presentation for Northern Illinois University Council of Deans on 11/10/2010 highlighting NIU's plans to upgrade from Blackboard 8.0 to 9.1 and support faculty during the upgrade process

1. Blackboard Next
Generation Upgrade and
Support Plan
Presentation for Council of Deans
Faculty Development and
Instructional Design Center
November 10, 2010

2. Presentation Goals
• Highlight information on current Blackboard
support available for NIU faculty/staff and TAs
• Introduce new features to be available in
Blackboard following upgrade scheduled for
May 2011
• Share faculty support plan and timeline of
support activities
• Obtain your feedback on the plan and ideas
on how we can help your faculty proactively
2

3. Blackboard Usage at NIU
3
3

4. Blackboard
• Learning management
system available campus-
wide for teaching since 2002
• Used for range of activities
from posting course
materials to teaching online
• This fall 2010, 97% of NIU
students and 75% of faculty
use Blackboard
More details: www.niu.edu/blackboard
4

5. Use of Blackboard by (individual)
Students
Usage % for fall ‘10 with 23,795 enrolled is 96.8% of total number of students
23,040
5

6. Use of Blackboard by (individual)
Faculty/Staff/TAs to Teach
Usage % for fall ‘10 with 1,761* faculty/instructors/TA/teaching staff is
74.96%
*1,761 includes only those providing direct instruction
1,320
6

7. Number of Credit Course Sections
in Blackboard
Usage % for fall ‘10 with 5,106* sections is 49.23%
*No. of course sections including thesis, dissertation, and independent studies is 5,106
2,514
7

8. Number of Course Enrollments in
Blackboard
Students enrolled in several courses that use Blackboard in a semester
87,687
8

9. Current Support
Provided by
Faculty Development and
Instructional Design
Center
9

10. Blackboard Support
• The comprehensive support provided by our Center
on teaching with Blackboard includes the following:
– Hands-on workshops (series of 39 different workshops)
– Individual consultations (In FY10 alone, 523
consultations on Blackboard were offered to 230 unique
individuals)
– Usage documentation (250+ webpages)
(9,800 unique visitors per month to the help site in FY10)
– 246 answers to Frequently Asked Questions (searchable)
– 37 step-by-step tutorials (searchable)
– Podcasts (23+ episodes) on teaching with Blackboard
– Quick Guides on using Blackboard
– 24 archived online workshops, Ask-A-Question, etc.
10

11. Current Blackboard Version
(Release 8.0)
11
Current Blackboard
Version (Release 8.0)

12. Blackboard 8.0
12

13. Control Panel
13

14. Edit View
14

15. Blackboard Next Generation
(Release 9.1)
15

16. Blackboard Next Generation
• Most significant upgrade to Blackboard to
date seeking to accomplish 3 main goals:
1. Deliver highly engaging but powerfully simple
user experiences for faculty and students
2. Combine new innovation with the best of both
Blackboard and WebCT (acquired by Blackboard)
3. Expand Blackboard’s open interface so that it
integrates more easily into existing campus
technologies
More details: blackboard.com/projectng
16

17. A Few of the New Features…
• A more collective and collaborative learning
experience for students through the integration of
– Blogs, Journals, Wikis, and Mash-ups, as well as new
Group Tools.
• Increased educator efficiency through
– contextual editing, content management at the course
level, drag-and-drop navigation, etc.
• More centralized control over assessment
instruments through expanded question
management capabilities available for use when
– creating Tests, Surveys, and Question Pools.
17

18. Upgrade to Blackboard 9.1
• Blackboard released version 9.1 in fall 2009
• Blackboard will not continue to support current
version (8.0) after 2011
• NIU’s upgrade to version 9.1 planned for May 2011
(Memorial Day weekend)
• Our staff and ITS staff began testing version 9.1 in
summer 2010 to ensure all the features and interfaces
work properly, and identify quirks
• Our staff are working on developing new workshops
and documentation for version 9.1
• Upgrade will not impact course materials, only
interface
• Students won’t see a drastic difference
18

19. Brief Demonstration
19

20. Blackboard Next
Generation Upgrade
Faculty Support Plan
20

21. Faculty Support Plan
• We have organized the plan into 5 Phases:
– Phase 1: Install and test Blackboard version 9.1 and
begin developing user documentation
– Phase 2: Communicate new features and user
interface changes to users by several means
– Phase 3: Conduct preview sessions (f2f and online)
– Phase 4: Upgrade to version 9.1 and begin hands-
on workshops for basic as well as advanced users
– Phase 5: Offer open lab and special sessions for
colleges and departments as requested
21

