Ask Dr. C's > ADC Effective Practices

Increasing Adoption: Leveraging Reports with Project ASTRO

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:09:03 +0000

Best Practice by Eric Kunnen

Description

Introduction

Increasing adoption can occur from many different angles. From showcasing innovative faculty to creating awareness around capabilities and to revealing survey data, the possibilities are nearly endless. It does take time, however, to locate faculty and to determine what tools are being used (or not) in Blackboard.

Institutions have approached the "Who is using Blackboard" and "What are faculty doing with Blackboard" questions in different ways. Some colleges use end user surveys, some use the limited "built-in" reports offered to system administrators, and yet others have discovered custom SQRs and scripts to pull usage data out of Blackboard. All of these approaches have been very time consuming and difficult. Enter Project ASTRO.

A Brief Review of Project ASTRO

The goal of Project ASTRO (Blackboard Greenhouse Grant Funded) was to create a system that allowed system administrators to easily access reports on how Blackboard is being used by faculty, staff, and students which in turn would help: inform stakeholders, improve the engagement of end users, increase adoption, and to encourage deeper use of Blackboard by faculty, staff, and students.

The key functions of Project ASTRO are:

Tracking
Automatic tracking (via Building Block) of courses, organizations, users, and tools.
Reporting
Easy point and click access to advanced reports.
Discovery
Ability to measure trends and analyze usage.
Sharing
Inform key stakeholders of usage levels.
Acting
Identify, target, and engage users using reports.

More information about Project ASTRO can be found here: BbWorld'09 - Project ASTRO Session Materials

Leveraging Reports

Step 1) Identify and Target

What are the tools that are being used on the system? What tools are not being used? In this first step, Project ASTRO can be used to easily identify tools that are being used (or not) on Blackboard. In fact, a system administrator can drill down to identify specific courses and faculty. Once a target group of faculty have been identified, these faculty can be easily contacted.

Step 2) Engage Faculty

Armed with the information about courses, tools, and instructor usage obtained in Step 1, specific faculty can be contacted that are using a specific feature in Blackboard. This is valuable data, as faculty can share their real world uses of Blackboard in teaching and learning. These case studies are very helpful in conveying to"non-users" of Blackboard the value and potential of using the tools available to teach and to help students learn. These faculty can be trainers, presenters, and overall change agents within the institution.

Step 3) Inform Stakeholders

In Step 3, Project ASTRO provides valuable information for administrators, deans, CIO's, etc. It's crucial that there is a common understanding around what Blackboard is being used for at an institution. Often, many administrators that aren't directly involved with teaching or with students do not have a complete picture of what Blackboard means to the institution. The data and reports can be easily shared via email or other methods and used to create awareness of the levels of usage of Blackboard, which in turn will help promote a common understanding around the value of using Blackboard.

How do you approach reporting at your institution?

Please comment below!

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Project ASTRO Information

End of Semester Checklist for your Online Course (2 Comments)

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:04:09 +0000

Best Practice by Kevin Reeve

Here is an end of a semester checklist for your online course.

Gradebook

Complete all grading
Set-up/or verify all calculated columns are working correctly
Set-up/or verify letter grade column is working correctly
Scan columns in the grade book and look for anything that is out of place.

Students who have blank scores
Particular assignment missing a lot of scores

Turn in Grades

Reflection

What worked well in the course?
What did not work as planned?
What technical difficulties did I or my students have?
What areas of the course would I like to improve?
What content or activities would I like to add?

Schedule time to work on the course to make improvements. Take advantage of instructional designers, e-learning support specialists, media production and graphic artists to improve your course. If you found some technical difficulties that your students had, visit with your Blackboard support staff on campus and get their help in resolving what those issues are.

See the End of Semester Blog Post for more information and explanation http://connections.blackboard.com/posts/694c0f42b2

Accessing Assignments for Off-line Grading

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:57:14 +0000

Best Practice by Brian Morgan

Description

Accessing Assignments for Off-line Grading - written by Dr. C Brian Morgan

Have you ever been on a plane or on the road and needed to grade student submissions placed within the Blackboard Vista Assignment Dropbox at the same moment that you find yourself not connected to the Internet? When you use the Assignment Dropbox’s “Create Printable View” option, not having an Internet connection at the most inopportune moment will not be an issue. This feature allows you to compile all submissions into a single .ZIP archive and easily move it to a Thumb (Flash) drive so that you can grade submissions whenever you have the time, no matter where you are.

Digital media is a powerful tool that can enhance your online course. Recent developments and market trends have changed the rules and media formats that need to be considered when creating media for your course. Choosing the correct video and audio format is the first step to insuring a successful experience for both instructor and student. Podcasts, a form of digital media meant for downloading to a portable media device are included in this discussion.

