THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Linking a Community of Developers in the WebCT Vista Developers Network: Looking Ahead: What is UBC Looking For(ward to..) with WebCT Vista? Michelle Lamberson, Office of Learning Technology Jim Sibley, Centre for Instructional Support, Applied Science The University of British Columbia

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Summary Motivation UBC Facts & Figures The Learning Technology Environment WebCT Vista Pilot Summary An Example

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA The challenge for higher education “The best teachers and researchers should be thinking about how to design courses in which technology enriches teaching rather than substitutes for it. And equally important, faculties need to concern themselves with the need to give their students the tools with which they can explore deeply as well as widely, with which they can discriminate, analyze, and create rather than simply accumulate.” - The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University - REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA The University of British Columbia 1,000 acre main campus 38,500 students, 15 countries 1183 FT Faculty, 4700 staff 109 spin-off companies Very decentralized Strong executive leadership The University of British Columbia, aspiring to be Canada's finest university, will provide students with an outstanding and distinctive education, and conduct leading research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Challenges: Internal UBC is BIG & Decentralized 1968 Photo from UBC Photo Archives

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA And Expanding… UBC-Okangan – September 2005 UBC Medical School – September 2004

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA UBC LT Organizations

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA E-Learning Current and Emerging Areas Course Management System Mixed Mode & Large Enrolment Course Improvement Faculty specific issues (e.g., Medical School expansion) Learning Objects ePortfolios Social Software Integrated Lab Network Tools Development

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA E-Learning Tools Development ITServices (System Tools) Applied Science (Peer evaluation) Arts ISIT –Timeline Tool –WebCT Discussion Object Extractor – – strategy.ubc.ca/news.html

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AT UBC… WebCT System Based Statistics (moving target) Version: WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Pilot of WebCT Vista during Users: –Number of distinct students accounts: 36,626 –Number of guests: 455 –Number of distinct designers (not students): 967 –Number of distinct designers (just students): 293 –Number of distinct TAs: 704 –Number of active students Term 2, 2003W: 19,195 Students enrolled in at least one SIS course that is being populated into at least one WebCT course. –Number of student seats: 125,866 –( sum of students in all courses – students are in multiple courses)

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Project Objectives Thoroughly investigate WebCT Vista in a real world setting Evaluate WebCT Vista’s capabilities to ensure it meets UBC’s on- going requirements for a Course Management System (CMS) Understand the requirements for operating an enterprise e- learning system in a multi-campus environment Increase UBC’s capacity to support e-learning applications by: –providing professional development of support staff and faculty –developing case studies that demonstrate key teachings and learning benefits Construct a thorough business case for Vista, including the implications for central distributed (decentralized) units

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Migration Strategy Project Scope Vista Pilot Hosted PilotCampus Pilot Investigate Functionality Training / Sharing Experiences Real World Experience & Feedback Instructional Support Requirements Case Studies: Course Migration System Integration (SIS, CWL, Lib) Tools Integration Options Content Repositories

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA What do We Need to Integrate? WebCT Courses Course Admin Student Information System Library PSFT FM PSFT HR Enterprise Systems* ePortfolios LO Repository Pilot Systems Emerging Weblogs Wikis Community Software (Plone uPortal

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Example

Vista application integration:  Seamless bi-directional authentication for external applications  Ability to push data and session information to Vista  Ability to make external application Vista aware  Obtain gradebook information, etc.

Vista application integration:  Simple SDK tools and recipes to aid the less sophisticated web developer  Well described development standards that leverage existing standards (IMS, etc.) that can facilitate later application integration

Vista application integration:  Collaboration and group tools  Peer evaluation  iPeer developed at UBC – Applied Science  Peer editing and review  CPR and Turn-it-In  Group file management  Group formation (via survey or questionaire)  Beyond Vista’s random or student selected modes  Rose-Hulman Application  Blogs and wikis

iPeer : Peer Evaluation Tool  Assignment creation  Custom rubric creation  Webforms for student submissions  Aggregated group results for instructor  User management system  Profile management  Reminder scheduling  Sending student reminders via iPeer V1.0

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Feeling a little stretched…

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Avoid Pitfalls….