From a Simple to an Enterprise LMS: Upgrading to WebCTBlackboard 6'0

1
From a Simple to an Enterprise LMS Upgrading to
WebCT/Blackboard 6.0

• The Center for Online Learning, Teaching and
  technology

2
UTPA Background

• Established 1927
• Comprehensive regional university
• Enrollment for Fall 2007 17,435 (all levels)
• 87 Hispanic Student Population

3
Student Usage of WebCT/Blackboard

• AY 2005 8,792
• AY 2006 10,005
• AY 2007 11,986
• AY 2008 - 14,033

Average per Semester (Fall and Spring), numbers
do not include Summer Sessions
4
Online Courses by Academic Year

• AY 2005 63
• AY 2006 57
• AY 2007 65
• AY 2008 - 99

Numbers do not include Summer Sessions
5
Reduced-Seat/Hybrid Courses

• AY 2005 3
• AY 2006 6
• AY 2007 7
• AY 2008 - 11

Numbers do not include Summer Sessions
6
Web Augmented Courses

• AY 2005 797
• AY 2006 1035
• AY 2007 1338
• AY 2008 - 1579

Numbers do not include Summer Sessions
7
Mitigating Issues

• Number of users and courses continues to increase
• The need for a relational database
• Aging hardware (no cluster)
•  Server crash
• WebCT 4.X reaching end of life
• Upgrade to next version was NECESSARY

8
WebCT/Blackboard Upgrade

• Pilot program
• 13 Volunteers (faculty)
• Only one course per instructor (They decided)
• Provided them 2 training sessions of new LMS
• All volunteers used WebCT/Blackboard at different
  levels
• This diverse group was selected to see what they
  thought of the new LMS

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WebCT/Blackboard Upgrade

• Created a Course Shell and added volunteer
  faculty in this course shell.
• Created a discussion topic on Bugs
• Discussion topics on their thoughts and lessons
  learned from the new LMS.

10
WebCT/Blackboard Upgrade (Technical)

• 2 tier hardware architecture
• Application tier BEA Weblogic
• Database tier- Oracle Enterprise DB 9i
• Relational Database
• Oracle DBA skills
• Red Hat Linux OS (both app and Db servers)
• different platform from before

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Upgrade Plan for Faculty

• Broke it down by colleges, not all colleges will
  be migrated at once
• First to move in the Fall Semester
• College of Arts and Humanities
• College of Education
• College of Social Behavior Sciences
• Also all new faculty teaching in WebCT/Blackboard
  were immediately placed into the new LMS

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Upgrade Plan for Faculty

• Training
• Broke down the trainings into departmental
  trainings
• Created animated tutorials and provided them
  after the training session in CDs
• Provided one-on-one training for faculty new to
  WebCT/Blackboard (other than the migrated
  departments)

13
Upgrade Plan for Faculty

• Migration of Materials
• We provided an online tutorial to help faculty
  learn how to transition their material to the new
  version using the Course Migration tool
• Found that not many wanted to do that and needed
  our assistance
• But the little that did do it on their own
  helped.
• Middle of the Fall Semester started training the
  remaining colleges
• Again, departmentalized

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Upgrade Plan for Students

• Used WebCTs Student Orientation Module and added
  it to every course
• For Augmented/Reduced Seat Courses provided face
  to face student orientations.
• More Support Issues

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Support Implications

• Made students aware of the JR environment and its
  importance with WebCT
• Created Handouts with instructions on installing
  the JR Environment
• Talked to campus IT department to make sure all
  computers on campus were running the latest WebCT
  compatible version of JRE

16
Support Implications

• Pop-Up blockers
• Created handouts on allowing popups for WebCT
• Provided students with online links on
  allowing/disabling specific popup blockers

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Upgrade Plan for Tech. Support Staff

• Provided students with handouts outlining the
  different new tools in the new version of
  WebCT/Blackboard
• Provided students with handouts outlining the
  differences between the tools used in the old
  version and how they are used in the new version
  of WebCT/Blackboard.
• Offered students to come in for 1 on 1 assistance
  with the new version of WebCT/Blackboard.
• Added Help Icon to all courses with contact
  information and guides to solutions

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Information Technology Implications

• Batch Imports
• SCT Plus SIS Work with other entities to
  customize XML extract
• No Term concept when WebCT 6.0 was released
• New backup strategy
• Section backups by administrative period
• Oracle Database backup worked with IT folks to
  put it in place
• No Integration with SIS

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• Edgar GonzalezAssistant Director for
  Instructional Technologyedgar_at_utpa.edu
• Kumar RamanDirector Internet Services 
  kumar_at_utpa.edu
• Josie HernandezInstructional Developerjdelatejer
  _at_utpa.edu
• Jessica SanchezInstructional Developer
  jessica_at_utpa.edu
• Ruben ZamoraHelpdesk Manager      
  rzamora8_at_utpa.edu