School IT Update

SoMS Information Management System (SIMS)
Black Board Learning 9 updated 7th Oct
Proposed SoMS File Server Structure
Cataloguing Equipment

Black Board Learning 9

Background

Executive Team decision to replace Vista 3 with Blackboard 9 (October 2008)
Vista 3 will be progressively decommissioned until full withdrawal at the end of Semester 1, 2010
New TELT Gateway and Blackboard support site: www.telt.unsw.edu.au

Planned Progress

Semester 2 - September 1, 2009

Blackboard learning course creation is now integrated via Term Planning (myUNSW). Please download the Memo for more detail.
Briefing letter from Prof Marshall (see below)

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to advise that IT@UNSW has advised that Blackboard 9 is now available for development of courses to be taught from Semester 1, 2010.

Blackboard 9 has many important differences compared to the University’s current primary Learning Management System (LMS), My eLearning Vista. This presents both challenges and opportunities in terms of the way that UNSW Blackboard is administered and the way it is used for teaching.

One of the major changes in practice involves developing courses within what are known as “Master Courses” created specifically for design and development purposes. These courses are then copied to “Teaching Courses” which are created automatically according to information provided during the term planning process each semester.

As outlined in my earlier correspondence, regardless of whether My eLearning Vista content is used as a basis for the development of a new Blackboard 9 course, a full rebuild of the course is required.

At present, due to the lengthy chain of migration required to move content from My eLearning Vista to Blackboard 9, automatic migration of course content from My eLearning Vista is not reliable and manual migration or the redevelopment of content is highly recommended. Every effort is being made to identify and overcome the technical difficulties causing this problem, but this may take several weeks to resolve.

To assist those who wish to begin using Blackboard 9 to redevelop courses, introductory face-to-face seminars run by L&T @ UNSW and Blackboard will commence in October. A call for registration has already been issued for these seminars and it is highly recommended that all those wishing to rebuild courses in Blackboard 9, or those involved in supporting others to do so, attend.

Progressively over the next six months, web-based just-in-time learning materials to assist staff to use Blackboard 9 will be released. An initial limited set of materials will be released in late October, and will be continually developed and improved during 2010, in response to a new release of the software expected in March.

At the faculty level, information and support on the development of courses within Blackboard 9 can be obtained from your faculty’s participants in the Faculties of Excellence Initiative (FEI) Projects, all of whom have developed knowledge and experience of course development and facilitation in Blackboard 9, through their participation in the FEI.

To further assist with the development of Blackboard 9 courses, L&T@UNSW is working with faculties to determine and develop a range of standard course templates that provide some basic course elements that may be used as the basis for Master Course development.

The attached document provides an overview of the course building and teaching cycle used in UNSW Blackboard 9; instructions outlining how to apply for a Master Course to commence course development; instructions on how to copy content from a My eLearning Vista course to a Blackboard Master Course; and instructions on how to apply for a Blackboard 9 Master Course to be copied to a Teaching Course prior to delivery.

Professor Stephen Marshall
Director, L&T@UNSW
2 October 2009

To register for the training workshop, go to http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm
In the first instance, go to the top of this page and click on the link to create an account if you don't already have one. Once you have created an account with L&T you will need to return to the original link to continue registering for the workshop.

Summer Session 2009 - 2010

The usual Vista 3 environment to enable the delivery of scheduled Summer Session courses

Semester 1 - February 2010

A limited production environment for delivery of semester 1 courses that have been redeveloped in Blackboard 9
A development environment to enable staff to (re)develop Blackboard 9 courses for Semester 2 -2010 delivery.
Content migration from Vista 3 to Blackboard 9 will have to be rebuilt by the course convenors and supported by Faculty, with the assistance of approximately 0.5 FTE educational designers from L&T@UNSW.
Introductory face-to-face seminars/workshop run by L&T@UNSW on Blackboard 9 and how to develop courses within it. Participants will be able to work with their own content (and in a practice course) during these sessions
Limited web-based just-in-time learning materials to assist staff to develop their understanding of how Blackboard 9 operates and how to develop courses within it

Support staff who have completed Blackboard 9 training

Name	Location	Email Address	Telephone
Sue Cheng	MG14		9385 2960
Phil Crawford	AGSM Level 2 (MCSU)		9385 2564
Jessica Hu	MG14		9385 8195
Carmen Robinson	MG14		9385 2464
Christine Riordan	MG14		9385 2804

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SoMS Information Management System (SIMS)

SIMS stands for SoMS Information Management System, it captures information on SoMS staff detail, work group associations, room/occupancy report, postgraduate student, progress reviews, equipment and teaching related data. This application has been developed in conjunction with MCSU programmer. SIMS is now will available to all SoMS staff and postgraduate students via UniPass login.

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Cataloguing Equipment

A current list of equipment is now available to download as a spreadsheet. Thank you all for your effort in documenting these research equipment. If you have any queries, or would like to advise any changes to the equipment please contact Jessica Hu

Download Equipment List (last updated 24th Aug 2009)

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Proposed SoMS File Server Structure

A new file server structure for SoMS has been proposed (diagram above) which seeks to decentralise current departmental hierarchy into shared workgroup space and teaching space. The new structure envisages shared files within each workgroups whereby a group leader may be capable of managing file access for their group members directly. Similarly a course convenor will be able to manage access permission for a particular course.
Apart from the shared file spaces, each individual staff (possibly postgraduate students as well) will be allocated a private server space from central IT directly.

In order to establish a list of specific workgroups directory, their users/members and teaching space directory, each group head will be asked to view the work sheet, and make any applicable changes. Please return your worksheet to Jessica Hu by 31st Aug.

Download File Server Structure Work Sheet (last updated 24th Aug)

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Jessica Hu
Web Coordinator
T (02) 9385 8195
F (02) 9385 2866
E

Useful Links
SIMS
WebCT
Faculty IT & Communication
eMail@UNSW
Room Booking - Faculty