f-2010-updates

 ** December 2, 2010 **
 * Notes from 5-minute updates at Tri-IT meeting **

Amy Campbell spoke for the group. Duke is considering alternatives for Blackboard. A campus group has made a recommendation; their recommendation is migrating through the chain of command for final approval. The WordPress pilot is now a campus-wide program. The pilot was initially open only to faculty members who wanted to use it for their courses. Next semester, it will be open to everyone. Some faculty members have found WordPress to be a good substitute for Blackboard. Duke has been experimenting with various loaner programs for iPads. The Faculty Learning Committee has been offering Faculty Fellowship workshops that are open to faculty members wanting to make curricula changes. Four programs are currently underway. Duke currently uses a lecture-capture system called Lectopia. They’re planning to migrate to Panopto. Duke is exploring e-readers and e-textbooks. Neither option is heavily used at the moment. The libraries are collaborating with a Duke student who came up with the idea of using heat-sensing technology to determine which study rooms were empty and therefore available for use. The technology is being piloted in 20 study rooms.
 * Duke **

Ray Purdom spoke on behalf of UNC-G. UNC-G is piloting two applications of Starfish. Starfish Connect is used to schedule online appointments with instructors and advisors. It’s also used with the tutoring program. Starfish Early Alert raises red flags about students who are in trouble; this program is being piloted with freshmen. East Carolina University is currently using Starfish. UNC-G is testing a new scanning product that captures open-ended responses and records both paper and electronic inputs. They’ve tested paper inputs this fall and will expand to both paper and electronic inputs in the spring. UNC-G is experimenting with streaming services for their media collections, including films-on-demand and other subscription services that can be used to deliver films, etc. into courses. UNC-G is creating hybrid workshops called Teaching Well Online. These are 15-minute courses that focus on various topics relating to online teaching. The courses usually include a 5-minute video supported by an active learning exercise. They’re projected to have 40 online courses in the series by the end of the year, contributed by a number of universities.
 * University of North Carolina—Greensboro **

Marty Dulberg spoke on behalf of NCSU. NCSU is moving their LMS to Moodle. They’re pulling the plug on Blackboard in June, 2011. They’ve got 69,000 enrollments in 2200 sections to transfer. Migrating faculty members from Vista to Moodle is tough. NCSU has the largest installation of MediaSite in the country. MediaSite is a lecture-capture system. The system is currently used in 60-65 locations at NCSU; they’re moving to 110 locations next year. They anticipate MediaSite will primarily be used for student review of content after lectures. MedisSite is being used in many different ways, not just for classes. Camtasia Relay is a junior version of MediaSite. It’s like Camtasia Studio in that it captures what’s on your computer screen (but it doesn’t use other video inputs). NCSU is exploring how to best use Moodle, MediaSite, VoiceThread, WordPress, Google apps, etc. NCSU is currently developing a distance-education student orientation. They’ve experienced double-digit growth in distance education. They’re also setting up a new testing center to help with assessment for these students. They currently administer between 20,000 and 30,000 per year for distance-ed students. NCSU is experimenting with a mobile application in the library that uses a Web cam to see if study rooms are empty, there’s a line at the coffee shop, etc. NCSU is experimenting with creating lab courses administered in Second Life.
 * North Carolina State University **

Scott Hildebrand spoke on behalf of Elon. Teaching and Learning Services has been restructured, and the new group is still settling in. Elon is currently using Blackboard 8. They’re moving to 9.1 on December 20. The Blackboard contract expires in 2012, so they’re looking at Moodle as an alternative. They plan to run Blackboard and Moodle simultaneously to see how things go. A final decision will be made in Fall 2011. The Elon Summer Online Program included 55 courses that were open only to Elon students. Elon plans to use Lynda.com for all of their training. Elon uses virtual apps and desktops so that students can access apps from anywhere on campus. Elon is creating rapid e-learning modules using Articulate. All student e-mail is in Gmail. Faculty and staff will follow soon. Elon offered ExperienceIT--faculty-led workshops for various subjects, including Adobe Connect, Facebook, videoconferencing, etc. Gretchen Edwards spoke on behalf of Wake Forest. Gretchen is a Cisco fellow who works with the libraries and Cisco to see how the two organizations can work together. WFU’s library has moved to the cloud and has been there for six months. WFU received grants for iPads; various faculty members and library staff are piloting the computers. WFU will be shifting from Blackboard to Sakai during Summer 2011. Students are currently on Gmail. WFU is running a Gmail pilot for faculty and staff. The library is exploring e-readers.
 * Elon University **
 * Wake Forest University **

Suzanne Cadwell spoke on behalf of UNC-CH. UNC-CH will begin a three-year transition from Blackboard to Sakai next fall. The School of Medicine has already taken the plunge with Sakai and are now very adept at using the Sakai calendar. UNC-CH is participating in various course redesign efforts. Biology 101 was redesigned for this fall; Psychology 101 will be redesigned next spring. UNC-CH libraries are circulating iPads now. They’re also using blogs for online exhibits. The libraries have been using Elluminate to offer “co-streamed” courses, where an instructor-led, face-to-face session is accompanied by a simultaneous session on Elluminate. The approach was had mixed success, and improvements are being considered. OASIS provides training in Microsoft applications and has been a good resource for helping faculty and staff. UNC-CH created E-Quality Essentials, which are two online courses for faculty members who want to be trained in the topic of online instruction. The first cohort of instructors has completed the sequence, and the next cohort begins in January. The Business School if offering a new online MBA program that begins in July 2011. The program is mostly—but not entirely—online. The School of Education is experimenting with using VoiceThread and Windows Live Media to create narrated PowerPoints, trailers for assignments, and other multimedia applications. They’ve also created a wiki that is internal to faculty members where they can share new ways to use technology in the classroom. And finally, they’ve got five Smartboards and are waiting for new ones to be hooked up.
 * University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill **

Phil Kaufman spoke on behalf of LEARN NC. LEARN NC recently completed an online digital textbook for 8th-grade social studies. LEARN NC is using Moodle 1.8. They migrated to 1.9 the first weekend in December, and they plan to move to 2.0 in a year. LEARN NC is offering the NC Teacher Working Conditions surveys and have collected responses from 108,000 teachers (out of a total of 120,000 educators). LEARN NC is providing this service for eight other states. LEARN NC has two SmartBoards in their offices and have been exploring how to use this technology for professional development (as opposed to classroom use). Phil said that having a SmartBoard in his office has radically changed the way he works. Because team members can interact with materials, meetings are much more collaborative.
 * LEARN NC **