Recipe for Success Innovative Idea to MissionCritical System

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Recipe for SuccessInnovative Idea to
Mission-Critical System

• Carolyn Thomas
• Michael Cerda
• June 1, 2005

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Introductory Questions

• CMS census
• Length of time with CMS
• Size of institution
• Mission-critical
• Roles

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Discussion Topics

• History of CMS at UT
• Usage and Growth
• Faculty Support Models
• Key Stakeholder Groups
• Server Administration Issues
• Blackboard in Classes
• Results of Faculty Survey
• New Features in App Pack 3

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History of CMS at UT

• Started with WebCT in 1998
• CIT staff worked intensively with innovative
  faculty
  
• Not integrated with SIS data or authentication
  systems
  
• Planted seeds for idea of technology-enhanced
  learning
  
• Call for campus-wide courseware system - Fall
  1999
  
• Features list developed
• WebCT and Blackboard - top contenders
• Blackboard selected
• Pilot testing - Fall 2000
• Full-scale implementation - Spring 2001
• Rapid growth - Fall 2004
• 2,200 Bb course sites
• 1,500 Instructors
• 45,400 Students

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Usage and Growth

• Demographics
• 50,000 students
• 3,000 faculty
• 20,000 employees (including faculty)
• 11,500 unique course numbers per semester
• Technology-enhanced learning emphasis
• Record Highs (as of Fall 2004)
• 20,552 unique users per day - (Monday, 09.27.
  2004)
  
• 48,052 total logins per day (not unique) -
  (Tuesday, 09.21.2004)
  
• 63,001 Mbytes data downloaded - (Tuesday, 12.07.
  2004)
  
• 46,915 unique users for Fall 2004 - (08.25.2004 -
  11.18.2004)

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Usage and Growth (Spring 2002 - Fall 2004)
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Faculty Support Models

• Lone Ranger - faculty who create their own Web
  sites or write their own programs for chat and
  discussion board tools
  
• Boutique - support staff work intensively with
  faculty throughout the whole process
  
• Systemic - centralized staff provide variety of
  scalable services to faculty
  
• Adapted from A.W. Bates (2000) and E. Rogers
  (1995)
  
• Training workshops
• Offered throughout the year
• Faculty and Graduate Student Instructors
• Concentration at beginning and end of semester
• E-mail message sent to all faculty each semester
  with links to workshops
  
• Individual consults in our offices or their
  offices
  
• Group and custom presentations

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Key Stakeholder Groups

• Provosts Office
• VP for ITS
• Student Information Systems
• Human Resources
• Other sources for user information
• Authentication systems
• Faculty groups
• Advisory Panel
• Informal User Group
• Departmental Chairs
• College and departmental faculty support staff

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How Does Blackboard Serve the Class?

• Class participation
• Efficient delivery
• Higher learning
• Supplemental materials
• Varying learning styles
• Working in groups
• Distance education

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What Do Faculty Want?

• Faculty survey - Spring 2005
• Posted within Blackboard
• E-mail sent to all people with an instructor role
  in an active Blackboard course
  
• 138 responses (9) out of the 1500 active
  instructors
  
• Questions
• Which Blackboard tool would they most like to see
  improved?
  
• Which new Blackboard features would be most
  useful?
  
• Which campus services they would most like to see
  integrated with Blackboard?
  

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Tool to Improve

• Top three responses
• File uploading (multiple files, drag and drop)
• E-mail
• Assessments such as quizzes and surveys
• Comments
• The technique for posting materials to Bb is
  really laborious/tedious
  
• I dont use the email feature because the
  students generally do not have the correct email
  registered.
  
• Note User data comes from centralized sources
  and cannot be modified within Bb.
  
• Id like to see more flexibility in test
  designs. The order of answer for multiple choice
  should be randomized.

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Most Useful New Feature

• Top three responses
• Content system (file storage integrated with Bb
  course sites with options for public access)
  
• ePortfolios for students (course work, resumés)
• Whats New (new items for each course on My
  Blackboard page)
  
• Comment
• I would like to keep my master files in ONE
  place and then be able to change them for each
  semester without having to re-load everything
  each time.

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Campus Services Integration

• Top three responses
• For multiple sections, master course sites while
  retaining individual section course sites
  
• Transferability of grade information between
  systems (Registrars final grades system, CPS,
  Scantron)
  
• Reduction of multiple logins between systems
• Comments
• Dealing with multiple sections is a significant
  problem now.
  
• The ability to transfer grading information
  between systems would significantly enhance the
  usefulness of grading tools.
  
• It is frustrating to keep having to login on the
  separate systems and keep all the information
  between CLIPs, Blackboard, UT Direct in sync.
  

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New Features in Blackboard

• An overview of enhancements included in
• Application Pack 3

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Multi-Language Support by Institution, Course and
User

• Most European languages plus Japanese and Chinese
  
  
• Instructors can set course language.
• Users can select a preferred language.

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Review Status

• Students can mark when they have reviewed a
  page.
  
• Instructors can use this information for adaptive
  release options.

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Adaptive Release

• Instructors can create custom learning paths
  through materials and activities
  
• Content items
• Discussions
• Assessments
• Assignments
• Based on
• Date and time
• Specific individuals
• Group membership
• Grade on a particular test or assignment
• Review status

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Advanced Assessment Questions

• New types
• Calculated formula
• Calculated numeric
• File upload
• Hotspot
• Either/Or
• Fill in multiple blanks
• Jumbled sentence
• Opinion scale/Likert
• Short answer (set limit)

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Assessment Question Completion Status

• Students can skip questions and clearly see which
  questions they need to complete.
  

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Performance Dashboard

• Sortable by multiple criteria
• Last login
• Adaptive release criteria
• Grades

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Whats New Module

• New announcements
• New assignments or content items
• New discussion board postings
• New tests or surveys
• New Bb Messages (internal e-mail)

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Advanced Navigation Bar

• Default Course Menu view
• Detail view (quickly expand and collapse menu)

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Gradebook Null Option

• Running Total
• Running Weighted Total
• Items not yet taken or graded are not included
  in
  
• Grades
• Averages
• Other calculations

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Necessary Ingredients

• Support from top-level administration (academic
  and technology officers)
  
• Central support staff for faculty training,
  support, and help desk services
  
• Decentralized college-level support staff
• Innovative faculty willing to push the limits of
  the system
  
• Ongoing discussions with SIS and campus
  developers
  
• Adequately sized hardware with planning for
  growth
  
• Development environment for campus programmers to
  create system extensions
  
• Good relationship with vendor support staff

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Contact Information

• Carolyn Thomas
• 512.232.5114
• cthomas_at_austin.utexas.edu
• Michael Cerda
• 512.475.9359
• cerda_at_mail.utexas.edu