Blackboard Next

11/9/10

1

Blackboard Next
Generation Upgrade and
Support Plan
Presenta(on
for
Council
of
Deans

Faculty
Development
and

Instruc(onal
Design
Center

November
10,
2010

Presentation Goals
•  Highlight
informa2on
on
current
Blackboard

support
available
for
NIU
faculty/staﬀ
and
TAs

•  Introduce
new
features
to
be
available
in

Blackboard
following
upgrade
scheduled
for

May
2011

•  Share
faculty
support
plan
and
2meline
of

support
ac2vi2es

•  Obtain
your
feedback
on
the
plan
and
ideas
on

how
we
can
help
your
faculty
proac2vely

2

Blackboard Usage at NIU
3

3

Blackboard
•  Learning
management

system
available
campus-‐
wide
for
teaching
since
2002

•  Used
for
range
of
ac2vi2es

from
pos2ng
course

materials
to
teaching
online

•  This
fall
2010,
97%
of
NIU

students
and
75%
of
faculty

use
Blackboard

More
details:
www.niu.edu/blackboard

4

Use of Blackboard by (individual)
Students
0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10

No.
of
Students

Year

Spring
Summer

Fall

Usage
%
for
fall
‘10
with
23,795
enrolled
is
96.8%
of
total
number
of
students

23,040

5

Use of Blackboard by (individual)
Faculty/Staff/TAs to Teach
0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10

No.
of
Faculty

Year

Spring
Summer

Fall

Usage
%
for
fall
‘10
with
1,761*
faculty/instructors/TA/teaching
staﬀ
is
74.96%

*1,761
includes
only
those
providing
direct
instruc(on

1,320

6

11/9/10

2

Number of Credit Course Sections
in Blackboard
0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10

No.
of
Course
Sec(ons

Year

Spring
Summer

Fall

Usage
%
for
fall
‘10
with
5,106*
sec(ons
is
49.23%

*No.
of
course
sec(ons
including
thesis,
disserta(on,
and
independent
studies
is
5,106

2,514

7

Number of Course Enrollments in
Blackboard
0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

100,000

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10

No.
of
Course
Enrollments

Year

Spring
Summer

Fall

Students
enrolled
in
several
courses
that
use
Blackboard
in
a
semester

87,687

8

Current Support
Provided by
Faculty Development and
Instructional Design
Center
9

Blackboard Support
•  The
comprehensive
support
provided
by
our
Center

on
teaching
with
Blackboard
includes
the
following:

–  Hands-‐on
workshops
(series
of
39
diﬀerent
workshops)

–  Individual
consulta2ons
(In
FY10
alone,
523
consulta2ons

on
Blackboard
were
oﬀered
to
230
unique
individuals)

–  Usage
documenta2on
(250+
webpages)

(9,800
unique
visitors
per
month
to
the
help
site
in
FY10)

–  246
answers
to
Frequently
Asked
Ques2ons
(searchable)

–  37
step-‐by-‐step
tutorials
(searchable)

–  Podcasts
(23+
episodes)
on
teaching
with
Blackboard

–  Quick
Guides
on
using
Blackboard

–  24
archived
online
workshops,
Ask-‐A-‐Ques2on,
etc.

10

Current Blackboard Version
(Release 8.0)
11

Current Blackboard
Version (Release 8.0)
Blackboard 8.0
12

11/9/10

3

Control Panel
13

Edit View
14

Blackboard Next Generation
(Release 9.1)
15

Blackboard Next Generation
•  Most
significant
upgrade
to
Blackboard
to

date
seeking
to
accomplish
3
main
goals:

1.  Deliver
highly
engaging
but
powerfully
simple

user
experiences
for
faculty
and
students

2.  Combine
new
innova2on
with
the
best
of
both

Blackboard
and
WebCT
(acquired
by
Blackboard)

3.  Expand
Blackboard’s
open
interface
so
that
it

integrates
more
easily
into
exis2ng
campus

technologies

More
details:
blackboard.com/projectng

16

A Few of the New Features…
•  A
more
collec2ve
and
collabora2ve
learning

experience
for
students
through
the
integra2on
of

–  Blogs,
Journals,
Wikis,
and
Mash-‐ups,
as
well
as
new

Group
Tools.

