Durham 2018 from pilot to service kelly hall

Editor's Notes

• #4: The University of Edinburgh is located in the city center of the capital city of Scotland and was founded in 1583 We have around 9000 staff, and 32,000 students, 24,000 of which are UG Blackboard is the main campus VLE- 90% of courses but we also have moodle for online distance learning courses and we have around 12 bespoke VLEs for specific programmes I am part of the Educational Design and Engagement team - def….. Collaborate is integrated into both Learn and Moodle and used for online tutorials and virtual office hours -Adobe connect is also used by one program in the Medical School – particular use We also provide a bespoke integration without University portal This allows non-teaching staff to use Collaborate for online meetings which can be useful when there is a room shortage and it saves time as no travel across campus (Blended meetings) students can also set up meetings, for example we a have a PhD student using it as part of a Universitats 21 project to link up with researched from international Universities
• #5: In 2015, we were using Collaborate 12.6 (or now known as Collaborate Classic) We carried out a survey amongst our user group which gave us some useful feedback The majority of users were satisfied The most used features of Collaborate were audio, text chat and PowerPoint However the survey also pointed out that participants were having issues with the launcher –java issues mean some student and guest could not attend sessions Audio quality was often poor Users thought that interface was a bit clunky Not able to pre-load sessions
• #6: So in Sept 2015, we ran a pilot of Ultra Across 3 programmes Feedback was positive and we moved to Ultra in July 2016 Lots of issues initially but there have been improving over the year The new interface was liked – it was easy to use and easier for beginners to learn Issues in moving Initial session size caused problems but that has gone from 50 to 100 and now 250 in the EU (in USA it’s 500) Users missed breakout rooms and private chat but thankfully this has been resolved Technical issues – sessions dropping – user kicked out – audio issues – but have improved as the year has gone on Still have one or two features such as -indicator when people are typing -individually shutting of someone's microphone -whiteboard – saving images and anitations staying when you leave the page But Blackboard is continutally in development to improve Ultra.
• #7: Use Case 1: PG Online Information Events These are run from Jan to August by the student recruitment team – 12 sessions in a day These information events are aimed at international students who can’t easily attend the on-campus open days Topics include : How to pay tuition fees Accommodation in Edinburgh English language support Disability support Participants sign up to the event via Eventbrite in which they get sent instructions on how to access Collaborate along with the guest link A presentation is often given followed by Q &A and often current students attend to give their experience. In 2015/16 the sessions had attendance between 200 and 400 over he various topics They did experience issues with session size limits Managed move to smaller sessions Missed breakout rooms and private chats to answer individual student questions Also missed text chat in recordings –now resolved Looking to integrate a booking system so they can track and follow-up with attendees Currently guest can sign in and no way to follow up with them – can put in whatever name as well. They put the recordings of the sessions into our Media Asset management system (Media Hopper Create/Kalture) embed them onto the webpages
• #8: This was a Pilot to increase student access and engagement for pre-arrival information and support. Student Induction Team coordinated an online welcome programme before UG student arrived in September. Two big days of sessions August 16th and August 23rd, both Wednesdays Kelly and Catherine ran training Topics Covered: Making the most of your first few weeks ResLife – your new home from home Student Life – Students’ Association Funding & Fees (support and paying your fees (process) How to succeed in your new study environment Welcome specifically for new CAHSS Visiting Students Some sessions were fully booked and the conversion rate on the day averaged 58% Sent out survey to students asking them how the sessions were. As for Collaborate doesn’t seem like any negative feedback except for issue with getting into the session on the 16th. Feedback from Students Only 3% said not useful at all – so great success Could not get on to first session. When I finally did the session was full - only 100 participants! Gave up after that. Figured why bother when so few participants and so difficult to participate. Please, continue doing this online informative sessions because as an international incoming student it helps a lot!!! It is a wonderful idea that made us feel welcome and appreciated in every single aspect. Indeed, Edinburgh it is already my second home and I have never been there yet! My sincerely and deeply THANK YOU!! I hope my home University follows your example Feedback from Staff Issue on August 16th – only 100 people Need to let people know to have headsets Use Chrome and Firefox for best use Run test sessionsMostly improvements on the content of the sessions rather then the actual Tech.
• #9: Use case 2: Bio-safety institute Biosafety practitioner level 1 This course was originally run as a 5 day face to face training The team has developed a blended course and now a fully online course as well. Only UK provider to offer alternative method of delivery for this course. Online – groups of 8-10 people sign up and after the 6 weeks are assessed by a 10 minute presentation done via collaborate For the online course this is done using Collaborate for classrooms and assessments. Students send their presentations to the course admin and she pre-loads them Practice sessions are set up to familiarize with Ultra She moderates the session and gives presenter rights to each student when it is their time to present. They did miss the private chat so it was useful for fixing any technical issues a student was having and the presenter could keep on presenting without disruption the text chat Wanting for video to work in Collaborate – so being able to embed video into Collaborate – we have provided a work around – I do know that Blackboard is working on this as it is a wish list from many institutions.
• #11: Massive rollout of Lecture Recording at the University this summer – 3 year plan 130 rooms initially – opt in Needed to train over 350 academics over the summer Needed to reach the masses Wanted to make training available to all – many campuses – people travel especially during the summer Make sure everyone had the opportunity to attend or view training (f2f, online, recording)
• #12: Didn't have huge numbers in the sessions, more about making sure training was available for people to take up   People prefer face to face and was much higher attendance but wanted the extra options and were attended Advice: Have some training before you run the sessions Need some IT support to just get started and to have someone else into the session for the first few sessions or and then the first 15 minutes to get everyone set up.
• #13: Why Moving from collaborate to ultra was not the smoothest so some users voiced interest in a review We wanted to ensure we have a tool fit for purpose and use requirements Skype for business was available at the university as well License was due for renewal Objectives of review Clear understanding of what was in the marketplace and what features and functionality was available Gather user requirements to be sure we were providing the best solution Once we had both of these we could compare products against requirements Point 1 – Gain a clear understanding of the functionality and features of virtual classroom and web meeting solutions currently available in the marketplace. Point 2 – A survey was sent to members of the VCMUG user group. The survey was designed to establish what the requirements were and to prioritize them using the MoSCoW method (Must haves, should haves, could haves, would haves) In February this year we decided to carry out a virtual classroom tool review
• #14: A survey was sent to our user group to ask them for their prioritization of features The user requirements followed MoSCoW method and allowed us to refine the matrix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoSCoW_method
• #15: Then went on to Identify market leaders in Virtual Classroom and Web Conferencing technology Create a matrix to compare products against requirements Comparison Matrix: Licence model Operating system support Browser support Mobile devices Features Sound and video quality Integration Support
• #16: Russell Group: Contacted all Universities within the Russell Group Received 9 replies to request for information, but also gathered information on University websites Main solutions currently in use were Collaborate, AdobeConnect, BigBlueButton and Skype for Business Edinburgh ahead of others in the provision of virtual classroom solutions Russell Group
• #17: Matrix refined to 6 providers and the functionality and technical features looked at in more detail This led us to Adobe Connect and Collaborate Adobe is currently used by one programme in the medical school Want multiple video streams for online tutorials Campus solution – Collaborate is still best solution Exercise also allowed a comparison of skype and collaborate to provide used with advice on what tool they should use to best fit their activity