Addressing Organizational Challenges – How Black Board Can Help Your Institution with Strategic, Technical & Functional Plans

Maneesh Sarvia – Director Consulting Services -APAC

Blackboard Consulting Services

The higher education market is evolving

Learner centric education

Education truly global

Big-data in mainstream

Non-traditional learners

Online and mobile everywhere

Consumer-preferences/alternativemodels

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The learner’s journey is evolving

Engage with apps

Listen to peers

Avid users of data/info

Pursue skills and competencies

Follow employers

Attend multiple institutions

They choose where, how, and when to get their education

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Example of Trends

Institutions today must manage multiple factors in driving student success

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Recruitment

Enrolment

Engagement

Retention

Progression

Achievement

Student Success

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How do we help institutions on their journey to student success? 4 Examples

Student Recruitment &

Enrolments

Student Retention

Student Engagement

Student Success

Student Progression

Student Outcomes

Strategic Review and Design Services

Grades Journey and

Online Assessments

Learning Analytics and

Data Management

Readiness

Exemplary Course Design

MyEDU and Graduate

Employability

Academic Adoption

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ResultsWorking closely with the Digital Learning and Teaching technology team we created content of relevance to participants and demonstrated best practice in the design and delivery of the course as well as demonstrating how the various tools in Moodle can be used to meet the Universities strategic direction.

Enhanced Learning with University of Wollongong

Customer Goal• The DLT exemplar project was established to

develop resources to support teaching staff Professional Development within their own LMS

• Based on Discussions with the University of Wollongong, Blackboard consulting delivered the following services.

Blackboard Approach• Encapsulated activities from Moodle, highlighting the links to the Universities learning strategic direction.• Demonstrated best practice instructional design skills and online pedagogy.

- Being present- Creating a supportive course community- Setting clear expectations- Using a variety of tools to engage students – both synchronous and asynchronous

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Results• Extensive access to Learning Analytics at the Course, School and

Institutional level which drives a data driven culture• Allows for easy deployment (to over 300+ end users and a

continuous cycle of review and improvement)• Ensures all reports and dashboard are tailored to the needs of

the stakeholder

Analytics and Reporting Services with Charles Darwin University

Client Goal• To extend the reach of Learning Analytics through

the enhancement and customisation of A4L. This included the need for:

• Custom Blackboard Learn Reports to support Learning Analytics and Retention Initiative

• Custom School Dashboards to support data needs beyond the Course level

• Custom Support Resources for end users• Operational Processes and Support Models • Greater visibility into report usage within

Blackboard Learn

Solution• Onsite Business Analysis and consultation with

stakeholders to look at Analytics adoption holistically• Working with Retention and SIS teams to identify key

data points which are integrated into the data model• Development of Operational Plans, Maintenance

Procedures and Support materials • Greater Visibility and ability to monitor report and

course queries from within Blackboard Learn

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Grades Journey

ResultsImplementing the grades exchange process and customising to align to organisation process enabled CSU to deliver ensure consistency across the grades management process and align the LMS deliver more closely to the institution’s curriculum management system.

The output of this process has delivered:• Increased accuracy of grades through the removal of

unnecessary manual and double handling of data

• Ensuring grade integrity through grades management auditing and processes preventing unauthorised or accidental change

• Increased efficiency in Grades Process through reduced administrative overheads

Client GoalOpportunity to automate the Grades exchange process between Bb Learn and the SIS to:

• Align grades management in LMS to Institutional Practice

• Increase grades accuracy

• Reduce administrative overhead in managing grades

SolutionCustom Integration – Design and Development

• Identify and document primary grades management workflows

• Conceptualise the integration interfaces

• Extend Grades Exchange REST API interface to manage data flows; provide ongoing support (ICM) for upgrades

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Blackboard ApproachBuild a trial deployment of MyEDU to address these critical industry and institution challenges. The Program will:• Define pilot project and success criteria• Establish Innovation Team comprising – Learning Technologies, Innovation, Careers, Student Support, IT,

Faculties, etc. • Understand key challenge areas and align educational technologies to support graduate outcomes• Workshop exemplary student profile characteristics and prepare communication materials• System Installation & Training• Pilot review and planning for mainstream deployment

Coming Soon: Improving Student Outcomes with MyEDU

Challenge• 68.1% of Australian graduates secured fulltime

employment in 2014

• Industry challenged by work readiness of graduates

• Employers citing critical areas of skills gap

• Universities need to remain current with agile programs aligned to market needs

• Students choose institutions that promote industry connection and graduate outcome alignment.

Academic Technology Planning - Available

• Summary

• A planning service that supports clients in the ongoing management of academic technology, ensuring organisational agility in response to the new and changing capabilities of academic technology.

