Implementation of Blackboard Communities at Wilmington University (Adam Voyton)
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The Blackboard Communities license enables powerful new features within Blackboard. Get an inside look at Wilmington University's implementation and support processes that have been developed over the last three years. Using these flexible tools, you can improve how your institution communicates with specific segments of the students, staff, and faculty. Learn how department leaders, program chairs, and club advisers have created learning communities to communicate and engage with key audiences. The project plan and usage data will be shared for a unique organization named the Online Student Association; this virtual community allows participants to network with other students, faculty, and staff in a relaxed atmosphere outside of the classroom. Lesson learned and sample communications will also be shared so your institution can get up and running with Communities fast. This session will show you how to better leverage your LMS as a customizable online portal.Speaker: Adam Voyton, Instructional Technology Project Specialist, Wilmington University
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Implementation of Blackboard Communities at Wilmington University (Adam Voyton)
- 1. Best Practices for Implementing Blackboard Communities Adam Voyton Instructional Technology Project Specialist
- 3. • Wilmington University started in 1968 as Wilmington College with a charter class of 194. • Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. • Private non-profit university. Wilmington University About
- 4. About Wilmington University Learn more at www.wilmu.edu/about/
- 5. • 2 Associate Programs • 24 Undergraduate Programs • 7 Undergraduate Minors • 41 Graduate Programs • 3 Doctoral Programs • 18 Certificate Programs (11 Undergraduate, 7 Graduate) Over 95 Online Programs, Concentrations and Certificates
- 6. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 7. Customized Views • Create the tabs, sub-tabs, and modules within Blackboard. • Each tab, sub-tab, and module can be configured to appear to users that are assigned to a particular Role • A module is basically a box that can contain content • Video • Advertisement for an upcoming event or new service • My Courses module • RSS feed
- 8. Institutional Roles • Primary roles are Students, faculty, or staff • For tabs or modules that have information relevant to students and/or faculty in certain department, we set up college-specific institutional roles • The data is automatically updated from the Student Information System (SIS) Examples: • College of Arts and Sciences - Faculty (based off of the college they teach for in the SIS) • College of Arts and Sciences - Student (based off of their major in our SIS)
- 9. Student View
- 10. Faculty View
- 11. Sub-tabs for Technology Resources
- 13. Tabs to Other Systems • We have tabs that directly link to other systems: • “eFolio/TaskStream” (College of Education online portfolio software for students) • “My Career” – to our online job/internship portal named, Career Link • “Search the Library” – access to library databases from within Bb
- 14. Governance Have rules/governance policies for what modules can appear in certain locations within Blackboard. • The landing page is the most popular place that people want to have a module. • Our policy is to have My Courses in the Top Right corner and My Announcements is in the Top Center column • Set up a calendar to mange the content schedule of the “Ad” modules that appear on the landing page of Blackboard
- 15. Preview Wilmington University’s Blackboard You can use a guest account to login to Blackboard and see the typical setup of an Organization, as well as the layout of the modules/tabs. Log in to Blackboard using the following login information: Website: https://wilmu.blackboard.com/ Username = onlinedemo Password = student The Online Student Association is a great organization to reference:
- 16. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 17. 84 Blackboard Organizations are Currently Set Up
- 18. Recommended Fields to Track on a List of all Organizations • Organization ID (that follows a naming convention – see next slide) • Organization Name • Type (club, academic program, honor society, etc.) • Faculty/Staff Leaders • Student Leader(s) • Membership style (auto-enroll, self-enroll, leader will manually manage, or a combination) • Changed Enrollment (if the requirements for auto-enrollments change, keep a record) • Availability • Web site with details on its purpose & how to participate • Legacy Course Name • Legacy Course ID • Department
- 20. Blackboard Organization Request Form • We have a web page explaining Blackboard Organizations on our website: www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx as well as a tab in Bb
- 21. Blackboard Organization Request Form • Faculty and staff may request to set up a new Organization for their group by completing this form: www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/OrganizationRequest.aspx • The Organization leader must complete Blackboard Basics Training. Faculty who are already familiar with Blackboard will not be required to complete this initial formal training. • The form is the first step. You will be contacted by a member of the Educational Technology department within five business days with more information. Before certain Organizations can be set up, a consultation meeting may need to be held to verify the way the enrollments will be set up.
- 22. 3 Ways to Enroll Users into an Organization Approach Pro Con Commonly used in Self-enrollment All students can join Doesn’t offer privacy Student Clubs Manual Enrollment or Batch Enroll from an Excel Spreadsheet Leader has complete control Leader is responsible for adding and removing all members – time consuming Organizations for faculty in a specific program or honor societies Automatic Enrollment Members are automatically updated based on a specific criteria in the SIS Some students may not want to be automatically added into an organization Organizations for students in a specific program or certain clubs (like the Multicultural Student Association)
- 23. Student Clubs and Automatic Enrollments • Automatically enrolling students into a Blackboard Organization helps to quickly foster engagement in an organization • For example, we auto-enrolled all students marked in our SIS as a military student into the Blackboard Organization for the Military Veterans Student Organization (MVSO). • The MVSO is a private organization and not open to all students/faculty members. • Be sure to come up with an unsubscribe process. • Secure a graphic designer to create a banner for all organizations
- 24. Unsubscribe Process Who May Participate in this Organization? Students currently taking an online course will automatically be enrolled in this Blackboard Organization. This Organization is also open to any student via self-enrollment. You may request to be unenrolled from this organization by following these steps: 1. Click the Unsubscribe button, which is located to the left at the bottom of the course menu. 2. Click “All Leader Users” 3. In the subject line, type "Please Unsubscribe". In the message field, please let us know why you are unsubscribing. Then simply click Submit. You will be removed within two business days.
- 25. Discussion Board Code of Conduct Students are expected to use the Blackboard Organization discussion boards appropriately. If a student violates the Code of Conduct, it will be reported to the Vice President of Student Affairs. Violations include but not limited to: • Mental abuse, harassment, or a threat to another person within the University community; • The sending of any correspondence (including pictures), to any Wilmington University employee, faculty or staff member which is vulgar, threatening or profane; • The use of any racial, ethnic or sexual orientation slur; • The interference with the freedom of speech of another person; • Sexual harassment; • A violation of any local, state, federal law or regulation; A full list of Code of Conduct Violations is available at http://www.wilmu.edu/studentlife/conductviolations.aspx.
- 26. Tips to Increase Student Engagement in Blackboard Organizations 1. Make registration ULTRA-EASY (barriers to registration tend to be higher among adult students who are less eager). A few ways we can do this: • As it stands now, students can instantly sign up to the site by logging into Blackboard, clicking organizations, then following the directions to self-enroll. However, this puts the responsibility on the student. • To take some of the responsibility off the student, we can set up a web page with a request form to subscribe. After they fill out the form, give them a confirmation message that says they will be added in 2 business days. Then, send them a confirmation email with instructions to instantly enroll, in case they want instant access. This will require that an administrator manually adds the student, but it takes the responsibility off the student. • Have a list students can sign at face-to-face events. Following the event, have a organization leader manually enroll those students. 2. Email all students and push out a press release. In both, have a prominent link for them to sign up. 3. Video tape face-to-face events and share them in the Blackboard organization. 4. Student representatives are a unique asset because they bring an authentic voice that’s a bit more relatable to other students. Train select student to be ‘leaders’ on Blackboard.
- 27. Blackboard Communities Implementation Tasks Task Status Organization FAQs page Completed: web page available at: http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx Added the Organization as a Tab to the Organization Tab Group. Completed Implement a web form for faculty and staff to request a new Bb Organization which ensure all of the necessary requirements are gathered. Completed; web page available at: http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/OrganizationRequest.aspx Pilot program – create a small set of exemplary Organizations that will serve as a model for future Organizations. This small set of examples will contain rich multimedia content and engaging activities. Competed – 3 Student Clubs now have organizations with content: 1. SGA (led by SGA President Devon Augatis) 2. The Green Team (led by Tom Hurd) 3. Game Forge (Led by Scott Shaw’s Teaching Assistant, Daniel Castagna) Overview video “Introducing Blackboard Organizations” Completed; video available at: https://vimeo.com/43289366 Email all chairs and Dean with info regarding what an Organizations can be used for and how to request one. Completed Email all student club advisors with info regarding what an Organizations can be used for and how to request one. Completed Develop a procedure for Student Club Leaders to proactively moderate content posted in their Organization(s). Completed; If a student is given the role of ‘Leader’, then the club’s advisor will also be given the role of ‘Leader’. This will enable the club advisor will be able to moderate content if need be. Dr. Sharpe, the Senior Director of Career Services, will be given the role of ‘Leader’ in all Blackboard Organizations for Student Clubs. Create a Participation Policy that describes what inappropriate content is and what sanctions may be enforced. Completed; each Organization will include Netiquette guidelines to help students communicate online in an efficient, effective, and courteous manner. Convert 44 Special Courses to Organizations. 4 Nursing Special Courses have been converted. 40 legacy ‘Special Courses’ remain; contact the facilitators of each course to lead the transfer to an organization. Anything non-academic should be coded as an organization. Create banners for new Organizations Ongoing Provide training to Student Club Advisors Completed; Students who are Student Club Advisors may not be familiar with the administrative privileges that are used to contribute and moderate Organizations. Advisors will receive mandatory Bb Basics training. Kick–off communication campaign to students Completed In addition to training, student advisors will need assistance in filling their Organization with dynamic and engaging content. Start with a few exemplary organizations to serve as examples.
