Learn what's new and different in Bb 6.2

What’s New and Different (presentation)
Learn what's new and different in Bb 6.2

Topics Covered:

1. Course Settings
2. Content Area and Tools Features
3. Quizzes and Assessments
4. The Online Grade book
5. The Assignment Manager (Replacement to the Digital Drop Box)
6. The Collaborative Environment

Date: April 27, 2005
Place: Diggs Hall, Room 159
Times:

• 10:00a-10:30a
• 11:00a-11:30a
• 12:00p-12:30p
• 1:00p-1:30p
• 2:00p-2:30p

To register: email: smithru@tncc.edu (indicate in email the time you wish to attend)

Workshops with 0 advanced registrations will not be held.

A first peek at Bb 6

Posted by Matt Lawson on Friday, April 15, 2005 - 5:04 pm:

The ITS Blackboard team is pleased to announce that http://bbtrain.vccs.edu is available.

The accounts that were loaded on the bbtrain are all of the users from Blackboard 5 who met both of the following two conditions:

1. They were an instructor in at least one Blackboard 5 course
2. We were able to tie their Blackboard username to a valid DS2 username

A couple of reminders about the bbtrain environment:

1. This environment will be shut down on June 1. After it is shutdown, all the courses that are on bbtrain will be migrated to production version of Blackboard 6. After June 1, bbtrain will become an environment were we will be able to show faculty new features and not-yet-implemented features of Blackboard 6.
2. We want to minimize use of bbtrain. The bbtrain environment is only for faculty who cannot wait until June 1 to start building their Fall 2005 production courses. (If you need this ability contact me - Ruth Smith... However you will have to be able to work independently from documentation.)
3. If for whatever reason a faculty account does not exist on bbtrain, feel free to create an account for that faculty. Please remember though that in the ultimate production environment, only user names from DS2 will be loaded into Blackboard.
4. Although we do not anticipate dramatic changes to the bbtrain interface, there may be some changes as we customize the Bb6 interfaceand fine-tune its settings.

Impatica

Volume 01-03 - April 15, 2005

• Designing for Performance: Dividing Large Presentations
• PowerPoint Text Alignment
• Replace Missing Fonts in PowerPoint

Volume 01-02 - March 31, 2005 ·

• Impatica Video Settings
• -imp.jar
• OnCue Shortcut Keys
• Custom Install of QuickTime

Volume 01-01 - March 15, 2005

• Designing for Performance
• PowerPoint Slide Master
• LMS Systems · Embedded Sounds
  

Subscribe to Impatica Tips.

---

What is Impatica?
Software that converts PowerPoint files to a small, web-friendly format, even if they include narrations and animations. The VCCS has a system-license.

Where do I get Impatica?
Download Impatica from Blackboard.
Login to Blackboard
My Organizations > Faculty Help Site >Impatica

Respondus Test Bank Network

The Respondus Test Bank Network contains test banks for the leading textbooks in higher education. The test banks are in Respondus format and can be downloaded for free by instructors who adopt a participating textbook. The Respondus-formatted test bank at no charge.

• Search for Publisher Test Banks
  
• Demo movie: "Downloading a Publisher Test Bank"

---

• Download Respondus from Blackboard.
• Login to Blackboard
• My Organizations > Faculty Help Site >Respondus
  
  The directions on the website are old. You need to email me for the new activation password.

Repsondus is a great way to "archive and create pools" all of your tests in Bb 5 (publisher and even the ones you made up) and have them ready to upload in Bb 6.

I recommend you do this before we migrate to Bb6!

---

Reminder: I must submit a final (verified) list to the VCCS by April 21st for the migration.

DDLC Meeting Minutes 03/18/05

Distance and Distributed Learning Committee Meeting

March 18, 2005

Via Distance Learning Technology: Macromedia Breeze

In attendance:
Dr. John Downey (Chairperson; BRCC), Susan Beasley(CVCC), Kristen Kelly (JTCC), Sara Brown (LFCC), SusanKennedy (MECC), Linda Claussen (NRCC), Monica Sasser sitting in forSteve Sachs (NVCC), Carolyn Byrd (PHCC), Mary Clare DiGiacomo (PVCC), Leslie Smith (RCC), Bill Hightower (SSVCC), Stacy Harris (SWCC), Scott Langhorst (TCC), Charles Boiling (VHCC), Inez Farrell (VWCC), and Jaime Shetrone (WCC). From the System Office: Dr. Neil Matkin, Dr. Carole Schultz, Tim Tirrell, Bob Vawter, Ralph Lucia, and Sue Ann Curran. Guest: Blair Potts (SSVCC).

I. Welcome and Introductions
Dr. Downey,Committee Chairperson, welcomed the group to the meeting. He thanked Blair Potts for arranging to host the meeting via Macromedia Breeze.

II. Update from Dr. Neil Matkin, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Services
Dr. Matkin updatedthe committee on the status of the enterprise system upgrades. He reported that the Peoplesoft 8.0 SIS upgrade was generally progressing as expected andthat the go-live process arrived with relatively minor issues. A few issuesemerged with the simultaneous upgrade of Directory Services 2.0, and the ITstaff at the VCCS was busily working on addressing those. Finally, the upgradeof the Blackboard 6.0 LMS was delayed one semester due to a delay in the delivery of equipment. The LMS upgrade is now scheduled for Summer, 2005.

III. Position Paper
The bulk ofthe meeting time was used to discuss and revise an initial draft (appended tothis document) of a DDLC position paper authored by John Downey. The purposeof the position paper is to identify the state-wide obstacles to thecoordinated implementation of distance and distributed learning objectives listed in the Chancellor’s current goals, Dateline 2009 and the 2001 Strategic Plan for Distance Learning.
The draft was discussed in stages as outlined below.

SECTION ONE: BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW:
DDLC Member comments;

1. Several members made the suggestion that specific goalsfrom the three documents listed (Chancellor’s goals, Dateline 2009 and the Strategic Plan) that are related to distance and distributed education beincorporated directly into the document itself at the end of line 36 in theattached document).
2. One member suggested making sure the document capturesboth the positives as well as the obstacles to implementing distance learningprograms and courses in the VCCS.
   

SECTION TWO: Distance Learning VCCS Values:

1. A suggestion was made to re-order the values listed,with the statement on mission listed first and the statement on quality listedsecond. (See lines 54-59).
2. Several individuals believed the focus on quality issueswas critically important. Some indicated that issues of student success wereintegrated with the degree of student support provided system-wide.
3. Some members discussed the quality issue in relation toperceptions of quality assurance in traditional classroom courses, suggesting aneed to focus on quality across all methods of delivery, not just in relationto distance learning delivery.

SECTION THREE: Primary Benefits of Distance Learning:

1. Members suggested a re-wording of this section toprovide greater clarity. From the perspective of colleges, there are twobenefits to providing access to distance learning in a service area: First, sothat constituents in that service area can access programs and servicesotherwise unavailable at the local college and second, to increase access orprovide greater convenience for constituents to access programs and servicesthat are already provided locally.
2. Some members suggested also listing benefits tostudents. In particular, distance learning provides access to a variety oflearning styles that may or may not be available in traditional classrooms.
   

