Viewing Blackboard as a Strategically Vital Application Shirley Waterhouse, Director, Educational Technology Becky Vasquez, Director, I.T. Services Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Educating 28,000 + students per year 30+ Degrees Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering The Wight Flyer T. Higbee Embry Cofounder J. Paul Riddle Cofounder

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Two residential campuses (Florida and Arizona) Extended Campuses – 130 Teaching Centers worldwide –2500 Students are enrolled in Distance Learning, fully utilizing Blackboard for online courses. Daytona Beach Campus Extended Campuses & World Wide Centers Prescott Campus

US News and World Report –“Best Colleges” Guide - #1 for the past 5 years in Aerospace Engineering State of the Art Facilities –Flight simulators, engineering labs, weather centers, wind tunnels, etc. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

United States Air Force Flight Training Academy JetBlue Airways U.S. Air Force Academy USAFA, CO JetBlue and Embry-Riddle collaborate on “Train the trainer” program for JetBlue’s simulator trainers. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Why View Blackboard as Strategic?

Because it represents a very basic and “critical” issue that must be addressed at our institutions if elearning is to “really” move forward.

Here’s what we are up against…. 6,000 gamers in one room, and they are on their way to our campuses! Adapted from Marc Prensky’s EDUCAUSE ELI keynote address, January, 2006, San Diego, CA.

We must be prepared and we must prepare the top leaders at our institutions. We must look carefully at “our” students and “our” faculty and create elearning systems that work for “our” institution.

In fact, we have to get ready for students with EOE syndrome.

EOE…Engage me or enrage me. Adapted from Marc Prensky’s EDUCAUSE ELI keynote address, January, 2006, San Diego, CA.

You have heard of the millenials, the NetGeners, and the digital natives….. And our job is to help to create the ideal 21 st century educational experience for them.

Not only will the 21 st century education have to be engaging with many technology enhancements, but it will also have to be flexible--evidenced by this recent headline.. “Students prefer online courses.” ( The Associated Press, January 13, 2006).

Technology leaders (those of us in this room) must find ways to help all other institutional leaders including Presidents, VPs, Provosts, Deans, Department Chairs, and others, to understand their important roles in creating the educational environment for the 21 st century. We recommend 10 steps that leaders should take (and that you should help them take) …..

1.Get focused. 2.Get personally involved. Accept responsibility and get some firsthand experience. 3.Get real. (About the urgency, the obstacles, and what is needed to move forward.) 4.Get the right people on the bus. 5.Start the “we need to refine elearning at our institution before the technology tsunami hits” conversation. Leadership’s Role - Ten Steps

6. Create programs that facilitate faculty’s adoption of elearning. 7. Implement an elearning strategic planning process. (institutional and academic departmental) 8. Take a realistic look at funding to insure that there is a proper allocation and balance for BOTH academic technologies and administrative technologies. 9. Insure a robust technology infrastructure. 10. Insure technology support for faculty, staff, and students. Leadership’s Role – Ten Steps (Cont)..

For the remainder of this presentation we would like to focus on one of our recommendations… 8. Take a realistic look at funding to insure that there is a proper allocation and balance for BOTH academic technologies and administrative technologies.

The White Paper “Academic ERP Learning Management Systems: An Enterprise-Wide Strategic Investment for Core Teaching and Learning with Significantly Reduced Costs and More Value per User” Written by: Martin A. Smith, Chancellor, Extended Campus Howard Muffler, Director, Enterprise Services Becky Vasquez, Director, I.T. Services Shirley Waterhouse, Director, Educational Technology December 2004 Online at:

Greentree Gazette Getting What you Want From Software Series “LMS Takes Flight at Embry-Riddle” May 2005 “If the principal mission of higher education is to educate, why isn’t education at the top priority of college information technology systems?”

How it all came about… CIO’s Vision Culture When you think about it…it makes perfect sense! NOT a foundation to support gouging price increases for LMS vendors.

ERPs and LMSs Commonalities –Integrated with other technologies –Both core and critical in respective areas –Enhance “business” Differences –Administrative versus Academic

Hybrid Courses Offering external classroom resources Our instructors report “students learn more” Opportunities for faculty Supports sound teaching disciplines

Distance Learning Transformation Remember when… –Video Tapes –US Postal Service –Collaboration? Today –Classrooms created without physical structure –Virtual collaboration possible

Learning Systems Today No other automated tool more significantly impacts the ability of an institution to accomplish its teaching and learning mission, especially in today’s competitive online environment. Supports the primary missions of instruction and research. –Core mission is not to offer a highly effective way to provide online pay checks.

Embry-Riddle Growth Average Hits Per Day Available Courses

“Embry-Riddle also provides distance education, or online learning, around the globe.”

Delivering Courses Around the World Flying high in the sky over Iraq. Educate. Innovate. Everywhere.

Issues Funding –Administrative ERPs have a history and more generally understood. –LMS is typically launched under the Provost where historically, funding is more scarce and difficult to justify. Deployment –Not purchased or supported for the enterprise

Power Constituents Usage

End Constituent Usage

How Important is a LMS? Here’s what our students tell us: –“Whether or not a University has an online learning system is a deciding factor for students. ERAU Online (Blackboard) offers me convenient access from anywhere and helps to insure that I retain information that I might have missed in class by being able to access classroom materials later.” –“An institution having a LMS is very important. I want to be able to take quizzes at home and eliminate some of the paper that traditional classes generate. Being able to get my syllabus, notes, and homework online is a big help.”

Running the Numbers Component Small College Medium University Large University System Students (FTE)2,0007,50035,00075,000 Faculty (Full Time) ,5006,000 Staff5001,2002,00010,000 Total Constituents2,7509,30038,50091,000 ERP Acquisition and Implementation Costs $7.5M$15M$50M$150M ERP Cost/Constituent $2,727$1,613$1,299$1,648 LMS Acquisition and Implementation Costs $0.5M$1M$1.5M$2M LMS Cost/Constituent $182$108$39$22 Cost Differential per Constituent (%) 1,398%1,394%3,231%7,391%

Cost per Constituent

What our LMS Costs Us Embry-Riddle Costs –Costs per FTE constituent is approximately $33.00 Licenses Infrastructure/Hosting Personnel support

Future Roles Open Source Commercial merging with Open Source Adaptation of open standards and integration Focus on adding value LMS poised to become dominant application and foundational

In Closing Embry-Riddle has taken a giant leap forward in a way that is meaningful and supportive of our strategic directions. We have determined that the ERP academic LMS systems are far more critical and cost effective than their ERP Administrative counterparts. We will focus on innovation going forward.