- 28. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 29. Online Student Association More Info at Wilmu.edu/OSA
- 30. Student Engagement in the Online Student Association
- 31. Online Student of the Block Highlighted students on a map that have been selected as the Online Student of the Block
- 32. OSA Project Implementation Timeline Task File with Student Life to be an official club Request a Blackboard Organization be set up with Auto-enrollments Add Content to Organization Review Content Verify dates for online student meeting, set up registration forms Verify topics for discussion boards, get prizes for DB of the month raffle Update Purpose to reflect these changes Write script for 1 minute promo video (include what the club is/its purpose and how students can get involved in the club) Add Student Life Staff as Leaders to the Organization Update web pages http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx http://www.wilmu.edu/studentlife/studorganizations.aspx Write press release with video Create flyer with directions for F2F student to self-enroll Online Student Navigator send out communication to online students – include video, and info about the discussion board of the month raffle Create club web page
- 33. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 34. Initial Press Release • View the full article at http://www.wilmu.edu/news/newsArticle.aspx?newsID=1868
- 35. Press Release for the Online Student Association
- 36. Email Message to Program Chairs
- 37. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 38. Academic Affairs Student Affairs Instructional Technology/ Online Learning Information Technology Our Students Departmental Involvement
- 39. Dedicate a staff member to serve as the Blackboard Community Admin, that will be responsible for:
- 40. Additional Tips 1. Set up policies for the creation, moderation, and governance of custom tabs, sub-tabs, modules, and organizations within Blackboard. 2. Audit content - Sometimes a Organization or Tab is implemented, but the Leader is not proactively updating the content. Purge organizations that aren’t being used. 3. Alumni may not have access. This creates a challenge if students want to continue to access content on a club’s organization after they graduate. 4. People that do not have a Blackboard login will not be able to access any content in an Organization, unless a user account is manually created by an LMS Admin.
- 41. Table of Contents: 1. Interface Customizations 2. Blackboard Organizations 3. Online Student Association 4. Sample Communications 5. Lessons Learned 6. End User Feedback
- 42. Has the use of your Blackboard Organization improved the way you communicate with students? Alice Miller, Coordinator of Student Activities: “Yes, the use of the Blackboard Organization has certainly improved the way we communicate with students. Posting announcements is quite easy and this is a great and effective way to get out information to students who may have not been able to attend an SGA meeting.”
- 43. Has the use of your Blackboard Organization increased engagement with students? Gabrielle Gaul, Student Government Association Secretary: “Definitely. Having a Blackboard Organization has really helped our club to grow in memberships and accessibility. It allows students from different campuses and online to connect with our club. We use our Blackboard organization to announce Student Government Association meetings, post meeting minutes, event photos, and send out e-mail announcements.”
- 44. Has the use of your Blackboard Organization increased engagement or improved the way you communicate with students? Paul Graefe, Administrative Assistant for the College of Technology: “Our Blackboard Organization for MS-IST students has greatly increased the frequency with which we communicate with students. It is a time saver because we don’t have to maintain a distribution list for the program.”
