1. The New Core Business System: The New Core Business System: Course Management Systems Course Management Systems Fred Siff Fred Siff VP & CIO, Professor, IS University of Cincinnati October 2001 October 2001 Copyright F.H.Siff, 2001. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the che copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

2. “We are the only major industry that has not changed its primary product in the last 50 years.” Joseph Steger President Univ. of Cincinnati

3. IT as a Strategic Resource IT differentiates businesses in the Internet Age -- why not education? And why not at its core: the classroom?

4. IT as a Strategic Resource IT makes a difference in the business: first it was automating business functions: (student registration/patient admission) then it was reengineering business functions: (online student self-registration) All this effort was aimed at the administrative systems of SIS, FIS, HR – back office operations - the real business is teaching and learning (and research). It is time to make a difference there.

5. 2001 Educause Current Issues Survey 2001 Educause Current Issues Survey Issues Important to Institution's Strategic Success 1.Administrative Systems/ERP 2.IT Funding Strategies 3.Faculty Development, support & training …Really?Why? Or is it?

6. Distributed Learning Analogous to distributed computing: Bring the learning environment to the learner, removing constraints of time and location Anywhere. Anytime. Anyplace. Learner-centered. Not distance education. Real education. As applicable to resident students as to anyone.

7. Re-inventing the Classroom New information technologies allow varied educational delivery modes and models: Not one size fits all. Not one mode/model for all learners, for all subjects. Consider a mix of learning modes and opportunities  a different - maybe better - educational “product.”

8. No Longer One Model Coursework ranging from on-campus (e.g., seminars, laboratory sessions, small classes) to on- line (e.g., one way, fact-based large lecture), where the learning mode is based on the coursework, the learner and the teacher. Coursework ranging from web-enhanced to web- enabled, from physical to virtual. The new modes enable more complex (and effective) connections.

9. (One possible) Future: the Virtual Classroom Create online interactive “virtual” classroom. Samples: Events zCommencementCommencement zJust community Classes zEngineeringEngineering zWorld MusicWorld Music zMedical SchoolMedical School

10. Necessary, interrelated components Faculty support for engaging in new modes of instruction Student access to the course materials (both of the above have cultural aspects beyond the technical…) Classroom environments off campus, necessary structures and availability on campus, rooms with data projectors, internet access, etc. Two of three is not enough.

11. Challenges Change higher education? Outside the box (physical classroom) thinking? Varied owners of intellectual property? Competition in education? Administrative systems that support variable calendars and procedures? New learning markets? A.edu with the entrepreneurial speed & risk of a.com? And funding, of course: this all costs real dollars.

12. Elements of an institutional strategy Faculty: buy-in, mutual support, service center Students: orientation, useful portal, focus groups Faculty Senate: endorsement, e.g. via resolution President & Cabinet: funding Provost: bully pulpit  part of dean & faculty performance reviews Board of Trustees: awareness Public Info. Office: portal endorsement & design Central IT: have a good system (e.g., Bb) and support it as a mission critical, bullet-proof core business system

13. University of Cincinnati University of Cincinnati Initiatives Information Technology considered a strategic resource. Serious, enterprise use of course management system (Blackboard) to establish a comprehensive learning space. Faculty Senate, Cabinet & Board of Trustees support. Treatment as mission critical, bullet-proof core business system. Faculty Technology Resources Center – as a service center. Classroom rehabilitation  Internet readiness. Access – wireless, at residence and remote deployments. Funding and support of ongoing distributed learning in the various colleges and on an individual basis everywhere. The goal: momentum, creativity, energy -- and support -- for new models of teaching and learning. “Education will be the next ‘killer app’ on the Internet”

14. Course management as killer app? New course management systems are too important -- and too powerful -- to be relegated to “academic computing.” They are category-killers: killer apps that can transform the business –if deployed strategically, not tactically. (It doesn’t have to be Internet Explorer 6 with streaming video to be a killer app. Mosaic wasn’t all that slick – but it opened possibilities. VisiCalc too. So do course management systems.) Integrated PDA’s, cell phones, laptops and such, all running a course management/learning environment system are not far off. (Neither was QuattroPro and then Excel.) Start now.

15. Blackboard.uc.edu