SECTION FOUR: Current Distance LearningMethodologies:

1. Members suggested re-ordering the methodologies from themost frequently used method (web-delivery) to the least frequently used method(compressed video). See lines 78-85.
2. Some members advocated adding usage data to this sectionto reflect the preferences of students and faculty for each methodologylisted. Other members advocated adding some reference to hybrid methodology(where distance learning is mixed with some on-campus classroom-based methods)OR other forms of mixed technology delivery methods.
3. Some discussion centered on whether the increasedreliance of distance learning methodology was attracting new students notpreviously served by the VCCS or whether existing students already served byVCCS colleges were opting for the convenience of distance methodologies. Questions concerning class size and productivity relative to distance learningversus classroom methodologies were also discussed.
   

SECTION FIVE: Challenges:

1. The slight modification to the title of this section:“Challenges t the Proliferation of Distance Learning in the VCCS”, was suggested. Specifically a member suggested changing the word proliferation to“Coordination.” See line number 87
2. Given the purpose of the position paper, most membersconcurred with the four preliminary issues listed. Again, members advocatingre-ordering the list: First, the issues that are perceived to impact thegreatest number of students should be listed, followed by the to the issuesthat are perceived to impact the least number of students.
3. Several additional issues were suggested to be added tothe list. These include:
   A discussion of obstacles related to registration issues for students desiring to take coursesfrom multiple colleges.
   

Clarification ofwhich issues the VCCS should be viewed as having the authority to implementstate-wide standards versus issues that VCCS provides guidance for but local colleges have ultimate authority.

• A statement advocating the joint appointment of faculty members across two or more colleges.
• A statement regarding the advocacy of a common calendar across colleges for distance learning delivery OR at least a statement addressing the issues that arise for students due to the lack of a common academic calendar.
• A general statement regarding funding challenges to implementation of an increase in the number of distance learning courses in a system where college-based FTEs regulate funding.
• A statement advocating minimal staffing for distance learning support, with clearguidelines/job descriptions for those positions.
• Others?

Process for DRAFT TWO of the PositionPaper

At the conclusion of the meeting, Dr. Downey agreed toconvene a subcommittee of the membership to work on a second draft of the position paper for presentation to the entire DDLC at the in-person meeting on June 3, 2005. That group will be convened inmid to late May.

IV. Next meeting:

The next meeting of the DDLC was scheduled for Friday June 3, 2005.
The June 3 2005 meeting will be an in-person meeting to be held at Blue Ridge Community College, Robert Plecker Workforce Center, in Weyers Cave.
Details will be sent out in early May.

There being no other business, the meeting adjourned a little after 11:00AM.

APPENDIX
INITIAL DRAFT OF A DDLC POSITIONPAPER ON THE CHALLENGES PREVENTING FULLER SYSTEM-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION OFSTRATEGIC DISTANCE LEARNING GOALS

I must submit a final (verified) list to the VCCS by April 21st

Please fill out the form(s) located at: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/migration/tncc.htm
FAQs are located at: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/migration/FAQs.htm

The website consists of the original submission that TNCC sent to the VCCS for migration from Bb 5 to Bb 6. The list also includes courses for all SP05, SU05 and FA05 created on or before 03/28/05.

I must submit a final (verified) list to the VCCS by April 21^st

Below is the way the VCCS sent me the file. I apologize for not being able to match courses with instructors but please try to help me verify the submission list. The way to read the course code is as follows:
(example) TNENG211015HSP05

TN	ENG	211	015H	SP05
College (TN)
	Course (ENG)
		Course Number (211)
			Section Number (015H)
				Semester (SP05)

I really need to hear from all Blackboard Faculty to help ensure a smooth(er) rollover!

Selected Minutes from LSA (Blackboard) Meeting

(I've highlighted in red area of particular interest to faculty - pay particular attention to dates and deadlines)- If you have questions or comments please click on the comment button, email, or call me.

Learning Systems Administrators Audio-Conference
3/30/2005
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Attendees:
Kristy Walker - RCC, Blair Potts - SSVCC, Sadie Hastings - TCC, Jennifer Smith - CVCC, Jeff Burleson – ME, Rebecca Kittelberger – SO, Ginny Scott - GCC, Charles Boling – VHCC, Jamie Shetrone - WCC, Amy Abbott – DCC, Kristen Kelly – JTCC, Ruth Smith – TNCC, Michelle Gee – NVCC, Stacy Harris – SWVCC, David Carter-Tod, Sue Ann Curran, Matt Lawson - ITS, Mary Clare DiGiacomo - PVCC, Adam Bryant - NRCC, Jim Blackburn – BRCC, Sara Brown and George Hoffman – LFCC, Colleen Kehoe – JSRCC, Shelia Hobbs and Zakary Wade - PDCCC.

Blackboard upgrade status (David Carter-Tod and Matt Lawson)

• Hardware arrival – The IBM Blades, the hardware that will run the BB6 enviroment, arrived last week. They are being installed now and we intend to load the Blackboard software soon.


• BBTrain clean-up – We want the training and development environment to reflect the production environment. We intend to wipe it clean after the close of business on Friday. This was not a problem for anyone on the call. Only VWCC courses are being developed on that system and we have notified and worked with them separately. BBTrain will be backed up.


• Bb6 Sandbox availability – this environment will initially be used for experimenting with system settings. We do not intend to experiment with system settings on BBTrain since it is to mirror production. After that, it will be available to LSAs to experiment with and potentially show new features to early adopter faculty. Please be aware that the sandbox will not be backed up.


• Enrolling of faculty – All faculty teaching accounts from Bb 5 will be moved to Bb 6 Train to reflect production.


• Course lists will be sent on Friday to BB Admins. David will send out course lists to be migrated on Friday for each admin to review. Please return these lists to XXXXXXX by April 22. The list will consist of the original list that BB Admins sent, as well as all sp05, su05, fa05, and sp06


• After faculty have access to the training environment, they can develop courses there. We will migrate courses from BBTrain to BB6 production at the end of May. Bb Admins should provide a list of BBTrain courses to migrate in late May to XXXXXXX.


• Jim asked if there was a way to batch load courses from Blackboard 5 into Blackboard 6. There is not and we do not plan to do this, but BB Admins may do this manually for faculty. Faculty may also do their own export from BB 5.5 and import into BBTrain, as long as they have a course shell already.

Functionality Roll-Out (Sadie Hastings)

Following her post on VCCS Discuss, Sadie Hastings initiated a discussion on the availability of functionality in Bb6. The core question was whether we would use roles and allow LSAs to selectively release functionality to their colleges, e.g. to early adopters, or for training purposes. Also, there was a question of whether specific pieces of functionality, i.e.

messaging and the content system

would be available at the beginning of Fall.