- 45. Has the use of your Blackboard Organization increased engagement or improved the way you communicate with faculty? Amy O’Dell, Chair of the Legal Studies Program: “Yes, our faculty Bb organization made it possible to hold faculty meetings through Collaborate when the school had been closed due to weather. Similarly, we have held online chat sessions through the student organization that enable students to connect with me and with each other. Both organizations have also become repositories for helpful resources.”
- 46. Do you have any tips to share with other leaders to help them maximize the usage of the system? Maria Bannon, Administrative Assistant for the College of Technology: “Update regularly. I use a calendar reminder to update timely items (i.e., as registration opens, event updates, etc.)”
- 47. Do you have any tips to share with other leaders to help them maximize the usage of the system? Amy O’Dell, Chair of the Legal Studies Program: “It’s great to go beyond announcements or emails and use the organization as a place to keep sample documents, program guides, and scheduling tips. We’ve even used the discussion board as a place where students can advertise their used books.”
- 48. Do you have any tips to share with other leaders to help them maximize the usage of the system? Paul Graefe, Administrative Assistant for the College of Technology: “When sending out announcements, I always use the “Send a copy of this announcement immediately” feature as well as the restrict date option. This ensures that the announcement gets out, but also that it doesn’t sit in the recent messages box which can sometimes cause confusion when an announcement is time-specific.”
- 49. Questions or Comments? Final Take Aways: • The Blackboard Communities license enables new features within Blackboard. • Using these flexible tools, you can improve how your institution communicates with specific segments of the students, staff, and faculty. • Department leaders, program chairs, and club advisors can create learning communities to communicate and engage with key audiences. • Virtual communities allow participants to network with other students, faculty, and staff in a relaxed atmosphere outside of the classroom.
- 51. Our Online Student Navigator is here to provide personalized guidance for your online learning experience. Contact our Navigator for any questions you have about online learning. www.wilmu.edu/onlinelearning/navigator.aspx
- 52. • Online Planning and Administration • Instructional Design • Online Student Service • Instructional Technology • Training and Support • Ed Tech System Administration • Multimedia Services COEL – College of Online and Experiential Learning Online Learning & Educational Technology Team
- 53. • Currently 7491 students are taking 1 or more courses online • Currently 4492 students are 100% online • Currently online learning comprises 37% of all seats • Female 72% Male 28% Age 22-33 years old- 55% • 57% Delaware, 18% New Jersey, 10% Maryland, 8% PA , 7% other Who’s learning online?
- 54. 1. Course Design – Product 2. Faculty Development – Sales Force 3. Technology - Infrastructure 4. Services – Customer Satisfaction 5. Staff – High Tech/High Touch 6. Accreditation – Closing the Loop 7. Marketing – Planning for Growth Strategies
Editor's Notes
- Hello! I’m Adam Voyton. I’m going to talk about the Best Practices for Implementing Blackboard Communities. This presentation will provide an inside look at Wilmington University’s implementation of Communities and support processes that have been developed over the last three years. My role in the project was to serve as the Blackboard Communities Administrator. The Blackboard Communities license enables powerful new features within Blackboard. I want to point out it took a long time for us to get to where we are at – we launched Communities in November 2012. It’s worth the time. I truly believe that using these tools, you can improve how your institution communicates with specific segments of the students, staff, and faculty.
- Before we get dive into Communities, I want to briefly share a bit about Wilmington University. We have 13 locations spread across Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. Many of our programs at locations are offered 100% online.
- Wilmington University now enrolls more than 20,000 students annually. Part of our mission is individual attention to students. Our average class size is 17 and no more than 25 students in a class. And as you can see, 40% of our students take their classes online.
- We offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of career areas – 95 of those programs are offered 100% online.
- Now that you know a little bit about us, I want to talk about what Communities can do for YOU. To begin with, I’ll show some examples of how to customize the Blackboard interface to meet the unique needs of students and faculty.
- With the Communities license enabled, the LMS Admin can create new tabs, sub-tabs, and modules within Blackboard. Best practice: Images in modules should not be more than 300 pixels wide, as the content may not display on smaller screens.
- Before I show you what some of those customizations looked like, I just want to review some terminology. So in Blackboard, users have a primary role. We set up 3: student, faculty, and staff. We don’t use the staff role very much, but it can be useful for employees that do not have access to Blackboard as a student or instructor. This is particularly useful for staff that sit in student facing areas such a library staff, since they commonly get Blackboard related questions. What’s cool about Communities is you can drill down even further using a “secondary role” or “Institutional Role” For instance, all faculty that teach a certain program or all students that have a specific major. And this is really cool, because then you can then pick and choose what content shows up for certain users. It’s a very flexible and customizable option.
