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Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center Northern Illinois University Collaborative Technology Support Can’t We All Just Get Along? Educause Midwest Regional Conference 2006

Session Objectives Explore the history of technology and technological decision making at NIU Describe the formation of the Blackboard Administrative Team Outline institutional strategies for multi-user support Propose future plans for expansion of the system and continued collaboration

Overview: Technology at NIU Systems traditionally supported--and determined--by campus technology unit with little input from users. Separation of academic and technological units  No single, unifying agency Student fees directed largely toward other projects Colleges and departments have own initiatives

And then came Blackboard Provost appointed committee to select course management system Joint decision platform Support personnel organized themselves Decisions shared by support team

Current Support Team Information Technology Services (ITS)  Technical team  Customer Support team Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center Registration and Records E-Learning Services Transaction System

Continuing Challenges Lack of resources  No central office making decisions re: instructional technologies  Funding responsibility shared and problematic No full-time Bb support people (techs or customer support)  “Other duties as assigned” Policy and procedures by ad hoc committee

Blackboard Cooperative Processes A place holder for each scheduled section  Imported from Registration and Records database Faculty information  Matched from Human Resources database Faculty course activation requests  Automated process supported by ITS Support for faculty: pedagogical issues, online materials, workshops  Faculty Development Student support and faculty tech support  ITS

Tech Supplied by ITS Blackboard software and servers maintained by ITS.  Currently configuration: Bb  Windows 2003  SQL 2000 sp3a  2 web/app servers and 1 collaboration server Load-balanced cluster  NAS and database servers connected to a SAN for storage  Behind a Cisco PIX firewall

Student Support: ITS

Quick Guide Student Quick Guide Faculty Quick Guide

Faculty Development Faculty workshops, consultations, phone and support  Emphasis on pedagogy  Since July 1, also responsible for training and support Graduate Teaching Assistants Online materials

Workshops

Online Resources for Faculty User guide Site search Ask a question FAQ Tutorials RSS Feeds

User Guide: Instructional Materials

Searchable Resources

Ask a Question

Tutorials (Captivate)

RSS Feeds

Growing Number of Users 24 Blackboard.com courses and 12 in-house Spring 250 courses migrated to new system Fall 2003: over 760 courses and 12,000 students Spring 2006: 1275 courses and 19,258 students

Future Plans Testing for Blackboard 7.1 Strategies for implementation of the Blackboard Content System Portal and community policies Investigation and evaluation of Building Blocks

Can’t we all just get along? Blackboard is first NIU initiative when campus agencies have worked together. Efforts have enhanced collaboration among groups on other projects  Smart Podia  General access lab configuration  Classroom response systems  One card system Joint meeting May 16-17

NIU Blackboard Support Blackboard Portal: Faculty Help  Student Help 