The core answer is that from a technical performance perspective we need to start Fall with a "clean system" so that we can get a benchmark for performance and establish system stability with as few variables as possible. This is so that when we do add features we can see how they affect the system, and if there’s a problem, we can quickly isolate the problem.

Once we’ve established the benchmark, we can move ahead in introducing functionality, and intend to do so aggressively. The recommendation from Blackboard, and other schools who have migrated, is to be conservative when initially moving to version 6.

From a support perspective, getting over the 5.5 to 6 migration first will mean that later we will have more time to support new functionality.

Go Live Date for students: What about courses that are ongoing and courses that have continuous enrollment? They will be in progress when we go live with 6. We will need a consistent Go Live date across the system and will need to work on that.

Colleges will not have access to the Content System at the beginning of the Fall semester.

We are working with Blackboard to create a roll-out plan for the content system, and will work with the workgroup and governance groups in that process.

It was asked that we talk with the Blackboard instructors at New Horizons, so that they could make faculty aware that some of the functionality presented will be rolled out gradually. The Content System is only being shown during demonstrations and not in the workshops.

Blair asked if roles could be more aggressively pursued for the summer, and if advanced functionality could be made available on the training server so that he could work with early adopter faculty on new features. Initially the BBTrain environment will reflect the production environment and it was recommended that LSAs could use the Bb6 Sandbox to work with features that are not yet released to production.

The BBTrain server will become available to faculty by April 15. As of now, the url will still be bbtrain.vccs.edu

, but suggestions for alternatives are welcome. We will continue to use the same course naming conventions.

If faculty want to bring in their own course to BBTrain or BB6 production, they will need to export their course from Bb 5.5. The training server is for faculty who cannot wait until June 1 to start developing courses. If faculty can wait until then it is preferable for them to wait until June 1, because they don’t have to worry about the import/export process from 5 to 6.

Will we have a list of what is and what is not available, so that LSAs know how to develop their training for faculty? Sadie can modify the document to reflect the decisions of the groups.

There followed a discussion about the problem of multiple Emplids still being created and how those would be handled.

There was also a discussion about the change in the Student Email policy recently approved by the Vice-Presidents.

The meeting ended, rather abruptly, at 3:30 when we ran out of time!

Publisher Content in Blackboard

Course cartridges (content from a publisher) are usually delivered in 3 ways:

1. The publisher sends the instructor a download key. If the publisher sends you a download key you can "install it" yourself into an existing course container.
2. The publishers sends the instructor instructions for downloading a .zip file. The instructor downloads the .zip file and must send the file to the Blackboard Administrator. An instructor cannot install a .zip file themself. This process must be done to a "new" course container.
3. The publisher sends the Blackboard administrator a .zip file. The Bb administrator has to begin the process from a "new" course container.

How to install your own download key:

Step 1: Bb administrator creates a course shell for you.
Step 2: You request a download key from your book rep or via the publisher’s website.
Step 3: Once you receive the key do the following:

• CONTROL PANEL >COURSE UTILITIES > IMPORT COURSE CARTRIDGE
• Enter the Download Key and Click Submit.
• You will get a Receipt: Success and message telling you that you will receive e-mail notification when the Cartridge content has been installed.

FYI- information concerning Directory Services, passwords, use in Blackboard and student email

Issue: Faculty Passwords Changed in Blackboard
SISCOPYID updates—necessary to enable proper security roles in SIS Version 8—triggered the pushing of the password contained in the Directory to Blackboard. This was, more often than not, the old PIN password format. As the SISCOPYID changes have happened, faculty members have found themselves unable to log in to Blackboard, because the Directory password overwrote the password they had previously been assigned by their LSA.

The immediate solution is for users to change their password at https://tncc.my.vccs.edu and accounts will be synchronized across all systems.

Issue: New Accounts for Students with Multiple Emplids
Many students with multiple SIS Emplid’s have discovered that a new Blackboard and email account was created for them when looking up their username at https://tncc.my.vccs.edu. Their old email and Blackboard accounts are not connected to their DS2 usernames, which means they cannot access their Blackboard or e-mail content through https://tncc.my.vccs.edu. The migration of data to DS2 carried over accounts with the most recent activity for students with multiple emplids. It created new accounts for the less active emplids. VCCS ITS will correct this issue with a batch process on Thursday evening. After the process is run, most students with this problem will have reverted back to their former accounts. There is a subset of these affected students who shared a Blackboard and Email username across their multiple emplids. These students will not have their account reverted to their old username. This is a design issue with DS2 which we are continuing to address.

If students have used their new email account, they will be able to access it directly- http://email.vccs.edu/index.pl, not through My VCCS. These new accounts will be removed from the email system when those students who have used them have been notified by ITS.

Faculty Development Activities – Student Success in Online Learning

Instructional Technology and Distance Learning will fund a few faculty development activities that focus on student success in online learning. The purpose of the activity should address areas that are barriers to student success in online learning. The proposal should include how the effectiveness of the activity will be assessed – higher success rate, increased student retention, or some other measurable outcome related to student success.

Topics of interest: Quality assurance, best practices, course design, interactivty/ communication, academic support, teaching strategies, digital resources, competencies for online students and/or online faculty, information literacy skills, etc.

Average funding support: $3,000 (collaborative projects – if more than one college is involved, up to $5,000 can be requested)

Number of proposals to be funded: up to 10

Deadline for proposals: Proposals may be submitted starting March 21, 2005. Proposals will be reviewed as they come in for feasibility and funding. Last day for submission of proposals is April 20, 2005.

Notification of proposal status: 7 days after proposal is received

If you would like to submit an idea for funding through this initiative, please provide the following information about the activity:

• Description of the project: (one page); should describe the purpose of the project and how it will be carried out – workshop, seminar, etc. Include dates of the activity.
• College(s): List all colleges participating in the activity and how many will attend
• Funds requested: itemize each element and provide cost; indicate any support from the colleges
• Primary contact for the activity:

College Approvals and contacts: College approvals are required for proposals to be considered. Please be sure you are getting the appropriate approvals for your college. If more than one college is involved, signatures from all institutions are required. Signatures page may be faxed.

• Immediate supervisor of the primary contact:
• Academic Vice President:
• Grants Office: (if applicable)
• Business Office contact and account where funds should be transferred: (If there is more than one college involved, one of the colleges should be designated as the fiscal agent. All funds for the project will be transferred to the fiscal agent college.)
  

Evaluation of the activity: Reaction of attendees to the activity should be provided one week after the activity is held. If you are planning a series of activities, evaluations should be provided after each activity.

• Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
• Focus of the project (student success)
• Project description (Concise description of what will take place, how it will take place and what the expected outcomes are)
• Budget description (Itemized; detailed to cover all aspects of the activity)
• Evaluation of the activity (attendee input is collected and analyzed; e.g., survey at the end of the activity)
• Assessment of the impact on student success is clearly defined and planned for.
• Appropriate approvals included
  
  
  Submit proposals by April 20, 2005 electronically to: Carole Schultz – cschultz@vccs.edu
  
  Questions: Carole Schultz cschultz@vccs.edu; 804-819-4964

Macromedia StudioMX 2004

New program bundle ready for checkout from library.

