Transitioning from Campus Edition 4 to Vista: Lessons Learned

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Transitioning from Campus Edition 4 to Vista
Lessons Learned
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Gail Tuzman, Ed. D.tuzmangr_at_umdnj.edu Manager,
Instructional TechnologyIST/Academic Systems and
TechnologyUniversity of Medicine and Dentistry
of NJ
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Objectives
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• You will understand
• UMDNJ structure
• WebCT Use at UMDNJ
• Lessons learned through previous WebCT Upgrades
• Vista Transition Timetable
• Status
• Lessons Learned
• UMDNJ
• Other Institutions

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UMDNJ
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Academic Use of WebCT at UMDNJ
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• 7 of 8 Schools use WebCT Not Integrated
  Managed Enrollment

• Use for academic courses for the schools ranges
  from one to all courses

• On-line degree programs
• On-line and blended courses

• Articulated programs for outside groups (other
  colleges, K-12, corporate)

• Other uses course evaluations, forums,
  committees

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Other use of WebCT at UMDNJ

• Compliance Training
• Students, employees, affiliated employees,
  volunteers

• Other Employee Training
• EOHSS, University Hospital, Office of Training
  and Development, Technology Training

• Continuing Education
• Separate WebCT server to support self-creation of
  user names
• Some students participate in academic courses

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Previous Lessons Learned at UMDNJ
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• Late 90s WebCT first adopted late 90s
• to support online academic programs and
  compliance training

• Summer 2000 Upgraded from CE 2 to 3
• Change in icons and terminology was difficult for
  faculty. Lesson learned Need for advance
  preparation.

• Summer 2003 Upgraded from CE 3 to 4
• AST staff examined interface and informed faculty
  and students in advance of changes
• Provided faculty a sneak peak on the test server.

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Support for faculty - Then

• Provided by central administration (IST/AST)
• Provided training
• Developed materials
• Built courses
• Provided support

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Support for Faculty - Now

• Most schools now have one or more staff who
• provide one-one training and support for their
  faculty
• Provide instructional design support and services
• Coordinate group trainings with AST
• Assist with communication between AST and school
  personnel

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Why Upgrade to Vista

• Users
• Manage diverse groups of users (within and
  outside of UMDNJ) through multiple institutions
• Enrollment
• Integration for Banner courses
• Local control for non-academic or articulated
  courses

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Why Upgrade to Vista

• Content sharing across courses
• Advanced Features for learning
• Oracle Data-base potential for data-mining
• Potential for Hosting Other Institutions

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Transition Timetable

• Prior to Summer 2005
• Demonstration of Vista to key administrators
• Ongoing discussions with WebCT
• Spring 2005
• Evaluate hardware needs
• Summer 2005
• License, Strategic Planning, Order Hardware,
  Identify location for installation

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Transition Timetable

• Fall 2005
• Install test and production instances of Vista
  (October- December)
• Core Team Training and exploration on test
  instance (October)
• Project Planning (November)
• Plan and install LDI (October December0

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Projected Timetable

• Spring 2006
• Pilot 1 Up to 25 Academic Courses, not
  integrated
• Summer 2006
• Pilot 2 Academic Courses tbd Integrated with
  Banner
• Fall 2006/Spring 2007
• Banner Courses tbd integrated
• Evaluate/begin migration of Continuing Education
  and non-academic courses
• Fall 2007
• Discontinue use of CE for all academic courses
• Summer 2008
• Discontinue use of CE

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Learn from others

• Credit where credit is due.
• Lessons learned and suggestions

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Lessons Learned University of Alberta
(Spring 2005 3,000 Vista courses)

• Take it slow, methodically
• Set clear expectations with early adopters (need
  tolerance for pain)
• Resist temptation to over commit
• Estimate resource needs and staff appropriately
• Prepare an adequate marketing blitz

• Manage and schedule upgrades realistically AND
  TEST FIRST!
• Establish clear application ownership and
  sponsorship
• Understand support needs and communicate
  structures
• Test, Test, Test

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Lessons Learned - University of Georgia

• 34 Public Colleges and Universities
• 20 active institutions, each with own admin
• 78,000 course sections
• 425,000 accounts
• Weekly admin call to discuss weeks events
• Administrative Certification
• Certify Powerlinks
• Developed searchable knowledge base

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Lessons Learned - University of Georgia

• University of Georgia - Words of wisdom
• Aggressive Monitoring and Management
• Communication
• Plan for Growth (double, double, then youll be
  off by 50)
• Start small

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Lessons Learned - Purdue

• Purdue
• Manage requests from faculty to integrate 3rd
  party products

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Lessons Learned - West Virginia University

• Multi institution,
• Pilot Fall 200 with 36 courses across 5
  institutions
• Spring 2005 900 course sections, 19,000
  students, 600 faculty
• Fall 2005 Over 26,000 sections, 26,000 enrolled
  students
• They only send Vista courses to portal (CP)
• Roles conflict All listed instructors get
  Section instructor and designer role
• Suggest a cross-section of types of courses
• Fully on-line/blended, etc.
• Cross Functional Team
• Regional admin, point of contact, faculty
• Point of Contact model
• POCs receive priority support, can submit Heat
  tickets, group admin for select POCs

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Lessons Learned - West Virginia University

• Central knowledge base
• Servers
• Test test upgrades, hot fixes
• Development faculty, no students
• Success factors
• Driven by higher administration
• Incentives to Faculty
• Engage and support faculty in the process
• Recognize and share successes showcase exemplary
  course on development server.

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Lessons Learned - UMDNJ
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• Plan, Plan, Plan

• Policies, Programming Needs, Training,
  Communication, Resources

• Broad Participation
• Central IDT staff Registrar, Academic Affairs,
  SCT, school admins, school IDT support staff,
  faculty, network admin, server admin, DBA,
  helpdesk, project manager

• KISS principle

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• Questions?
• What lessons can you share?