•  Increased
educator
efficiency
through

–  contextual
edi2ng,
content
management
at
the
course

level,
drag-‐and-‐drop
naviga2on,
etc.

•  More
centralized
control
over
assessment

instruments
through
expanded
ques2on

management
capabili2es
available
for
use
when

–  crea2ng
Tests,
Surveys,
and
Ques2on
Pools.

17

Upgrade to Blackboard 9.1
•  Blackboard
released
version
9.1
in
fall
2009

•  Blackboard
will
not
con2nue
to
support
current
version

(8.0)
aher
2011

•  NIU’s
upgrade
to
version
9.1
planned
for
May
2011

(Memorial
Day
weekend)

•  Our
staff
and
ITS
staff
began
tes2ng
version
9.1
in

summer
2010
to
ensure
all
the
features
and
interfaces

work
properly,
and
iden2fy
quirks

•  Our
staff
are
working
on
developing
new
workshops

and
documenta2on
for
version
9.1

•  Upgrade
will
not
impact
course
materials,
only

interface

•  Students
won’t
see
a
dras2c
difference

18

11/9/10

4

Brief Demonstration
19

Blackboard Next
Generation Upgrade
Faculty Support Plan
20

Faculty Support Plan
•  We
have
organized
the
plan
into
5
Phases:

– Phase
1:
Install
and
test
Blackboard
version
9.1
and

begin
developing
user
documenta2on

– Phase
2:
Communicate
new
features
and
user

interface
changes
to
users
by
several
means

– Phase
3:
Conduct
preview
sessions
(f2f
and
online)

– Phase
4:
Upgrade
to
version
9.1
and
begin
hands-‐
on
workshops
for
basic
as
well
as
advanced
users

– Phase
5:
Offer
open
lab
and
special
sessions
for

colleges
and
departments
as
requested

21

Faculty Support Plan Phases

Phase
1:
Documenta(on
and
Support
Materials
Prepara(on
(Beginning
Summer
2010)

Phase
2:
Communica(ons
of
New
Features
and
User
Interface
Changes
(Beginning
Fall
2010)

Phase
3:
Preview
Sessions

(Beginning
Spring
2011)

Hands-‐on
preview
sessions
90
mins
each;
Online
preview
sessions
60
mins
each

Phase
4:
Hands-‐on
Face-‐to-‐Face
Workshops

(Beginning
Summer
2011)
All
workshops
90
mins

Phase
5:
Open
Labs

&
Special
Sessions

Install
new
system
on

a
development

(BbDev)
server

Test
new
features
and

system
interfaces

Create
upgrade
page

to
document
new

features,
changes,
and

include
links
to

applicable
support

materials
provided
by

Blackboard

Update
Teaching
with

Blackboard
support

site

(niu.edu/
blackboard)
to
reflect

new
features
major

interface
changes

Convert
site
from

WebCRMA
to
new

Cascade
CMS
as
part

of
the
redesign
update

process

Outline
of
features
and

pre-‐exis2ng
support

materials
at
niu.edu/
blackboard/ng

Ar2cles
in
Fall
’10

&

Spring
’11
newslemers

and
campus
media

Episodes
on
Teaching

with
Blackboard
Podcast

devoted
to
changes

No2ces
of
new
features

posted
to
FacDev
blog,

Twimer,
and
Facebook,

and
no2ces
to
users

Screencasts
and/or

quick
2p
highligh2ng

changes

Online
preview
sessions

archived
for
on-‐demand

viewing

2
invite-‐only
hands-‐on

preview
sessions
for

support
staff
and
faculty

power
users

[3/29,
4/6]

3
online
preview

sessions
[60
min]
for

faculty/staff
&
TAs
via

Wimba
Classroom

[3/30,
4/12,
4/27]

3
hands-‐on
preview

sessions
for
faculty/staff

&
TAs
[4/8,
5/3,
5/16]

