learning management system (lms) upgrade: roadmap for success

LMS Upgrade: Roadmap for Successful ImplementationJason RhodeAssistant Director, Faculty Development and Instructional Design CenterNorthern Illinois University

j.mp/niuplan

2

Presenter

Jason Rhode, Ph.D.Assistant DirectorFaculty Development and Instructional Design CenterNorthern Illinois University

niu.edu/jrhodejrhode@niu.edu twitter.com/jrhode

3

Resources and Conversation

j.mp/niuplan#niuplan@jrhode

4

Blackboard Usage at NIU

5

Blackboard Usage at NIU

As of Fall 2011:

• 96% of students

• 78% of instructional Faculty/Staff/TAs

• 43% of course sections

• 3.97 course sections/student

More details: www.niu.edu/blackboard

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

6

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 11

No.

of S

tude

nts

Year

Spring Summer Fall

Usage % for fall ‘11 with 23,107 enrolled is 95.86% of total number of students

22,152

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

7

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

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

No.

of F

acul

ty

Year

Spring Summer Fall

Usage % for fall ‘11 with 1,756* faculty/instructors/TA/teaching staff is 78.3%*1,756 includes only those providing direct instruction

1,376

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

8

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 11

No.

of C

ours

e Se

ction

s

Year

Spring Summer Fall

Usage % for fall ‘11 with 5,727* sections is 43.44%*No. of course sections including thesis, dissertation, and independent studies is 5,727

2,488

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

9

Number of Course Enrollments in Blackboard

010,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,00070,00080,00090,000

100,000

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

No.

of C

ours

e En

rollm

ents

Year

Spring Summer Fall

Students enrolled in several courses that use Blackboard in a semesterApproximately 3.97 courses that use Blackboard per student during fall ‘11

88,050

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

10

Blackboard Next Generation Upgrade Faculty Support Plan

11

Current Blackboard Support

• The comprehensive support provided by our Center on teaching with Blackboard includes the following:Hands-on workshops (series of 40+ different workshops)Individual consultations (In FY10 alone, 917 consultations

on Blackboard were offered to 344 unique individuals from 78 academic and support units)

Usage documentation (250+ webpages) (9,800 unique visitors per month to the help site in FY11)

246 answers to Frequently Asked Questions (searchable)37 step-by-step online tutorials (searchable)Podcasts (30+ episodes) on teaching with BlackboardQuick Guides on using Blackboard 40+ archived online workshops, Ask-A-Question, etc.

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

Faculty Support Plan Phases

Phase 1: Documentation and Support Materials Preparation (Beginning Summer 2010)

Phase 2: Communications 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-existing support materials at niu.edu/blackboard/ng

Articles in Fall ’10 & Spring ’11 newsletters and campus media

Episodes on Teaching with Blackboard Podcast devoted to changes

Notices of new features posted to FacDev blog, Twitter, and Facebook, and notices to users

Screencasts and/or quick tip highlighting 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 [3/29,4/12,4/26]

3 hands-on preview sessions for faculty/staff & TAs [4/8,5/3,5/18]

2 invite-only hands-on preview sessions for faculty teaching during intersession [4/28, 5/16]

10 Bb Tune-up sessions for experienced users offering hands-on overview of changes and new features [6/6,6/7,7/19,7/27,8/4,8/9, 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

Consultations 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 drafted & shared with Provost, Council of Deans, and Faculty Development Advisory Committee

Version 9.1 installed on bbdev.

FacDev & ITS begin testing system

Redesign of existing support site begins

Initial draft of redesigned support site ready on new CMS

New support site goes live

Phase 1: Documentation and Support Materials Preparation

Phase 2: Communications 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 questions received

New features in 9.1 covered in all future Blackboard workshops

Consultations 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

13

14

Workshops Scheduled

• 40 workshops scheduled for Spring & Summer 2011:10 preview sessions prior to upgrade8 hands-on workshops for new users10 “tune-up” workshops for experienced users2 “boot camp” days of in-depth advanced sessions open lab sessions every day of the first week of

summer and fall semesters for individual assistance

• Capacity planning to meet training needs

• Some workshops also offered online

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

15

Faculty Support Plan Challenges

• Updating over 80% of existing documentation• Designing new documentation for new features• Priority training for those teaching intersession courses

that overlap the upgrade in May 2011• Training nearly 1,300 instructional faculty/TAs during

summer 2011 (when they are not on contract!)• Retraining current basic to advanced users• Training new faculty/staff/TA users from Aug 2011• Responding to increased faculty support requests • Staffing and facilities for handling all these needs

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

16

Communicating the Change

17

Presentations on Campus

• Provost – Oct. ‘10

• Council of Deans – Nov. ’10

• President’s Senior Cabinet – Jan. ’11

• College of Engineering & Engineering Technology Faculty – Jan. ‘11

• Computing Facilities Advisory Committee – Feb. ’11

• College of Health & Human Sciences Faculty – Apr. ‘11

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

18

Website

niu.edu/blackboard/ng

19

Quick Tip Intro

youtu.be/ei8ufG8amk8

20

Newsletters

niu.edu/spectrum

21

Emails

22

Blog

facdevblog.niu.edu

23

Twitter

twitter.com/facdev

24

Facebook

facebook.com/facdev

25

Podcast

niu.edu/blackboard/podcast

26

Postcard

27

Online Workshop Archives

niu.edu/facdev/programs/archives

28

Blackboard Login Page

webcourses.niu.edu

29

Samples and Source Files

j.mp/niuplan

30

Technical Considerations

31

Technical Considerations

• Legacy Storage vs. Content System Storage• Building Block Compatibility• User Interface for Custom Building Blocks• Testing Service Packs• Timing of Outage for Upgrade• Others?…

www.niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade/2011/plan

32

Additional Comments and Plan Source Files

j.mp/niuplan#niuplan@jrhode

33

We value your feedback!Please fill out a session evaluation.