- <Login as a student and demo the interface> The “Student Services” tab and “My Career” tab only appear at the top, for students. We also have these boxes or modules or widgets – whatever you want to call them. We use them like advertisements for upcoming events, important announcements, or important news. Keep in mind that faculty members may not see all of the same information. You can see here we have a module for the Student Health 101 Magazine. This is an online magazine that has articles for how students can stay health and productive while taking courses. Keep in mind that this module, only appears for students. We’ve found that our Student Life and Marketing departments really takes advantage of these ‘ads’ in Blackboard, since many of our students do not spend much time on our university’s website – they’re just logging into Blackboard to work on their courses. The modules are an easy way to capture the attention of students.
- Likewise, this is what Blackboard looks like for faculty members. While some of the content is the same, you’ll notice that the content for students is no longer here. Instead we have a “Faculty Services” tab.
- You may have noticed that we also set up a few sub tabs. The Tabs appear right at the top, and the sub tabs only appear when you click a tab. Frankly, their not as prominent. They’re easily hidden away if you’re not on a particular ‘top layer tab’. Also, depending on the size of your computer monitor – the sub tabs may be hidden away until you expand the drop down menu. So you may not get as many views on the sub tabs. For instance, we set up a “Technology Resources” tab. You’ll see a bunch of modules, with various tech support info. Before this module was set up, the tech support resources were very decentralized. Knowledge articles were scattered in various areas of our university’s website or within individual Blackboard courses. This tab allowed us to centralize this information in one convenient location.
- Another special type of tab you may want to consider setting up is a college specific tab. We have 6 academic colleges at Wilmington University. Each college has a tab that appears to users, but only if they’re part of that program. This is useful for sharing quick updates and news with current students and faculty. Sure - some of this info could go on the public pages of the WilmU website, but some of the info is sensitive and we wanted locked down within Blackboard. Finally, notice how in the top level the College of Health Professions tab, there is a sub-tab for each of the majors within the college. You may have noticed that these tabs are a bit like a electronic bulletin board. It’s a ONE WAY message – there’s no ability to receive feedback or have a discussion board conversation. If you’re goal is to have something more interactive, then a Blackboard Organization may be better for your needs – more on that soon!
- Finally, you can have top layer tabs that link to other systems. Our education students have a link to their online portfolio, which runs off of Task Stream. I mentioned earlier that we have a link for students to a proprietary job portal called Career Link And we also have a link to our library data bases, which embeds the database search directly into our LMS. A few important –things to keep in mind: 1. You cannot configure top layer tabs to have a web page open up in a new tab. Notice how the web page is embed within Blackboard - depending on the system you’re linking to, this can create issues. Be sure to test! 2. Always use a secure hyperlink (HTTPS instead of HTTP) 3. Finally, Single Sign-on to external systems costs extra (typically)
- Next I’ll share how department leaders, program chairs, and club advisors have created Blackboard Organizations to communicate and engage with key audiences. Whereas the tabs are like bulletin boards, a Blackboard Organization functions exactly like a course. This means you could have a discussion board or push out announcements to students. The only difference is that it’s categorized differently on the back-end of Blackboard and it allows some really useful ‘enrollment’ options.
- We currently have 84 Organizations set up in Blackboard. -18 Organizations are set up for our student clubs and associations. (Student Government, Military Veterans Association, etc.) - 52 Organizations have been set up by program chairs to communicate directly with students and/or faculty in their academic programs. Many program chairs like to communicate to students if a new section of a course opens up or has low enrollment Chairs also reach out to faculty if they’re looking to find an instructor for a course - 9 Organizations have been set up for usage by department leaders (example: Career Services department hosts a 3 week online career workshop each semester for students to share job interviewing tips, resume review, cover letter writing skills, etc.) - 2 Organizations has been set up that is open to the entire University – all faculty, students, and staff. - 3 honor societies From the time I created this pie chart, we actually added about 3 organizations.
- This is more technical information for the person that sets up a Blackboard Organization, but over the years we discovered that it is extremely beneficial to track all information about an organization.