Want more tips from the Dr. C's? Visit our Ask Dr. C Connections page.

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Brian Morgan Accessing Assignments for Off Line Grading.pdf (78KB)

Eight Ideas for Supporting Faculty

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:54:13 +0000

Best Practice by Kevin Reeve

This effective practice documents provides 8 great ideas for supporting faculty in their e-learning efforts.

Summary

In a recent conversation I had with a faculty member, she stated that she needed to be able to call upon technology experts to help her with her technology and teaching needs, just like she is called upon to consult in the area of her expertise. Faculty want to be as self sufficient as possible, they just need the experts to point them in the right direction, give them advise about the best way to proceed, and the best tool and method to make things happen. You can be that person.

Eight Ideas for supporting Faculty

Fully online and Hybrid courses take a lot of effort to create. It is not as easy as it looks and often times faculty are left to do the brunt of it. Over the past 12 years of e-learning, many great ideas for supporting faculty have evolved. These have been adapted to meet the needs of faculty, and the size of the support staff at many institutions.

1. Show and Tell. Faculty who are new to e-learning want to see examples of what their colleagues are doing. Some institutions have show and tell sessions and invite faculty to come show their own courses, while others get permission to show courses and an instructional designer or other e-learning support person will show them off.

2. Online course. There are some institutions that require instructors who wish to use Blackboard, to go through an online course created for teaching them how to use the software. This gets instructors into the very software they will use, and they get an opportunity to use the very tools their students will. If done properly, it will give instructors ideas on what is possible.

3. Faculty Mentors. Smaller schools without large support staff have use the Faculty Mentor model with great success. The core Blackboard support staff on campus will train faculty from various departments and then they work with faculty within their department to mentor and train them. This can be very successful, but it can also put a heavy burden on the mentors. Selecting the mentors is the key to success and it is usually early adopters who have a passion for this technology.

4. Online tutorials. Putting easy to follow self help documents and tutorials online can really help faculty go it on their own. Utah State University has had great success creating both text and video/audio based tutorials for faculty who are using Blackboard Vista. You can see some examples here. http://it.usu.edu/tutorials.

5. Use Templates. Having a general course design and plan promotes consistency throughout the University, and makes it easy for faculty to get started. Instead of having to start from scratch and spend a lot of time playing around, faculty and instructors can focus on creating content. One school estimates it saves 25% - 30% of online development time by having a course template/shell available.

6. Build it for them. Faculty time, especially those on the tenure/research track is very valuable and limited. Why not build the entire course for them. Use the templates and a good checklist to sit down with them and chart out a plan for the course. Commit them to get you the content on a timeline, and then build it for them. Use examples of other classes to show them what the end result will be, and customize where needed to meet the learning objectives of the course and each unit.

7. Online Office Hours. Just like faculty have office hours, you can provide excellent support to them by having online office hours. There are even examples in consortia where each institution takes a turn monitoring online office hours.

8. Bring technology support together. Supporting the development of e-learning requires graphic artists, web designers, course developers, instructional designers and media specialists. If these are in different groups, it makes it harder to get the job done. Experience shows that when these experts are not part of the e-learning group (the group supporting the faculty with Blackboard technology) then they “don’t get it,” and may not be able to provide the best solutions. Experience shows that when these experts work hand in hand with the faculty, and instructional designers/Bb support staff, then the outcome is a far better project.

You should also avoid one-person operations in individual colleges or departments. They tend to be islands and although will get the job done, do not get the real opportunity to collaborate on a regular basis with others. Synergy is created when designers and support persons for varied backgrounds and skill levels get together and share. Each brings their strengths and the outcome is bigger than the sum of the parts.

Conclusion

Why use Grading Forms?

Mon, 18 May 2009 15:13:11 +0000

Best Practice by Harold Powers

Description

Grading forms are authentic assessment tools that are a type of matrix that provides scaled levels of achievement or understanding for a set of criteria or dimensions of quality for a given type of performance. Each of these criteria will have a range of performance indicators that one can place a student’s work along a continuum that ranges from exceptional to not up to expectations.

There are many advantages to using a grading form when evaluating a student’s work. A well designed grading form will increase an assessment’s construct and content validity by aligning evaluation criteria to standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment tasks. They will also increase an assessment's reliability by setting criteria that raters can apply consistently and objectively. Grading forms help move the instructor away from subjective grading by assessing work based on consistent, objective criteria. They also tend to reduce bias and reduce the time needed in evaluating performance and providing valid feedback. Grading forms also informs the student what the explicit expectation is for superior performance and allows them to assess their own effort and performance. This allows them to make adjustments to their work before submitting it to the instructor. They can give the learner specific feedback about their areas of strength and weakness and give them insight on how they can improve their performance. Use of a grading form can also answer the Student’s question of “Why did I only get a B?”.