I have 50 copies of Macromedia StudioMX 2004. If you want one you must email me so I can put you on the checkout list. (We still have 20 Acrobat 6 and 2 Camtasia Studio/Snag-It licenses left. Please send separate request.)

What is included:


More Info: http://www.macromedia.com/software/studio/

Get Ready for SU05 and FA05

We are now processing requests for SU05 courses. We can no longer use NS99 designations. You must roll over your NS99 course to SU05 or FA05 for migration purposes. Request forms located at: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/bb.htm

All SU05 and FA05 courses will automatically roll to the new Bb 6 server. You will need to fill out another migration form for anything other then an active SU05 or FA05 course. More on this later.

If you are currently using an NS99 course for teaching you will need to "roll it" if you are using NS99 for non-teaching purposes.. clubs, info sites (ie adjunct training or course development) you don't need to "roll it".

Fell free to call or email if you have specific questions.

Help with Peoplesoft / Blackboard Logins

• If you have a Bb login your “My Username” should be your Bb login name. Your initial password is your birth date in 6 digit format (mmddyy)
• You will need to change your password for security and to add the Blackboard icon to your “My Services”.

After you login you will see the following:

After you change your password you will see that “Blackboard” and “Student Email” will be added as services available to you. The new system generates a student email account for everyone. This will allow you to view the email interface from the student perspective. This link will not provide access to your campus (primary) email account. It should have no impact on how Bb handles your email.

Clicking on this link gives you access to the new SIS:

This is the first thing you will see:

To find your “Class Rosters”, “Class Lists”, and to “Record Grades” click on the following links:

Clicking on this link gives you access to Blackboard:

More directions are available at:

• http://www.tncc.edu/NelsonOnLine.htm
• http://nelsonlink.tncc.edu/peoplesoft/
  

Faculty tutorial for the new SIS are available at:

• http://upk.vccs.edu:8500/upk/upkFaculty.html
  Contact Ruth Smith for login and pw or go to http://nelsonlink.tncc.edu/peoplesoft/ (Intranet)

Login problem or problems with Peoplesoft should be reported to SIShelp
SIShelp@tncc.edu
825-2709

Blackboard Problems should be reported to Ruth Smith
smithru@tncc.edu
825-2807

NEW TIMELINE: Blackboard 6 Upgrade

Timeline

April 7-9-New Horizons – Two days of faculty training

April 12-14 Blackboard Users Conference

April 15-BB6 Train available to faculty and staff

April 22-Course migration lists due (MORE ON THIS LATER)

May 1-Course migration starts

June 1-BB6 Production available to faculty at colleges

August 15-Students go live

More info from Dr. Matkin, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services

More news on Network Virginia and Blackboard Upgrade planning as developments occur. An overview of Blackboard statistics reveals the growth of this resource over the last few years and underscores the need for careful planning and execution of the upgrade. Please note:

From December 2003 to January 2005, the Course Management System (Blackboard) utilized for many distance learning and on campus classes, has continued to grow in use throughout the system:

· The number of courses on the Blackboard system has increased from 8,800 to 23,702 – an increase of 169%.
· The number of instructor accounts has increased from 2,600 to 4,711 – an increase of 81%.
· The number of “hits” on the online resources in one day has increased from 771,223 to 7,412,742 – an astounding increase of 861%.

This illustrates that this particular system wide tool has grown in the wealth of materials available, adoption by faculty, and use by students. A longer term perspective can be gained by viewing active enrollment trends. From August 2002 to January 2005 active enrollments on the Blackboard system have increased from 20,090 to 167,701 – an increase of 734%. We have not yet conducted studies to determine if Blackboard is statistically significant in influencing or aiding in retention, however, there is some literature that leads us to believe that it can and does play some role in that regard.

Blackboard 6.2 Implementation Delayed to Fall 2005

Subject: Update: February 28, 2005

Blackboard 6.2 Implementation Delayed to Fall 2005

It is with regret that I have to announce that we will not be able to upgrade our Blackboard services to version 6.2 until fall 2005. Originally scheduled for the summer, this upgrade will not happen as scheduled due to equipment delays. Specifically, the Blackboard 6.2 front end production servers were to be available to Blackboard administrators and faculty on March 1, 2005. We are experiencing delays in the arrival of the necessary IBM servers. There were no errors in ordering the necessary equipment and it was ordered well in advance of the anticipated delivery date. We are working with IBM to get a firm date and will communicate developments. One point is that we could have ordered and taken delivery of older equipment that would have sufficed for the short term, however, my judgment is that it is much more prudent to take delivery of the most current equipment possible to extend the life and lower the total cost of ownership over the lifespan of the equipment.

Other components of the Blackboard upgrade process are proceeding well. We were able to put in place a comprehensive week-long training for college Blackboard administrators and organize extensive faculty training at the New Horizons Conference in April. These sessions will continue as scheduled in preparation for the fall upgrade. One other change relayed in an overview to college presidents at the ACOP meeting earlier this month is that because of licensing restrictions, we cannot do a phased implementation and maintain two production servers concurrently without adding dramatically to our costs. The simultaneous upgrade of all colleges will avoid these problems and in that sense, the equipment delay we have experienced may prove to be a blessing.

While we are disappointed by this delay, we will use the extra time and resources to provide colleges with an even better installation of Blackboard than previously planned. When we deploy Blackboard 6, it will include new user tools developed by ITS staff member Matt Lawson to simplify administration and creation of courses on Blackboard. We will continue working with the Academic Services and Research Office to fully implement the Blackboard Content Management System in the spring of 2006. We also plan to develop a process for the evaluation and implementation of Building Blocks to add enhanced Blackboard features and functionality through various add-ons.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Regarding the Blackboard upgrade scheduling, staff will be in touch with all stakeholders and continue the discussion to coordinate this important activity. If you have any questions or concerns on either the PeopleSoft or Blackboard issue, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

Neil

H. Neil Matkin
Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services
Virginia Community College System
101 N. 14th Street
Richmond, VA 23219

Email Problem FIX

Email Problems

I've received emails from several faculty (from non- TNCC accounts) reporting that email is not working. (Thurs. 10:30p).

I have reported the problem and will follow up tomorrow.

Email from your student is queuing and should be available when you are able to login again. On campus email is working.

Free Online Blackboard Training

Comment from aTNCC faculty memeber:

"I was not too happy about the testing that was done before I could get to the course. It seemed to be an intelligence test, and with the demographic questioning that preceeded it, I am wondering how the data will be used. I'll tell you more after I have had time to go through all the units."

My response:

• I noticed that too.
• I didn't give "real" info... I used one of my alternate emails.
• I didn't like the questions so I answered one and skipped the rest and it let me in to the tutorial.
• The tutorial (after the info) was in QuickTime and loaded so slowly that it made me think it wasn't worth it.
• It was okay once it was loaded but definitely not worth the hassle and the questions.
• I'm surprised that the VCCS disseminated that tutorial and I'm sorry I disseminated it without trying it first.
• I'm going to forward this to the Bb group (I'll strip off your name).

