same identifier as student records for batch upload
departmental identifier first = easier to search
CAN NOT CHANGE even through snapshot
Checklist
consider a checklist for new staff when creating
unavailable until satisfactory?
available by default?

Users
User ID / Passwords
Student – is it unique, secure? Do they know it?
Staff - often don’t know email passwords..
Passwords at least 1 character, no spaces, special characters – link to IT change password
Policy: change email allowed?
Change User ID
Only through snapshot

Support
ADMIN TAKES TIME!!!
Help queries to general IT help desk - fast!
Rolling programme of drop-in training sessions - not so much formal staff training
Good examples / best practice for staff
Students need little training using system
BUT do need guidance what/when

Institutional rollout
Policy development
email addresses
printing credits
hard copy/photocopies ‘essential’ info
Student records data
is often unreliable
batch uploads need constant verification
use roster to check

Make sure…
Catalog has enrol button in student view
Email send to self – audit trail
Address book – off
Removing system area removes content
Institutional announcements always top
Access to brief help documents

Tips & tricks
Admin/communication course hierarchy
HTML basics (even with WYSIWYG)
Test as ‘Joe Student’
Create a ‘guest’ instead of guest
Add a course banner
Prepare an introductory email
Tools/links on menu

Rollover
Process – through web forms
Removing users
New courses
New students
Automatic wherever possible

Bringing Blackboard to Bath

by kateboardman on Apr 14, 2010

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