1 Multidimensional Faculty Support for Distance Learning Initiatives Dr. Janice Biros Assoc. VP of Information Resources and Technology John M. Morris.

1

Multidimensional Faculty Support for Distance

Learning InitiativesDr. Janice BirosAssoc. VP of Information Resources and Technology

John M. MorrisCoordinator – Academic Technology

Mike ScheuermannDistance Learning & Faculty Development Consultant

2 © 2003 Drexel University, All rights reserved.

Copyright Statement Copyright Janice Biros, John Morris and Mike

Scheuermann, 2003. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

3 © 2003 Drexel University, All rights reserved.

Drexel UniversityPhiladelphia, PA (USA) - Founded 18914 Campuses

University City (urban edge) Center City (downtown) Queen Lane (sub-urban) Henry Ave. (sub-urban)

~ 13,400 FTE students~ 1,240 Faculty$497 M Annual University Budget 00-01$327 M Endowment 00-01$61 M Research 00-01

4 © 2003 Drexel University, All rights reserved.

More about Drexel Private university (minimal state funding) Required Co-op (most programs 5 yrs w/ the

middle three years consisting of 2, 3-month academic terms and one 6-month work assignment)

Class “A” research institution (“Research Extensive”)

5 © 2003 Drexel University, All rights reserved.

Academics7 Colleges

Engineering Arts & Sciences Media Arts & Design Business Professional Studies (Continuing Ed. & Evening) Information Science and Technology Nursing and Health Professions

3 Schools Education Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Public Health

1 Affiliate Medicine

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“Consumers” of LMS Support -Putting Support in Perspective

College/University Administrators IT Management and Administrators Traditional IT Helpdesk Support LMS Management Staff Colleges / Schools / Departments &

Faculty Students

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LMS Support Realm

ITAdmin&MGMT

LMSSupport

TraditionalHelpDeskSupportCollege /

UniversityAdministration

Students

Colleges /Schools /

Departments /Faculty

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LMS Support Realm & Our IT Realm

ITAdmin&MGMT

LMSSupport

TraditionalHelpDeskSupportCollege /

UniversityAdministration

Students

Colleges /Schools /

Departments /Faculty

CTI

CAS

ITS

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Support for College/University Administrators

Interested in Impact How wide is the deployment? How many faculty are utilizing? How many students are impacted?

What kinds of systemic changes have occurred and are occurring?

Assessment – what kinds of outcomes are being measured and by whom?

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Support for IT Management and Administrators

Impact on Capital Expenditures, staffing and software licensing.

The “numbers” so they can report to the College / Univ. Administrators

LMS planning – migration, installation, testing, deployment, maintenance and

Integration – impact on core administrative system (version synchronization)

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Support for Traditional IT Helpdesk

Incorporation of LMS HelpDesk activities into current offerings

“Ticket” management Training HelpDesk and Call Center

personnel on LMS issues and answers HelpDesk “procedures and policies”

Chain of intervention Chain of responsibility

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Support for IT LMS Management(i.e. supporting ourselves)

LMS “branding” (look and feel) LMS Administration

Configuration Management Account Management

• Registration / Enrollment• User accounts

Course Management• Template management• Course “Life Cycle”

LMS tool development Adding and managing new features and tools

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Support for IT LMS Management (i.e. supporting ourselves)

Training (train the trainers) LMS features and functions Auxiliary software products (e.g. html editors,

assessment management, …) Media development (e.g. graphics, video, …)

Train the End Users (Faculty, Staff and Students) “Development Centers” “Boot Camps” “Brown Bags” – focused presentations

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Support for Colleges / Schools / Departments and Faculty

Outreach – actively seeking participation Providing “HELP!”

Email Phone Online Materials – FAQ’s, Context Sensitive Help Helpdesk (as differentiated from other IT related

helpdesk instances) Mentor

Access Portals User Groups Conferences Showcases

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Support Environment*DrexelUniv.2000+

CabriniCollege2001+

NeumannCollege2002+

RosemontCollege2003+

Faculty 235 44 71 42

Students 6000 1365 2087 1390

Courses 600 50 25 26

+ Year first courses were online* Actively participating in WebCT as of 3/1/03

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Potential Support Environment (FTE)

DrexelUniv.

