Creating a UW Online Environment for Learning Andrea Chappell LT3 and IST, University of Waterloo Presentation for OUCC May 2002

OUCC20022 What is a UW online Environment? A place for … Course content – Basic, supplemental, remedial, etc. Communications between instructor/student, student/student, student/expert, etc. Online activities to support the course Supporting the instructor and student online

OUCC20023 And your response is …?? Gee, Andrea, sounds like the job for a Learning Management System! There are lots to choose from … and, at least a couple you could afford.

OUCC20024 When is an LMS the answer? When you want … … an easy way for faculty to control their own course environment. … to present a common course look & feel. … to improve course administration processes. … to standardize on a toolset to economize on cost and support.

OUCC20025 When is an LMS the answer? (Rephrased) When you want … … an easy way for faculty to dump course notes on the Web for no pedagogical gain? … to present a VendorX look & feel (while paying them to let you advertise ProductX)? … to add to course administration processes? … to pay a lot of money for a mediocre toolset which the vendor doesn’t progress?

OUCC20026 Our Goals Provide support for rethinking teaching while moving online – Content isn’t “king”, our teachers are! Create "buffer zone" between courses and tools – So we can change tool sets! Unify UW look and feel (a UW "branding”) Build a framework for new online courses with equal support across campus

OUCC20027 Blackboard: What’s wrong with it? No more wrong than most LMS “Good enough” tools (but not best of breed) Very restrictive in model (linear, disjoint, very little IMS tagging) How to change if too many “hooked”? Very $$ if want Level 2/3, or new Enterprise Can’t change it!

OUCC20028 UW online Environment (“UWonE”) Three infrastructure components: 1. Pedagogical model (T5) is foremost! 2. Tools for online course activity (discussions, self assessment, group work, assignment feedback) 3. “Gateway” (pulling it all together)

OUCC20029 T5 Model: a “T’s”-er Tasks (drives student through Topics) Tutoring (feedback: generic, peer, instructor, …) Tools (online activity: discussion, quiz, simulations, …) Topics (the content: course notes, online resources, animations,...) Teams (groups working together)

OUCC UWonE: Pedagogical model – T5 1) Pedagogical model for going online: T5 Founded in: – Tasks which drive students through the course content – Tutoring that provides feedback to students 2)Tools 3) Gateway

OUCC UWonE: Tools 2) Tools Used to support course: – Online activities – Online course “task holder” creation (not content!) – Delivery – Course admin. 1)T5 3) Gateway

OUCC UWonE: Gateway 3) Gateway Integration – Central authentication – Population from classlists, synch’ing drops and adds Supports online users – Tips and how-to’s for students and faculty – Status information 1)T5 2) Tools

OUCC In a picture …

OUCC T5 Model: Task Examples Political Science course in Distance Ed - lots of thoughtful discussion between students (and prof) PSCI102M

OUCC T5 Model: Supporting the Process “The New Classroom” Workshop for faculty 3 half days over 3 weeks Up to 20 faculty at a time Focus on designing task and tutoring for aspects of course (e.g., for “bottlenecks”) Support for move online via the T5 Editor

OUCC T5 Model: T5 Editor Homegrown (gasp!) template-plus editor Supports model by: – Providing layout structure (template) for task creation – Automatically integrate tools to task area (coming this summer) XML-based, with a developing rich set of tags Exportable to standalone HTML Tech: MySQL content db, PHP for editor function

OUCC T5 Editor Started out as a prototype Like many prototypes, moved to pilot Like many pilots, suddenly it’s “production”! But, a long way to go! Code review and tightening S2002 Demo of editor

OUCC T5 Model: Big Finish Key is to tie pedagogy to the technology – Some “faculty development” programs teach why and tech., but don’t pull them together – T5 model provides framework for online activity – T5 editor provides mechanics for instructor: independence and support for their model adoption Tech to back burner, puts learning model first

OUCC Tools: Current Blackboard WebBoard – online discussions (better than Bb) DE developed tools: – Group assignment upload, management, feedback – One minute summary (frequent course review) – Automated group assignments – Audio feedback from professors – Etc.

OUCC Tools: Blackboard For self assessment quizzes, online discussions, some marks, some assignment upload … “OK” Not going through front door! – Use direct URLs into specific tool for specific course (turn LMS upside down) – Not for content storage! …T5 db contains task content + resource uploads Good solid trustworthy system that we will someday want to replace

OUCC Tools: What’s next? Maybe QuestionMark Perception quiz/test Angel from CyberLearning Labs – a LMS! – Have access to code and API so, …Modifiable! – Want to reach in to more tools – Make changes to tools – Has some “gateway” features – (Like Prometheus?)

OUCC Challenges of Supporting Model LT3 supports UWonE through: – departments/Faculties with local support, – individuals already working with LT3 New hire to support admin side of Bb, Wb, etc. IST contribution: – some tech-only tool use – recent retreat voiced support of more LT support Where do others go? Balance of expectations (early adopters vs starters)

OUCC Challenges: Maintenance & Scalability T5 Workshop and follow-up resource intensive – LT3 Faculty liaisons take over promo and follow-up Blackboard is interim – Not spending $$$ on Enterprise so “manual” course admin costs T5 editor!! – Homegrown … very scarey, but LT3 inherently needs to take some more risk to do “the right thing” – Expectation: constant mods – What is its lifespan?

OUCC Coming … the Gateway What is it? – Portal-ish interface to all of Online Environment Recognizes user to tailor info to suit User can tailor information Status for professor and students on course progress – Single sign-on? – Central authentication? What’s Happening? – uPortal investigation (to end May) – Angel investigation (starting end May)

OUCC Support – Who’s involved? 2 workshop facilitators (~ 0.30, 0.6 FTEs) 1 T5 workshop co-op 1.2 co-op T5 editor coders Part of 1 courseware support person 0.4 FTE for 4 months for uPortal 0.6 FTE co-op for Angel development

OUCC How far along are we? T5 model – workshops in S2001, F2001, W2002, S2002 – Total of ~60, with ~12 courses using results T5 editor – In use as of March, revamping over S2002 Angel for Phase II Portals and other black holes of effort

OUCC Recapping (finally) Want our own online model (T5) for engaging students online – LMS don’t offer enough pedagogical flexibility – Waiting for a “drop in your model” LMS! Meanwhile, T5 editor Want to be able to maneuver in tool space – Avoid being tied to VendorX LMS Want to experiment, but live through it!

OUCC Questions? UWonE: LT3: Angel: