Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed - Are We Blue? Nichola Hayes Educational Designer Course Design and Development Unit University of Leicester

VLE Back Story Photo credit: JesuscmPhoto credit: Jesuscm via photopinphotopin

VLE Back Story Photo credit: JesuscmPhoto credit: Jesuscm via photopinphotopin

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Our Approach: Evidence, Evidence, Evidence Photo credit: dgray_xplane Photo credit: dgray_xplane via photopinphotopin

Our Approach: evidence, evidence, evidence Server logs to quantify the usage of particular tools. An online questionnaire to all staff (academic, administrative and central support), which explored VLE use, attitudes, needs and challenges. (262 staff responded). Interviews with all 32 academic departments and student-facing central services. A focus group involving a representative sample of students from 13 departments.

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Staff Survey - Respondents by job role (n=262)

Staff Survey Results Dissatisfaction with Blackboard. Blackboard used as a content repository. Standardised templates that allow flexibility welcomed by the majority. Centrally provided extra help required for any Bb upgrade fall-out and moving to a template.

Staff Survey Results

Student Focus Group Questions Q1. What role does Blackboard currently play in your course? Q2. Is it easy to access course materials on Blackboard currently? Q3. What do you find most difficult to use in Blackboard? Q4. Where and when do you need to/would you like access to course materials? Q5. What sort of materials would you ideally like? Q7. If you could design an ideal VLE – what would it look like?

Student Focus Group

Q7. If you could design an ideal VLE – what would it look like? Keep it simple Bb Home page for your department, should be cleaner, with ‘button’ links to DISCUSSION BOARDS, YOUR GRADES, MATERIALS, ASSESSMENT, SEARCH, CAREERS, DEPARTMENT NEWS Notifications should use colours to highlight new information or updated information. Use shorter file names Timetable Link to library and notification of when books are due back Pre-populate address book with relevant students and staff

Blackboard Audit Upgrade Considerations Blackboard roles within the department Usability and fit for purpose Navigation/organisation and templates L&T tools Site administration Assessment and Feedback Support and Training

Blackboard Audit Results July best month for downtime Difficult time of year – Start of year and semesters Demanding tasks –  Enrolling students  Deleting students/instructors from previous cohorts/years  Uploading multiple documents on a one-by-one basis  Adaptive release Navigation - Not user-friendly (too many clicks, frustrating…) Templates - Would like templates with ability to personalise/adapt L&T tools outside of Bb – large percentage are and favourites were Google tools (Plus, Docs, tools), specialised tools (geological mining software), Facebook, WordPress, Screen Capture, Twitter etc.) Academic staff and module convenors doing as much administration as the administrators (blurred roles) Training - Current style of training is not useful or staff do not have time to attend. Key question(s) – What is Blackboard for? What can we do with it? How do we enhance the experience? What training is available? Discipline specific training

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Upgrade to Bb 9.1 SP8 Photo credit: Photo credit: ajmexico via photopinphotopin

Move to Managed Hosting

Mobile App. and Bb Mobile Learn

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Default View – our approach Task and finish Group Paper Prototyping Student Focus Group Photo credit: Photo credit: Doug Aghassivia photopinphotopin

Communication

Online Help resources: go.le.ac.uk/blackboardhelpgo.le.ac.uk/blackboardhelp Access from Help page in Blackboard Support Resources

Dedicate Migration Support Team

Learning Objects Podcasts Blogs Wikis

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