When grading forms are used for self- and peer-assessment, they help learners develop their ability to judge quality in their own and others' work. When the student is involved in designing the grading form, they are empowered to become self-directed learners.

In conclusion, by their very nature, grading forms encourage reflective practice on the part of both students and teachers. In particular, the act of developing a rubric instigates a powerful consideration of one's values and expectations for student learning, and the extent to which these expectations are reflected in actual classroom practices. If grading forms are used in the context of students' peer review of their own work or that of others, or if students are involved in the process of developing the grading form, these processes can spur the development of their ability to become self-directed and help them develop insight into how they and others learn.

Click on the attached file for an example of a grading form used to evaluate online discussions.

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Assessing Effectiveness of Online Discussions.pdf (31KB)

Increasing Adoption: Showcase and Awareness

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:27:46 +0000

Best Practice by Eric Kunnen

No news is good news right? Maybe! Or maybe not...

1. Creating Awareness through Email

One of the tasks I put on my calendar is to send out "beginning of the semester" and "end of the semester" reminders for faculty. These reminders contain the basics of course copy with links to tip sheets and tutorials as well as best practices for faculty in the saving of their course content, gradebooks, etc.

In these reminder emails, I know that some of the faculty reading the email will not be users of Blackboard, so I attempt to focus the theme of the email on how easy it is to get started and to perform basic functions. I also put in a teaser periodically of something cool coming up. For example, I highlight our Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase (mentioned in #4 below) and occasionally I'll include some student survey feedback on how much they like it that faculty use Blackboard. Finally, I'll also add a teaser such as: "Want to know who your students are for next semester? Login today and view the student photo roster!".

In the end, these short and brief semester emails let faculty know the basics and faq's (which in turn helps fend off some of the help desk calls we get) while also encouraging faculty that aren't using Bb, to join in!

Finally, on occasion, I'll target faculty who have never logged into Blackboard and I'll also send them an email of encouragement and link them to our upcoming training sessions. The tone of these emails are meant to be encouraging and to inform the faculty and make them aware of support resources and assistance that is available.

2. Creating Awareness though Campus Publications

Another resource I have used is to leverage our existing communication channels such as: "GRCC Today" and "The Collegiate". GRCC Today is an all staff email that goes out with highlights from everything from street closings due to construction and upcoming news and events. We place upcoming training sessions for Blackboard in this communication, as well as notices about upcoming conferences such as miBUG, BbWorld, and the TLT Showcase.

The Collegiate is the student newspaper, and we have worked with student writers and the advisor for the program on highlighting faculty that are taking an innovative approach with Blackboard. We have also used this communication resource as a way to introduce features such as the iPhone and Facebook Blackboard Sync applications.

Using existing publications such as these can be another great way to share with your stakeholders about what is happening in Blackboard. It's really a nice way to spread out the communication so that it doesn't seem to always come from the "Distance Learning Department" or some other location.

3. Creating Awareness through Recognition

While attending various conferences through the year, I'll often grab a few more "giveaways" in the vendor hall. These giveaways are useful in our faculty training sessions and also for targeted "Thank You Notes". Periodically, I'll go through and find the top active faculty on our Blackboard system and send them a short and small token of appreciation for leveraging Blackboard in their teaching. In the interoffice mail envelope, I'll add in a pen, button, stress worm, etc. along with the letter to the faculty member who is using Blackboard. It's a small touch, but it really helps to establish an environment where the faculty know they are appreciated for putting in the extra effort.

In addition, throughout the year that are various times on the server where access is lower. Say, Spring Break, Christmas, or other holidays. One of the strategies I've used in the past is to take a record of those faculty that logged in during this time period and send them a quick email to say "thank you" for taking the time to login to Blackboard over the holiday break to respond to students.

Finally, I will also send out an email when faculty take an extra step and make their courses available early to students before the semester start date. This shows that the faculty members are prepared, engaged, and what is even better, students can get early access to their course and the materials so that they can be prepared for the first day of class.

It is worth mentioning that you wouldn't want to over communicate and "spam" faculty with such email. But in balance, and sporadically throughout the year, this type of email communication contributes to an environment that is more dynamic and at the same time keeps everyone "plugged in" while also building an effective rapport.

4. Creating Awareness through Special Events

Every year we take the time to plan a day where faculty can come together around the topic of technology and teaching. We call this event the: "Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase (TLT Showcase)". The underlying purpose is really to get faculty out of their classrooms and offices and talking with each other face-to-face. It's an opportunity as well for faculty to learn from each other while also being recognized for their innovative approaches to applying technology to teaching and learning.

