1. Running a SAM-based Computer Literacy Program Sandra Neill and Miguel Roman George Brown College Toronto, Canada

2. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Outline About George Brown About us Our team Context SAM@GBC Beyond the bricks

3. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Downtown Toronto, Canada Two campuses + satellite at Ryerson University 14,000 fulltime students 50,000 continuing- education students

4. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College About us Sandra Neill, Miguel Roman Learning Innovations and Academic Development (LIAD) Computer Skills and Application (CSA)

5. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College About us: CSA 6000+ students/year Suite of five basic~intermediate computer skills courses covering a range of Microsoft applications Three dedicated labs, one at each campus

6. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Our Team Sandra –Curriculum design –Course & section building –Database front end processes –Feedback & evaluation –Day-to-day program administration.

7. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Our Team Miguel –Database back end & automation of processes –Custom datafiltering to populate sections with Banner data –Query & derive final course grades –Grade load to Banner.

8. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Our Team Other team members include –Systems administrator (server/labs/hardware/image) –Two course coordinators (administration & student issues) –8 computer skills teaching assistants to staff labs & tutor students

9. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Context Province of Ontario mandate for generic skills includes basic computer literacy Computer Skills and Applications (CSA) program was created in 1995 to address this mandate

11. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College CSA Almost every incoming student in diploma or degree-oriented studies takes a Computer Skills and Applications course 6000+ each year

13. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC CSA rolled out Skills Assessment Manager as its course delivery platform in May 2004

14. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC Flagship course is a four-module basic applications class: –Windows, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer Students who arrive at GBC well-prepared can take a for-credit Challenge Test –Also delivered using SAM

15. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC Three-step test-training-test path –Students begin with an assessment –Then receive custom training on the tasks they could not complete –Followed by an exam on the same tasks. Assessment eliminates the tasks they can already do –Students must learn and test successfully on 80% of the tasks they were unable to do in the assessment.

17. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC Assessment & exam must be done in CSA lab Training can be done anywhere –Software available for overnight rental from GBC library Custom training remains available right up until the exam deadline Three attempts at each exam

18. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC Continuing-education and Access programs are a little different –Two-step path of full training on all tasks first, followed by a test –No assessment, no customized training –Seems to work better with these groups

19. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College SAM@GBC CSA Program partners with GBC Staff Development office –Staff Development uses SAM to train staff and faculty in use of MS applications –Staff Development will also use SAM to test job applicants when job requires proficiency in MS applications

20. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College CSA in the community Partners participate in our basic computer course On successful completion, participants receive a college credit –Frontier College –Fred Victor Centre –Jewish Vocational Services

21. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College The Big Picture SCT Banner SAM CSA Database

22. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Student Registrations SCT SIS Database SCT Banner SAM gets its student data from the SCT Banner database. This population is started through an initial SQL extract for each section in Sam and then kept synchronized through daily SQL extracts from the Banner database.

23. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Data Translation CSA Database CSA Database We maintain our own database which mirrors the SAM database but contains additional information not necessary for SAM. This allows us to translate the business rules of our institution to suit SAM and vice versa.

24. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Database Updates SAM Database SAM SAM database snapshots are sent periodically by Course Technology; we load these into our CSA database. The SAM data is combined with our SIS student data in the CSA database. This allows us to do periodic data integrity checks between the SAM database and produce custom reports during an active Term.

25. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Grade Process CSA Database SCT Banner Final Grade calculation is performed in the CSA database, then formatted for upload to the SCT SIS database.

26. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Archive Final reports are produced and all data is archived for future reference in the event of any discrepancies or grade challenges

27. S. Neill & M. Roman George Brown College Questions Thanks for coming! Contact us at: mroman@gbrownc.on.ca sneill@gbrownc.on.ca