• This service can be done as a one-off or can be an annual subscription service repeated each academic term.

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Goals and Constructive Alignment

Showcase Recognized Competencies

Engage with Employers

Peer and Mentor Collaboration

Track competency Mastery

Risk Identification and Intervention

Robust AssessmentFeatures

Curriculum Model and Alignment

Content and Tools

Academic Support Program (Help Desk)

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The Blackboard Academic Support Program is designed to supplement and extend the current the current institution help desk and act as a Trusted Advisor or Blackboard Guru specifically for the Blackboard Online Learning Platform.

The Academic Support Program is an allocation on average of 4 hours per week for an entire year of Blackboard Senior Functional Learn consultant’s time.

• A single point of contact will be provided to a Snr Blackboard Functional Learn Consultant who will be available to assist an institutions frontline academic staff with any and all queries regarding the Blackboard Learn Platform.

• The Blackboard Functional Consultant will hold a Weekly Video Conference using the Blackboard “collaborate tool”. This weekly call will be open to the Institutions frontline academic staff (or a subset if deemed appropriate by the institution).

Possible Utilization– General questions to assist academia and faculty around the use and adoption of online

learning. Ie Course design, Grades, goal use and goal alignment, use of rubrics, evidence assessment, content management, tutorials.

– Best of Breed guidance. Am I doing this right, have I missed anything? What can I do to improve here.

– Report Building - Ad hoc reporting requests, changes or new reports.– Upgrades – functional support and engagement around upgrades periods.– Annual academic adoption health checks

SIS Integration Framework Mentoring

The objective of the SIS Integration Framework Mentoring service is to assist clients with the implementation of Blackboard Learn Release 9.1 SIS Integration Framework.

More specifically, the service will provide the following:

• Identification of basic data elements, behaviors and business rules in order to automate processes for user account and course creation, user enrollment and faculty/staff assignment to courses.

• Document decisions regarding key data elements in a data planning workbook for later client use.

• Provide guidance in regard to the configuration of the SIS Integration Framework to meet documented data requirements.

• Assist in data cleanup of existing user accounts the Blackboard Learn environment to ensure compatibility with an automated and integrated environment.

• Provide an overview of basic scripting techniques to be used for data transformation within the SIS Integration Framework tool.

• Review troubleshooting techniques for data and integration issues.

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* Customers using Snapshot or have done this more than 3 years ago

SAML Integration Single Sign On

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Designing Exemplary Courses.)

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The objective of the 2 day onsite Designing Exemplary Courses service is aid Client in transforming a current course website from an informational resource to an interactive learning environment; this includes:

1) creating a plan for the overall architecture of their courses and

2) engage in the discussion and implementation of best practices during guided course development periods.

At the end of the workshop, participants should be able to build an instructional unit to use as a model for future course development.

This is a ideal course to run say each quarter with a different faculty within an institution. This will constantly visibly lift the quality of online courses within an institution which will have a direct impact on engagement and adoption.

ENHANCE Teaching and Learning

The objective of the 2 day onsite Using Bb to Enhance Teaching and Learning training service is to provide a modular format providing a targeted experience for participants based upon specific needs. Client can choose up to four (4) of the following 3hr instructional modules listed below to form a custom 2-day experience that best addresses your audiences’ needs and institution’s adoption strategy Getting Started with Course Delivery:

- Getting Started with Course Delivery- Presenting Content- Keeping Students on Track - Communicating with Students Online - Making the Most of Discussions - Creating and Managing Tests & Surveys - Creating and Managing Groups and Assignments - Teaching with Blogs** and Journals- Establishing Self and Peer Assessments- Mastering the Grade Center- Social Bookmarking and Networking with Blackboard Scholar™

A third day is also available which would enable an additional 2 modules. 18

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Blackboard Consulting has a portfolio and capabilities to support institutions in driving student success

Strategic Services• Strategic review

• Strategic planning

• Readiness assessment

• Change management

• Strategic organisation design

Custom Development Services• Custom user experience and

workflows

• Advanced system integrations

• Custom reporting solutions

Platform and Training Services • Technology adoption

• Implementation and Training

• Ongoing support and maintenance services

• Review and benchmarking

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Experience and insight makes us a trusted partner

*Percentage of Top 50 Times Higher Education Reputation Ranking 2014

3,000HE Institutions in North America

1,900International institutions

12,300K-12 schools and districts

1,800Corporate and government orgs

Company roots in education since

1997

of world’s leading academic institutions

work with Blackboard*

80%

Serve 19,000+ customers in 100

countries

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Our Global Impact

1,500+ Clients Served

5,000+ Individual Projects

150 Professionals and a Global

Network of Partners

300+ Combined years of

Education Expertise