- Again – this is pretty technical. I’ll just point out that just like it’s important to have a naming convention for Course IDs, you’ll want to form a consistent way to name Organizations. This will help the catalog of all Organizations scale over time and make it easily searchable.
- We also have a tap in Blackboard explaining Organizations that all users can access. It has general information, a list of Organizations that a user is part of, and information on how to self-enroll.
- Let’s look at the process for setting up a new Organizations. <show the form> You can see on this form, it requires that a staff or faculty member fill out a lot of information. http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/OrganizationRequest.aspx After someone fills out the form, they’re contacted by a member of the Educational Technology department within five We do this mainly to verify the identity of the employee, as well as to discuss the best way to enroll users in the Organization. Sometimes I hold a consultation meeting if they’re not sure of the details.
- They have 3 options for enrolling users – manually, self-enroll, and automatic In organizations for faculty members teaching in a certain program, sometimes our faculty are listed as “Active” in our employment database, but a chair knows that they don’t want to rehire certain adjuncts. In this case, the auto-enrollments may make certain faculty members think they’re still eligible to teach. Multicultural Student Association we automatically added all of our international students – and we left it open so any student could join if they were interested. In the Military Veterans Association, we automatically added all of our students that are serving or have served – but it is a private organization that we didn’t want to open up to all students.
- Automatically enrolling students into a Blackboard Organization helps, but be sure to come up with an unsubscribe process. For example, we enrolled all students marked as Online Students in our Student Information System into a Blackboard Organization for the Online Student Association (http://www.wilmu.edu/osa). You can auto-enroll based on any field in the Student Information System. If you wanted to set up a ‘first year experience’ organization or tab, you would be able to let only freshman have access by working with your Administrative Systems staff to programming write a custom script. Pretty basic IF/THEN logic – “If they meet this criteria, then do this action”
- Using the “Send Email” tool in the control panel, verifies the identity of the student. Also, it’s useful if the Leader of the Organization changes. Keep in mind that the leader can’t simply remove a student from an Organization if auto-enrollments are set up. The snapshot process would re-add that student in the morning. Instead, to remove a student from an Org, change their availability in that Organization to “No”. WHY this way instead of form or email? Because this verifies the student’s identity.
- Organizations are a bit less formal than courses, sometimes students communicate more casually. Thus some leaders in our Student Affairs department wanted to have information in each Organization with a discussion board which explains appropriate etiquette when communicating. It’s actually a summarized version of our full student code of conduct. Another thing to keep is mind is training. When you train a new Leader, which could be the faculty, staff, or students that manage a Blackboard Organization, train them how to moderate inappropriate conduct. Our policy is to hide the content as soon as possible, then send a copy of it to the Student Affairs department to investigate. Above is the verbiage.
- I know, I’m sorry I broke the 7 by 7 rule of PowerPoint design.
- Here’s an overview of the task we completed before opening up organizations to students and faculty. I won’t go over it now, but you can use this as a reference for managing the project. I do strongly recommend setting up a generalized web page explaining Blackboard Organizations on your website: http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx
- When students attend Wilmington University as an online student, there’s no need to feel left out of campus life. Through Blackboard, you can join a campus club or organization and participate online. The first group online students will encounter is the Online Student Organization, in which all online students are automatically enrolled when they enroll into Wilmington University. This group is a place for online students to network in a relaxed atmosphere and participate in online activities.
- This was a project I came up with and implemented. A few years ago, one of my managers asked me: “What can we do to serve our online students better”. I came up with the idea for an Online Student Association. It was even mentioned in our Middle States self-study report. It’s Blackboard Organization was launched on March 11, 2013. This is a virtual learning community. If our online students aren’t on campus, they miss out on that traditional college experience of attending events and interacting with peers/making friends. This initiative was driven by the Online Learning and Educational Technology Department, in collaboration with the Student Life Department. Students currently taking an online course are automatically enrolled in this Blackboard Organization. Students not taking online classes may join via self-enrollment. This Blackboard organization is for Wilmington University students taking online classes and want to connect with other students and participate in online activities including the following: Participate in a discussion board of the month in which students can enter to win a $25 Visa Gift Card. Attend a synchronous online group meeting. The purpose of this meeting is for students to ask questions, express concerns, and share ideas. This meeting will be held using Blackboard Collaborate. Department managers have occasionally served as guest speakers. Network with students, faculty, and staff in a relaxed atmosphere outside of the classroom. Participate in the Online Student of the Block program which recognize our Online Students for their outstanding academic performance and achievements. Give students a direct communication channel with the Online Student Navigator. <demo the organization>
- Student engagement on Online Student Association Discussion Board of the Month shows active student participation:
- Two years ago, we started adding photos of the Online Students of the Block to this map of the United States. We finally filled up photos on both sides. Students apply by filling out an application essay, then our Online Student Navigator selects a winner each block. A block is half of a semester. WilmU has 3 semesters a year – Spring, Summer, and Fall.
