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Faculty Development and Instructional Design CenterNorthern Illinois University

Collaborative Technology Support

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Educause Midwest Regional Conference 2006

Session Objectives

Explore the history of technology and technological decision making at NIU

Describe the formation of the Blackboard Administrative Team

Outline institutional strategies for multi-user support

Propose future plans for expansion of the system and continued collaboration

Overview: Technology at NIU

Systems traditionally supported--and determined--by campus technology unit with little input from users.

Separation of academic and technological units No single, unifying agency

Student fees directed largely toward other projects

Colleges and departments have own initiatives

And then came Blackboard

Provost appointed committee to select course management system

Joint decision platform Support personnel

organized themselves Decisions shared by

support team

Current Support Team

Information Technology Services (ITS) Technical team Customer Support team

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center

Registration and Records

E-Learning Services Transaction System

Continuing Challenges

Lack of resources No central office making decisions re:

instructional technologies Funding responsibility shared and

problematic No full-time Bb support people

(techs or customer support) “Other duties as assigned”

Policy and procedures by ad hoc committee

Blackboard Cooperative Processes A place holder for each scheduled section

Imported from Registration and Records database Faculty information

Matched from Human Resources database Faculty course activation requests

Automated process supported by ITS Support for faculty: pedagogical issues, online

materials, workshops Faculty Development

Student support and faculty tech support ITS

http://webcourses.niu.edu

Tech Supplied by ITS

Blackboard software and servers maintained by ITS. Currently configuration: Bb 6.3.1.505 Windows 2003 SQL 2000 sp3a 2 web/app servers and 1 collaboration server

Load-balanced cluster NAS and database servers connected to a SAN

for storage Behind a Cisco PIX firewall

Student Support: ITS

http://www.helpdesk.niu.edu/its/helpdesk/blackboard_support.shtml

Quick Guide Student Quick Guide Faculty Quick Guide

Faculty Development

Faculty workshops, consultations, phone and email support Emphasis on pedagogy Since July 1, 2003--also responsible for training and

support Graduate Teaching Assistants Online materials

http://www.facdev.niu.edu

Workshops

http://www.facdev.niu.edu/facdev/information/workshops

Online Resources for Faculty

User guide Site search Ask a question FAQ Tutorials RSS Feeds

http://www.blackboard.niu.edu

User Guide: Instructional Materials

Searchable Resources

Ask a Question

http://www.blackboard.niu.edu

Tutorials (Captivate)

http://www.blackboard.niu.edu

RSS Feeds

http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/rss

http://webcourses.niu.edu

Growing Number of Users

1999: @ 24 Blackboard.com courses and 12 in-house

Spring 2002: @ 250 courses migrated to new system

Fall 2003: over 760 courses and 12,000 students

Spring 2006: 1275 courses and 19,258 students

Future Plans

Testing for Blackboard 7.1 Strategies for implementation of the

Blackboard Content System Portal and community policies Investigation and evaluation of Building

Blocks

Can’t we all just get along?

Blackboard is first NIU initiative when campus agencies have worked together.

Efforts have enhanced collaboration among groups on other projects Smart Podia General access lab configuration Classroom response systems One card system

Joint meeting May 16-17

NIU Blackboard Support

Blackboard Portal: http://webcourses.niu.edu

Faculty Help http://www.blackboard.niu.edu

Student Help http://www.its.niu.edu/its/helpdesk