Reconsidering Concepts for Support and Collaboration Eky Fioole & Rudi Clause Avans University of applied Sciences.

Reconsidering Concepts for Support and Collaboration

Eky Fioole & Rudi Clause Avans University

of applied Sciences

Content

• Context

• Challenges

• 3 case studies

• Basics & Conditions

• Pitfalls

• Our wish list

ContextAvans University has:• 18.500 students• 1.800 staff• 18 Schools• 60 bachelor degree programs (full time, part-time and co-op)

• 3 locations (Breda, Tilburg and ‘s Hertogenbosch)

Context• Bb Learning & Community System Blackboard Academic Suite

– Learn to Use Use to Learn– Students acquire the role of Instructor in their own courses– Implementation of ePortfolio’s– Storage of course materials in the Bb Content System

-> Increased complexity

• Educational view– Problem based learning Competence based learning– Digital archive Interactive use– Assignments based on real life cases– Blending of institutional learning, work experiences and virtual

learning • ‘Stand alone' system Links to a growing number of other

systems– LDAP, institutional portal, …– Other user groups (companies, other institutions)

• Changing demands and needs from users– Students need to work together– Students need easy access to organisation information– Staff need to co-operate in multidisciplinary teams.

Challenges

• Growing complexity of our context

• Shortage of resources• Need to make choices• Diversity in level of knowledge, experience and motivation.

3 Case studies

• Training of Bb-coaches• Working with staff and students• Collaboration with other universities

Case study 1

• Training Bb-coaches- How to use Bb How to use Bb

within our in an educational concept– New roles for Bb-coaches– Increasing complexity– Consequence: Training Bb-coaches based on the principles of competence based learning. Bb-coaches make their own ePortfolio.

Case study 2Working with staff and students

• Road shows– Use of good practices – Active role for staff in training their colleagues, directed towards enlarging the existing body of knowledge

• Community of Practice ePortfolio– Sharing of information, knowledge and experiences

– Active participation– Open access to users from other universities.

Case study 2

Working with staff and students• Active participation of students in training staff (ePortfolio’s, manuals)

• Students are involved in developing, building and evaluating Bb Building Blocks.

Case study 3Collaboration with other universities• B4x initiative

– Exchange and collaborate on constructing Building Blocks

• Informal sessions– Focus on questions and problems, not only on

success-stories.– One-on-one approach

Basics & Conditions• Trust your …students, staff members, schools and other universities, …

• Teach what you preach– Bottom up approach

• Share and collaborate– Open mind - Open source– Find news ways to communicate interactively

Basics & Conditions 2

• Be creative• Use different roles:

– Not only the expert, but also facilitator and mediator.

• Connect

Pitfalls• Resistance

Faculty, Staff, students, eLearning coaches

• Knowledge sharing– Another way of training staff and faculty

– Another way to receive (make) knowledge• Vulnerability

– not everybody wants to share and to collaborate

– Showing failures can be more important than sharing success-stories.

Our wish list

• Staying in touch with the changing educational view.

• Develop ideas on support materials

• Long term sharing and collaborating

• Further use of collaboration tools in and outside Blackboard

Thank you

• Eky [email protected]

• Rudi [email protected]