- Press Release – put something on your website! Help Spread the word. Wilmington University Launches Blackboard Community Engagement Wilmington University recently implemented the Blackboard Community Engagement module. This powerful module enables University groups, committees, cohorts and clubs to have a virtual meeting space called a Blackboard Organization. These collaboration spaces will be familiar to users since they are modeled after the course environment used every day in Blackboard-enhanced courses. Students and faculty will be able to access any Blackboard organizations in which they are enrolled from anywhere they can access the World-Wide Web. “Through the additional tools in Community Engagement, the Blackboard Learn solution goes well beyond online teaching and learning," said Sallie Reissman, Senior Director of Online Learning and Educational Technology at Wilmington University. "Blackboard Organizations give participants the opportunity to make new friends and interact with other students, faculty and staff in a relaxed atmosphere." Some Blackboard Organizations will remain accessible only by invitation from the organization’s leader. However, the Online Learning and Educational Technology Department, in collaboration with the Student Life Department, is proud to introduce 5 Blackboard Organizations for student clubs that all students can join: Student Government Association - SGA Get involved in student events on campus and make a positive impact on the community. Game Forge Interact and make connections with other students that share an interest in Game Design and Development. The Green Team Collaborate with people that share an interest in the environment and raising awareness on campus, at home, and in the community. The Multicultural Club Foster and enrich your awareness of diverse cultures. Digital Film Making Club Interact and make connections with other students that share an interest in Digital Film-Making. Students must enroll into an organization in order to access it within Blackboard. This can be done by logging to Blackboard, clicking on the Organizations Tab, then following "Directions to Self-Enroll in a Public Organization." Dr. Regina Allen-Sharpe, Senior Director of Student Life and Career Services, underscored the value of this application. “Blackboard Organizations will provide a quick and easy way for WilmU groups to collaborate and communicate with others on campus," she said. "It will also enable our online students to get involved in student activities and develop relationships with other students.” Other student clubs and organizations are in the process of setting up within Blackboard Organization. These will be available at the start of the Spring Semester, 2013. For more information about Blackboard Organizations, go to: http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx. Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - New Castle, DE
- Also push out a news article about newly created Organizations. Wilmington University Offers Online Students New Ways to Connect Wilmington University is excited to announce the new Online Student Association. This Blackboard Organization has been created to serve as a virtual community for students that are taking online classes. Students will have a chance to network with other students, faculty, and staff in a relaxed atmosphere outside of the classroom and interact from a distance by participating in a variety of online activities: Comment on the Discussion Board of the Month and enter to win a $25 Visa Gift Card. Each month, students will have the opportunity to attend an online group meeting. The purpose of this meeting is for students to ask questions, express concerns, and share ideas. This meeting will be held using Blackboard Collaborate - a webinar tool similar to Skype. Read about previous students have been selected as Student of the Block. Also, learn how to apply to be the Student of the Block for an upcoming term. “We are excited to open up the Online Student Association as it provides our students taking classes from a distance with a new pathway to connect with the Wilmington University community,” said Kelly Clayton, the Online Student Navigator. Students currently taking an online course will automatically be enrolled in this Blackboard Organization. Students not taking online classes may join via self-enrollment. This can be done by logging to Blackboard, clicking on the Organizations Tab, and then following the "Directions to Self-Enroll in a Public Organization". This initiative was driven by the Online Learning and Educational Technology department, in collaboration with the Student Life Department, as a part of the Blackboard Community Engagement project. More information about Blackboard Organizations is available at: http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/organizations.aspx