2
invite-‐only
hands-‐on

preview
sessions
for

faculty
teaching
during

intersession
[4/28,

5/16]

6
Bb
Tune-‐up
sessions

for
experienced
users

offering
hands-‐on

overview
of
changes

and
new
features
[6/9,

8/9,
8/11,
8/17(2),

8/19]

7
Bb
I
&
II
hands-‐on

sessions
for
users
new

to
Bb
[6/2,
6/15,
7/13,

7/21,
8/15,
8/19]

2
Bb
NG
Boot
Camps
(4

in-‐depth
hands-‐on

sessions

for
faculty/
staff
on
9.1
new
feature

sets)
[6/3,
8/10]

Blackboard
Open
Lab

sessions
[11AM-‐1PM]

each
day
during
1st

week
of
summer
&
fall

2011
terms
[6/13,
6/14,

6/15,
6/16,
8/22,
8/23,

8/24,
8/25,
8/26]

College-‐specific
sessions

available
upon
request

Consulta2ons
with

individual
faculty/staff

and
TAs
upon
request

Hands-‐on
preview
sessions
and
face-‐to-‐face
workshops
will
be
90
minutes
in
length;
Online
preview
sessions
will
be
60
minutes
in
length

Faculty Support Plan Timeline

9/10

10/10

11/10

12/10

1/11

2/11

3/11

4/11

5/11

6/11

7/11

8/11

9/11

Support
plan
drahed
&

shared
with
Provost,

Council
of
Deans,
and

Faculty
Development

Advisory
Commimee

Version
9.1

installed
on

bbdev.

FacDev
&

ITS
begin

tes2ng

system

Redesign
of
exis2ng

support
site
begins

Ini2al
drah
of

redesigned

support
site

ready
on
new

CMS

New
support

site
goes
live

Phase
1:
Documenta(on
and
Support
Materials
Prepara(on

Phase
2:
Communica(ons
of
New
Features
and
User
Interface
Changes

Phase
3:
Preview

Sessions

Phase
4:
Hands-‐on
Face-‐to-‐Face

Workshops

Phase
5:
Open
Labs
&

Special
Sessions

Preliminary

info
on
9.1

available
on

current

support
site

New
tutorials,
quick
guides,
etc.

developed
in
response
to
ques2ons

received

New
features
in
9.1
covered
in
all

future
Blackboard
workshops

Consulta2ons
with
individual
faculty/
staff
and
TAs
upon
request

Last
updated:
11/7/10

Outage
/

Upgrade

to
Bb
9.1

(5/29
-‐

5/30)

2010
2011

23

Workshops Scheduled
•  35
workshops
currently
scheduled
for
Spring
&

Summer
2011:

– 10
preview
sessions
prior
to
upgrade

– 8
hands-‐on
workshops
for
new
users

– 8
“tune-‐up”
workshops
for
experienced
users

– 9
open
lab
sessions

24

11/9/10

5

Faculty Support Plan Challenges
•  Faculty
Focus
Groups
on
documenta2on
needs

•  Issues
related
to
moving
Blackboard
users’

documenta2on
from
current
web
management

system
(WebCRMA)
to
the
new
one
(Cascade)

•  Priority
training
for
those
teaching
intersession

courses
that
overlap
the
upgrade
in
May
2011

•  Need
to
train
nearly
1,300
instruc2onal
faculty/

staff/TAs
over
summer
2011

•  Retraining
current
basic
to
advanced
users

•  Training
new
faculty/staff/TA
users
from
Aug
‘11

25

More Information
niu.edu/blackboard/ng

26

Summary
•  Faculty
Development
workshop
closely
with
ITS
in

prepara2ons
for
Blackboard
9.1
upgrade

•  Faculty
Development
staff
will
be
available
for

–  College-‐mee2ngs
in
spring
2011
to
demonstrate
the

new
Blackboard
system

–  College/department-‐specific
workshops

•  We
need
your
support
for
a
successful
upgrade

–  Men2on
the
upgrade
in
college
mee2ngs

–  Recommend
faculty
to
start
early
for
Su
and
Fall
‘11

–  Encourage
college
tech
staff
to
help

27

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