Carolyn Thomas

Texas Blackboard User Group 2008 conference in Houston, TX

Summary:

Dan Peters with Blackboard, Inc. led off the conference discussing reasons behind Project NG new features in Release 9 including customizable interface, best of both WebCT and Blackboard, blogs (shared) and journals (private), and integrated notifications and alerts (including early warning system) for students and faculty.  He spoke about Bb Connect (messaging system) and the Bb Transaction System as well.

Friday, Session 1 - Asmar Eyvazova spoke about Facebook and Bb Sync.
Friday, Session 2 - Stephen Levey and Liping Gong spoke about Master course creation.

Saturday, Session 1 - Robert Hume spoke about Certification in Online Teaching certification

Details:

Dan Peters, Blackboard, Inc. opening presenter

Themes:  openness, new interface, best of both

Openness pushing out and coming in to the application:
Future - Bb for iPhone notifications and log in directly, cell phone text messages, emergency messages through Bb Connect

Project NG - multi-year, multi-release project

• planning to release 9 end of this year or beginning of next year
• open for integration with other tools
• new user interface (drag and drop throughout application including modules on front page)
• included accessibility from ground up (extremely positive feedback from accessibility users during past months), keyboard shortcuts
• my places (reduce number of clicks)
• courses module (Sakai, Moodle, WebCT CE) with connectors to other products - integrating SSO, announcements, tasks from various platforms (aggregation)
• various interfaces (like WebCT for example)
• instructor dashboard - what do I need to focus on? new assignments turned in? what needs to be graded? with alerts (Early Warning System) on one page
• course wizard - including building blocks such as Wimba, Elluminate, integration with textbook content
• flexible user interface (colors, styles), areas on course menu will be hidden until content is posted (GREAT NEWS!)
• new tools for K12 such as Lesson Plan, standards integration, available for reporting and integration (accreditation, for example)
• themes (Bb classic, schoolhouse, professional, former WebCT) includes edit capability of CSS style sheets in each theme
• blogs (shared) and journals (private) included
• Groups have been enhanced greatly as well - WebCT and Bb features - can allow students to sign up for groups themselves
• Every question type from both sides - testing.
• NTI (Bb Connect) negotiated packet prioritization with telcos, multi-modal way of notifying users - voice, text, e-mail - to select groups of users
• openness includes improvements in Software Development Kit
• e-portfolio and wikis in far future

Dan’s suggestion - Spring/Summer - put on test server, get pilot group using it, update support materials, Fall - go live (Bb, Inc. will fully support in production environment immediately when released)

Rhonda:  More info on Bb Focus Groups in schedule

• today 2-2:50 - reporting on your Bb system
• tomorrow 10-10:50 - understanding portfolios in education

Session 1 - Facebook Sync with Bb

Asmar E.

• Facebook launched Feb. 2004, open to everyone Sept. 11, 2006
• more than 600 employees
• 110 million active users (within last 30 days)
• more than half of facebok usrs are outside of college
• 25 years and older: fastest growing demographic
• US #1, then UK, then Canada
• #1 photo sharing application on the web
• more than 30 million photos uploaded daily
• over 24,000 applications have been built on facebook platform
• more than 95% of facebook members have used at least one application built on Facebook platform
• march 2008, forbes.com ranked Zuckerberg as #785 on its rich list, citing his net worth at $1.5 billion
• “World’s youngest self-made billionaire, lives very modestly
• advertising - facebook pages, facebook beacon, social ads
• applications - photos, notes, groups, events, posted items, video, marketplace, gifts, wall
• books - iread, ibook, shelfari, visual bookshelf, etc., libraries, groups, job postings (Intern Nation), blogs, videos/photos/notes/posts

Blackboard Sync - asmar eyvazova - ut arlington -  asmar at uta.edu (UT Arlington)

• application that delivers coure information and updates through the student’s social network in a non-threatening way, convenient way to help them stay focused on academics as well as leverage Facebook’s social network capabilities for collaboration and social learning
• launched may 12, 2008, delivers course information and updates from bb inside facebook
• connects classmates through facebook and creates social learning opportunities
• keep students in touch and engages with their academic studies
• asks you to invite people and friends to use Blackboard Sync
• read and accept terms of use
• Bb server URL, institution name, and then credentials
• announcements posted in last 7 days
• notifications about new content items
• notifications about new forum posts
• notifications about new grades
• Course Roster
• Course Map
• provides exact links to items
• information encrypted until delivery to bb sync
• can’t share with facebook friends or networks and there is no way for other students to access their information through bb sync
• www.facebook.com, allfacebook.com, blog.facebook.com, www.facebook.com

Online Teaching Certification Program - dr. stephen levey and liping gong, hcc systems

• Certification in Instructional Technology (CIT) - 25-26 courses with 4 contact hours each
• Certificates - Level I and II