- Two years after we initially contact the club advisors and program chairs, I sent a follow up email asking them to consider setting up a Blackboard Organization. Here’s a screenshot of this communication, which focuses on the benefits of setting one of. --- Hello Deans, Directors, and Program Chairs, Have you ever wanted a simple way to easily communicate with the students and faculty in your program? If you answered yes, then it may be time for you to set up Blackboard Organization. A Blackboard Organization will enable you to post an Announcement which goes out to all of the students and/or faculty in your program. Many program chairs have already set up a Blackboard Organization for their program. Here’s a few ways they are using their Blackboard Organization(s) to improve the way they communicate: Faculty members that teach in your program: If a new course section just opened up and you need to find an instructor to teach it, spread the word to the adjuncts already teaching a course in your program Share course materials Store and distribute minutes from your advisory board meetings Students whose major is your program: Post internship opportunities Push out reminders for upcoming guest speaker events or club meetings Spread the word about the availability of new courses or curriculum changes Share your department’s newsletter, academic articles, and photos from program related events Hold a monthly Blackboard Collaborate meeting to let students share their ideas and concerns Enable students to network and chat outside of the classroom using discussion boards Please request a Blackboard organization by filling out this form: https://wuedtech.wufoo.com/forms/q1jc4gk31t2rh3z/. The form will guide you through the requirements we need to set up a Blackboard Organization that meets your communication needs. If you have any questions, please contact me at 302-356-2466 or adam.c.voyton@wilmu.edu.
- For the implementation of Blackboard communities to succeed, we needed buy-in and involvement from many departments. Academic Affairs Approval and support will be required Program Chairs and Deans will need to understand what a Blackboard Organization is and how they can utilize tabs in Blackboard as a bulletin board. Student Affairs Approve the students that will moderate Bb Orgs Provide the content for ‘advertisements’ Instructional Technology/Online Learning Provide end user training and support documentation Governance (who is responsible for updating content on tabs, how long can an ‘Ad’ stay on a tab, etc.) Email campaigns to spread awareness and increase adoption Develop Organization Templates with generic content for different purposes (club, academic program, cohort, etc.) IT Build additional functionality to connect your Student Information System and Blackboard Create web site content Students – need to be informed and participate!
- Projects have a start and end date. Communities is not a project, it requires continual effort. Therefore, it may be useful to dedicate a staff member to serve as the Blackboard Community Admin. This slide lists the various responsibilities the I took on at the Blackboard Community Admin Create all new organizations and support leaders. Consult with organization leaders to clarify needs before an organization is created. This conversation will help to identify what template to use, which enrollment option to use, what exactly they are looking for with auto-enrollments in regards to what fields are in the SIS, and what department to categorize the organization as. Provide training and support for all organization leaders. Ask the IT Team for auto-enrollments. Maintain the list of all Blackboard Organizations which is publically posted on the OL & Ed Tech SharePoint site. Create new users for external advisory board members, student mentors, or other special cases Create and maintain top layer tabs, tabs, and modules. Meet with leaders from each colleges as well as the University’s service departments to set up and update top layer tabs (e.g., “College of Technology”, “My Career”, “Student Services”, etc.) Manage Blackboard’s branding – this include the style and color scheme of modules and the header image. Manage the two areas within Blackboard which serve to promote a specific service or event. Update the image which is 150px wide and added above the course menu in all Blackboard sites. These images are used to promote significant news or activities that will be good for students to know. The goal is to include images that apply to the entire student population - this means images won’t be used if the information they reference does not apply to online students. Update the Rotating Module which displays on the top center column on the Blackboard home page currently labeled “Wilmington University”. This module will be swapped out every 1 or 2 weeks. Weeks 1-2 of a block it will display the video created by Russ and Dr. Wilson. Week 3-4 it will display a promo image for the electronic student health magazine. Week 5 it will display info to download the Blackboard Mobile app. Week 6 of the block it would display a link to download Blackboard IM or Blackboard Collaborate. Week 7 and reading week it would have a tip to remind students when courses will be removed from blackboard so they know to save copies of all their assignments on their personal devices – then link to the student FAQ page - http://www.wilmu.edu/blackboard/students/studentfaq.aspx.
- Update regularly! Out of sight out of mind
- Job responsibilities include Sending various ‘stop-out’ communications Engaging students using various social media platforms and Blackboard organizations Facilitating contests and activities so students can connect to the campus from far away Answer student questions