Embedding Academic Supports in Blackboard for Student Success Southwest Teaching and Learning Conference Texas A&M University-San Antonio April 4, 2014 Faculty, Mishaleen Allen, Ph.D. Librarian, Deirdre McDonald E-Book Coordinator, Michelle Martin Academic Tech. Manager, Sherita Love Instructional Specialist, Ursula Knoch

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Why Change Something that’s not Broken??? : All assignments are submitted to Blackboard (Grading/Archive) Increase rigor and expectations for student research and quality of work submitted Increase student independence in activity completion and submission Increase ease of access to support services Library E-Book Blackboard

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Why Change Something that’s not Broken??? : All assignments are submitted to Blackboard (Grading/Archive) Decrease student frustration accessing support services Decrease student dependency on faculty to resolve issues “I can’t … so I am just going to put it under your door.” “I can’t … so I am just going to email it to you.”

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Previous System Contact information in syllabus Contact information on Schedule of Assignments (bottom page for support when submitting all assignments into Blackboard for grading/archive purposes) Verbal Referrals in class and Email Referrals in web mail in response to questions Contact information on TAMU-SA Websites Contact Information on Blackboard links to TAMU-SA Websites pages

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Student Comments: “I wish this had been in every class!” “No more voicemail!” Embedded System Includes all previous modes of communication AND Creation of “Ask Your ….!” Threads within Discussion Board Students post questions which go directly to support personnel Support personnel receive notification by email and provide response within class discussion board (viewable by other students) Student are referred to reach out to the specific support personnel within Blackboard Discussion Board thread when asking/emailing questions

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Loaded into all Undergraduate & Graduate Courses

Embedding Academic Supports… A Faculty’s Perspective Access of “Ask Your …..!” Threads by Course Ebook/ My Ed Lab Library E-Book Inst. Spec. Specialist EDSE 3346 (Development) (30 students - hybrid) Y/N 0 posts 0 students 3 posts 2 students EDED 5363/4 (Development) (25 students - hybrid) 4 posts 4 students EDSE 5301 (Research) (10 students - hybrid) Y/Y 23 posts 6 students 17 posts 6 posts 3 students EDSE 5353 (Autism) (21 students – online) 1 post 1 student 32 posts 9 students EDSE 5374 (Assessment) (8 students – f2f)

Library Research Guide: College Specific Loaded into all Education Graduate Courses

Library Research Guide: Program Specific Loaded into all EDSE Graduate Courses

Library Research Guide: Course Specific Loaded into specific EDSE Graduate Courses

Embedded Academic Support Services: Library Services Create and update Library Research Guides and get code to developer for Blackboard (Pre-semester) Research Support: Discussion section in Blackboard, in-person instruction, individualized meetings, telephone and email support Resource Access: Online resources, Interlibrary Loan, print resources. Troubleshooting role.

Embedded Academic Support Services: Library Services Results: The three Special Education Guides have over 1400 views this semester so far.

Embedded Academic Support Services: Library Services Very effective for research courses, writing-intensive courses, and courses that require ongoing library support throughout the semester Demonstrates librarian availability and willingness to help Surprise! Discussion thread in Blackboard just a start. Many more in-person appointments and email exchanges with students from the embedded courses.

Embedded Academic Support Services: E-Book Services Digital Library How to register New code registration How to access content for specific course(s) Print Options My Education Lab Access Code Accessing Content Submitting assignments EBook Single ebook link embedded in Bb How to access Access Codes Print Option These were the types of questions asked for each main category. They are listed here in order. New registration code is listed in Bb allowed other students to see the access code needed to complete registration so they didn’t have to contact me. 31 discussions ocurred for ebook support. Would like to improve turnaround time in responding to students-since our school is more non-traditional students are online in the evenings- have to be cognizant

Embedded Academic Support Services: E-Book Services Lessons Learned Remember to subscribe to each class to receive timely notifications from students who posted a thread. Centralized contact information and answers - making sure responses were generalized so that it could assist other students as well. Phone calls to students still necessary to get clarification on questions asked or walk students through the process University has non-traditional students – had to be cognizant of response times especially at the beginning of the semester.

Embedded Academic Support Services: Instructional Specialist Services Instructional Technologist works with student & Faculty to resolve issue Assigned to Instructional Technologist ITS Helpdesk Academic Technologies - Organizational/Workflow Model: An instructional technologist (IT)dedicated to every college (Education, Arts & Sciences and Business) IT responsible for providing Blackboard support for Faculty, Students and Staff Student issues are normally routed through the following origination points The ITS helpdesk & assigned to academic technologies Direct contact via phone or email Walk-ins/Hallway conversations Time to completion – 1-5 days depending on frequency of communication ITS Help Desk Origination Workflow Model

Embedded Academic Support Services: Instructional Specialist Services Instructional Technologist works with student & Faculty to resolve issue Blackboard Course This method lessens… Information gathering time (e.g. class ID, student ID, specific information) Time & frequency of communication dialogue w/Faculty, Instructional Specialist & Student This method increases… IT Productivity (in some cases) Speed of resolution (in some cases) Student awareness (e.g. picture tutorial post) Blackboard Course-level Origination Workflow Model

Embedded Academic Support Services: Instructional Technology Services Typical questions included: Uploading Assignments/ Location in Class Incorrect Assignment submitted/ Resubmissions How to submit multiple attachments for one assignment I need to submit certificates in blackboard but the folder is closed because it’s past the due date. I spoke with my professor and she told me to contact you guys’…Can you please help me?” “Who do I call if I can’t upload an assignment?” Hi! I submitted an assignment without all the documents. My professor told me to contact you to find out how to resubmit that. Thanks for your help!

Embedded Academic Support Services: Instructional Technology Services Lessons Learned: It can be difficult to diagnose an issue without all of the correct information first; communication can be easier through Blackboard In the beginning…some students did not always know the appropriate discussion board for their issue The Blackboard Discussion Thread “Subscribe feature” helped tremendously; but still important to check your email often Change in procedures; Additional departmental steps for the IT process; Creating helpdesk tickets in our internal ITS tracking system once the issue has been resolved Face-to-Face student visits & phone consultations still occurred

Embedded Academic Support Services: References

Embedding Academic Supports in Blackboard for Student Success Faculty, Mishaleen Allen, Ph.D. mallen@tamusa.tamus.edu Librarian, Deirdre McDonald dmcdonal@tamusa.tamus.edu E-Book Coordinator, Michelle Martin mmartinl@tamusa.tamus.edu Mgr. Academic Technologies, Sherita Love slove@tamusa.tamus.edu Instructional Specialist, Ursula Knoch ukknoch@tamusa.tamus.edu