22. Faculty Support Plan Phases
Phase 1: Documentation and Support Materials Preparation (Beginning Summer 2010)
Phase 2: Communications of New Features and User Interface Changes (Beginning Fall 2010)
Phase 3: Preview Sessions (Beginning Spring 2011)
Hands-on preview sessions 90 mins each; Online preview sessions 60 mins each
Phase 4: Hands-on Face-to-Face Workshops
(Beginning Summer 2011) All workshops 90 mins
Phase 5: Open Labs
& Special Sessions
Install new system on
a development
(BbDev) server
Test new features and
system interfaces
Create upgrade page
to document new
features, changes,
and include links to
applicable support
materials provided by
Blackboard
Update Teaching with
Blackboard support
site
(niu.edu/blackboard)
to reflect new
features major
interface changes
Convert site from
WebCRMA to new
Cascade CMS as part
of the redesign
update process
Outline of features and
pre-existing support
materials at
niu.edu/blackboard/ng
Articles in Fall ’10 &
Spring ’11 newsletters
and campus media
Episodes on Teaching
with Blackboard
Podcast devoted to
changes
Notices of new features
posted to FacDev blog,
Twitter, and Facebook,
and notices to users
Screencasts and/or
quick tip highlighting
changes
Online preview sessions
archived for on-demand
viewing
2 invite-only hands-on
preview sessions for
support staff and
faculty power users
[3/29, 4/6]
3 online preview
sessions [60 min] for
faculty/staff & TAs via
Wimba Classroom
[3/30, 4/12, 4/27]
3 hands-on preview
sessions for
faculty/staff & TAs [4/8,
5/3, 5/16]
2 invite-only hands-on
preview sessions for
faculty teaching during
intersession [4/28,
5/16]
6 Bb Tune-up sessions
for experienced users
offering hands-on
overview of changes
and new features [6/9,
8/9, 8/11, 8/17(2),
8/19]
7 Bb I & II hands-on
sessions for users new
to Bb [6/2, 6/15, 7/13,
7/21, 8/15, 8/19]
2 Bb NG Boot Camps (4
in-depth hands-on
sessions for
faculty/staff on 9.1 new
feature sets) [6/3, 8/10]
Blackboard Open Lab
sessions [11AM-1PM]
each day during 1st
week of summer & fall
2011 terms [6/13, 6/14,
6/15, 6/16, 8/22, 8/23,
8/24, 8/25, 8/26]
College-specific sessions
available upon request
Consultations with
individual faculty/staff
and TAs upon request
Hands-on preview sessions and face-to-face workshops will be 90 minutes in length; Online preview sessions will be 60 minutes in length

23. Faculty Support Plan Timeline
9/10 10/10 11/10 12/10 1/11 2/11 3/11 4/11 5/11 6/11 7/11 8/11 9/11
Support plan drafted &
shared with Provost,
Council of Deans, and
Faculty Development
Advisory Committee
Version 9.1
installed on
bbdev.
FacDev &
ITS begin
testing
system
Redesign of existing
support site begins
Initial draft of
redesigned
support site
ready on new
CMS
New support
site goes live
Phase 1: Documentation and Support Materials Preparation
Phase 2: Communications of New Features and User Interface Changes
Phase 3: Preview
Sessions
Phase 4: Hands-on Face-to-Face
Workshops
Phase 5: Open Labs &
Special Sessions
Preliminary
info on 9.1
available on
current
support site
New tutorials, quick guides, etc.
developed in response to questions
received
New features in 9.1 covered in all
future Blackboard workshops
Consultations with individual
faculty/staff and TAs upon request
Last updated: 11/7/10
Outage /
Upgrade
to Bb 9.1
(5/29 -
5/30)
2010 2011
23

24. Workshops Scheduled
• 35 workshops currently scheduled for Spring
& Summer 2011:
– 10 preview sessions prior to upgrade
– 8 hands-on workshops for new users
– 8 “tune-up” workshops for experienced users
– 9 open lab sessions
24

25. Faculty Support Plan Challenges
• Faculty Focus Groups on documentation needs
• Issues related to moving Blackboard users’
documentation from current web management
system (WebCRMA) to the new one (Cascade)
• Priority training for those teaching intersession
courses that overlap the upgrade in May 2011
• Need to train nearly 1,300 instructional faculty/
staff/TAs over summer 2011
• Retraining current basic to advanced users
• Training new faculty/staff/TA users from Aug ‘11
25

26. More Information
niu.edu/blackboard/ng
26

27. Summary
• Faculty Development workshop closely with ITS
in preparations for Blackboard 9.1 upgrade
• Faculty Development staff will be available for
– College-meetings in spring 2011 to demonstrate the
new Blackboard system
– College/department-specific workshops
• We need your support for a successful upgrade
– Mention the upgrade in college meetings
– Recommend faculty to start early for Su and Fall ‘11
– Encourage college tech staff to help
27