Photo from GRCC's TLT Showcase

The TLT Showcase is run as an "electronic" poster session so that faculty presenters really don't need to prepare anything formal... they just show up and be willing to talk to other faculty about how they are using blocks and wikis in their Blackboard course, how they are reaching students through podcasting, etc. It's a great event that is becoming quite popular. Whats more, this event helps create awareness of how the campus is benefiting from using Blackboard!

5. Name yours!

How does your campus get the word about about faculty and what they are doing to meet student's needs? Add a comment and share your idea as well!

The Sample Quiz - Help Prepare Students for Online Tests

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:30:45 +0000

Best Practice by Kate Britt

Description

Faculty are on the front lines; we are frequently the first go-to person for students who are experiencing technical difficulties while working in their online courses. Perhaps one of the most important tools in many Blackboard courses is the Assessments tool (for Quizzes, Tests, and/or Assessments). Providing students with a short sample quiz helps them become familiar with the tool and gives them a head start in troubleshooting any technical problems that may arise during online testing.

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The Sample Quiz - Help Prepare Students for Online Tests.pdf (82KB)

Delivering Documents to your Students (1 Comment)

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:03:19 +0000

Best Practice by Kevin Reeve

Description

A popular uses of a Blackboard for hybrid courses, is the dissemination of course materials to students. Students may also use Blackboard to turn in or deliver assignments to faculty or fellow class members. Many questions to Ask Dr. C from students revolve around the inability to download or view some course materials the instructor has posted. Usually the problem is simply that the student does not have the correct software or latest software to view the file. Here are a few tips and best practices to make your posting of course materials a success.

In this article, find out:
How files in Blackboard work
How to create Web Friendly Documents – PDF files
How to creating PDF files from PowerPoint.

Want more tips from the Dr. C's? Visit our Ask Dr. C Connections page.

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Kevin Reeve_Delivering Documents to your Students_12-08.docx (125KB)

Crosslisting In Vista using Banner 7

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:31:24 +0000

Best Practice by Harold Powers

Description

Crosslisting involves creating an entirely new section called the Parent Section that contains the combined enrollments for two or more separate Vista sections. These seperate sections are called the Child Sections.

SunGard's Banner can be used to set up Banner Crosslisted sections and import them into Vista. The attached document will give you a better idea on how crosslisting works and how to set it up in Banner 7.

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Blackboard_Crosslisting 101c.doc (2.4MB)

Increasing Adoption: Using Wordle for Open Ended Survey Responses (1 Comment)

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:22:31 +0000

Best Practice by Eric Kunnen

Description

Like many colleges and universities, every semester we conduct a survey of both our instructors and our students regarding their experience with Blackboard. The purpose of the survey is to get a pulse on what is happening with the system and to help determine where we need to improve and enhance the system to better meet the needs of our stakeholders with the goal of improving student success.

The big idea with end user surveys is to help ensure (by measurement) that Blackboard is meeting the needs of our faculty and students, and to discover any potential problems that may be occurring.

As with any survey, some of the most important data is only extracted through open ended comments, rather than simplified answers to multiple choice or questions based on a Likert scale. Not that it isn't important to ask questions that are objective based, but perhaps even more important are those circumstances where you would like to ask for perspectives or to gather ideas that are not easily obtained without using an open ended question format.

The trouble is... how do you quickly evaluate these responses? Well there isn't really a way to truly review open ended responses to surveys without reading them, word-for-word. This is important, but what if you just want a quick pulse or read on some general keywords? Enter the tag cloud. As tag clouds have gained in popularity from blogs to wikis to social bookmarking applications like Blackboard Scholar, so too have the tools that enable them to be created.

While there are many tag cloud generators on the web, one of the easiest I've found to use is called Wordle.net. It's as easy as copying text and pasting it in... and clicking the Go button. Without getting to wordy on this Best Practice post... and before turning this post into a tag cloud itself :) , one of the ways I have found to quickly scan open ended comments in a survey is to create a tag cloud of the responses with Wordle. For example, when we asked our students about why they believe that using Blackboard is beneficial to them, we received more than 350 responses... and while again, reading them is important, by placing their responses into Wordle, the following graphic revealed some important themes, such as grades, class, better, access, time,online,available,assignments, information. [See Image Below]

Equipped with these themes and the rest of the survey data, I've been able to promote features and functionality that make a difference to students in their learning. This in turn, has also proved helpful in marketing the benefits of using Blackboard to those faculty that haven't yet adopted using it in their teaching.

What are your thoughts, how have you taken survey information and used it to help increase awareness and adoption at your institution?

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Wordle