Creating a UW Online Environment Creating a UW Online Environment for Learningfor Learning

Andrea Chappell<chappell@uwaterloo.ca>

LT3 and IST, University of Waterloo

Presentation for OUCC 2002

27 May 2002

OUCC2002 2

What is a UW online What is a UW online Environment?Environment?

A place for … Course content

– Basic, supplemental, remedial, etc.

Communications between instructor/student, student/student, student/expert, etc.

Online activities to support the course Supporting the instructor and student online

OUCC2002 3

And your response is …??And your response is …??

Gee, Andrea, sounds like the job for a Learning Management System!

There are lots to choose from … and, at least a couple you could afford.

OUCC2002 4

When is an LMS the answer?When is an LMS the answer?

When you want … … an easy way for faculty to control their own

course environment. … to present a common course look & feel. … to improve course administration

processes. … to standardize on a toolset to economize

on cost and support.

OUCC2002 5

When is an LMS the answer? When is an LMS the answer? (Rephrased)(Rephrased)

When you want … … an easy way for faculty to dump course

notes on the Web for no pedagogical gain? … to present a VendorX look & feel (while

paying them to let you advertise ProductX)? … to add to course administration processes? … to pay a lot of money for a mediocre

toolset which the vendor doesn’t progress?

OUCC2002 6

Our GoalsOur Goals

Provide support for rethinking teaching while moving online– Content isn’t “king”, our teachers are!

Create "buffer zone" between courses and tools – So we can change tool sets!

Unify UW look and feel (a UW "branding”) Build a framework for new online courses with

equal support across campus

OUCC2002 7

Blackboard: What’s wrong Blackboard: What’s wrong with it?with it?

No more wrong than most LMS “Good enough” tools (but not best of

breed) Very restrictive in model (linear, disjoint,

very little IMS tagging) How to change if too many “hooked”? Very $$ if want Level 2/3, or new

Enterprise Can’t change it!

OUCC2002 8

UW online Environment UW online Environment (“UWonE”)(“UWonE”)

Three infrastructure components:

1. Pedagogical model (T5) is foremost!2. Tools for online course activity

(discussions, self assessment, group work, assignment feedback)

3. “Gateway” (pulling it all together)

OUCC2002 9

T5 Model: a “T’s”-erT5 Model: a “T’s”-er

Tasks (drives student through Topics)Tutoring (feedback: generic, peer,

instructor, …)Tools (online activity: discussion, quiz,

simulations, …)Topics (the content: course notes,

online resources, animations, ...)Teams (groups working together)

OUCC2002 10

UWonE: Pedagogical model – UWonE: Pedagogical model – T5T5

1) Pedagogical model

for going online: T5 Founded in:

– Tasks which drive students through the course content

– Tutoring that provides feedback to students

2)Tools 3) Gateway

OUCC2002 11

UWonE: ToolsUWonE: Tools

2) Tools Used to support course:

– Online activities– Online course “task

holder” creation (not content!)

– Delivery– Course admin.

1)T5 3) Gateway

OUCC2002 12

UWonE: GatewayUWonE: Gateway

3) Gateway Integration

– Central authentication– Population from classlists,

synch’ing drops and adds

Supports online users– Tips and how-to’s for

students and faculty– Status information

1)T5 2) Tools

13OUCC2002

In a picture …In a picture …

OUCC2002 14

T5 Model: Task ExamplesT5 Model: Task Examples

Political Science course in Distance Ed - lots of thoughtful discussion between students (and prof)

PSCI102M

OUCC2002 15

T5 Model: Supporting the T5 Model: Supporting the ProcessProcess

“The New Classroom” Workshop for faculty 3 half days over 3 weeks Up to 20 faculty at a time Focus on designing task and tutoring for

aspects of course (e.g., for “bottlenecks”) Support for move online via the T5 Editor

OUCC2002 16

T5 Model: T5 EditorT5 Model: T5 Editor Homegrown (gasp!) template-plus editor Supports model by:

– Providing layout structure (template) for task creation

– Automatically integrate tools to task area (coming this summer)

XML-based, with a developing rich set of tags Exportable to standalone HTML Tech: MySQL content db, PHP for editor

function

OUCC2002 17

T5 EditorT5 Editor

Started out as a prototypeLike many prototypes, moved to pilotLike many pilots, suddenly it’s

“production”!But, a long way to go!Code review and tightening S2002Demo of editor

OUCC2002 18

T5 Model: Big FinishT5 Model: Big Finish

Key is to tie pedagogy to the technology– Some “faculty development” programs teach why

and tech., but don’t pull them together– T5 model provides framework for online activity– T5 editor provides mechanics for instructor:

independence and support for their model adoption

Tech to back burner, puts learning model first

OUCC2002 19

Tools: CurrentTools: Current

Blackboard WebBoard – online discussions (better than

Bb) DE developed tools:

– Group assignment upload, management, feedback– One minute summary (frequent course review)– Automated group assignments– Audio feedback from professors– Etc.

OUCC2002 20

Tools: BlackboardTools: Blackboard

For self assessment quizzes, online discussions, some marks, some assignment upload … “OK”

Not going through front door!– Use direct URLs into specific tool for specific

course (turn LMS upside down)– Not for content storage! …T5 db contains task

content + resource uploads Good solid trustworthy system that we will

someday want to replace

OUCC2002 21

Tools: What’s next?Tools: What’s next?

Maybe QuestionMark Perception quiz/test Angel from CyberLearning Labs – a LMS!

– Have access to code and API so, …Modifiable!– Want to reach in to more tools– Make changes to tools– Has some “gateway” features– (Like Prometheus?)

OUCC2002 22

Challenges of Supporting ModelChallenges of Supporting Model LT3 supports UWonE through:

– departments/Faculties with local support,– individuals already working with LT3

New hire to support admin side of Bb, Wb, etc. IST contribution:

– some tech-only tool use– recent retreat voiced support of more LT support

Where do others go? Balance of expectations (early adopters vs

starters)

OUCC2002 23

Challenges: Maintenance & Challenges: Maintenance & ScalabilityScalability

T5 Workshop and follow-up resource intensive– LT3 Faculty liaisons take over promo and follow-up

Blackboard is interim– Not spending $$$ on Enterprise so “manual” course

admin costs T5 editor!!

– Homegrown … very scarey, but LT3 inherently needs to take some more risk to do “the right thing”

– Expectation: constant mods– What is its lifespan?

OUCC2002 24

Coming … the GatewayComing … the Gateway What is it?

– Portal-ish interface to all of Online Environment Recognizes user to tailor info to suit User can tailor information Status for professor and students on course progress

– Single sign-on?– Central authentication?

What’s Happening?– uPortal investigation (to end May)– Angel investigation (starting end May)

OUCC2002 25

Support – Who’s involved?Support – Who’s involved?

2 workshop facilitators (~ 0.30, 0.6 FTEs)

1 T5 workshop co-op1.2 co-op T5 editor codersPart of 1 courseware support person0.4 FTE for 4 months for uPortal0.6 FTE co-op for Angel development

OUCC2002 26

How far along are we?How far along are we?

T5 model– workshops in S2001, F2001, W2002 , S2002– Total of ~60, with ~12 courses using results

T5 editor– In use as of March, revamping over S2002

Angel for Phase II Portals and other black holes of effort

OUCC2002 27

Recapping (finally)Recapping (finally)

Want our own online model (T5) for engaging students online– LMS don’t offer enough pedagogical flexibility– Waiting for a “drop in your model” LMS!

Meanwhile, T5 editor

Want to be able to maneuver in tool space– Avoid being tied to VendorX LMS

Want to experiment, but live through it!

OUCC2002 28

Questions?Questions?

UWonE: http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~chappell/LT3/UWonE

LT3:http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca

Angel:http://www.cyberlearninglabs.com