An attempt at Simplification
As part of the roll-out of a new VLE there was a lot of thinking about what it should be for. The consensus was that Blackboard should focus on credit-bearing teaching. As a result some of the more generic but vital supporting activity and information is now located elsewhere – e.g. the Programme sites on SharePoint. For standard taught modules (e.g. things with a code in Banner like FLOR1011) a course will be created in Blackboard and populated with students, assuming it is actually running that year. This is determined before the start of the new academic year through discussions between staff in departments and the CIS team that manage the feeds to Blackboard. CIS initiate this process, just as they did before with duo.
Devolving Control
With duo, even after a course was created, it needed staff to be enrolled as Instructors before they could see it. Durham doesn’t seem to hold the names of all the staff who teach on a module anywhere centrally, so in the past it was either a best guess or adding a nominated member of staff from the Department who could then add the others. This wasn’t really satisfactory. With Blackboard, CIS have been able to improve things and devolve this process. All courses are now mapped to a parent Department. Each Department has a nominated member of staff (or two) who have been given limited admin rights. They can see all the courses on Blackboard for their Department and enrol staff on them directly, without needing to contact CIS. Thus if you can’t see a Blackboard course for a module that you are teaching it would be worth checking with your Departmental contact first to see if it already exists on Blackboard.
Combining Modules
If departments want to combine modules – having one course on Blackboard, populated with two or more module codes, then that can be delivered, if agreed with CIS. Note this setup is not without cost. It complicates the automatic recording of lectures (as the name of the Encore folder may not be obvious from the list of module codes linked to the lecture in the timetabling system). It also poses challenges for reading lists and extracting grades for entry into Banner. Combined modules can be requested during the discussions with CIS above.
Non-Standard Courses
The Project Steering Group identified a small number of other courses that had been on duo, or that people wanted to add to Blackboard that didn’t fit the simple module-code based approach. A process was needed to consider these requests fairly – to support genuine business need, without overloading Blackboard with stuff that would be better placed elsewhere. A three stage process was agreed between the Deputy Executive Deans and the Director of DCAD:
1. Initial request to be made to the Deputy Executive Dean
This is where the business need is established and the approval process provides an overview of exceptions across the faculty, so that a common solution can be found. If the Deputy Executive Dean is satisfied that there is a genuine need and Blackboard is the best place for this, they approve the request and forward it on to DCAD. In situations where a request originates from out-with a Faculty, the Director of DCAD will fulfil this role.
The request should contain the following information:
- Suggested name of the Module
- Key Contact (who will be enrolled on it if successful)
- Definition of users to be enrolled on it (e.g. all year 1 students taking modules ABC1 and ABC2, or on programme XXY and in year 1)
- Name of template to be used to create it – this can be a blank module
- Category
- Freshers/induction/Welcome Week course (structured as a learning activity rather than just providing information)
- Subject-specific learning activity associated with a specific module, set of modules, or programme
- Course teaching people to use Learn Ultra
- Other exception (including justification)
- Required Start date
- Required End date (for induction sites we recommend this should be 3 months from the start date)
- Faculty
2. Pedagogic Approval from DCAD
DCAD then reviews the application to ensure that the suggested solution is a good pedagogic fit with Blackboard and may check to see what other faculties have done in similar cases (again to help provide a common experience for staff and students). If they approve the request it is passed on to CIS.
3. Technical Approval from CIS
CIS review the request to ensure that it can be delivered. Are there ways we can identify the relevant students to enrol? Does the timetabling system hold the relevant data to support scheduling lecture recordings, etc?
If a request passes all three stages then a ticket is raised in UniDesk for the course to be set up in Blackboard and special feed rules added to populate it. That way there is a formal record of the request and the requirements.
As such if you want a non-standard course on Blackboard you need to begin by talking your idea over with the relevant Deputy Executive Dean.