-----Original Message-----
From: traci-sitzmann@utulsa.edu [mailto:traci-sitzmann@utulsa.edu]
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 1:01 AM
To: Carole Schultz; David Carter-Tod; Sue Ann Curran; Robert Vawter; Timothy Tirrell; Glenn DuBois; Rose Johnson; Leonard Sledge; Gloria Westerman; Elizabeth Creamer; Mindy Fast; Heather Felts
Subject: Free Online Blackboard Training
For my dissertation I designed a Web-based Blackboard Release 6 course to test a theory of learning. I am now trying to locate schools or organizations that would be interested in providing Blackboard training to their employees or graduate students free of charge.
I have attached an announcement that provides information about the course and the steps for completing the training process. The course takes about 2-3 hours to complete and covers many of the features of Blackboard including placing course materials online, adding users to a course, adding course announcements, creating and using Lightweight chat, etc. The course will be available online until at least March 11. In exchange for the participating in the course, instructors need to spend 20-30 minutes filling out surveys before beginning the course and complete a test at the end of training.
Feel free to forward the announcement to anyone who may be interested in receiving training or who may be able to help me recruit schools or individuals who may be interested in training. Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Traci
*****
Traci Sitzmann
I/O PhD Candidate
University of Tulsa
Lorton Hall Rm. 303
600 S. College Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74104
traci-sitzmann@utulsa.edu
Phone: 918-631-3105
Fax: 918-631-2833Overview
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There are many tools available to help its instructors be more effective and more efficient in their classes. One such tool is Blackboard, a class management system that allows you to disseminate handouts and readings to students, conduct tests online, maintain gradebooks, organize chat rooms, and more!

If you have never worked with Blackboard, you will find it a very effective method for communicating with students and helping you focus on the aspects of teaching you like best. If you have used Blackboard in the past, you may be surprised by the vast numbers of tasks you can perform in the system.

Blackboard Training Available
To help you master Blackboard Traci Sitzmann, a training expert and a doctoral psychology student at the University of Tulsa, designed an online course as part of her dissertation research. The course can be accessed at any time and will be available online until March 11th.

I strongly encourage you to register and complete the training. The course is free, and your time spent in training will save you many hours in the future in working with Blackboard or communicating with your students. In addition, your participation in the course will provide necessary input to help the course designer, Traci Sitzmann, complete her dissertation requirements. Many of you have advanced degrees and can appreciate the difficulties in data collection. Traci has worked hard to develop a useful, professional training program; it would be great to provide her with data that helps her complete her degree.

Getting Started
Before you can access the Blackboard course, you will need to spend about 20 minutes completing a survey to indicate your beliefs about learning and cognitive ability. This information is completely confidential and will not be shared with anyone at your school. To access the survey, click on http://www.attitudeingenuity.com/TSdissertation/bills_index.htm

Once you have completed the survey, you will receive a Web address to access the Blackboard training course. The training is designed to take 2-3 hours, but you will have control over the amount of time spent reviewing the material. Please note that the training course includes videos demonstrating skills in Blackboard. Thus, to access the training you will need to have high-speed internet and a computer with sufficient RAM. After training there will be a brief test over the material. Completing the test is critical to testing the theories underlying the course design.

Selected Notes from the Blackboard Administrators Meeting (February 9, 2005)

Blackboard Upgrade:

• The 1st set of courses to be migrated has been identified (about 3000 courses) and the migration process is starting today. LSA’s will be getting an e-mail from ITS with any problem course ID’s encountered
• The TRAIN instance is now online, MIGRATION is online, and the PRODUCTION instance will be available around March 7th.
  

How Do we upgrade?

• Take a snapshot copy and migrate from that copy
• Take new snap shots along the way for further migrations
  

What’s the difference between Test and Development?

• Test is a clone of the production environment for pre-production testing.
• Development is an experimental environment for "fooling around".
  

Contingency and Risk Planning:

• VA Tech recently upgraded and will share their experience with us (along with other colleges). They encountered issues with hardware and performance.
• ITS has contacted consulting resources to proactively plan for the upgrade and mitigate risks.
• ITS has come up with a Plan B, which is to fall back on BB Question: When should Plan B go into effect: Consensus: After one week of down time in the summer.
• ITS has spent time identifying and evaluating other risks, as well.
• New features should be introduced as the user comfort level rises (i.e. Content System).
• The BB 5 server will be running until the end of December 2005.
• We should continue to share ideas and provide recommendations.
  

Migration:

• Most colleges will go live on BB 6 for summer. NOVA will go live for fall.
• Cannot guarantee any changes made after today will be included in the BB 6 implementation (the initial 3000 courses that are being migrated).
• If colleges archive course information, they can upload to BB6.
• A preferred method for LSA’s to limit course access is to flag courses as unavailable - please do not remove them.
• All user accounts created as of today will be pushed over. Any new faculty accounts created will need to be sent to Matt. Please create a list of these new accounts (the BB ID) to learn@vccs.edu by around March 1st. After March 7th, faculty will be added directly via DS2.
• If you have additional course ID’s you would like to pass along to Matt for inclusion in the migration, please get them to him no later than Feb. 15th. If you would like to include any courses in the NOVA migration, please provide these course ID’s by June15th
  
  

Blackboard Training at New Horizons:

• will be at the Hotel Roanoke starting Thursday afternoon. All sessions will be held at the Higher Ed. Ctr. on Thursday morning, because space is not available at the Hotel Roanoke. An online signup form will be advertised about a month before the training. There will be a waiting list, and if space is available, we will accommodate as many people as possible.
  
  Note: If you come on Thursday and Friday hands-on sessions will be at the Higher Education Center. Presentations Wednesday, the college must pay for that night. A final schedule will be posted on VCCS Discuss as soon as possible.

Bb Hands-on Training at New Horizions

The session topics and schedule for the Blackboard faculty training at New Horizons have been finalized. There will be both hands-on and presentation-style sessions all day on Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8. Sessions will be repeated. The session descriptions and schedule are attached.

Faculty who are attending New Horizons are encouraged to sign-up to attend a hands-on workshop. The sign-up form will be posted the first week in March. An email will be sent to all registered attendees notifying them about this opportunity. Concurrent (arena) sessions do not require a sign-up.

attachment: New Horzions Hands-On Training PDF

Breeze Live Web Conferencing Webinar

Macromedia Breeze Live enables meeting attendees to participate in an interactive, dynamic online meeting from any computer, at any time. As a participant you can enjoy a wide range of capabilities such as viewing presentations or videos, sharing desktops, participating in polls, chatting with other users, and much more.

http://www.macromedia.com/software/breeze/

Purpose?

The purpose of the webinar is to view the product; ask and have questions answered; and to decide if we, as a college, would like to ask the Technology Committee to consider this in the next budget year.

Who Should Attend?

Faculty/ Adjunct Faculty / Staff / Administrators

When?

