New Battles old Whines Staff resistance development for

New Battles; old Whines Staff resistance & development for SAKAI & my. Unisa

Overview of talk • Brief history of my. Unisa – my. Unisa Team: ICLD & ICT • • • How my. Unisa works for us Getting academic buy-in… or not Complaints and hesitations Solutions we tried… and are trying The future looks bright!

Birth of my. Unisa • January 2004: Merger of 3 institutions & 2 online systems Unisa – Each had legacy ‘home-made’ systems – Student system, assignments, records, staff systems – Online teaching & blended learning • June 2005 decided to join SAKAI community as partner • 9 January 2006: roll-out date for SAKAI my. Unisa LMS

Unisa students worldwide 2004 - 2 393 2005 - 2 282 2006 - 2 061 Europe Americas 2004 - 693 2005 - 712 2006 - 746 Asia 2004 - 573 2005 - 539 2006 - 489 Africa 2004 - 220 950 2005 - 230 494 2006 - 241 303 2004 - 273 2005 - 264 2006 - 276 Oceania

my. Unisa infancy • 15 February: over 50 000 students registered – Server crash! dedicated server – “None of my students have access!” • June: over 100 000 students • October: over 120 000 students • About 7000 courses set up with my. Unisa course pages for 2006 • Over 700 courses with active discussion forums • Usability testing: Playpen, test sites, QA. Dev, • Various project sites, research project sites

Daily my. Unisa use Daily my. Unisa usage stats (2006)

Internet Access from? Online Student Survey (2005, n = 20 000)

my. Unisa snapshot • Tools on my. Unisa for Teaching & Learning – – – – Home & welcome page Schedule: Calendar + time management Discussion Forum Resources: Official study material + more Announcements FAQs, Plus access to admin systems, depts • Broad spectrum of current use continuum dependent on various factors – Number of students – Support for various tools

Old battle buy-in • How to get the academics to use something new – Implemented very quickly “nobody asked me” – “Why didn’t we use Web. CT / Blackboard / etc like they… did? ” – “My computer is too old, too slow…” • Old systems had limited buy-in, but required limited input – Official study materials in pdf – Discussion Forums for students

Old battle buy-in [2] • Uncertainty about technology – “I don’t know how to do it!” – “Who will provide training? ” – “Who will do it for me? ” • Distrust of the technology & systems – “We will wait & see if it works, first!” – “I’ll give it six months!” – “They’ll change it again next year, so why bother? ”

Whining academics • New expectations – “I never had to do this before when I taught; why now? ” • Worried about student impact – “What are all my students complaining about? What is my. Unisa? ” • Worried about technology – It doesn’t work; it crashed; it’s too slow. . – “I don’t know how to use this …” • Worried about workload – Lack of incentives: “Will they pay extra? ”

Diluting the ‘whine’ What we’ve tried, so far 2005: Needs analysis phase • Questionnaire of needs for online / blended components – Student survey: n = 20 000 – Survey of academics • Training needs for online components • Demonstration to various depts • Information ‘road show’ to market

Diluting the ‘whine’ [2] • 2005 -2006: 75+ projects identified from survey • Consciousness-raising initiatives – Induction programme for new academic staff – Visits to all Heads of Departments – Seminars around some aspects with academics showing what they do • Blended learning: print with online • Online discussion forums • Computer-aided assessment

Diluting the ‘whine’ [3] • Focused demonstrations – Departmental exhibits – Demonstration course for hands-on training in computer lab as follow up to seminars • Input from stakeholders – Student & teaching staff surveys – Focus group interviews with academics & support staff – Usability testing for early adopter group

Demonstration course • 2 Purposes of Demo course: – to show my. Unisa tools – to teach about online learning • On same system as regular courses with same tools [not QA or Dev site] • Small groups of 10 – 15 staff members at a time • Lecturers could try things out, without student reactions – Then copy & paste into their courses – They could also ask me questions, using the course site

More support • my. Unisa support site – Help files for students – Help files for academics – Info ‘blurb’ examples to include in study materials • Tutorials of how to use various tools – Powerpoint & step by step • Updates & news sent to all staff via email – Automatic carry-over of FAQs for 2007 – System roll-over warnings, etc

Future wine & dine • Training site with all new tools – Demo course separate from support – Tutorials for tools, Info, announcements, etc • Weekly / monthly blog newsletter • 10 my. Unisa focused seminars – with follow-up hands-on training • Non-virtual Virtual Café: – Wednesday morning Coffee & my. Unisa sessions for walk-in discussion, experimenting, etc • Staff development web site for everything! • Policy around minimum presence on the web

Improving the vintage • Fully online course for staff assessor training – Only online – Portfolio based • Early adopters will have more options next year – – – Online tests & quizzes Wiki Blog RSS feeds Glossary, etc

Future battles? Sure! Battles are opportunities for growth • Band width Telcom stranglehold • VOIP restrictions – Videoconferencing – Skype • More audio / video space – Incorporate satellite recordings • Library links & copyright issues – Open course ware – Creative commons licenses

Last of the Summer Whine. . Positive: whining winning • Why can’t I get the VOIP to work? • Where can I publish my students’ group projects? Web sites? • When can my. Unisa go on my mobile phone? PDA? • I want to use all the cool stuff like that one. • Leading the university into the digital age…. – Through building awareness &Increasing access for students • Regional centre computer lab policy • Inexpensive student computer purchase plan • Freedom Toaster study materials on CDs

For more on my. Unisa At this SAKAI Conference: • Leonie Steyn: Wed 11: 20, INTL 1 • Jason Ming Sun & Magdaleen Arlow: Thus 2: 05 pm INTL 8 • Sonette Yzelle

Thank you Contact details: Alice Goodwin-Davey goodwaa@unisa. ac. za Institute of Curriculum & Learning Development University of South Africa