1. DE training requirements
2. TLE Program

• Curriculum Innovative Centers
• Goal to develop high level, high quality, team developed MASTER courses that any of the instructors can use
• High cost of developing individual courses
• Online Master Course

1. complete fully-developed course for online delivery in DE and hybrid environments
2. DE, Web-enhanced, hybrid
3. satisfies curriculum requirements as set forth by discipline (discipline chair serves as part of team)
4. rubric based on Quality Matters
5. not dependent on textbooks, publisher
6. 3 faculty members serve on development team, 2 peer reviewers (1 discipline chair, instructional designer)
7. impact large number of students since selection is based on enrollment/demand
8. can be used by multiple instructors in multiple environments
9. basically large enrollment core courses
10. readily available for first-time online instructors (”ramp up quickly”)
11. less expensive than individual course development

Each member of development team - $1,650 + $300 per peer reviewer - overall ~$5000.

Call for Proposals sent to each department (development cycle is one year)

• faculty’s online experience
• qualifications to teach course
• outline of how the “master course” would be constructed and taught

1. Then, select faculty teams for development (2-3 developers)
2. Initial meeting with developers and reviewers to agree on timeline and checkpoints for course development (receive half of stipend when the halfway mark is met)
3. Signed agreement
4. Bulk of course done in 7-8 months, then presented to a course review panel for final approval and use
5. Faculty are encouraged to “personalize” the course and make desired changes. Faculty not required to use course “as is”

Common elements in each master course:

• common look and style for all master courses
• a “start here” folder (welcome message, technical assistance information)
• student/faculty resources
• commonly used tools

http://hccs.blackboard.com

http://distance.hccs.edu/faculty_eval_materials/Online_Observation_Rubric.pdf - based on Quality Matters, modified and approved by faculty committee, rubric included in master course template

Evening activity - dinner with live band and Zydeco video and dancing

NOTE:  Look at TaskStream (http://www.taskstream.com) for portfolio tool - Jean Mankoff, TWU

Session 1 on Saturday -October 18, 2008

Certification in Instructional Technology Program, HCC - Robert Hume

Require all DE or hybrid course instructors to complete program - each training course is 4 hours

• Orientation on DE at HCC, Copyright, 4 Bb courses
• All of the required courses are taught online.
• Adobe Photoshop Express (free), Adobe Premiere or iMovie, Podcasting, Web Design (including HTML in Vista)
• Concerns about relevance of training, flexibility
• Addressed concerns by creating CIT Advisory Committee including faculty, instructional designers

1. Keep CIT Courses Relevant (create repository of best practices, how technology relates to specific teaching methods)
2. Support and Engage Faculty (expand participation)
3. Advanced Certificate requires creation of online class and will be reviewed by other faculty members using rubric developed by dept. chairs for other classes
4. Rubric based on Quality Matters - added points to each item based on faculty input
5. Have to complete 75% or higher to complete certification

• Faculty go through activities for each section and instructor reviews work
• Online course lasts for 2 weeks - complete tasks during their own time
• Approx. 1/2 of the courses/workshops are taught by experienced faculty)
• Here’s the effective way to take x and insert into y
• hccs.edu - click on Faculty/Staff, click on Professional Development - link to CIT program
• READI - student readiness tool - 1 free semester

Session 2  - Reporting Focus Group

• NCATE and SACS standards - individual, course, program, institutional level
• student-based portfolios - they can take with them or can be graded on as capstone course
• K-12 teachers - renew certifications, continuing ed, teachers collect own information
• faculty professional development
• faculty tenure packets
• who has access and who doesn’t
• rubrics that don’t have to enter each time
• reflection on each item or overall reflections
• student gets web version upon graduation (or request)
• student clicks button to add to portfolio (after being graded, it would include all instructor comments and feedback)
• Europe - extremely standardized process
• NCATE - very strict, long persistence, follow-up and tracking of graduates, likely to come to other accreditation bodies
• Transferability of portfolios

Keynote:  Joel Thierstein, Executive Director, Connexions, Rice University

• Learning environment - change=opportunity
• Type of learning

1. blended learning based on learner and subject matter
2. just in time learning

• based on XML - sharing, connecting, interacting
• create, translate, recreate, replicate
• anybody can put things into connexions - cnx.org
• Catherine Schmidt-Jones (music theory), Sunil Kamar Singh (physics)
• capturing the power of web 2.0 while maintaining quality - social networking v. quality
• lenses - social software for peer review scalable and distributed (DeAnza College, Rice University, Kentucky Community and Technical College System) - endorsement section
• permanent versioning
• seems like advanced version of World Lecture Hall
• translation partners - inclusive community
• “teachers without borders” - “for our teachers, one size never fits all” Jane Goodal
• creative commons license - attribution, you can share and remix content
• author retains their copyright but opens access via open license
• variety of different platforms - xml - multiple formats
• you can order printed version (select parts, mix together) - printed by partner - pay for costs only