We will host the webinar 3 times:

• 02/22/2005 (Tuesday)
  12:00 PM -1:00 PM

• 03/01/2005 (Tuesday)
  12:00 PM -1:00 PM

• 03/15/2005 (Tuesday)
  12:00 PM -1:00 PM

Where?

Diggs Hall, Room 158 (The Commonwealth Classroom)

Do I need to Sign up?

No, but it helps us if we get an estimate of who will be attending so we can send a reminder. So, even if you’re not sure, you should sign up for the webinar.

• Send an email to smithru@tncc.edu indicating your preferred date.

Want to know more about it?

View the online View the online Demonstration or contact Ruth Smith

tncc.my.vccs.edu for College Faculty and Staff

(The link to tncc.my.vccs.edu is currently unavailable-- it will go live with the launch of PeopleSoft 8)

tncc.my.vccs.edu provides a common point of entry to access Blackboard, Student Email, and academic information via our Student Information System (PeopleSoft).

How do I use it?

1. Go to https://tncc.my.vccs.edu/
2. Enter your username
3. Enter your password
4. Click Log In
5. You can now access all your college tools with a single click

What is My Username?

If you have used Blackboard, use the same username you have used for that service. If you do not know your username, you can look it up using your Emplid
and other identifying information.

What is my password?

If you have previously used Blackboard or
the Student Information System, use your current password. If you are
new to your college, the password will default to your date of birth in the
format MMDDYY.

What if I forgot my password?

mailto:sishelp@tncc.edu
(757) 825-2709

Why do I have a link to Student Email?

All students, faculty, and staff now have accounts on the student email system. Faculty can use this account to view the email interface from the student perspective. This link will not provide access to your primary email account.

Innovative Teaching Strategies for Faculty Using Blackboard

Save the Date!

We’re planning a productive and informative 2-day conference designed to help faculty use Blackboard more effectively. As you struggle to stay current in an era of tight budgets and limited time, it’s even more important to make a sound investment in Professional development and networking. This event will provide you with opportunities to learn, share, and connect with others to help you help your students learn more effectively.

Join us!
April 7 & 8, 2005
Virginia Commonwealth University

To learn more about the conference, receive Updates via email and registration materials when They are available, register at our Web site at

www.at.vcu.edu/bbconference

This event is sponsored by Academic Technology at VCU with the cooperation of other Virginia Blackboard-using institutions.



Academic TechnologyVirginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 843059
Richmond, VA 23284-0359

Understanding Directory Services 2

What is Directory Services 2?

Directory Services 2 (DS2) is a redesign of the way in which user information is stored in the VCCS. At the core, it is a single, central database storing user information, which is tied to PeopleSoft, Blackboard, the Email system, and other systems, using WebMethods.

From a technical perspective, DS2 allows for instant updates of user and password information across all our systems. It also allows for a user’s ID to be treated separately from their underlying key to our systems. The (infamous) EmplID becomes a hidden key that people no longer have to memorize, and a person’s VCCS Username becomes the critical piece of information they need to know. One of the other critical changes is that we no longer use a student’s birth date as their default password for access to our systems.

DS2 will go into production at the same time as PeopleSoft8 (March 7th).

What does this mean for Students, Faculty and Staff?
Most students, faculty and staff will experience DS2 through http://my.vccs.edu/

Directory Services Background
Currently, if students are not told their VCCS Username by their college, they look it up using the WhoAmI web service: https://whoami.vccs.edu/whoami/. This same service will also tell them their EmplID.

Faculty and staff are typically told their EmplID to access PeopleSoft and manually assigned a username for Blackboard by their local Blackboard Administrator. Typically neither faculty nor staff can access the student e-mail system.

Faculty and staff taking courses as a student do not automatically have accounts in either the Blackboard or E-mail system created for them and Blackboard administrators have to run special processes to identify them.

Passwords in each system are currently changed using the confusing CAAM Pin Request form:
https://vccserver01.vccs.edu/DSChangeCAAMPINRequest.htm


Directory Services 2 – Improved and Enhanced Services
In response to feedback from the colleges, the student experience will now change. Some of these changes are usability improvements, some are process improvements, and there are also new features and services for faculty, staff and students.

The core location for looking up information and logging on to our systems will now be:
http://my.vccs.edu/

At that site, people may look up their VCCS Username here: https://my.vccs.edu/jsp/vccsidLookup.jsp

If they need to know their EmplID, they will look it up here:
https://my.vccs.edu/jsp/ssnLookup.jsp

They may change their password here:
https://my.vccs.edu/jsp/changePass.jsp

When a student looks up their VCCS Username for the first time, they will automatically be taken through the process of creating a new, secure password. They will not be able to access any systems until they have done this.

Students with duplicate information, e.g. multiple EmplIDs, duplicate SSNs, will need to contact their college to get their information.


New features:
Single sign-on
After a person logs on to my.vccs.edu, they are presented with links to the systems to which they have appropriate access. Typically, students will see PeopleSoft, Blackboard and E-mail. From this page, they can click into each system without having to log in again. They can still
choose to access each separately, but they will need to use their VCCS Username to access Blackboard and Email, and their EmplID to access Peoplesoft.

Once someone knows their username, they will not need to know their EmplID. Instant Account Generation Usernames are generated the moment someone is entered into Bio/Demo in PeopleSoft. It is recommended that their username is the critical piece of information that colleges give to students. All new PeopleSoft entries, whether faculty, staff or students, will have Blackboard and E-mail accounts created for them.

Controlled Access
Students will be able to access PeopleSoft once they are term-activated. They will be able to access Blackboard and E-mail as soon as their username is created. This may be changed in the future to depend on term activation.

Password Security
A student’s first access to my.vccs.edu will lead to a new password creation process with secure constraints on what is allowed and not allowed. This is no longer a number and should be a mix of numbers and letters and of a minimum length.

Separate IVR/Phone registration access code
Students will need to designate a separate numerical access code for IVR. The advantage of this is that they will have a much more secure password for web-based access, but they will need to be informed of this change.

Usernames
New usernames are not as overtly tied to surnames, but are still memorable. Existing users will keep their username, but new users will have a new username based on their initials and a number. This is shorter, still memorable, but not as immediately revealing as the former option.
Usernames can also be changed (by an administrator) if a student changes their name, e.g. due to divorce, without affecting their underlying records.


Other My.VCCS.Edu Services
There are also other services at http://my.vccs.edu/ that can be made available to selected personnel:

Person Info/Lookup
This is a read-only interface designed to help student support personnel troubleshoot student problems. As of this writing, it has screens with data from: directory information, enrollments, Blackboard, the Email system, and the online application (if it exists). It is recommended that college support personnel, including Learning System Administrators, be given access to
this tool.


Directory manager
This is an interface designed for College Security Managers. It has an interface for resetting passwords and setting PeopleSoft security levels.


Web Security Manager
Designed for IT security managers, this allows them to control who at their college can access which my.vccs.edu applications.

