This document summarizes an experiment conducted at Université de Montréal to test a new learning management system based on Sakai and OpenSyllabus. Surveys of teachers and students found that the new system facilitated teaching and learning but needed improvements to usability, navigation, and integration of tools. Recommendations included simplifying navigation, improving consistency, and better organizing content and tools. Next steps involve further developing OpenSyllabus based on feedback, preparing training and support, and widening reflection on how to make the system more learner-centered and flexible while maintaining uniformity.

1. Widening the reflection using OpenSyllabus and Core Sakai 2.6 Olivier Guillot – Instructional designer – olivier.guillot@umontreal.ca Manon Guité – Project Director – manon.guite@umontreal.ca Florian Meyer – Instructional designer – florian.meyer@umontreal.ca André Laflamme – Instructional designer – andre.laflamme@umontreal.ca 16 June 2010

2. Université de Montréal

3. Université de Montréal Québec, Canada French Speaking University 39724 students 5352 professors and lecturers 16 faculties and schools 2 affiliated schools HEC montreal École Polytechnique Montréal Denver

4. Context From WebCT to Sakai : an opportunity to rethink the vision of our VLE To enhance the learning and teaching experience To enlarge the learning and teaching opportunities To move to open source Consultation and Needs analysis User stories Use case description

5. Context Dedicated multidisciplinary Team 13 people Coders, Teachers, Instructional designers, Project manager, Communication advisor, Change manager Collaboration with HEC-Montreal For the development of OpenSyllabus Users and experts Committees

6. Development plan WebCT Shutdown W11 S11 F11 S12 F12 W13 W10 S10 F10 W12 F09 Deployment Pilots Proof of concept

7. First experiment and pilot Experiment : march-april 2010 40 teachers representing the 16 faculties and schools They could experiment freely a set of tools (sakai core 2.6 + opensyllabus + sitestat) Training workshop Phone support Pilot : may-june 2010 3 courses (2 credited) 3 teachers and 60 students

8. Data collection and analysis Data collection Surveys pre and post 6 Focus group Experiment report Qualitative analysis Negative aspects Positive aspects Suggestions Technical bugs Questions and requests

9. Teachers’ perception - VLE What do you think of the new VLE ? (20 answers) Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think the VLE facilitates my instructional design I think the VLE is user-friendly I think the VLE allows me to teach well I think the VLE is flexible I think the VLE allows me to replicate my former activities

10. Students’ perception - VLE What do you think of the new VLE ? (12 answers) Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think the VLE is user-friendly I think the VLE facilitates my personal learning process I think the VLE is efficient

11. Teachers’ perception - OpenSyllabus What do you think of OpenSyllabus ? (20 answers) I didn’t use it Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think this tool allows me to replicate my former tasks I think this tool is user-friendly I think this tool is efficient I think this tool is relevant to my teaching

12. Students’ perception - OpenSyllabus What do you think of OpenSyllabus ? (12 answers) I didn’t use it Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think this tool is relevant to my learning I think this tool is user-friendly I think this tool is efficient

13. Teachers’ perception – Test and Quiz What do you think of the Test and Quiz tool ? (20 answers) I didn’t use it Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think this tool allows me to replicate my former tasks I think this tool is user-friendly I think this tool is efficient I think this tool is relevant to my teaching

14. Students’ perception – Test and Quiz What do you think of the Test and Quiz tool ? (12 answers) I didn’t use it Totally agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Totally disagree I think this tool is user-friendly I think this tool is efficient I think this tool is relevant to my learning

15. Web 2.0 for teaching What other web tools do you use for teaching? (20 answers)

16. Web 2.0 for learning What other web tools do you use for your learning process ? (12 answers)

17. Web 2.0 for a personal use – Students What other web tools do you use for a personal use ? (12 answers)

18. Recommendations(Teachers and Students) Improve ergonomics in general Reduce the number of click The navigation should be intuitive (more drag and drop) The wording of the tools are not sufficiently explicit Comparisons with Facebook and Google come back regularly Improving consistency of tools : in particular between Osyl and other Sakai tools Encourage exchanges between VLE and external tools (email, Web 2.0)

19. Recommendations(Teachers and Students) Better organize the content and tools Better identify functional areas of each tool Make home pages similar to WebCT (with access via icons) Structuring content and activities in a hierarchical fashion Conditional Access to content

20. Recommendations (Teachers and Students) OpenSyllabus: many suggestions to make it evolve Improved printing functionality Better integration with other tools in Sakai Avoid multiple entries : calendar, assessments information More possibility of customization and more flexibility Automatically feed the syllabus with directory information, fraud and plagiarism, etc. Improving the management of citations : ability to add sub sections and ability to allow multiple styles

21. Next Steps considering this experiment Opensyllabus Better interaction with other sakai tools (entity picker) Better interaction with other University services (library, official course description, learning support) More flexibility (re-organize sections and rubrics) Possibility for Department to create its own template Better translation adapted to our specific french canadian context Harmonization of all the terms among all the tools Studying the accessibility with the Support Office for Students with Disabilities

22. Next Steps considering this experiment Preparing training and support Training workshops Personal coaching for teachers Contextualized User Guide and Help Screen cast Best practices models Progressively selecting the most appropriated tools Defining the public view of the courses (syllabus and content) Strengthening the personal learner’s process (portfolio, personal learning environment, etc.) Defining the lifecycle of courses and profiles

23. Widening the reflection What is the right use of OpenSyllabus : a regular interactive syllabus or the central tool to support the learning path ? Is it enough learner centered (knowledge construction and competencies development) ? Should it replace the Home Page tool ? Should it support the instructional design and how ? What kind of views, other than the actual linear view, could users want with OpenSyllabus ? Student could want to see his syllabus organized by date, by content, by competency, by assessment, etc. Datas (like events) could be freely presented in a non linear way ; matrices, clusters, etc.

24. Widening the reflection With OpenSyllabus the content can be changed anytime, so what about the contract aspect of the syllabus ? How can we enforce the data flow between tools in order to avoid double entries Should OpenSyllabus collect easily datas from Gradebook, Calendar, Samigo, etc. or vice-versa ? How OpenSyllabus could be integrated within Sakai 3 ? Students ask for uniformity while teachers ask for flexibility and customization How do we support program management ?