<< Ask Dr. C's public

ADC Blog

Use this to blog about things related to your user group.

This is a public Blog  publicRSS

Blog Post

    • Blackboard - a key to your institutions...
      Blog Post posted Apr 28 by Kevin Reeve
      756 Views, 4 Comments
      Title:
      Blackboard - a key to your institutions Pandemic survival plan
      Main post:

      Today the news is hopping about the lates flu that some say could turn into a pandemic of sorts.  Schools are closed because of infected students, including all schools in Mexico City. That includes the University.  I have spend the day looking at some documents and found that Information Technology is one of the key infrastructures in this country. No surprise here.  A report from the NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ADVISORY COUNCIL on the Priortization of Critical Infrastructure makes this statement.

      "In the event of a pandemic, reliance on IT will increase substantially depending on the extent of
      social distancing measures employed.  As a result, information technology is critical to the
      response strategy of all sectors during a pandemic."        (page 96)

      Makes sense to me. Telecommution and other non face-2-face meetings. For those of us in education, doesn't it have e-learning and Blackboard written all over it?

      Think about it.  Your school has to shut it's doors and stay closed for some time, to stop the spread of the influenza strain.  E-learning could keep your academic course going. A professor already using Blackboard could make the transition rather easily.  They might need to use some pdocasts, coursecasts, discussions, or other tools to present content lectures, but it would get up and going rather fast.  Other facult who do not have experience with e-learning, hybrid, or blended courses, would really struggle, face cancelation of their courses, or be able to get up to speed rather quickly and at a distance.

      The discussion has already started at my institution.  I received an email today saying that the only agenda item on our monthly Emergency Planning Meeting for the University was updating and reviewing our pandemic plan.  Since I am on that committee, and a representative of Information Technology, you can bet that I will be discussing how Blackboard and e-learning can keep the academic side rolling.  It will be part of our plan, along with our emergency alert system.


      If I was involved with e-learning at my institution, I would make sure that academic leaders know the role that e-learning can play to keep the institution rolling. I would also start working on plans to determine the best method to bring faculty up to speed as quickly as possible and work with academic leaders to set priorities on what courses would be brought online if needed.

      This has been tested before.  In 2002, the Univesity of Utah had to shut down during the winter Olympics because the campus housing was used as the Olympic Village for athletes, and many parts of the University were used for the games.  Now they had some time to plan but courses went on during the few weeks they were closed, because they were moved online.

      Katrina is another time when some University courses were kept going by placing them online.

      Think about it. E-learning and Blackboard could be one key to keep your University running during a pandemic.

      What are other things we should think about?

      What would be the greatest challenges at your Institution during a pandemic closure or outbreak?

      Please comment...

    Comments

    • The greatest challenge for us would be the rural nature of the university. If students could not come to the university for classes or internet connectivity they would be limited to aquiring access. While, we are a laptop school, (all students are provided a laptop) they may not have internet off-campus.

      On another note, I think the Wimba powerlink would provide a virtural classroom for instruction/interacting/presenting.

       

    • Good point Kristine,  students may not have access. Perhaps Library's and Schools could put wireless access points that would cover outside the schools in local communities.   Students could drive up in a car with their laptop and connect for an hour or so while they work. That way they never leave their car so they could remain isolated?  That is one thought.  Even here in Utah all the k-12 schools have high speed internet provided by our state Education Network.

       

    • The biggest challenge facing our institution would be the lack of an instructional plan in case of a pandemic. We have great facilities planning, but there's no existing policy for keeping courses going. All courses get a space in our Luminis portal, but it would be a significant challenge to actually keep courses running with Luminis' rudimentary tools. Blackboard  (CE8) is much better suited for this, but we only create sections and enroll students that have specifically requested a blackboard course. In conjunction with our blackboard server, we have Wimba's voice tools and Elluminate which would provide a very good learning environment for those needing one. Again, there's no policy to drive the use though, and as we've seen in snow closures, some students and faculty continue the course, but some see "school closure" and don't.

      WCET recently had a great webcast with 2 different institutions' responses to natural disasters. If you're a WCET member, I highly recommend them. http://www.wcet.info/2.0/index.php?q=node/1244

    • Andy,

      Excellent ideas and points.  You know the key players around the planning table for a pandemic did not think about how Bb and Wimba/Elluminate could keep them going. They do know because I brought it up.  I also talked about the reality it trying to get the current non users up to speed.  I think we could get many up to speed rather quickly. 

      A recent brief to the campus from our campus doc did mention that faculty should consider using Blackboard or other online method to post course materials.  Our provost office who has a representative on the Emergency Planning committee is aware of Bb and Wimba etc and how it could help and what our issues would be.

      So I think spreading the word and getting the message to the right key players will help. But letting them understand realistic expectations.

      Perhaps classes could be offered the old fashioned drive in movie way.  Of course when you think about Wimba or Elluminate, it kind of is like going to a drive in movie, except using your computer and not your car.