CabriniCollege

NeumannCollege

RosemontCollege

Faculty 1244 105 68 176

Students 13,389* 1670 1507 1066

Courses ~6,500 909 1262 369

Faculty and Student data - based on FTE status.* Actual number of Drexel students currently in WebCT > 50,000 : ~ 33,500 alumni

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LMS Support Staff (Web Group)~ 8 FT equivalents

1 Manager (FT) 1 Instructional Design Specialist (FT) 4 Designer/Developers (FT) 1 Co-op (Graphics) (FT) 4 Students (Graphics/Programming)

(PT)

Note: WebCT support is ~30% of WebGroup’s support / development activities

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Support Summary - Totals

Total % of Potential

Faculty 392 24.6%

Students 10842 61.4%

Courses 718 7.9%

Support Staff: 7FT, 4PT @ 30%

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Points of Significant Supportin somewhat decreasing order of time commitment

Initial Implementation Migration Upgrade/Maintenance Integration Pre-startup (training) Startup (first offering) Beginning of Term During Term End of Term Between term outreach Between term support

IT & LMSIT/LMS/FacultyIT & LMSIT/LMS/AdminsLMS/FacultyLMS/Admins/FacultyLMS/Admins/FacultyLMS/Admins/FacultyLMS/FacultyLMS/FacultyLMS/IT/Faculty/Students

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A Day in the Life of LMS Support 1

M-F one staff member is on LMS “Ticket” duty

M-F one + staff member is on “Streaming” capture duty

Staff members will take “mentor” calls or direct email from faculty or mentor faculty in “Faculty Development Center”

Any staff member can take (but typically the one on “Ticket” duty will take) internal (IT->LMS) support questions (typically due to walk-ins)

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A Day in the Life of LMS Support 2

Staff members will take on administrative role to create courses, import student enrollments, rectify login and/or password issues, give guest access, …

Staff members will gain access to course as “designer/instructor” to add content, modify content, re-organize the interface, add quiz, survey or self-study and manage access (when instructed by a course instructor)

Staff members will convert video/audio to streaming format, create graphics, convert documents to .pdf format, convert PPTs to alternate format, …

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Specific Support for Faculty 1 Outreach Training

Boot Camps Focus Sessions Workshops

Mentoring User Groups Showcases

Faculty Development Center

HelpDesk Walk-in Call-in Email

Email

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Specific Support for Faculty 2 Faculty Development Center “Ticket” based email HelpDesk “Tech Update” published bi-monthly Co-author papers for conferences Showcases (both what the faculty is

doing with WebCT and what IRT can do for the faculty, particularly in the area of new or emerging technology.)

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Key Support Issues 1 Support for one client is not necessarily

exclusive or unique (i.e. often support issues cross groups being supported)

Support for faculty must be broad and deep Supporting entity must have multiple talents

that are kept current, including Instructional Designers, HTML/script programmers, graphic designers, trainers, media specialists, project managers, …

It takes a group of committed individuals to support a faculty, though it is not a full time commitment for most.

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Key Support Issues 2 It takes a group of committed individuals to

support a faculty, though it is not a full time commitment for most.

Support must be appropriately “scaled” to the size of the client base.

Support must be in place prior to offering your first online course whether it is web-supported, web-enhanced or web-enabled.

It may be necessary to go TO the faculty rather than waiting for the faculty to come to you. (Outreach – Push vs. Pull)

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Key Support Issues 3 You will hear far less about your successes

than you will about your failures. Domino effect

A faculty member will start with one course and if “successful” they will migrate to all of the courses they offer.

What you teach a faculty member will show up in all their courses

Geometric Growth Effect If “successful”, a faculty member will promote the

LMS to others. One tells two, two tell four, four tell eight …

The Domino effect

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The Domino and Growth Effects

Faculty

Course

Faculty

Course

Faculty

Course

Faculty

Course

Faculty

Course

Faculty

Course

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Growth Timeline Installed WebCT 3.1

11/00 Ran first 3 courses

01/01 – 03/01 Added Cabrini College

6/01 ~100 courses online by

9/01 SCT/Banner integration

01/02 ~ 250 courses online by

9/02

Added Neumann College

Campus Pipeline integration 07/02

Added Rosemont College 11/02

Installed Vista pilot 3/02 Over 600 courses online

by 4/03 (WebCT 3.8.2)

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Support Strategies 1 Don’t try to please all of the people all

of the time. Initially focus on

Supporting early adopters (let the domino effect work for you)

“Sell” by resolving OBJECTIONS Court the curmudgeons Quality is as important as Quantity

Keep It Simple (*7%$&)

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Support Strategies 2 Publicize your accomplishments Anticipate your future needs – Plan,

Plan, Plan Make a case for building a team of both

breadth and depth You should be so lucky as to only have

to support the LMS. Spread the responsibility

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Support Strategies 3 Don’t get into “religious” arguments.

You might win the battle but lose the war.

Develop and DOCUMENT your own best practices (and learn from others where and when you can). What works for us may not work for you.

32 © 2003 Drexel University, All rights reserved.

Summary 1 Drexel University Overview Reviewed the

LMS Support Realm Relationship between the LMS Support

group and client constituencies Support Environment – both actual and

potential Established a number of “Points of

Significant Support” (Milestones)

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Summary 2 Looked at a “Day in the Life of a LMS

Support unit Reviewed Specific Support geared

toward Faculty Developed a list of “Key Support

Issues”, and finally Listed a few support strategies to help

you be successful.

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The EndQuestions?

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Faculty Support Matrix Email Phone Walk-in Online

Materials

IT HelpDesk

LMSHelpDesk

InternalIT

InternalLMS