The Road to Integration: Learning Management and Student Information Systems Kate Clarkson - Griffith University

2 Overview Our journey so far Current SIS/LMS integration Current course structure What we needed to achieve The Destination Major challenges What we’ve learned along the way

3 Getting the terminology straight… At Griffith: –Course = Unit of study Eg. Introduction to Accounting –Program = Degree Eg. Bachelor of Business

4 In the beginning… Pre-1995, some custom-written applications used to deliver specialised content through web sites and CD-ROM Home grown LMS in use since 1995 Blackboard launched in semester 1, 2001 with: –400 courses –400 instructors –12,000 students Week 1: 2,357,520 hits

5 Growing pains Total student users

6 Growing pains Total course sites Total active course sites

7 Then we got big Per weekday during semester: –14,450 unique users per day –700 active users (active in last 15 mins) –6,000+ open sessions –Serving 200 – 400 GB of data per month Recognition as a mission-critical, enterprise wide system Implementation of dedicated support team

8 Really big

9 Current SIS/LMS integration SIS is PeopleSoft LMS is Blackboard Instructors are assigned manually by the schools Limited use of SIS data other than account and course creation and course enrolment

10 Current SIS/LMS integration Courses and enrolments are created via nightly batch process –Data from Peoplesoft exported to Metadirectory Transforms PeopleSoft data into Oracle database –Course and enrolment data imported from Metadirectory to Blackboard No integration at the program levels

11 Current SIS/LMS integration PeopleSoft data: –Users… fine –Enrolments… fine –Courses… not so fine

12 Current Blackboard course structure One course site per PeopleSoft class number Joining of multiple course sites Course IDs are “Magic Numbers” designed to facilitate course recycling without the need to copy PeopleSoft class numbers and course codes mapped to description field

13 Current Blackboard course structure A good idea at the time, but then we got big… s123456Test, Instructor

14 We needed to… Deal with changing SIS data Adopt a program-based approach to course administration Accommodate “life-long learning” via access to past courses Maintain past courses and course histories for auditing, intellectual capital, and litigation purposes

15 We needed to… Better utilise SIS data for managing students as cohorts, not just course enrolments Accommodate sharing of content at a program level Obtain freedom from the Course/Organisation model

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17 The Destination Course site structure re-jig Creation of cohort spaces Beyond Course maps… Program maps! Course persistence Course administration wizard

18 Course site structure re-jig Make site names make more sense Reduce the number of sites overall

19 Creation of cohort spaces Utilise existing SIS data to create spaces for student cohorts –Macro: Program sites –Micro: Tutorial groups as groups within course sites Accommodate content re-use and visibility across programs and schools Re-purpose Organisation sites

20 Beyond Course maps… Program maps! Program maps as collection of course maps to allow grater visibility of course content Functionality provided via a Building Block Shared content moved into a digital repository

21 Course persistence Maintain 3 years of content and activity live and accessible Allow instructors to chose which past version of a course they want to use each semester Allow sorting of enrolled sites by year, program, and site type

22 Course administration wizard Simplify the course set up process for instructors and school support staff Let instructors select which past version of their course they want to teach with each semester Populates empty course shell with selected course content

23 What it will look like - Administrator

24 What it will look like - Instructor

25 What it will look like - Student

26 Major challenges Granularity in SIS/LMS integration –What to take –How to take it –What to leave behind Coping with changing demands

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28 Granularity in SIS/LMS integration Utilise data at both macro and micro level –Cohort spaces based on program enrolment –Course groups based on tutorial enrolment Use existing PeopleSoft class IDs to construct Blackboard groups

29 Coping with changing demands Accommodate content sharing and reuse through visibility at the program and school levels Accommodate a program-based approach Simplify course administrative processes to encourage instructors to DIY

30 What we’ve learned along the way There is no one-size-fits-all solution for managing spaces in an LMS LMSs need to be enablers, not constrainers Flexibility + Stability = Happy academics and students

31 Questions?

32 The Support Team Establishing a dedicated support team has allowed us to stop fighting fires and get the real work done