Connect: Looking Back and Looking Forward

When the Learning Management System (LMS) Pilot launched in January 2012 approximately 4,000 students and 40 instructors became the first users of Connect (Blackboard Learn 9.1) on both the UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses. The experiences of and feedback from those users shaped the direction and goals for the university-wide implementation of the new LMS.

Now, just over one year later, there are approximately 33,000 students in 1,156 courses in Connect. No new courses are being created in WebCT Vista and, by September 2013, all of the courses across all faculties will be running in Connect. The Faculty of Medicine undergraduate Medicine program and Sauder School of Business MBA programs have launched pilot projects that use Connect’s Content and Community functionality, reporting great success and ease of use. The Jump Start orientation program for new international and Aboriginal students is piloting Connect to support their programming this year.

The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) at UBC Vancouver, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning at UBC Okanagan have provided professional development opportunities for instructors throughout the migration process. Both organizations have also developed a number of resources and tools to facilitate a smooth transition to the new platform. A faculty member noted that, because of these professional development opportunities, he has a good understanding of Connect and is now able to facilitate uptake and effective and engaging use within his program.

In a further effort to facilitate a smooth transition, UBC conducted a year-long mixed-methods research study from January-December 2012 to determine users’ experiences (students and faculty) with Connect. The study provided an opportunity to better understand the users’ experiences, professional development needs, and system operations prior to the broader rollout. The research questions included:

1. What are the experiences of key user groups – students and faculty – who participated in course offerings delivered via the new Blackboard Learn 9 LMS?
2. To what extent did the structures, materials, and personnel available provide users with the support needed to work within this new LMS environment?
3. What recommendations can be made for the rollout of Blackboard Learn 9 across UBC?

The research study involved three phases: January-April 2012, May-August 2012, and September-December 2012. In each phase, students and instructors involved with courses being offered in Connect, were invited to voluntarily participate in an initial online survey and/or interview. Instructors were also invited to participate in a follow-up survey. Data from the year-long research study is currently being analyzed and a report summarizing the findings will soon be shared with the UBC community. Findings will inform the rollout of Connect at UBC, including operating procedures, professional development, and user support.

Informed by user feedback, the results of the research study, and institutional goals, there are many planned improvements and upgrades to Connect that will, over the next few months, improve the overall user experience. In May 2013, UBC will upgrade Connect from Service Pack 9 to Service Pack 11. Included in this upgrade are improvements to the user interface, a new discussion tool, and a new calendar tool. By September 2013, further upgrades are planned that will include improvements to the Assessments tool and will allow for further improvements and integrations.

Along with the upcoming improvements to Connect itself, the Sauder School of Business is implementing the Blackboard Outcomes module to support, streamline, and automate the management of outcomes assessment instruments, metrics, and data, and generate reports that can inform academic program reviews and planning. Sauder’s experiences will help inform a future university-wide implementation of the Outcomes module. UBC is also exploring the implementation of Blackboard Analytics to allow for the extraction and analysis of course and institution-level data.

A user feedback suggestion box process will be launched in May 2013 that will allow Connect users to provide feedback and ideas for improvements even after the migration to the new LMS is complete. Users will be able to submit their suggestions and to vote on and prioritize other submissions, giving the UBC community a voice in the continued improvement of the tools they use directly in teaching and learning contexts.

For more information about the LMS research project, please contact Roselynn Verwoord, CTLT Evaluation and Research Coordinator, at roselynn.verwoord@ubc.ca.

For more information about the Connect Program, please contact Tammy Yasrobi, Connect Communications Coordinator, at tammy.yasrobi@ubc.ca.

This article was published in the March 2013 CTLT Newsletter, Dialogues. Below is a list of the articles included in the issue:

Find out more information about the CTLT Newsletter, Dialogues.