LSTM - Moving to the Brightside

Moving to the BrightsideDan Robinson – Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Who are we?• Established in 1898• The first institution in the world dedicated to

research and teaching in tropical medicine• Heavy research focus – £300m portfolio • 600 students worldwide, 68 countries• Postgraduate, professional courses, short

courses

Sir Ronald Ross, 1st British winner of Nobel Prize, for discovery of transmission of malaria by mosquito

Founder Sir Alfred Jones, Liverpool ship owner, £350 in 1898

Dagnall Laboratory, still in use today

Venom extraction at LSTM herpetarium

School at turn of century

Our emblem, which is now embodied in our logo

Current work includes: Impregnated Bednet trials, Zika virus forum, Serious Gaming

Background to change• Historically systems and support provided by University of Liverpool• Recognition in 2013 following HEI status LSTM would need it’s own

systems• 2013/14 Review of school need and evaluation of VLEs• 2014/15 Work carried out on implementation, configuration and

integration• December 2014 first pilot course in BrightSpace• Full rollout September 2015

Our Brightspace Implementation• Hosted (10.3 SP20)• Learning Object Repository• E-Portfolio• Wiggio

Institutional Challenges• Catering for a diverse student population•Managing the user experience of different types of students• Integrating with an immature IT infrastructure• Integrating with an SIS which was in development• User engagement• Sharing of good practice

Gathering requirements

It is a very unfriendly system with non intuitive menus.

difficult to navigatenot intuitivebit boring

Clunky and not very visually appealing

Limitations of the legacy systems• Granularity of Blackboard implementation• Poor user experience of gaining access• Multiple usernames and passwords• Inability of gaining early access• Lack of social spaces

Where did we focus our attention?FunctionalityUsability• Simple navigation and page construction• Integrations with other systems• Single sign on of all tools

Look and feel

Requirements• Non teaching spaces• Early access to systems via the SIS

• Pre course engagement with students• Personalised student experience• Staff access to all courses (‘observer’ role)• Full single sign on across all systems• Visual appeal • Integrations

• LTI• SIS

Long implementation period prior to year 1•Pilot #1• Diploma in Tropical Nursing Dec 2014 intake• 80 students, 3 weeks• Brightspace with UoL systems (email, SIS etc.)

•Pilot #2• Same course, May 2015 intake• Brightspace all new LSTM systems (email, SIS, sharepoint intranet)• Good feedback – leading to changes/improvements to interface

•Sept 2015 – All courses in Brightspace• 4 diplomas, 33 MSc units

Migration

Staff engagement• Sneak preview events• Departmental meetings • Board of studies meetings

• Brightspace in Your Space• Formal training events• Personal invitations to Module Convenors/Directors of Studies• Discuss the migration• An opportunity to improve practice!

What has been successful• Early access to Brightspace• SSO• Integrations• Binder• Use of roles to enable a personalised experience.• Integration with Zopim • Visual customisation

Use of roles to enable a personalised experience.

“Observer role”

Welcome widget

Integration with Zopim (live client)

Gathering user feedback• Surveys• Anonymous digital feedback

box• Formal committees

Student and staff user groups.• Meet 3 times per year

Evidence based discussions with staff

The future• Continuous delivery - eek!• Developing approaches to support off campus delivery• Adoption of minimum standards• Use of the LOR• Timetable integration• Revisit navigation + design in light of student and staff feedback

With thanks to D2L for their excellent support through this

process