A "Birds of a Feather" discussion presented at the Open Apereo 2014 Conference in Miami, FL. Topics were presented for review and discussion among higher education system administrators of open source learning management platforms.

1. Conversation among System
Administrators
How do you do this at your institution?
Jack Corliss, Sean Ohlinger, and Jennifer Tyler
Instructional Technology and Research Support
Loyola University Chicago

2. Presenters & Contributors
Sean Ohlinger
Technology Coordinator at Loyola with focus on technology in the
classrooms including Sakai, lecture capture, and control systems;
providing support at Loyola since 1997.
Jennifer Tyler
Online Educational Technologist at Loyola supporting faculty and
providing training in various e-learning technologies including Sakai,
Adobe Connect, video repositories, and more.
Jack Corliss
Senior Analyst in academic and research support at Loyola for last
35+ years, a primary system administrator of LUC’s Sakai CLE 2.9.
Expertise in LMS system metrics, data integration, and more.

3.  Loyola had almost 10 years of experience working with Blackboard
LEARN hosted by Blackboard
 We kept in touch with our colleague institutions…how does this one
particular colleague institution deal with retention of course sites, etc.
 We joined a users group, participated in monthly meetings and annual
conferences, at which we sponsored an event where we invited the
system administrator and policy wonks to deal with the “How do you do
this at your institution?”
 This was a very successful event of the annual conference
 We often came back to our institution not feeling so much alone and
equipped with potentials for best practices
What is the point?

4.  We will take a major idea that affects our work as system
administrators, and go around asking our colleagues to tell
what they do about the major issue at their institution
 At times, LMS system administrators seem to be viewed as
those who make academic policies
 Given the time allotted, we will try cover 3 to 4 major issues
Let’s see what happens here…

5.  Name
 Institution
 Role with LMS at institution
 Which LMS? Which version? For how long?
 LMS hosted or in-house
 Advisory Group – strategic planning, policy,
prioritization
Introductions

6.  At the beginning (and sometimes 2 or 3 weeks into
the semester), an instructor will want to combine
course sites, so that all student enrollments get
loaded into one course site, and then the students
can access all the content in one course site.
 How do you do this at your institution?
How do you do this at your institution?

7.  An instructor contacts you as system administrator
asking that you submit assignments for some students
because they have reported problems in submitting
their assignments.
 More a policy issue than a technical issue…
 How do you do this at your institution?
How do you do this at your institution?

8.  At our institution, creation of course sites for an
academic term are automatically triggered by the
information in our SIS. Loading of instructor/staff
assignments and loading of student enrollments
are automatically triggered the same way.
 How do you do this at your institution?
How do you do this at your institution?

9.  It is your turn!
 Give us scenario for which you would like how we
do this at our institution.
How do you do this at your institution?

10.  Are you at the point where your institution is asking
about course retention after the course is over?
 At our institution, we have been directed to remove
the course site after 18 months.
 What happens at your institution?
How do you do this at your institution?

11.  At times, an instructor would like to package their
course site and take the package with them.
 How do you enable the instructor to export their course
site? Is there a tool that the instructor can access and
use to export the course site into one package?
 Does your institution allow the instructor to take the
export package with them?
 Is this a service that you provide?
How do you do this at your institution?

12.  If we still have a few minutes how about one more!
 Give us scenario for which you would like how we
do this at our institution.
How do you do this at your institution?

13. QUESTIONS? SEND US ONE!
THANK YOU!
Contact Us
Loyola University Chicago
Instructional Technology and Research Support (ITRS), itrs@luc.edu
Jack Corliss – Senior Analyst, jcorlis@luc.edu
Sean Ohlinger – Technology Coordinator, sohling@luc.edu
Jennifer Tyler – Online Educational Technologist, jtyler1@luc.edu