July 18-22, 2005
San Francisco
Marriott Hotel

Summary of Conference Experience
by
Laura Sederberg
Technology & Learning Program
CSU Chico

User Choice Awards
(on the Red Carpet)

Kevin Reeve, USU
Bob Boufford (Dr. C), UA
Bonita Bray, UA
Marc Hugentobler, USU

This session was full of helpful information on how to set up training programs, what works, and what to think about in re-designing training. Very helpful for us in our current transition from WebCT CE 4.1 to Vista 4.

Ice breaking exercise: using Legos in team-building activity

Key concepts:
Value, pedagogy, delivery, results

• Needs assessment (know your audience)
• Proven probing techniques
• 3 D's:
  - Design
  - Develop
  - Deliver
• Best Practices
• Evaluation

www.webct.com/workshops

www.webct.com/seminar

Archive of "Planning Your Exemplary Training Program"

WebCT Training Pyramid for Success:

• Institutional Value
• Pedagogical Goals
• Delivery Performance
• Results

Laura Sederberg
CSU, Chico

General Session Keynote

Innovation and Outcomes: Voices of Experience

• Customize community control
• Maximize academic freedom
• Define administrative procedures
• Preserve community identity
• Turbo-charge other Vista modules
• Course sections (where teaching takes place)
• Layer of flexibility to structure communities (organize it)
• Group and Division levels can customize/organize this
• Place most relevant tools, customize menus and icons for communities
• Template control, permissions, etc.

Administrator roles for communities (again permissions, operations, settings, enrollments)

Community-wide announcements, help-desk, reminders, allow self-registration

Preserve identity for community, branding, images, colors, etc.

Turbo-Charging Vista Modules

• Different PowerLinks per community
• Repostitories (Learning Object Manager)
• Reporting (PowerSight Kit)

Q & A – Armando and Geoff

Create a discussion group for a community? (BE) Yes, dynamically enrolls child sections into that workspace (down the road).

Are these defined like Categories and Terms in CE? (Mark H)

• Each community is tied to a whole level of settings administratively.
• Can create groups and divisions however we want to name them.
• It is really a hierarchy, structurally.

Any way to create communities across divisions? (BE) Can exist with similar identity (such as learning object sharing), but it is community workspaces, that is not available now, but will be in 2006. Like a course section… but not for a course, rather a community outside. Multiple groups can be attached this way cross groups or divisions.

Can instructors share across the communities? Yes, via Learning Object Manager in CE 6, is included in Vista 4.

Cindy Hart, West Virginia University

John Oughton, West Virginia University

25,500 enrollment with 40% non-residents

Implemented Vista thru a Statewide license imposed on 16 HE public institutions. Hosted pilot was not representative enough of all diverse types of courses. Ran CE and Vista both through webct.wvu.edu.

Migration and Training

• WVU DID purchase WebCT training materials
• Faculty had to attend training before getting a Vista course (designer access)
• Faculty initiated the migration request
• POCs
  • Regional administrators and college/dept e-learning mentors
  • Point of contact provided training and support
  • Assisted design and development
  • POCs received first priority support
• vistainfo.wvu.edu provides information and resources to both faculty and students
• Two listservs for support: designers and POCs
• Cross-Functional Team (CTF): DBA, Vista admin, ITCs, CDOE, support services, student systems met 2x day for long hours
• Made decisions and provided communication on policy and procedures to all

Lessons Learned

• CFT improved communication among and across units
• CFT enabled development and implementation of organizational structure, policies and procedures
• Vista Info site was helpful

Suggestions

• Central knowledge base
• Disseminate status of issues
• Advance notice of potential system slow-downs
• Inform people of changes to CistaInfo site
• Basic handout needed for students
• Develop online training modules
• Develop reusable Learning Objects
• Better information to Help Desk
• Cross-listing improvements

Ask for permission to go look at this web site:

vistadev.wvu.edu:8080

All student activities are tracked in WebCT Vista and the actual data are available. We need to consider levels of permissions for data.

List of reports

1. Who users are (role in system, organization affiliation)
2. What users do (data about learning process)
3. What grades are assigned for actions (data about learning outcomes)

Event Level Tracking

• who
• what
• when
• how long
• order of doing it

Roll up reports are available or custom reports

Assessment Project Players

• City University
• University System in GA
• Santa Barbara City College
• Weber State University

Weber State went from their own LMS to Vista. Integrated Vista 3.0 fall 2004 and with Banner by fall 2005.

Considerations / Suggestions

• How to share content
• How to share administration
• First started with too many groups
• Suggest using colleges/programs as groups (not depts)
• Templates (useage is important to consider)
• Use Faculty mentors to help other faculty
• Need hot and cold back ups
• Need back up server and a test server
• Make section archives
• Schedule regular disaster recovery exercises (How often? BE)
• Don't think, "It won't happen to you"
• Had LDAP problems; restart all systems periodically
• Problems with templates vs sections
• Pay faculty to go through training as an incentive
• Better peer mentoring
• Top-down approach: admin, deans, chairs, professors
• Integration issues
  • single sign-on
  • student drops
  • cross-listing
  • grade exchange
  • other campus system integrations

Mission: to establish a collaborative customer driven process to produce content that will drive e-learning growth.

There have been 3 phases of e-Pack evolution:

1. Quantity - get as many e-packs out there, asap
2. Shift to Quality
3. Leverage investment in other technologies and respond to 5 years of feedback

e-Packs are up 20% in 2005. Interactive components requested.

PowerLink partnering

• Sim Net
• MyMath Lab
• iLrn
• Personal Trainer
• ALEKs
• eGrade Plus

New generation of intentional PowerLinks

• MERLOT - facilitate searching for objects and insert easily into WebCT course
• SmartThinking - live tutoring 24/7
• SafariU - content components, modular

Beta testers wanted for MERLOT and SafariU for Spring 2006

www.merlot.org

www.safariu.com

smarthinking.com

Susannah Quinsee,
City University, London

Laura Sederberg
and
Jennifer Nowotny,
CSU Chico

Jennifer arranged a private meeting with Susannah to talk about Vista usage at City University, London. Through our conversation we grasped ideas to help faculty migrate to Vista 4 by moving their content only, and redesigning courses using "Learning Modules."

Suggestions:

• Use pilot groups to test training and help train others
• Keep training flexible based on audience (especially helping faculty tounlearn CE)
• Make faculty be students in a course before they are a designer
• Focus on learning activities more than content presented in a linear path