Distance and Distributed Learning Committee Meeting

February 4, 2005
Charlottesville, VA

In attendance:
Dr. John Downey (BRCC), Susan Beasley (CVCC), Rebecca Blankenship (GCC), Kristen Kelly(JTCC), Sara Brown (LFCC), Susan Kennedy (MECC), Linda Claussen(NRCC), Steve Sachs (NVCC), Mary Clare DiGiacomo (PVCC), LeslieSmith (RCC), Stacy Harris (SWCC), Scott Langhorst (TCC), RuthSmith (TNCC), Charles Boiling (VHCC), and Inez Farrell (VWCC). From the System Office: Dr. Charlie White, Dr. Neil Matkin, Dr. Carole Schultz, Tim Tirrell, Bob Vawter, David Carter-Tod, Sue Ann Curran, and MattLawson.

Absent:
Reo McBride(DSLCC), William Dey (DCC), Mary Kay Mulligan (ESCC), Shelia Hobbs (PDCCC),Carolyn Bird (PHCC), Bill Hightower (SSVCC), and Maureen Murphy (WCC).

I. Welcome and Introductions
Dr. Downey,Committee Chairperson, welcomed the group to the meeting. He then introducedDr. White and Dr. Matkin. They were invited to present to the committee theirvision of how they see the DDLC best functioning to implement their charge.

II. Remarksfrom Dr. Charlie White, Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Services

• views Academic Services and Research (AS & R) and Information Technology Services (ITS) working together as ITS manages the infrastructure and AS & R manages academics.
• Wants faculty, when they come up with ideas or projects, to present them to their DDLC member. The DDLC member can then share the idea with the rest of the committee and the group decides if they want to take it on as a project. If so, then it is brought to ITS and AS & R to determine if they have the resources. Projects originate at the colleges rather than being driven top down from the VCCS.
• Goals from teleconference meeting on the Federal Earmark:
• Enhancement of course management system (Blackboard)
• Learning object repository (Gives him heartburn but will support it if the colleges want it.)
• Enhancing the System Office role in maximizing resources.
• E-learning goal - wordy (not sure what it means).
• Promoting more college choice in curriculum development.
• Seeking additional federal funds
• Developing a VCCS portal (Chancellor likes this idea).
• Colleges need to decide what they need to support excellence in distance and distributed learning.
• VCSS needs to have a professional development program to meet faculty where they are (provide either training or resources for training)
• The Chancellor has asked Dr. Matkin and the Technology Council to look at IT staffing on the campuses. (issue: equipment rich, staff poor?)
• How do we provide for our smaller schools as well as our larger schools?

Commentsby committee members:

Problem identified by Charles Boling: We are good on the information side of IT, butnot the instructional side of IT. What are the minimum standards for staffingfor distance learning? Can the committee define the roles and responsibilitiesof an instructional technologist?

CharlieWhite: Can the DDLC make that recommendation?

John Downey: In order to do so, we need toarticulate our needs as a system, not as individual colleges. What support dowe need at the colleges to meet the vision of Dateline 2009? What supportshould be centralized? Our immediate need is to organize ourselves as a DDLCto most effectively make recommendations on these and similar topics to the ViceChancellor for Academic Services and Research.

III. Remarksfrom Dr. Neil Matkin, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Services

• When he first arrived, all of the IT staff had not met each other. His direction has been to have the IT staff focus on two goals:
• 1) Put students first.
• 2) Service without excuses.
• All students and faculty care about is whether the technology works or does not work.
• A major goal is to have data-driven strategic planning and accountability.
• Brought in Michael Dickson, a nationally known Distance Learning expert and facilitator to work with a group of Presidents and other college administrators. In the short term, they are looking at how to use the federal earmark, and more broadly at future directions for distance learning in the VCCS.
• The Chancellor has stated that colleges should develop/deliver/own their course offerings rather than having such courses developed at the System Office. He is concerned about programs funded out of federal dollars or other grant funds that will eventually go away and leave an unfunded mandate for the colleges to continue the programs. He has also stated that the System Office must show accountability for the tech fee funds and demonstrate that they are being employed to provide efficient and effective services.
• The VCCS distance learning infrastructure is a half-billion dollar industry.
• Our mission is “not about ownership, but about service”

We need toknow when to think as a system and when to think as colleges and become forward-looking. The System Office has too often over-promised and under-delivered.

Comments:

Leslie Smith noted that although transfer was a core concern of the VCCS, somecolleges (William and Mary and Mary Washington) do not accept distance learningcourses for transfer credit. They make their students sign a form stating thattheir courses are not distance learning courses.

A motion was made and seconded to ask Dr. White to present this issue to the Chancellor to address with the presidents of Mary Washington and William and Mary. The motion passed.

IV. Updateof DDLC Membership

John Downey asked the group to make anycorrections to the membership list in the meeting packet. He made thecorrections and told the group that he would send out an updated list.

V. WebConferencing Pilot Update

A sub-groupof the DDLC has been investigating Web Conferencing systems as voted upon atthe prior meeting. Inez Farrell presented the results of a survey of VCCS colleges. While there appeared to be general interest in an audio plug-in to Blackboard, suchas Wimba, there did not appear to be an overwhelming interest in an enterprise versionof a conferencing system.

It was suggested that the some of the smaller colleges who cannot afford to purchase asystem should form a consortium where they come to an agreement between themand the System Office to share hardware and support. The challenge is infinding a middle ground between every college sharing an enterprise system andmany colleges having nothing.

The DDLC couldidentify critical functionality (needs assessment) and put out an RFP. Theproblem is that we often find the product first and then shape our needs to theproduct’s functionality. The system needs to get beyond product-specificevaluations and conduct formal evaluations and needs assessments.

LindaClaussen made a motion to advise the VCCS according to the wording of item #1as listed in the agenda packet: There does not appear to be a widespreaddesire for an enterprise version of web conferencing software at most collegesin the VCCS.) Inez Farrell seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

The discussion then turned to Blackboard building blocks and how, without knowingwhat is out there, it is difficult to determine what faculty needs are notbeing met. An example was given about a building block that grades discussionboard participation. Other building blocks being looked at include Turnitin, aplagiarism detection software, and Wimba.

Since theLSA’s have a building block work group, it was suggested that the DDLC workwith them. Scott Langhorst also suggested that Blackboard Users Conference participants should examine and evaluate Building Block demos.

Sara Brown made a motion for the DDLC to work with Jennifer Smith (CVCC), leader ofthe Building Block work group, and with Blackboard Users Conference attendeesto evaluate Building Blocks. Charles Boiling seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

VI.Blackboard Update

Matt Lawsonprovided the DDLC with a demonstration of Directory Services 2. Directoryservices 2 provides an enhanced service to students, faculty and staff whichwill be available at the same time as the PeopleSoft upgrade. Next, DavidCarter-Tod gave an update of the Blackboard 6 Migration timeline and Sue AnnCurran presented the training opportunities and schedule for Blackboard SystemAdministrators, interested faculty at New Horizons, and through informalmeetings at during the Blackboard Users Conference in Baltimore.

