1. FROM HELP REQUESTS TO A HELP CENTER MANAGING MOODLE SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

2. WHO WE ARE Bret Brinkman – Instructional Applications Operational Expert Eura Szuwalski – Learning Management Systems Support Technician University of California, Santa Barbara, Letters and Sciences Instructional Technology

3. INSTITUTION DESCRIPTION – UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA

4. GAUCHOSPACE: UCSB’S MOODLE-BASED LMS Approximately 1200 Academic course sites per quarter. Housed in College of Letters and Sciences, with centralized support. Programming team of three full-time employees; support team of two full- time employees plus graduate students.

5. GauchoSpace Support Training Help Tickets Documentation Three-tiered Moodle Support System

6. 1. TRAINING  Mandatory Moodle Orientation Training  Overview of Upgrade trainings  Other workshops as needed Easy to find information

7. 2. HELP REQUEST  Email/Ticketing system  ZenDesk ticketing system  Email communication with users  Drop-in Support – Collaborate Faculty Resource Center  Set office hours  Trained graduate student staff  Able to easily communicate with FTE

8. 3. DOCUMENTATION: Visible Adaptable Simple Searchable Key Pieces for a Successful Help Center

9. Student FAQ

10. Sample“Question” article

11. Sample Detailed article

12. VISIBLE Prominent link to get more help Prominent link in GauchoSpace to Help Center

13. ADAPTABLE – HIGHLIGHTING RELEVANT TOPICS Summer 2015 Layout Fall 2015 Layout Flexibility in the layout of the home page

14. ADAPTABLE – PROMOTING NEW TOPICS  Address the needs of users with additional support and documentation  Add pages to provide solutions or best practices  Use eye-catching colors to promote

15. SIMPLE  Step-by-step instructions  Most pages in form of questions  Screenshots ONLY when necessary  Videos ONLY when necessary

16. SEARCHABLE

17. ANALYTICS – QUANTIFY YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS Help center page views for key pages Popular search terms and results Repeat help tickets

18. OUTCOMES OF NEW HELP CENTER Over 34,000 help center page views during the 2014-15 academic year. Reduction of help tickets for the academic year by 45% compared to the previous year. Courses using the gradebook increased by 11% and advanced learning activity use increased by 16% for the year. Help ticket requests Gradebook Use Learning Activity Use

19. SPECIAL ISSUES - MOODLE UPGRADES Fall 2013 - Upgraded from Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.5 Summer 2015 - Upgraded from Moodle 2.5 to Moodle 2.8

20. KEY TAKEAWAYS Three prongs of support: training, help tickets and help center (the anchor) Help center: Visible, Adaptable, Simple, Searchable Analytics for optimizing documentation and visibility Support in times of transition / software upgrades

21. CONTACT US: Bret Brinkman bbrinkman@collaborate.ucsb.edu Eura Szuwalski eszuwalski@collaborate.ucsb.edu