Blackboard Upgrade

RMIT Information Technology Services Blackboard Upgrade  Moving from version 6.2 through 6.3, 7.1 to 7.2  Major upgrade requiring migration of all content on same infrastructure  Blackboard will be unavailable from 27 December to 31 December.  When it comes up on 1 January 2008, it will be:  plain vanilla Blackboard 7.2  all content should be unchanged  new functionality should be available  have less bugs.

RMIT Information Technology Services Major New Blackboard Functionality  Adaptive release of material  Performance dashboard  Early Warning systems  Messaging system  Improvement to existing functions  New discussion forum  Gradable, searchable, rateable  Online Assessment  10 new question types, complete test result download, randomised answers  Grade book  Null option

RMIT Information Technology Services Adaptive Release of Material  Allows instructors to set up criteria or rules to allow access to course content by students.  Instructors can display content to certain users for limited period of time, or only after users meet predetermined requirements.

RMIT Information Technology Services Performance Dashboard  Allows instructors to see information for enrolled students as a whole and then drill down to see detailed information per user  Displays last time users logged in, their course role, content availability by user based on Adaptive Release criteria, Review Status for content items, a direct link to Gradebook.

RMIT Information Technology Services Early Warning System  Identify students who are outside specific performance criteria.  Based on graded performance, late or missing course work, or attendance within the online course.

RMIT Information Technology Services Messages  system internal to a course.  A function similar to , but within a course. It cannot be sent outside the course.

RMIT Information Technology Services Discussion Forums  Search across forums  Students can rate forums  Staff can grade forums (linked to grade book)

RMIT Information Technology Services Online assessment Assessments test student knowledge and progress.  Tests can have point values assigned to each question. The results are recorded in the Grade book. All test question types & responses can be downloaded.

Deployment of new Learning Hub at RMIT University

RMIT Information Technology Services Current Learning Hub

RMIT Information Technology Services Learning Hub

RMIT Information Technology Services New Learning Hub The aims of the new Learning Hub and its administration systems are to:  devolve and streamline some administration  better align the Learning Hub with PeopleSoft and the way RMIT programs are delivered (programs, courses, course offerings, classes)  implement the creation of new versions of courses for each study period across all tools  provide better management information  provide a basis for on-going development, including integration with the new RMIT Student Portal.

RMIT Information Technology Services New Learning Hub

RMIT Information Technology Services What does it mean for student and teaching staff?  Students - A new simpler interface that will give access to Learning Hub offerings from the last study period as well as their current Learning Hub offerings.  Teaching Staff - A new interface with access to previous one year of offerings and more accurate class lists. - The ability to set up Learning Hub offerings on the basis of programs, course offerings and PeopleSoft classes.

RMIT Information Technology Services What does it mean for administrators?  Course Coordinators will be able to assign course offering coordinators and register staff and students into Learning Hub offerings.  School Administrators will be able to assign course coordinators, initiate a range of reporting, configure Learning Hub offerings, and assign tools to courses, for their school.  Portfolio Administrators will be able to do all of the tasks of the School Administrator for any course in their portfolio.

RMIT Information Technology Services Change over to the New Learning Hub  The new Learning Hub will be deployed over the period: from 7am Tuesday 22 January 2008 to 9am Friday 25 January  The Learning Hub will be shutdown and there be no access to the Learning Hub or its tools (Blackboard, WebBoard, WebLearn & eJournal) during this period.  If you are running courses that use the Learning Hub over this period, contact your portfolio eLearning Support or the ITS helpdesk (see last slide) to make alternative arrangements.

RMIT Information Technology Services Migrating tool content to the New Learning Hub When access resumes on 25 January 2008, all existing courses should be present on the Learning Hub with their current tools. The content of tool shells will be different.  Blackboard all static content (staff, lecture and assignment information) will be copied to a new shell, but none of the previous students or any of the information associated with them (their dropped-off assignments, grade book entries, discussion board threads) will be copied.  WebLearn no content will be copied and new WebLearns shells will be empty as they are currently.  WebBoard none of the students or any of their discussion thread contributions will be copied to the new WebBoard shell.  eJournal new eJournal shells will be empty of all content.

RMIT Information Technology Services Preparing for deployment of the New Learning Hub Much of your new student-based content will not be readily available. Can you please finalise your access to your Blackboard (or other tool shells) by 7am on Tuesday, 22 January. If you cannot do this, you should download or export tool content. To do this consult with your e-learning support staff, access the Learning Hub support web-site, or contact the ITS Help Desk No material will be lost during the changeover. All old tool shells will be archived, however, they will not be readily accessible by staff, and will require ITS to restore the material. (This may take time and will require a request to the ITS help desk.)

RMIT Information Technology Services After the deployment of the New Learning Hub Staff are asked to check, as soon as they can after 9am on Friday 25 January 2008, that their Learning Hub entries are correct, that they have the correct tools and that their tool content is copied as specified. Staff can begin to access their content for the next study period (semester 1, for most staff), and the students will be automatically populated into these tools 2 weeks before the start of the study period, as they are now.

RMIT Information Technology Services After the deployment of the New Learning Hub After the end of the next study period (semester 1 for most) and all subsequent study periods a process similar to the changeover described above will be carried out with the following differences: There will be no shutdown period, the process will be carried out overnight without impinging on Learning Hub availability. The tool shells from the previous semester will be available to staff and students.

RMIT Information Technology Services Roadmap for Blackboard in 2008 New Blackboard can accommodate building blocks more readily, including Campus LX Pack (teams, journals, blogging & wikis) from 4 February Include staff roles in PeopleSoft and align with Blackboard. Automate Gradbook-PeopleSoft uploads Integrate TurnItIn during Semester Retire Enacted in favour of adaptive release and WebLearn from 25 January 2008, eJournal in favour of Campus LX Pack from 1 July 2008 & WebBoard in favour of Blackboard Discussion Forums from 1 December 2009 Review further Blackboard upgrades (7.3. & 8)

RMIT Information Technology Services Assistance  For more information about the new Learning Hub and about the effect of migration refer to the Learning Hub web site.  For assistance in dealing with any aspect of this change, please contact your portfolio e-learning coordinator or contact the IT Helpdesk  Portfolio e-learning coordinators  Business - Lyn Atkinson or phone  Design and Social Context - Thembi Mason or phone  Science, Engineering & Technology - Warren Nageswaran or phone

RMIT Information Technology Services Questions & Comments