VII.Election of Representative to the Technology Council

JohnDowney was elected as representative to Tech Council. Inez Farrell was electedto serve as the alternate. Both were elected unanimously by the committee.

VIII.VCCSOnline Status

The groupdiscussed the online application and students taking classes at more than onecollege. Despite the perception that there is a VCCS policy to the contrary,many students wanting to take classes at multiple VCCS colleges are asked tofill out the application for admission multiple times. The student must alsobe term-activated at the each college in order to register.

Carole Schultz suggested the group draft a position paper on how to remove barriers forstudents taking courses at more than one college. This suggestion wasdiscussed further at a later point in the meeting as a method for advising theVice Chancellor on the thoughts of the DDLC in helping the System meet thegoals of Dateline 2009.

Inez Farrell shared a story of a student wanting the e-rate for an online biologycourse. Since it is a science course with an in-person lab, it was not codedfor the e-rate. They had to create a separate section and register this onestudent so that he could get the e-rate for the online lecture portion of theclass.

Steve Sachs asked if there was a market for the e-rate.

Carole asked the group what courses they want to list in VCCSOnline. They need toknow what data to pull out of PeopleSoft so that students are clear regardingthe delivery method of courses. The basic challenge is regarding how manycampus meetings are required for any course listed in VCCS on-line. Studentshave the assumption that courses listed there are 100% web based. The coursecoding issue is related to this issue in that the definitions we employ forvarious courses are used by students for planning schedules across colleges. Thisissue will be discussed further at a future meeting when Rebecca Kittelbergeris present. Some of the issues may also be addressed as part of the positionpaper idea advanced by Carole Shultz.

IX.Course Coding Status

Tabled until Rebecca Kittelberger is present.

X. Learning Object Repository (LOR) Steering Committee Representation

• Carole Schultz said that the status of it is “up in the air.” The LOR is part of the first phase of the federal earmark which must be spent by September. The Chancellor wants an RFP to go out in March for an LOR that handles two facets: structured content and unstructured content.
• They want to form a steering committee with vice presidents, two members of the DDLC, ITS, and faculty.
• Inez Farrell asked how an LOR compared to the Blackboard Content Manager (Bb CM). Carole Schultz stated that the Bb CM would not have everything that an LOR does, such as intellectual property rights. She asked Tim Tirrell to explain issues with video. Tim stated that Bb CM does not “ramp up” and that not every VCCS faculty member is using Blackboard (limiting faculty access). There is also an issue of how you search for video. The VCCS needs something that will tie all these things together.
• Tim and Carole participated in a project with other colleges and systems regarding the use of LORs. The project participants tended to avoid evaluation of Blackboard and WebCT since they are proprietary products, and a goal of that group was to make LOR content accessible by the widest possible range of faculty end users.
• Ruth Smith stated that a content system such as Blackboard is good for sharing content, but totally different from an LOR.
• The difference of indexing and searching capabilities was brought up.
• Steve Sachs also mentioned that many faculty do not want content that is only accessible from Blackboard.
• Carole stated that the DDLC needs to reconcile what meets the VCCS needs. She also stated that we need to pull librarians into this group.
• Rebecca Blankenship volunteered to represent the DDLC on the LOR steering committee.

XI.Other Business

Portal –Scott Langhorst

Scott stated that TCC will have a working portal by the end of the semester. TCC hasa “portal engineer” and they have a Campus EAI grant from Oracle, but they arenot sure if they are going to accept it, because the grant requires a five-yearcommitment. They have a 60-day prototype period now. They have a contentmanagement team for this portal project and they will also be giving apresentation at New Horizons. What Matt Lawson has done with Directory Services2 is very helpful for the portal project – the underlying single login.

Mary ClareDiGiacomo shared information regarding a proposed bill in the General Assembly suggestingthe creation of an Office of Learning Technology at SCHEV. At the moment,there is a learning technology advisory committee to SCHEV. Carole Schultz, Tim Tirrell, Scott Langhorst, and Laura Franklin represent the VCCS on it. MaryClare noted that the proposed legislation is currently tabled in a Housecommittee.

Inez Farrell stated thatshe is doing a survey for here college looking at attrition and withdrawalrates to determine problem areas. She indicated that a similar survey at theVCCS level would be helpful to determine success rates across teachingmodalities.

Carole Schultz stated that asimilar report is run every year at the VCCS that indicates withdrawal and grade distributions for distance learning courses. This year Bob Vawter built queries to compare full-time faculty and adjunct grade distributions. Carole indicated that they are planning on presenting their preliminary findings tothe Council of Presidents (ACOP) in February and that it is on the Vice Presidents’agenda for March. John Downey suggested that after presentation to ACOP andthe VP group Carole may want to present the results to the DDLC as well.

John Downey also mentioned that the BRCC’s Educational Foundation Board found the data from the VCCS blackboard survey administeredlast summer to be very interesting, especially in regard to the numbers ofstudents still using dial-up etc. John asked whether the VCCS had plans toreplicate that study. Carole replied that it was part of a pilot study and theywould like to replicate it. In the survey, students generally stated that instructorsare the primary source of help for students with technology questions. Therefore faculty have a great need to know where students can be referred toget additional help for complex issues.

XII. Dateline 2009 and VCCS Distance Learning Plan – Where are we heading?

John Downey asked the group to review Dateline2009, the Chancellor’s current goals, and the VCCS Distance Learning Plan from2001. John suggested that the DDLC ought to advise the System regarding howcolleges could best be positioned to respond to the objectives outlined inthese documents. In John’s view, the DDLC has a role in advising the systemwhat needs to be done in order for colleges to effectively contribute to thosegoals. John suggested that Carole’s idea of a position paper might be aneffective tool for outlining for the Vice Chancellor the perspective of theDDLC relative to Dateline 2009. It was suggested that DDLC volunteers formwork groups and write a position paper on the suggested resources required atthe colleges and the VCCS to accomplish Dateline 2009 goals. The groupagreed that the next meeting could be devoted to a work group drafting and/orediting a position paper. John Downey agreed to solicit volunteers to work onthe project to produce a draft for committee members to react to, debate, editand revise at the next meeting.

XIII.Next meeting:

The TechnologyCouncil meets April 4-5 in Charlottesville. Members suggested that the DDLC have an electronic meeting a few weeks before the next Tech Council meeting todiscuss relevant issues and work on the position paper draft. One memberadvised John to work around the blackboard training scheduled for March. Therefore the next meeting of the DDLC will be on Friday March 25, 2005, and it will bean electronic meeting. Details on the technology that will be used for themeeting will be sent out in early March.

At the end of the meeting Tim Tirrell gave the group a handout from the Alliance of HigherEducation Competitiveness with a summary of findings for what makes internetlearning successful.

There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 2:40 p.m.

No more SP05 containers

In preperation for the migration from Bb v5 to Bb v6, we are no longer processing requests for courses in Blackboard v5.

We will begin processing Summer 2005 requests when the new Blackboard v6 server is in place (target data: end of February).

Thank you for you cooperation.